These are therefore fellow Christians with us and, in this day, all are members together of the New World society. Our relationship with these brothers and sisters of ours naturally and logically follows, just as fruit is a natural produce, and not forced or manufactured. In support of this John writes: “The love is in this respect, not that we have [first] loved God, but that he loved us and sent forth his Son as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. . . . [and] if this is how God loved us, then we are ourselves under obligation to love one another” in the same warm, kind, unselfish way. (1 John 4:10, 11, NW) Of course, we should love one another. When we become real Christians, with the love of God filling our hearts and the knowledge of the truth and the Kingdom hope filling our minds, why, inevitably that should change and transform our whole life and disposition.

14. Do the Scriptures stress personal responsibility as to the spirit’s fruitage?

¹⁴ Does anyone reading this gain the impression that bearing the fruitage of the spirit is a very simple and easy matter? Oh no, it is not. While this fruitage is not a matter of self-cultivation, it does not mean for a moment that all we have to do is to sit back and leave ourselves in God’s hands, inert and acquiescent. As we said earlier, let us get the proper view of ourselves and the part we have to play. In the illustration of the vine Jesus said: “My Father is the cultivator.” (John 15:1, NW) Yes, Jehovah is the great Fruitgrower of all Kingdom fruitage, and all the credit goes to him. Under his direction, however, we do some cultivating work, as Paul shows, in the way of planting and watering and weeding, but never forget it is “God who makes it grow.” All the same, as the apostle continues, though individually we are nothing in ourselves, “let each one keep watching” how he is carrying out his responsibilities, for “each one’s work will become manifest, for the day [this day of judgment] will show it up.”—1 Cor. 3:6, 7, 10, 13, NW.

15. What is our individual responsibility, and how is it best met?

¹⁵ What exactly is our part, then, toward the cultivation of the fruitage of the spirit as far as love is concerned? That question is not difficult to answer. As we come to appreciate more and more what true love is, as seen in Jehovah, the very fountain of love, and as we come ever closer into union with him, then we have a deep and burning desire to express that same quality. Love is like that. It wants to express itself, it wants to be active. It is unselfish, so that we desire to see others enjoying and sharing in the same things that mean so much to us. And now we ask, How better can love come to its full fruitage than by sharing as fully and closely as possible with that body of devoted people which Jehovah has gathered into a New World society? And how better can we obey the injunction to “become imitators of God, as beloved children, and go on walking in love” than by attending and actively sharing in all the meetings of our local congregation and in the various features of direct field service? By following this course, what endless and excellent opportunities we have of exercising unselfish and godlike love and kindness and goodness! Why, there is no limit, for, as Paul said, “against such things there is no law” to say, ‘You shall go no farther in this direction.’—Eph. 5:1, 2; Gal. 5:23, NW.

16. What are our obligations as members of the New World society?

¹⁶ Mark you, this is very different from just going to meetings to get a blessing by sitting there silently week after week and merely absorbing all the goodness, or engaging in the service work as a matter of routine out of a sense of duty. Agreed, fruit trees absorb all the goodness they can from the sun and the air and the soil. But why? So that they can bear fruitage for the benefit and refreshment of others. And that applies to the fruitage of our daily lives and disposition, as well as to the fruitage of Kingdom-preaching. Our personality should be enjoyed and appreciated by our fellow Christians and by decent-minded people of the world, too, on account of such fine qualities. Is your personality enjoyed on that account?

17. What is meant by “living by spirit” and “walking orderly also by spirit”?

¹⁷ In support of the idea that the best way of producing the fruitage of the spirit is by sharing as fully as possible with God’s gathered people, let us look again at the expression already quoted: “If we are living by spirit, let us go on walking orderly also by spirit.” (Gal. 5:25, NW) There we have the secret of our part in the cultivation and bearing of this desirable fruit. The apostle says nothing about a course of self-training by a process of mental exercise. No. It is a matter of “living by spirit” and “walking orderly also by spirit.” That means to see ourselves as a gathered people, gathered to Zion, where Jehovah has poured out his spirit upon his servant class and where he has put his word into our mouths and is our Teacher, teaching us, not individually, but as a people, how to live by spirit, his spirit. Then, with our feet started in the right way, it is a matter of making steady, orderly progress under theocratic direction and, have no fear, the fruitage of the spirit will be produced to Jehovah’s praise and the blessing of others and to our own salvation to life in the new world.—Isa. 54:13; 59:21.

