Perhaps the main thing to understand about the fruit of the Spirit is that it is the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the Christian. The nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are the very nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. They reflect the goodness of Divinity. They cannot be produced by our fallen nature.
However, we are exhorted by the Apostles to adopt this sort of personality and behavior as well as we can but in the meanwhile engage in the program of redemption until the bad is removed from us and the good is created. To the extent we think, speak, and act in the Spirit of God, to that extent we shall bear the fruit of the Spirit.
