A:  Here are two passages from The Urantia Book that set forth similar lists of the Fruits of the Spirit. The second one is spoken by Jesus, and I have bolded each list for you. Both lists are valuable, but Jesus expands our understanding of these valuable traits in a very inspiring way. I suggest you read each passage carefully, for they will both give you the answer to your question:

“The consciousness of the spirit domination of a human life is presently attended by an increasing exhibition of the characteristics of the Spirit in the life reactions of such a spirit-led mortal, ‘for the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.’ Such spirit-guided and divinely illuminated mortals, while they yet tread the lowly paths of toil and in human faithfulness perform the duties of their earthly assignments, have already begun to discern the lights of eternal life as they glimmer on the faraway shores of another world; already have they begun to comprehend the reality of that inspiring and comforting truth, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”(34:6.13)

“Peace be upon you. You rejoice to know that the Son of Man has risen from the dead because you thereby know that you and your brethren shall also survive mortal death. But such survival is dependent on your having been previously born of the spirit of truth-seeking and God-finding. The bread of life and the water thereof are given only to those who hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness—for God. The fact that the dead rise is not the gospel of the kingdom. These great truths and these universe facts are all related to this gospel in that they are a part of the result of believing the good news and are embraced in the subsequent experience of those who, by faith, become, in deed and in truth, the everlasting sons of the eternal God. My Father sent me into the world to proclaim this salvation of sonship to all men. And so send I you abroad to preach this salvation of sonship. Salvation is the free gift of God, but those who are born of the spirit will immediately begin to show forth the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures. And the fruits of the divine spirit which are yielded in the lives of spirit-born and God-knowing mortals are: loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace. If professed believers bear not these fruits of the divine spirit in their lives, they are dead; the Spirit of Truth is not in them; they are useless branches on the living vine, and they soon will be taken away. My Father requires of the children of faith that they bear much spirit fruit. If, therefore, you are not fruitful, he will dig about your roots and cut away your unfruitful branches. Increasingly, must you yield the fruits of the spirit as you progress heavenward in the kingdom of God. You may enter the kingdom as a child, but the Father requires that you grow up, by grace, to the full stature of spiritual adulthood. And when you go abroad to tell all nations the good news of this gospel, I will go before you, and my Spirit of Truth shall abide in your hearts. My peace I leave with you.”(193:2.2)

We see from reading these passages, that the Fruits of the Spirit are increasingly exhibited in the life of the believer when s/he has been born of the Spirit—that is, when a person comes to the “consciousness of the spirit domination of a human life.”

It is not so much a matter of “having” these ideal qualities of living in our daily experience, but more a matter of living and experiencing them as a result of this Spirit-consciousness. Their realization is a natural outworking—”life reactions”—of the understanding and experience of one’s sonship with God, and resulting brotherhood with the family of man. Once we understand who and what we are, we naturally wish to live a life of love of God and service to our brothers and sisters, as Jesus taught us to do, and which he so superbly demonstrated in his earth-life.

I hope that this answer has been helpful to you. Thanks again for writing, and please feel free to write anytime. If you are not yet signed up, I invite you to subscribe to our free Quote of the Day service which will deliver to your inbox a daily quote from The Urantia Book to help you in your spiritual life. Please click on the link to get started…”