Perhaps the questioner has Romans 7:4 in mind:
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
Bearing fruit for God is a vital area of a Christian’s life. Jesus tell us in John 15:
vs 4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. . . . vs 7-8 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
So if we abide in Jesus, we will bear much fruit.
What is the fruit we are to bear?
Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
How do we bear this fruit? By being the person that God wants and as a result doing what God wants. We do this by abiding in Jesus. John 15:4-5:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:10:
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
So, we need to keep Jesus’ commandments to abide in him and bear fruit.
Jesus gives a very succinct summary of his commandments in John 13:34-35:
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
If we dig a little deeper on this subject, we find more information on how to be fruitful. Peter tells us that through the knowledge of Jesus and God, we are given things that relate to life and godliness and that through the promises of God we can escape the corruption of sin and have the hope of immortality. If we want to bear fruit for God, we need to have faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. 2 Peter 1:3-8:
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, (4) by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
(5) For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, (6) and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, (7) and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
(8) For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What are the results of bearing fruit?
Bearing fruit requires focus on Jesus and trust in God. We bear fruit by abiding in Jesus and by becoming familiar with the commandments and promises of God. We have to develop them over the whole of our life. Our Christian life is an ongoing battle. If we ever give up the struggle, we will drift back into sin and death. We need to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. Luke 9:23-24
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
The dedication to our new life in Christ is really worth the struggle though. Paul outlines the wonderful consequence of following our Lord and master in Romans 6:22-23:
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To summarise the above:
- We bear fruit by abiding in Jesus
- The fruit we bear is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”
- The results of bearing fruit, is sanctification and through the grace of God, eternal life in Jesus our Lord.