Righteousness produces fruit when sown in peace by those who make peace. The phrase indicates the fruit that righteousness itself generates rather than righteousness as the fruit produced. This fruit encompasses the qualities of purity, peaceableness, gentleness, willingness to yield, mercy, good fruits, impartiality, and absence of hypocrisy. Righteousness functions as the seed, yet that seed requires the proper condition of peace to germinate, grow, and bear its intended yield. Where peace is absent, growth is hindered regardless of the seed's quality, resulting in minimal or poor spiritual results. Peace therefore supplies the essential environment for spiritual prosperity, enabling believers to develop into the image of God without the distraction of conflict and its accompanying anxieties. God even permits divorce where peace cannot be maintained in a marriage, because an atmosphere of contention contributes little to forming His character. This emphasis on peace as the condition for the fruit of righteousness connects directly to the larger reality that the peace given through justification by faith and ongoing access to God sustains a life oriented toward His purpose rather than the world's restless strivings.