In 5:22-23 the apostle Paul
describes the fruit of the Spirit in glaring contrast to the manifestation =
of
the works of the flesh listed in verses 19-21. The flesh does its wor=
ks
without life while the Spirit produces fruit full of life. For a peri=
od
of time the outward appearance of godliness may result from the efforts to
fulfill the law, but eventually the works of the flesh will be manifest.&nb=
sp;
Since the flesh does its works without life the person attempting to live s=
uch
a life will not receive life nor be able to give life to others.
In contrast to the works of the flesh we have the life-giving Spirit=
(1
Cor. 15:45). The Spirit supplies life, produces fruit full of life, a=
nd
that fruit is able to feed and nourish others. The nine items in vers=
es
22 and 23 are not nine different kinds of fruit produced by the Spirit.&nbs=
p;
Paul is listing nine facets of the one fruit of the Spirit. The fruit=
of
the Spirit is a “super fruit” full of the characteristics of the
Spirit. We must be careful not to be caught focusing on trying to dev=
elop
the aspects of the fruit and neglecting the source of the fruit, the
Spirit. The more our spirits are properly nourished the more the Spir=
it
can operate and cause the growth.
The result of the fruit of the Spirit is that we become normal human
beings. The person described in 5:22-23 is somebody people like to be
around and a person that can be with all kinds of different people. T=
he
one who lives this life is Jesus Himself. The items here are the
characteristics of Christ. The fruit is the divine attributes being l=
ived
out of us as our very constitution. God is not after a group of well
behaving, good Christians. God desires sons. He is after a people who=
se
very person is constituted with and fully expressing His Son. He is a=
fter
people whose very person is the fruit of the Spirit.
In v.24-25 Paul answers the big question. He tells us how to become people that can manifest Chri=
st
through these kinds of virtues. We sometimes hope that Paul would give us a
step-by-step tutorial on how to get “rich in virtue” quick, but
instead he provides two seemingly cryptic verses to answer for us the
“how”.
Paul first addre=
sses
how to deal with the flesh in v.24,
“But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with
its passions and its lusts.” This verse offers valuable insights about
the way Paul saw the flesh. Notice that Paul didn’t recommend that the
Galatians try to improve their flesh. This is what they were doing as they =
were
striving to keep the law. They thought that they could live out Christ with=
out
living by Christ, the life-giving Spirit. Little did they realize that they
were in the wrong realm. There is no use improving and beautifying the fles=
h,
because the flesh “nothing good dwells in the flesh”. God gave =
the
law for the purpose of exposing the flesh and as a protection, but the
Galatians began to use the law wrongly to beautify the flesh. Paul’s
solution to the flesh is crucifixion.
When Paul talks about crucifixion, he’s
talking about both a fact and a present application. The fact is that ̶=
0;we
have crucified the flesh” (v.24) and the present application of the f=
act
is found in 2:20, which says, “I am crucified
with Christ...” Today, =
in the
year 2004, we need to experience the cross so that we can manifest the frui=
t of
the Spirit and live out Christ. Paul gives us a clear and practical way to
crucify our flesh, “Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulf=
ill
the lust of the flesh” (5:16). When we walk by the Spirit, the Spirit
leads us. In our experience, we often don’t want to follow the leadin=
g of
the Spirit. Often the Spirit will lead us to read the Bible, pray, fellowsh=
ip
with brothers, call a saint, do an act of kindness for someone, etc. and we
don’t want to or feel we don’t have the time. This is the flesh
opposing the Spirit. The more we walk by the Spirit by letting the Spirit l=
ead
us, the more we manifest the fruit of the Spirit and live out Christ.
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nbsp;