Galatians 5:22-26 Bible Teaching

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Galatians 5.22-end
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July 7th 2019

We left off with Paul introducing the works of the flesh which he says if practiced by someone they will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Now, to offset those various fleshly actions Paul presents us with the fruit of the Spirit. So, speaking of the flesh he wrote:

Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But now he adds our text for today, saying:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Okay, back to verse 22:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

The first thing to consider here is that Paul refers to the works of the flesh in the passages above but shifts here to the fruit of the Spirit.

The shift is subtle but very important. In fact, the scripture again subtly differentiates away from works of any kind (the law, the flesh) when it speaks of the Spirit.

Going back to the book of Ecclesiastes we get our initial taste of this biblical subtly when Solomon writes:

Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Then here in Galatians 3:2 Paul wrote

This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

And then

Galatians 3:5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you,? doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith.

In another subtlety, the writer of Hebrews wrote:
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The idea is that human being work – both the law and the flesh. Paul distinguishes between these activities and what the Spirit produces by calling the product of the Spirit FRUIT – not the works of the Spirit. In fact the phrase “works of the Spirit” is not found in scripture.

The only passages that speaks of working and spirit is found in 1st Corinthians 12:11, which says, speaking of spiritual gifts in the church

“But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”

I think that there is something significant in the descriptions of the flesh and law being tied to works and practicing, and the Spirit being tied to Fruit, like that which is created by a tree or vine – stone fruits like peaches and plums or aggregate fruits like strawberries or raspberry’s.

These fruits are the natural results of the vine or tree in question. They show up, arrive, and mature by the vine and tree simply being what the vine and tree were designed to be.

In other words, the tree does not concentrate really hard nor toil (work to produce the apple). It is the product of the tree – like flowers.
But I think Paul used fruit instead of flowers in describing the spirit because the fruit of the spirit is all pointed at feeding, serving, nourishing, aiding the health of the individuals involved and the world around them.

So again, the Holy Spirit produces the fruit in the life of the individual, not the person. For this reason I am personally VERY suspect of attempts by people to “bring the Spirit” via music, candles, chants, ceremonies and the like – all of that stuff, to me, are works of the flesh to try and create peaceful settings that mimic (in the flesh) the things described.

So Paul is describing here things that do not flow from our own nature. All of the vices enumerated above are the products or “works” or result of human fleshly nature. But with the Fruit of the Spirit Paul does not trace them to us, but only to the Spirit itself.

The fruit of the Spirit is LOVE.

Of course, we see that the phrase is the fruit (singular) of the Spirit (singular) is love (singular).

My mentor Chuck Smith used to say that there should have been a colon placed after love, with all of the characteristics that follow in thereafter being expressions of this singular love (joy, peace).

But when scripture talks about love (and the word here is Agape not eros or philos or storgay) it is always referring to the type of love that is described in 1st Corinthians 13 and that love as it is shown toward God and Man.

Remember these qualifications –

The fruit of the Spirit is love.
That love is agape love not the others.
Which is described by 1st Corinthians 13
And is always a love toward others – first God then our fellow human beings.

These articles help us discern the spirit in our lives verses just feeling all gooey and happy – which drugs and circumstances are very adept at producing.

In all probability the love we have for others is what Paul intends here as this list is in contradistinction to the vices listed last week (which are primarily perpetrated upon each other.

We have talked long and hard on love so I am going to proceed to the next term – joy.

We know we are in operations of the Spirit when we have joy present in the things of the faith.

When we think about it, when we are truly in the service of God, out of gratitude for His love and the redemption we have received, there is joy in that communion.

But when we are serving in our flesh, out of compulsion or resentment, that joy is gone.

I used to be such a slacker when it came to serving others because it was all in relation to me and the good I was doing for them.

This attitude was in direct correlation to the amount of appreciation I had to God for saving me through the life and death of His Son.

I would also get really resentful for having to spend my time in the service of others. And then I had zero patience with others who were difficult – all because I was doing the serving and I was trapped, and I was being imposed upon.

