Picking nits (well technically just one nit) again

I've been known to nitpick grammar a little bit too much. Usually it's all in good fun or perhaps out of annoyance at a simple, stupid mistake that should be so clear that it's impossible to mess up.

But sometimes little details can make a pretty significant difference. Consider the stray letter "s." Anyone who's played Scrabble (or Words With Friends or even Boggle) should be immediately familiar with how powerful that little letter can be.

A single "s" changes a prince into princes, and another one changes them into a princess.

So there is one nitpick that does irritate me related to this. It's not so much the error as how it's basically ignored and not even thought about or noticed that annoys me the most.

This is how Galatians 5:22-23 reads:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Catch that? Contrary to what I've heard a lot, this is not a laundry list of positive qualities that Christians should have. It's a description of the singular influence that the Holy Spirit should have in us. There are no "fruits," it's impossible to pick and choose because there is only one fruit of the Spirit.

Seems basic enough and I don't want to delve into anything too deep, but think about how that little detail changes the perception and meaning of the passage. Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest difference.