Fruit (as plucked), literally or figuratively
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καρπός is the word for fruit — the natural product that grows from a living organism. In the NT's metaphorical use, it names the visible, tangible result of inner life: what a person's actual life produces over time, not what they intend or perform.
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Full entry for καρπός (G2590) · Open the biblical lexicon
καρπός is the word for fruit — the natural product that grows from a living organism. In the NT's metaphorical use, it names the visible, tangible result of inner life: what a person's actual life produces over time, not what they intend or perform.
The BSB source-word alignment has 66 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include fruit (41), a crop (4), crops (3), . . . (2), [the] fruit (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (19), Luke (12), John (10), Mark (5).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
καρπός is the word for fruit — the natural product that grows from a living organism. In the NT's metaphorical use, it names the visible, tangible result of inner life: what a person's actual life produces over time, not what they intend or perform. The agricultural image is deliberate: fruit is not manufactured or assembled; it grows out of what the plant actually is and what it is rooted in. You do not make fruit — you bear it, because it is the natural expression of what is living inside.
Matthew 7:16-20 is Jesus' foundational use of the fruit image: 'You will know them by their fruits.' The criterion for evaluating teachers and disciples is not what they claim, not their affiliations, not their visible activities, but what they produce over time. A tree's identity is revealed in what grows from it: good trees bear good fruit, bad trees bear bad fruit, and a tree producing no fruit is cut down. This is a penetrating diagnostic: the question is not 'what do you say you are?' but 'what does your life produce?'
Galatians 5:22-23 is the most developed NT treatment of fruit: 'the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.' Two features of Paul's language are important. First, it is fruit (singular) of the Spirit, not fruits — the nine qualities are not a checklist to be ticked off individually but a unified expression of Spirit-shaped character. Second, it is the Spirit's fruit, not the believer's achievement. The Christian does not manufacture these qualities; they are what grows when the Spirit is active in a life that is abiding in Christ.
John 15:1-8 is the most extended treatment of fruit in the NT: the vine and the branches. Jesus is the vine, the Father is the vinedresser, and the disciples are the branches. The branch cannot produce fruit of itself — it must remain connected to the vine. 'Apart from me you can do nothing' (v. 5) is the radical claim: the karpos that the disciple is called to produce is entirely dependent on the abiding relationship with Christ.
For the preacher, καρπός is the word that protects against performance Christianity — the attempt to produce spiritual results by spiritual effort rather than by connection to Christ. Fruit does not come from trying harder; it comes from abiding.
καρπός is counted in the local Greek index at about 66 occurrences in the NT: in literal agricultural contexts, and metaphorically for the results of human life and choices, the product of the Spirit, the outcome of righteousness and wisdom, and the harvest of the believer's abiding relationship with Christ. The dominant metaphorical range covers character formed by the Spirit, the visible results of one's way of living, and the eschatological harvest of faithful discipleship.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
The defining list: nine qualities as the singular fruit of the Spirit's presence in a life. These stand in explicit contrast to 'the works of the flesh' in verses 19-21 — the difference is not only moral but organic. Works are things done; fruit is what grows. The flesh produces works through human striving in independence from God; the Spirit produces fruit through the life of Christ active in the yielded believer.
The unity of the list (one fruit, nine expressions) resists the approach of picking a subset and neglecting the rest.
I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
The christological ground of all fruit-bearing: connection to Jesus is the necessary condition for any karpos. 'Apart from me you can do nothing' is not a discouragement but an explanation: the branch that is connected bears much fruit not because of its own vitality but because the life of the vine flows through it. The pastoral implication is profound: the question in any period of spiritual dryness is not 'what should I try harder?'
But 'am I remaining connected to Christ through His word, prayer, and the Spirit?'
By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
The diagnostic use of karpos: fruit reveals identity. The false prophet who 'comes in sheep's clothing but inwardly is a ravenous wolf' is identified not by claims or appearance but by what their ministry produces over time. This is the discernment criterion Jesus gives for evaluating teachers: look at the fruit. What does this teaching produce in people? What does this ministry grow? What does the teacher's own life produce? The questions are uncomfortable but necessary.