Honestly, it was only when I came to really see how MUCH God had done for this reprobate in his life that the I died, and the joy entered each situation.

Peace.

Jesus told his disciples that He was leaving them peace – but not as the world gives it was He giving it to them. This was the Holy Spirit he was describing.

Paul, in Romans 5:1 wrote:

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Most of the worlds best philosophers suggest that the great looming fear over all human beings is the fear of death.
That both consciously and unconsciously we are all terrified of the fact that we are going to take our last breaths and enter into an unknown realm.

If that realm includes the silence of a godless grave forevermore the experience is frightening, but worse yet the human conscience is terrified by the notion that all we have said and done will be manifest before a creator who is less than benevolent.

In the reconciliation found in and through the blood of Jesus to our lives, the Holy Spirit bestows a peace that is not of this world upon us and when it is present, even amidst extreme trials and chaos, it is not only a fruit of the Spirit, but it is otherworldly and remarkable.

Long-suffering – this ties in to the terms above of joy and peace and love for others. And it might be one of the most difficult to allow in our lives (I put it that way because I am convinced that the fruit is offered but the individual has to allow it into their lives).

Our flesh is conditioned to attack, to get angry and accusatory – we see the faults of others so readily and after expressing some suffering have a hard time to experiencing Long Suffering.

But the fruit of the Spirit is present and calling us to exercise patience with others in their faults – and when we do we know that we are walking in such.

The following words that Paul includes seem to describe the way our longsuffering plays out in the situations and people who afflict us and our personalities.

They include:

Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance

In 2nd Corinthians 6:6 the Greek word is translated Kindness. It means the opposite of being “cranky, harsh” or “of an ill temper.”

Instead, unruffled, polite, calm.

“Goodness.”

A disposition to do and see and find good in situations, and people and in God.

To me, goodness is in many ways a manifestation of trust and hope. And so when things seem to be falling apart around us, goodness rises up and makes a claim.

“Faith.”

Of course we speak of faith constantly as believers but I tend to think that faith here best describes faithfulness – as in the Spirit moves us to do right, to follow through what we promise, that we can be trusted and have confidence placed in us.
Fidelity might be the word – is a fruit of the Spirit – whereas the flesh causes us to be deceitful, manipulative, unreliable and making promises that we will never keep.
(two more at verse 23)

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Meekness.

Meekness is best described as patient in the reception of injuries. It does not include meanness NOR the surrender of our rights. It is not cowardice, but it seems to be the opposite of sudden anger, of malice, revenge or vengeance. The Meekness of Christ is evidenced when he said, after being struck:

“If I have done evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?”

So we need to remove the picture established that a meek person is a answerless push-over. Not easy to do – but even Jesus described himself as “meek and lowly.”

AT the core of meekness, it seems is a trust that God will handle all injustice, all injuries, all wrongs.

Along the way those in possession of it do not harbor malice, scream because their rights have been infringed upon, or with relentless venom attack.

Meekness and patience are of the same coin absent the harboring of malice.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:19:

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord,” and a meek soul trusts in this promise.

Interestingly, these characteristics are interactive as the presence of genuine meekness produces genuine peace that is not of this world.

There is no retaliation for minor insults – and sometime major – as longsuffering steps in to do her part. This fruit of the Spirit – truly otherworldly.

When Jesus said that the “meek shall inherit the earth,” it might better be understood as land.

Which was a direct reference a way to describe a great blessing anciently as this was what the father of the faith looked to inherit – the land.

So traveling through the wilderness, the Nation looked toward the time to inherit the promised land, and this might be the way Jesus is meaning the promise of a great future blessing.

Finally, he adds, “temperance,” which means, self-control, continence and is derived from the Greek terms, “en and kratov,” which mean “strength,” and have reference to the power or ascendancy over our passions.

Self-rule – which the person described last week in verses 21-22 does not have.

Our word for temperance (as in the temperance movement) is far more limiting in its definition of refraining from intoxicating drinks.

