Only then does he speak of the fruit137 of Faith, Hope and Love that grows within this new birth. This principle carries through the New-Testament, so we will do well to stop off here and look at ‘Kingdom of God growth’; its terms and meanings:
Every human being believes, it is built into the nature of life itself. Belief needs to be grounded into something. Grounded in self, for example, will grow self-righteousness fruit. This is a small, distorted fruit of good-works, limited by self-esteem, self-significance or self-worth. Paul’s letters work on the assumption that everyone will be righteous138. Either he will be made righteous by the work of Jesus Christ, or she will be self-righteous. Only the ‘Christ-righteous’ person belongs to the kingdom-of-God, this is when the seed of belief is grounded in Jesus-Christ.
Belief grounded becomes faith. Belief grounded in self, saps the soil for growth for self-preservation, self-opinion, self-righteousness and self. Belief grounded in kingdom soil, produces repentance, humility, and a new-kingdom outlook on life. Wherever the New-Testament speaks of faith, it is talking about where a person’s belief is grounded and taken root, either in Christ or in self.
137 Singular fruit of Faith, hope and Love,
138 For a fuller understanding read Romans but in particular Romans 10: 3