Back to Gal. 5. Here, in verses 22-23, Paul's "fruit of the Spirit" seems to be composed of three triads depicting our relationship to God, our relationship to others, and our relationship (duty) to ourselves.
This fruit is supernatural in its origin. We cannot produce it in our lives by our own efforts and resources. God is the divine Gardener who cultivates this fruit in the lives of believers. Moreover, this fruit comes as a package deal. We have no right to pick and choose which virtues we want to exhibit without the others. All nine qualities should be displayed. The Holy Spirit is not content if we display love for other people but have no control over our own passions, or if we display joy but have no kindness in our relationships with others.
Below is my translation of Gal. 5:22-23. You'll notice that I did not follow the Western text in adding "purity" to the end of the list.
The Western text is famous for adding information to a passage of Scripture, and its reading here is probably secondary.
Gal. 5:22-23:
But the Spirit produces people who are loving, joyful, peaceful, long-suffering, kind, generous, trustworthy, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways.
One final thought. Here's a picture of my backyard blueberry bush I took this morning.
As you can see, the fruit is ripe and ready for picking. Of course, these blueberries didn't appear overnight. Fruit ripens slowly. Likewise, we don't become like Jesus Christ overnight. The fruit of the Spirit is gradual in its maturing. This fact isn't meant to lower our expectations or increase our laziness or condone our continued sinning. It's meant to warn us against those who promise instant holiness by a given formula or a given experience. There is no such thing as instantaneous holiness. The fruit of the Spirit ripens steadily. This should encourage us in disciplined habits of thinking and living, of public and private devotion, of cultivating in our lives the means of grace such as prayer and Bible study.
What a wonderful thing it would be if, every time I went to the gym or entered the classroom, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, generosity, trustworthiness, gentleness, and self-control irradiated from my personality. I'm going to bed tonight grateful for the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. May the privilege of knowing Christ continue to drive me downward until more of him than me is seen in my life. A joyless, selfish existence is not a legacy I want to leave. I want to live humbly, dependently, hopefully, fruit-producingly.
Have a great week!