The word here means the overall dominion over all evil propensities – including all of the expressions of the flesh we have already studied.

The sense here is that the influences of the Holy Spirit on the heart and mind of a person helps them moderate their lives and allows them to control his evil propensities, and to subdue all inordinate affections of the flesh.

And then Paul add, “against such there is no law.”

Meaning, there is no law on earth or heaven to condemn such people. Why? Because the Law cannot, does not denounce such things.

And then he drops the bomb that we cannot get around. Before I read it I want to make it clear that it is only in and through and by the Spirit that a Christian is able to comply with what it describes. And so Paul says:

24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

For this reason, we sing what Paul has written:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is not longer I WHO LIVES. But Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live IN THE FLESH, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God for if RIGHTEOUSNESS comes through the Law then Christ died in vain.”

Again –

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Because of passages like this there is a tendency to try and force or demand or police believers – and to make sure that they are in compliance – not so much with the fruit of the Spirit as they are not feeding their flesh.

I think it is an overall mistake and a failure of an approach.

To me the Christian focus, again, is not on the flesh and its ways, but on the new person, who has been crucified with Christ.

So we focus on Christ, we learn about Him, we feed the Spirit and not the flesh and let the Fruit of the Spirit take hold in the person as a means to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Paul clearly writes here that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh.”

And here we have the fulfillment of Christ and his life, death and resurrection in the life of all who receive him by faith.

Yes, he was put to death on the cross for our sins. But an ancillary purpose for this sacrifice is found in the meaning of His literal death and resurrection to all who are His.

In other words, as Paul clearly says:

They that ARE Christ’s (and this gives us pause to ask, are we Christs – am I Christs) have crucified their flesh and the lusts thereof.

How does that work?

If something is supposed to be crucified in the followers of Christ what is it?

It is the body of our former person, the flesh, the carnality. It is to be offered up in crucifixion, to die with Christ, and being put to death, there is only one person, one identity that rises up out of the tomb – the new creature, the new creation, the new identity – again, because the FORMER man or woman has died with Christ.

If we are his, this must be true in some sense or another. And we can see that Paul has moved us from a treatise on faith alone to the fact that being saved by faith alone is not the end-all in the Christian walk.

The end all is to then WALK (live, act, speak, react) not in the flesh which is dead but in the Spirit, producing the fruit of the Spirit thereof.

I have to go back to the old example but when can we be sure that an alcoholic will never take another drink?

When they are dead – the rest of the time, when they are alive in the flesh – there is a risk that they will return to the bottle.

And so Paul maintains that all who are actually Christ HAVE BEEN crucified with Christ, and all the affectations of their flesh and died.

I would remind us all that this is not an immediate event, nor once it happens does it last forever.

Instead I would suggest that we, like Paul, have to choose to die daily, to take up our cross daily – and this notion helps eliminate the idea that once we receive Christ we walk in perfection from that point forward.

Hardly.

Again, we come back to practicing the flesh or living by the Spirit.

So Paul concludes with a reminder to the believers at Galatia, saying:

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Remember, the Holy Spirit is calling and working on each of us. And in and over the course of time we learn by exposure to it and receiving its ways when possible, to relinquish our will to it – which is the will of God.

It takes time, fortifications of the Spirit, and a desire to please God and not the self or the will of the carnal mind.

Is it possible? Only with God. Only with God. We cannot do it ourselves and so I submit you that there is a prerequisite to growth in the Spirit.

A Love for God.
Humility
Contrition

If there is a resistance to the Spirit in us and all that Paul has said here to describe them, I would suggest that we have to examine ourselves and in so doing we will find some manifestation of pride, some arrogance, some wall in our soul that refuses to comply with the will of a loving God.

Perhaps we believe that there is someone who does not deserve or has not earned our forgiveness?

Maybe we see in others some faults that we believe – having judged them since we have insight to everything about them – that they are not worthy of our love and attention.

All of these attitudes are the result of FAILING to humbly see ourselves before our maker in the light of reality.

