Galatians 5:19-23, Eph. 4:25-32, Getting Started on the Fruit of the Spirit

Over my years of ministry I have enjoyed devoting time to word studies of the character traits of our life in Christ.  The “fruit of the Spirit” in Gal. 5:22-23 is a list of those traits.  We can never study character traits (what we are to be) apart from the context which will always remind us how we are to become what we are to be. 

I say this to let you know I understand the danger of stringing together isolated verses on a particular subject.  Thus, we are doing this study immediately after a study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  That should help us stay grounded on the context issue.  We are talking about walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), about being crucified with Christ, yet living because Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20). 

Now, what we wish to do is to do detailed word studies of the list of nine fruit of the Spirit and the contrasting list of the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21).  Let me explain our approach.  We want to take the works of the flesh (that list comes first) in order.  Then we will arrange the fruit of the Spirit in reverse order, matching the fruit with contrasting works.  Here is what I mean:

Self-Control

Sexual sins/Gentleness, Faithfulness

Sins of false worship

Sins of hatred/Goodness, Kindness

Sins of Selfishness/Patience, Peace

Drunkenness, orgies/Joy

Love

Speaking of the fruit in this way causes the life of Christ to shine even more brightly, in the same way a flashlight brings brilliance to the darkest night.  We begin with self-control and end with love.  It seems to me these are two traits that are critical to dealing with every area of the Christian life.  You also see that the “sins of false worship” have no contrasting fruit.  False worship deals with the first commandment: love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.  The other areas deal more with human relationships. 

Many of our definitions come from Bill Gothard, a popular teacher in the 1970’s, who eventually ran afoul of some moral issues.  I don’t mean to promote him or even his teaching.  But I do find his definitions of character traits to be good working definitions.  We will also lean on W. E. Vine (Expository Dictionary of NT Words).  One is a practical definition, the other a Biblical definition.

Please understand: this is not some rigid set-up that God should have had Paul adopt in writing the letter.  This is just a way of helping us study our life in Christ with maximum opportunity for application.  We hope this will be a blessing!