THURSDAY 12th
Galatians 5:16-26
NIV (v22) – ‘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.’
ESV (vv22-23) – ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.’
As we come to these closing verses of chapter 5, Paul changes his analogy from the law or faith to that of walking either the way of the flesh or the way of the Spirit. His encouragement to the Galatian believers was to ‘walk by the Spirit’ this was the antidote to gratifying the’ desires of the flesh’.
We know this portion so well, Paul gives a list of some of the desires of the flesh and delivers a stern warning in verses 21, ‘. . . I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ Today Paul would be labelled a ‘bigot’ for making such a statement, how dare he say these things, what right did he have to determine what was acceptable or unacceptable behaviour and even go as far as to suggest who would or wouldn’t enter the Kingdom of God. But the reality is that what he was declaring was true, it was not his verdict, but the very verdict of God himself. He was echoing the heavenly judge’s verdict, the one who will always act rightly, for all his ways are perfect and just. Listen to what Abraham says in Genesis 18:25 ‘Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’ What about what Moses said in a verse I mentioned a few weeks ago, ‘. . . The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.’ (Deuteronomy 32:4) But what about this one, from the lips of God himself in Revelation 21, ‘And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.’ (vv5-8)
The ways of the flesh are repugnant to God, and so they also should be to us who have been born again by the Spirit of God. We have been set free, not to live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, to live in accord with that which pertains to righteousness and holiness, to that which is considered morally right in an immoral world, in accord to the revelation of and the standard of truth found in the Word of God.
Sadly, we do fail, and it may not be in the areas that Paul has highlighted in these verses, it could be so many other areas where we so easily fall and fail. We need to cling to the Holy Spirit as a child would cling to his or her parent for security, for protection and for guidance so that instead of fulfilling the desires of the flesh we will learn to walk in the ways of the Spirit and to be led by the Spirit so that the fruit of the Spirit will become clearly evident in our lives as we sojourn as pilgrims in this world on the way to our eternal home, the place which has been prepared for all who love and look for the appearance of the Saviour.
I mentioned that today Paul would be considered a ‘bigot’ for making his remarks, but he was not willing to shrink away from the truth but rather to declare the whole counsel of God. And today we will also have ourselves labelled in so many ways or ridiculed as we stand firm upon the truth of the Word of God, and to be able to stand firm, we first need to learn to walk in the ways of the Spirit. For he is the Spirit of truth, and truth is what the world needs to hear, the truth concerning heaven and hell, the truth of the gospel message, that God the righteous judge is also a merciful and gracious God who has provided a way for eternal redemption through Jesus who alone is the way, and the truth and the life. And if my saying that makes me a bigot in the eyes of the world, then sobeit for it’s the truth that matters, it’s the truth that counts and it is only the truth that will last.
It is not my intention to deal with the subject of the fruit of the Spirit here, we will consider this again as a later subject.
‘If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.’ (Galatians 5:25)