Have you ever felt confident you understood the meaning of a work of art or literature only to find out you were missing the main point?
Digging into the words used by Paul in Galatians 5 left me feeling this way. I experienced a profound redefining of what the fruit of the Spirit is all about after looking beyond the surface of the author’s words. I discovered the different elements point back to one another, building on each other to make a beautiful picture of the character God wants to form in us. Let me try and paint a new picture for you from words that are already well known.
The first fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5 is love. We should not be surprised by this since God stated in the Old Testament, and reiterated through Jesus in the New Testament, that the greatest call on our lives is to love—first, God and then others. This love is the Greek word agape. Agape is the type of love that is a deliberate decision to love the undeserving. It is the type of love God has for us. There is no obligation in it or qualification for it.
Agape is choosing to love those who are not easy to love or even like.
This feels to me like a much harder challenge than to just try and hold onto “that lovin’ feeling.”
The next part of the fruit is joy. Joy does not depend on our circumstances or emotions.
The joy given to us through the Holy Spirit is something we can experience no matter what is going on around us.
I have found I most often experience joy when I focus on the love God has for me and as I choose to step out and love others.
Peace in today’s vernacular refers to a lack of war, fighting, or conflict – tranquility.
However, Paul was not pointing to the peace we can find on our own in this world, but to the peace that comes only from knowing God is in control.
This kind of peace exists no matter what is going on in or around us. Like joy, it is not something we can conjure up in ourselves, but instead requires trust in God and His love for us.
Next on the list is patience. I often think of patience as a willingness to wait. The sense of not rushing and knowing I will get there if I can just hold out long enough. However, Martin Luther explains Godly patience, “Enables a person to bear adversity, injury, reproach, and makes them…wait for the improvement of those who have done him wrong.”
Godly patience is about enduring hard times.
We can do this fitfully, or we can do it with joy that is not dependent on our circumstances, empowered with the knowledge of God’s love for us and that He is in control.
Kindness and goodness are very closely related, not deviating far from today’s understanding of the two. However, goodness implies a level of generosity as well. We can share a kind word and meet a person’s needs “out of the goodness of our hearts.”
Faithfulness speaks to dedication over time.
It withstands struggles and temptations, good times and bad. It is easy to see God as a picture of faithfulness. I, on the other hand, need help from the Holy Spirit to not be swayed by worry or doubt; to keep believing even when nothing seems to make sense. As I have walked with God year after year not only does my faith in Him grow but so do the other areas of my character. I have seen that God truly is in control. This leads to more peace in my life which allows for joy to flow even in the hard times and for me to display kindness and generosity to those around me as I grow in love for God and others.
The list rounds out with gentleness and self-control. When Paul speaks of gentleness, he is not referring to a mild or meek temperament.
Instead, he is teaching about having a heart of humility; teachability, letting go of a superior attitude.
It also speaks to finding the balance between extreme anger and complete angerlessness.1 This kind of gentleness requires self-control, or mastery of self, that can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit. When we grow in self-control, it begins to fill out all the other areas of the fruit as well.
The fruit of the Spirit with all of its parts is a beautiful, well rounded, piece of art, commissioned by God Himself. All of its individual parts support each other, making the whole an integrated masterpiece.
Did any of these definitions surprise you? How will you let this picture of the fruit of the Spirit impact your heart, mind, and behavior?