And because of this view, there is a lack of humility and contrition.

Remember, the Holy Spirit is good, pure, light and love. It’s purpose is to bring us to the ways of Christ, to teach us all things, to show us what is acceptable.

The fruit of this Holy Spirit is LOVE – and we notice that the fruit of the Spirit does not include doctrinal certitude, knowledge, intelligence, an ability to castigate or insult or sentence people to hell.

The fruit of the Spirit is unifying because it causes the recipients of it to die to self-will, opinions, ardent perspectives, and let their stuff fade in the light of God’s stuff.

We all see through a glass darkly. We all sin in various ways and means – from the youngest flesh eaters to the mature Saints – we all fall short.

The Spirit is crying for true Sons and Daughters to lead the way in love, and goodness, and kindness, and the rest.

For some reason the collective body of churches today tend to shy away from the Fruit of the Spirit and lean toward law, harshness, judgment, and division in the name of God.

But this treatise says nothing of the sort.
In fact let’s just do a little mental exercise here.

Suppose that we are in a large room like this and it was filled with every walk of life in the world – all lifestyles, all faiths, all religions.

And suppose that there was an abundance of the Holy Spirit present.

What would be the outcome? There would be unity and love, wouldn’t there!?

There would have to be because that is the Fruit of the Spirit. And in the expressions and ambiance of this love, all people there would realize that there was something unique to the experience – if they were willing.

And in this, the goodness of God, such who were willing would receive the Good News – in time.

Those who want to live by their flesh and do what they want would, again in time, choose to never come back. They want what their flesh wants.

But in the abundance of the Spirit, a few, some or many would realize that there is more to live than the flesh.

Now suppose that instead of the Spirit of God present here with all of its fruits, there was instead the ways and will of Man present in the room:

As Paul says, there is “hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings” for those of different lifestyles and life choices.

What would be the result? We know.

So even in the presence of a room full of truly different and disparate folks, the PRESENCE of the Holy Spirit would be wonderful for any and all who sought to partake in it.

But let’s drop this down to a room full of believers in Jesus Christ – all different denoms and all different views – but still believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Spirit there would be MORE than duly noted and would blow apart all the natural inclinations to accuse and debate and divide, right?

And yet, we refuse to “do church” that way, don’t we?

Paul ends this chapter with a verse that applies to the church of believers in Christ and says, having talked all about the Fruit of the Spirit:

26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

And then chapter six launches into how to deal with those in the church in that age who have been taken in a fault.

But let’s conclude today with this last verse as Paul says to the church at Galatia:

“Let us not be desirous of vain glory.”

Remember what I said would get in the way of the Spirit? A lack of humility, contrition and the like.

Here Paul concurs in and through his direct advice to the believers then – don’t be desirous of “vain glory,” which is a Greek term “kenodoxoi” that means, don’t desire to possess proud or vain advantages among each other like those from birth, inheritance, property, eloquence, or education.

It appears – but isn’t stated – that there was potentially a problem at Galatia with such and so Paul uses this time to address it.

When we think about it, few things divide a group more than one segment thinking they are all that and entitled to special privileges and treatment and in that state looking down on others who are not, in their opinion, up to snuff.

Of course this could have direct reference to the Jewish converts who were not only attempting to sway believers to the Law but also took pride in their birth and heritage, their education and knowledge of the scripture, and apparently the fact that they saw themselves a better because of their adherence to the Law of Moses.

Paul sees such things as of little important in the salvation of believers and is warning against such appeals -which are always appeals of the flesh.

To the extent that they gave themselves over to vain glory, Paul ties two warnings to such, adding that it would cause the “Provoking of one another,” which needs no explanation, and “envying one another,” which again is the natural by-product of those seeking vain glory.

In other words, all the fleshly stuff – bragging, humble bragging – about anything – is not part of the Christian walk in the Spirit.

If its included it will cause division, which is contrary to the will and work of the Spirit.

We are going to stop here and enter into chapter six, the final chapter in Galatians, next week.