18. In what practical ways does the organization help us in this matter?

¹⁸ On the practical side, Jehovah’s organization provides many aids in walking orderly and making good progress. Through The Watchtower and Informant, also the meetings where the truths and counsel contained therein are discussed, we are continually being helped, both by encouragement and correction, to see clearly and maintain the right course of conduct and service. In these evil and critical times we often meet problems that make us wonder just what attitude we should adopt and what course we should take. In this respect, too, we get real benefit from sticking close to the organization, for through it are provided in this day, as in the apostle’s day, mature and dependable servants, whose conduct and disposition set a good example and who are there for the very purpose of helping us, even though their counsel may not always be what we expected or hoped for. As Paul wrote to the Philippians: “To what extent we have made progress, let us go on walking orderly in this same routine. Unitedly become imitators of me, brothers, and keep your eye on those who are walking in a way that accords with the example you have in us.”—Phil. 3:16, 17, NW.

19. Is a change in personality possible and necessary on becoming a Christian?

¹⁹ In concluding this part of our discussion, we want to say a further word about the change of disposition and personality that has already been mentioned. This is something on which every one of us should be quite clear. Not one of us can afford to say: ‘Oh well, I do not think there was anything very much wrong about my conduct or personality before I came into the truth. I do not see any great need to make any particular change. After all, we have to be natural, do we not?’ All right, let it be admitted that your daily life was just as good and your personality just as charming as they must have been in the case of that well-bred, rich young ruler whom Jesus loved, and who sincerely kept all the commandments from his youth up, and who wanted to know what was lacking. Do you remember what was lacking? Why, he lacked the very essence of the spirit’s fruitage, unselfish love. (Mark 10:17-22) Come, now! Let us be honest with ourselves and humble before Jehovah. Every one of us should put himself alongside his brothers at Ephesus to whom Paul wrote: “Put away the old personality [the old egotistical self] which conforms to your former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but . . . be made new in the force actuating your mind, and . . . put on the new personality which was created [not self-developed] according to God’s will in true righteousness and loving-kindness.”—Eph. 4:22-24, NW.

Walking in Good Behavior

“Let us walk in good behavior.”—Rom. 13:13, NW.

1. Wherein do we find the source and the channel of the spirit’s fruitage” How should an appreciation of this affect us?

WHAT has been discussed so far respecting the spirit’s fruitage in general, and concerning love in particular, also applies to the other things mentioned. In each instance these other qualities are first seen to inhere in Jehovah in superlative excellence. They are also seen in his beloved Son, Christ Jesus, in full perfection. And as, through an accurate knowledge of the truth, we see what a marvelous demonstration of these qualities has been given by Jehovah in all of his dealings, so we come to admire them and in every instance want to “become imitators of God, as beloved children, and go on walking” in them, manifesting them in our dealings, too, with all with whom we come in contact. As Paul said at the end of his letter to the Galatians: “As long as we have time favorable for it, let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to us in the faith.”—Eph. 5:1, 2; Gal. 6:10, NW.

2. Why is love mentioned first in the list at Galatians 5:22, 23?

² Let us, then, take a brief look at these other qualities, all comprising the fruitage of the spirit. There is no question, however, that “the greatest of these is love.” It is the all-essential mainspring, without which the others cannot genuinely exist or operate. We shall consider them as listed by the apostle, though they do not appear to follow any particular sequence, for they are mentioned time and again in varying order throughout the Christian Greek Scriptures.—1 Cor. 13:1-3, 13, NW.

JOY

3. What authority or reason is given for the close connection between joy and God’s organization?

³ Joy is first mentioned after love, and where are we going to find joy today and how are we going to find the best opportunity of bearing this fruit? There is only the one answer, and that is, in Jehovah’s organization, Zion, wherein his own loving heart finds joyful satisfaction. Does not the prophecy of Zephaniah call upon those in Zion to “be glad and rejoice with all