Gal. 5:22-23; John 15:1-8,16, Fruit of the Spirit

We now turn to the “fruit” of the Spirit.  We are, in effect, a tree full of blessing to the glory of God and the benefit of others.  The fruit of that tree is the result of Christ’s living in us (Gal. 2:20).  Christ lives in those who live in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25).  They have been born again by the Spirit (Jn. 3:8). 

We noted that the works of the flesh were the result of liberty that is not serving others through love.  Many hold that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joined by eight manifestations; or that all together the nine depict love.  The argument is that the word “fruit” is singular and thus there is one kind of fruit on the tree.  It is true, that love fulfills all the law (5:14) and that love is the perfect binding that wraps up all Christian character (Col. 3:14).  But a better way to understand this, I believe, is that there is one type of fruit that includes all nine aspects.  It is hard to think of having love but not peace; or goodness and not faithfulness, and so on.

Let us define these terms here, and then, Lord willing, we will come back in greater detail to study these aspects of love after we finish Galatians.

Ø Love: Love is what God is (1 Jn. 4:16).  Love has in mind the well-being of others.  There are two common ingredients in the Bible’s description of love: giving and sacrifice.  However, in terms of love for Christ, He also says if you love Me, keep my commandments.  Again, This is love, that we walk according to His commandments (2 John 6).  Perhaps the point is that we cannot define love ourselves; we need to walk in His commands to be walking in love (Eph. 5:2).  The Bible defines love by a Person (God) and an action (Christ making propitiation for our sins).  Let me say it now, every one of these “fruit of the Spirit” find the fullest and perfect expression in that same Person.  The life lived by those who walk in the Spirit is the life that our Lord lived on this earth.

Ø Joy: “inner delight,” resulting from harmony with God that demands outward expression.  The Greek term finds its highest fulfillment in the NT.  To Greeks joy was closely associated with amusement and leisure and the like.  But in Christ joy is at its best in trials.

Ø Peace: Strictly speaking, peace is the absence of war, general well-being; contentment; rest from works and/or burden-bearing.  But in the Scriptures we see peace on many levels (internally, externally, spiritually with God).  Here is Vine’s definition of the “rest” we have in Christ:

Christ’s rest is not a rest from work but a rest in work, not the rest of inactivity but of the harmonious working of all the faculties and affections – of will, heart, imagination, conscience – because each has found in God the ideal sphere for its satisfaction and development.

We will conclude this part of our study in our next post, Lord willing.