Questions/Comments
Prayer

Nancy and Dave Bontempo

The sense is, that they who are desirous of vain glory, do provoke one another. They provoke those whom they regard as inferiors by a haughty carriage and a contemptuous manner towards them. They look upon-them often with contempt; pass them by with disdain; treat them as beneath their notice; and this provokes, on the other hand, hard feeling, and hatred, and a disposition to take revenge. When men regard themselves as equal in their great and vital interests; when they feel that they are fellow-heirs of the grace of life; when they feel that they belong to one great family, and are in their great interests on a level; deriving no advantage from birth and blood; on a level as descendants of the same apostate father; as being themselves sinners; on a level at the foot of the cross, at the communion table, on beds of sickness, in the grave, and at the bar of God; when they feel this, then the consequences here referred to will be avoided. There will be no haughty carriage such as to provoke opposition; and, on the other hand, there will be no envy on account of the superior rank of others.

Envying one another. On account of their superior wealth, rank, talent, learning. The true way to cure envy is to make men feel that in their great and important interests they are on a level. Their great interests are beyond the grave. The distinctions of this life are temporary, and are comparative trifles. Soon all will be on a level in the grave, and at the bar of God, and in heaven. Wealth, and honour, and rank do not avail there. The poorest man will wear as bright a crown as the rich; the man of most humble birth will be admitted as near the throne as he who can boast the longest line of illustrious ancestors. Why should a man who is soon to wear a “crown incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,” envy him who has a ducal coronet here, or a royal diadem–baubles that are soon to be laid aside for ever? Why should he, though poor here, who is soon to inherit the treasures of heaven, where “moth and rust do not corrupt,” envy him who can walk over a few acres as his own, or who has accumulated a glittering pile of dust, soon to be left for ever? Why should he who is soon to wear the robes of salvation, made “white in the blood of the Lamb,” envy him who is “clothed in purple and fine linen,” or who can adorn himself and his family in the most gorgeous attire which art and skill can make, soon to give place to the winding-sheet, soon to be succeeded by the simple garb which the most humble wears in the grave? If men feel that their great interests are beyond the tomb; that in the important matter of salvation they are on a level; that soon they are to be undistinguished beneath the clods of the valley, how unimportant comparatively would it seem to adorn their bodies, to advance their name and rank, and to improve their estates? The rich and the great would cease to look down with contempt on those of more humble rank; and the poor would cease to envy those above them, for they are soon to be their equals in the grave; their equals, perhaps their superiors, in heaven !

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
1Ti 1:9
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24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. {affections: or, passions}
Ro 6:6; 13:14; Ga 2:20; 1Pe 2:11
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Robertson’s NT Word Pictures:
Crucified the flesh (tên sarka estaurôsan). Definite event, first aorist active indicative of stauroô as in Ga 2:19 (mystical union with Christ). Paul uses sarx here in the same sense as in verses Ga 5:16,17,19, “the force in men that makes for evil” (Burton). With (sun). “Together with,” emphasizing “the completeness of the extermination of this evil force” and the guarantee of victory over one’s passions and dispositions toward evil.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Ro 8:4-5; Ga 5:16
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Robertson’s NT Word Pictures:
By the Spirit let us also walk (pneumati kai stoichômen). Present subjunctive (volitive) of stoicheô, “Let us also go on walking by the Spirit.” Let us make our steps by the help and guidance of the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Php 2:3
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Robertson’s NT Word Pictures:
Let us not be (mê ginômetha). Present middle subjunctive (volitive), “Let us cease becoming vainglorious” (kenodoxoi), late word only here in N.T. (kenos, doxa). Once in Epictetus in same sense. Provoking one another (allêlous prokaloumenoi). Old word prokaleô, to call forth, to challenge to combat. Only here in N.T. and in bad sense. The word for “provoke” in Heb 10:24 is paroxusmon (our “paroxysm”). Envying (phthonountes). Old verb from phthonos. Only here in N.T.