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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
Hello there, I have been sitting in Galatians 5 for a little while and enjoying the journey.
In verses 19 onwards we get this list of things desrcibed as the acts of the sinful nature / the works of the flesh: envy, selfish ambitions etc.
Here in verse 22, we have a list of the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace.... I want to draw our attention to the fact that it says the fruit of the Spirit, and not the root.
Ok, Steve, what's your point?
Well, I'm glad you asked. The list we see here are an outward expression of what is happening inside. They are the fruit of the new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new is here.
The old nature produces fruit of the list of negative behaviours (jealousy, hatred etc). The new nature produces fruit from the list in verses above. I believe that God wants us to be critically clear on this distintion that is about to follow.
We are not new creations who strain / do our best to produce love, joy, peace etc. No - we receive The Holy Spirit who comes in us, works in us, grows in us and produces in us the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is love, joy, peace, forebearance and all of that other wonderful fruit - which is seen coming out of us.
It is evidence of what is growing in us, not evidence that we are 'good' people trying our best to do 'good' things.
Our behaviour shows who we are - people in Christ with Christ in us. It indicates our identity: 'In Christ' and not in ourselves. The behaviour is the fruit of God the Holy Spirit taking residence in and working in us - We are not to try to be the root of our behaviour. That ignores the substitution Jesus made on the cross for us.
The verse '...go and bear fruit - fruit that will last' John 15:16 came to my mind. I think, what God wants us to get clarity on is the fact that the fruit that we try to produce by trying to be good - will not last. But fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit in us Who we have received into us, will be fruit that lasts.
It is important for us to make this distinction. Paul speaks of not boasting. If our behaviour comes from the Holy Spirit working in us, it is the Holy Spirit who we should be boasting about when good fruit comes out of us. If we are able to boast in ourselves about the 'good' fruit we have produced, then we need to question whether the 'good' fruit is actually good.
Steve Harewood
Galatians 5:22-23
Hello there, I have been sitting in Galatians 5 for a little while and enjoying the journey.
In verses 19 onwards we get this list of things desrcibed as the acts of the sinful nature / the works of the flesh: envy, selfish ambitions etc.
Here in verse 22, we have a list of the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace.... I want to draw our attention to the fact that it says the fruit of the Spirit, and not the root.
Ok, Steve, what's your point?
Well, I'm glad you asked. The list we see here are an outward expression of what is happening inside. They are the fruit of the new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new is here.
The old nature produces fruit of the list of negative behaviours (jealousy, hatred etc). The new nature produces fruit from the list in verses above. I believe that God wants us to be critically clear on this distintion that is about to follow.
We are not new creations who strain / do our best to produce love, joy, peace etc. No - we receive The Holy Spirit who comes in us, works in us, grows in us and produces in us the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is love, joy, peace, forebearance and all of that other wonderful fruit - which is seen coming out of us.
It is evidence of what is growing in us, not evidence that we are 'good' people trying our best to do 'good' things.
Our behaviour shows who we are - people in Christ with Christ in us. It indicates our identity: 'In Christ' and not in ourselves. The behaviour is the fruit of God the Holy Spirit taking residence in and working in us - We are not to try to be the root of our behaviour. That ignores the substitution Jesus made on the cross for us.
The verse '...go and bear fruit - fruit that will last' John 15:16 came to my mind. I think, what God wants us to get clarity on is the fact that the fruit that we try to produce by trying to be good - will not last. But fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit in us Who we have received into us, will be fruit that lasts.
It is important for us to make this distinction. Paul speaks of not boasting. If our behaviour comes from the Holy Spirit working in us, it is the Holy Spirit who we should be boasting about when good fruit comes out of us. If we are able to boast in ourselves about the 'good' fruit we have produced, then we need to question whether the 'good' fruit is actually good.
Steve Harewood
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FRUIT NOT ROOT
FRUIT NOT ROOT
