But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
Theme: About Our God
“So I say, walk by the Spirit…” – Galatians 5:16 (NIV)
This week kicks off a new theme — About Our God. For the next couple of weeks we’ll look at verses that highlight characteristics of our awesome God, and Galatians 5:22-23 is a great place to start…
In chapter 5 of his letter to the Galatians, Paul contrasts the traits of the Holy Spirit with the sinful desires of our human nature (“the flesh”). Galatians 5:17-21 tells us that our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit are in conflict with each other, and these verses list some of the traits of that sinful nature. Galatians 5:22-23 then highlights the positive and pure characteristics of the Holy Spirit. These are the traits that we, as Christians who live by the Spirit, should put on display in all that we do.
• Love…loving our Lord and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves
• Joy…a heart that finds happiness, rejoices, and shouts for joy at the blessings we have
• Peace…a heart that is content and avoids conflict
• Longsuffering…being patient with each other and with our circumstances
• Kindness…choosing to be kind to one another, even when others aren’t kind to us
• Goodness…saying and doing good things and actively avoiding evil
• Faithfulness…to our God, to our families, to our friends, and with our resources
• Gentleness…providing a gentle answer that turns away wrath
• Self Control…choosing to do what’s right and controlling our anger
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” – Galatians 5:25 (NIV)
For anyone who might like to explore this topic further…
• Paul makes it crystal clear that the Spirit and the flesh are at odds with each other in verse 17:
“For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, …”
• This battle between the Spirit and the flesh rages within all of us (as Christians), and Paul understood the battle well. Here’s how he described it in his letter to the Romans:
“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” – Romans 7:18-20 (NIV)
In other words, Paul is saying: I know what I should do, and I don’t do it…and I know what I shouldn’t do, and I do it anyway…
In a strange way, I’ve always found this passage of scripture encouraging. If Paul, the person God chose to carry His message to the world and write most what we know of as the New Testament, struggled with his sinful nature, then it should be no surprise that we will also struggle with our sinful nature.
The encouraging news is that we can turn to the same place Paul turned to for help. In Romans 7:24 Paul asks “Who will rescue me from this body…?” [referring to the body that hosts his sinful nature], but he answers his own question in verse 25.
“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
