QUESTION 70

OF THE FRUITS OF THE HOLY GHOST
(In Four Articles)

We must now consider the Fruits of the Holy Ghost:  under which head there are four points of inquiry: 

(1) Whether the fruits of the Holy Ghost are acts?

(2) Whether they differ from the beatitudes?

(3) Of their number?

(4) Of their opposition to the works of the flesh.
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FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 70, Art. 1]

Whether the Fruits of the Holy Ghost Which the Apostle Enumerates
(Gal. 5) Are Acts?

Objection 1:  It would seem that the fruits of the Holy Ghost, enumerated by the Apostle (Gal. 5:22, 23), are not acts.  For that which bears fruit, should not itself be called a fruit, else we should go on indefinitely.  But our actions bear fruit:  for it is written (Wis. 3:15):  “The fruit of good labor is glorious,” and (John 4:36):  “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting.”  Therefore our actions are not to be called fruits.

Obj. 2:  Further, as Augustine says (De Trin. x, 10), “we enjoy [’Fruimur’, from which verb we have the Latin ‘fructus’ and the English ‘fruit’] the things we know, when the will rests by rejoicing in them.”  But our will should not rest in our actions for their own sake.  Therefore our actions should not be called fruits.

Obj. 3:  Further, among the fruits of the Holy Ghost, the Apostle numbers certain virtues, viz. charity, meekness, faith, and chastity.  Now virtues are not actions but habits, as stated above (Q. 55, A. 1).  Therefore the fruits are not actions.

On the contrary, It is written (Matt. 12:33):  “By the fruit the tree is known”; that is to say, man is known by his works, as holy men explain the passage.  Therefore human actions are called fruits.

I answer that, The word “fruit” has been transferred from the material to the spiritual world.  Now fruit, among material things, is the product of a plant when it comes to perfection, and has a certain sweetness.  This fruit has a twofold relation:  to the tree that produces it, and to the man who gathers the fruit from the tree.  Accordingly, in spiritual matters, we may take the word “fruit” in two ways:  first, so that the fruit of man, who is likened to the tree, is that which he produces; secondly, so that man’s fruit is what he gathers.

Yet not all that man gathers is fruit, but only that which is last and gives pleasure.  For a man has both a field and a tree, and yet these are not called fruits; but that only which is last, to wit, that which man intends to derive from the field and from the tree.  In this sense man’s fruit is his last end which is intended for his enjoyment.