If you know a person by their fruits...?

Question

why are there people who aren't Christians who still display all the fruits of the spirit?

Answer 1

Because you don't have to be a Christian to be a good person.

Answer 2

CS Lewis asked God the same question once. In his book "Mere Christianity" he asked God how it was that the grocery who lived next door was kind, cheerful, friendly, generous, and optimistic - even though he was an atheist, while the baker down the street was stingy, moody, always sour and depressed - but never missed a church service and read his Bible daily. God replied to Lewis that it was simple.

The baker was born with a bad stomach. It cause him pain and discomfort most of the time, and kept him from eating a proper diet and getting proper sleep. So he was moody and depressed most of the time. But, God said, you should have seen him BEFORE he became a Christian. He was ten times worst. He had come a long way, but still not was perfect. No one is.

The grocer however was born with a happy desposition. It was just his nature. But over the year he had never done anything to improve himself. For one thing, he never felt the need. He was already "good enough".

So in the end, the baker will have grown, improved, and have a better character then when he started, while the grocer had done nothing his whole life to improve himself. The dark and moody baker will past the "fruit" test, because he imporved his character, while the happy grocer will not.

Answer 3

Anyone can be good and anyone evil. There are people who claim to be Christian, but display no fruit's of the spirit. There are people who seem really good, but aren't Christians or may have never read the Bible. It all depends on your conscience and how you've trained it. Since everyone has a conscience it can go either way. If you have a numb conscience, then none of your actions will matter to you because you have no sense of right from wrong. But if you've been raised in a way that taught you it's wrong to do certain things, like robbing, lying, murder, etc.. you will strive not to do those things or ever be in a situation to have to choose those things as an ultimate option so as not to hurt your conscience - your inner sense of right and wrong.

Answer 4

The Fruits of the Spirit are manifest no matter what. We choose to display them or not. That goes for Christians as well as for non-Christians.

The "Spirit" that gives fruit is the God the Holy Spirit....and it goes where it wants:

John 3: 8 "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Thanks be to God!

Answer 5

Love, joy , peace, kindness, longersuffering, patience are some of the fruits of the SPirit. Some non-Christians do exhibit these characteristics but it doesnt contradict or water down the Biblical teaching on fruits being exclusive to Christians. THe motivation is key. What are people's motivation for exhibiting such things? For the Christian, these are qualities driven by a love to see God glorified. They are entirely selfless, directed towards God rather than self. People who have not been regenerated by God's Spirit may feel love, joy, patience, kindness, and may even seem to be alruistically selfless. But ultimately their greatest affection is for self. Thier greatest love is self. So all those things are ultimately directed, consciously or subconsiously, towards making themselves look great. That is why Jesus said to believers that they ought to love others AS they love themselves. Everybody instincively knows what it means to love ourselve first because we are all born with a sin nature. You dont have to teach babies and children to disobey. They do that instinctively. You do have to teach them to obey because our nature is one of disobedience. Non-Christians exhibiting the fruits are not pleasing to God because they do it for themselves, not for Him.

Answer 6

Good Question. There are some people out there, who come of as amazing Christians, with knowledge of the Bible, very loving and kind. But they dont have "God" in their hearts. Or, they have been mislead into thinking doing good is all that matters.

I dont know why they do it, or if they are simply confused. Almost like when people confess to crimes, they didnt committ. We can think "Why?" but we cant really know why people do what they do.

Over time, you can see, by their actions, that they may not be all they profess to be. Its not easy.

Answer 7

Some people CAN be good, moral people, make no mistake about it, but the fact still remains that at some point in their lives they have sinned, willfully, and knowingly, and THIS is what Jesus died for...and their morality isn't the standard by which they will be judged. It's whether or not they brought their sins to Jesus for forgiveness.

Answer 8

the spirit of giving is a human trait, NOT just for Christians

Answer 9

Despite the MANY on this site who are constantly deriding the basic nature of man, it is toward the good. Some do so because they love God, others so they will get recognition for it, others because they feel they can earn their way into heaven, still others just because it feels good to do good. God bless.

Answer 10

15 ¶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?....

Jesus was speaking about false prophets when he said that not believers. And non believers can do good to ya know.