You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
The appointment to fruit-bearing: the disciples were not only chosen for relationship with Christ but for fruit that remains (meno — the same word used for abiding in Christ). Fruit that remains is fruit with lasting significance — the formation of lives, the multiplication of disciples, the impact that outlasts the immediate moment. This is the eschatological dimension of karpos: some fruit is consumed and gone; the fruit Jesus appoints His people to bear is meant to last.
Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
The doxological telos of fruit: fruit of righteousness produced through Jesus Christ, aimed at the glory and praise of God. The karpos is not ultimately for the individual's benefit or the community's admiration — it is for God's glory. This closes the circle: the vine gives life so that the branch bears fruit, and the fruit glorifies the vinedresser. The fruitful life of the disciple is fundamentally God-directed, not self-directed.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Concrete harvest-results, whether literal produce or spiritual works flowing from character and obedience.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 66 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
fruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read versefruit, result, gain
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 5 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 6 selected witnesses from 66 lexical occurrence verses.
καρπός is built from this root:
Represents visible evidence of repentance and life. Luke 13:6–9
Represents outward evidence of inward repentance. Luke 3:7–14
Represents observable moral evidence. Luke 6:43–45
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
καρπός is the word that makes the question of character more penetrating than the question of activity. A tree can look healthy without bearing fruit; a person can be very religious without their life producing anything that looks like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control. The fruit diagnostic in Matthew 7 is not primarily about spectacular ministry failures — it is about the ordinary, daily, accumulated evidence of what a life is actually producing.
And the John 15 framework for how fruit is produced — abiding in Christ — makes the most important question not 'what should I do differently?' but 'is the connection to Christ what it should be?' Fruit-bearing is the result of life received from the vine, not life generated by the branch. This is why the Galatians 5 list is the Spirit's fruit, not the believer's achievement: you cannot manufacture genuine love, joy, or self-control by trying harder.
You can, however, cultivate the conditions in which the Spirit's fruit grows — the word, prayer, community, obedience. The preacher's task is to direct people toward the vine, not to the harder work of fruit-production.
Gal.5.22
καρπός is the standard Greek word for fruit in its literal sense (Homer, Herodotus, agricultural contexts throughout). Its metaphorical extension to character, results, and outcomes is natural and widespread in both Greek and Hebrew thinking: the fruit of one's deeds, the fruit of the womb, the fruit of the lips. The LXX uses it to translate the Hebrew peri (fruit) extensively, including in Proverbs where wisdom and righteousness bear fruit (Prov 11:30; 13:2).
The distinction in Galatians 5:22 between 'works of the flesh' (erga — deliberate activities) and 'fruit of the Spirit' (karpos — organic produce) is linguistically loaded: the flesh produces things through effort; the Spirit produces things through life. The believer's role in both cases matters, but the source and mechanism are opposite.
The OT fruitfulness tradition begins in Genesis: creation is commanded to be fruitful and multiply, and fruitfulness is a sign of divine blessing (Gen 1:22, 28; Ps 128:3). The covenant promise to Abraham includes fruitfulness (Gen 17:6). Israel is represented as a vine or fig tree — a fruit-bearing organism that God planted and tends (Psalm 80:8-11; Isa 5:1-7; Jer 2:21; Hosea 10:1).
The prophetic critique of Israel frequently focuses on the failure to produce the fruit God planted for: justice, righteousness, faithfulness. Isaiah 5's parable of the vineyard — God planted it expecting justice and righteousness, but found bloodshed and crying — is the OT's sharpest fruit-diagnostic applied to a nation. Jesus' parable of the vineyard in Matthew 21:33-44 and the John 15 discourse both draw on this prophetic tradition: God expects fruit from the community He has planted, and the question is whether what grows corresponds to the life He has given.
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