Tuesday
Tuesday
The Fruit of the Spirit
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22–23
The Holy Spirit not only is holy in his nature and character but works for the holiness of his people. Firstly, there are two opposing combatants—the flesh, meaning our inherited, fallen, twisted nature, and the Spirit, meaning the indwelling Holy Spirit himself. Moreover, the combatants have contrasting desires. So our Christian personality is a battle ground of opposing forces.
Secondly, there are two opposing lifestyles to which the two combatants lead. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious and very unpleasant. Paul lists fifteen of them and adds that the list is not exhaustive. They fall into four categories, namely sex, religion, society, and drink. But there is another lifestyle, as beautiful as the other is ugly. Love, joy, and peace characterize our relationship with God; patience, kindness, and goodness our relationship with others; and faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control our mastery of ourselves. They seem to be a portrait of Jesus and are identified as the fruit of the Spirit, since like fruit they grow naturally and steadily.
Thirdly, there are two opposing attitudes. That is, we are called to repudiate our sinful nature and surrender to the Holy Spirit. Indeed, those who belong to Christ Jesus have (already) crucified their sinful nature with its passions and desires (v. 24). That is, we have taken this evil, slimy, slippery thing called our sinful nature and have nailed it to the cross. Now we must leave it there. We must also surrender to the Holy Spirit and walk in step with him. These opposing attitudes are to be decisive, complete, and continuous. We are not to keep returning to the scene of crucifixion. It is similar in our attitude to the Holy Spirit. We need to cultivate the things of the Spirit by our wise use of our Sundays, our daily disciplined private devotion, our regular public worship and attendance at the Lord’s Supper, and our involvement in Christian service. For these are God-given means of grace, that is, channels through which God’s grace comes to us, and a major secret of sanctification.
For further reading: Galatians 5:16–26