Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5: 22,23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

From Verse 16 onwards Paul encourages all of us to walk in the Spirit so that we can overcome the flesh. This walking is very crucial to every Christian. The advice is to completely ignore all fleshy desires (verse 24) and fulfill spiritual needs so that we live spiritually. Spiritual living is life that strongly believes that this flesh is temporary and so it builds the spirit for the eternal life Christ has prepared. The Holy Spirit takes precedence over our self for this preparation.

We also see the confrontation between the spirit and the flesh which cause us not to progress anywhere in life. We can see this situation in most Christians who do not move anywhere either spiritually or materially where this confusion is not handled well. Paul uses the word “we wish for” in verse 17 because we have wishes on both sides. If we had not started walking in the beginning spiritually, the flesh takes over easily and we end up being stagnant completely. This stagnancy is a situation God really hates because after sometime, we lose the necessity of salvation itself.

In this context, verse 18 says that if we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the law. This statement is given to us because, the law helps us control the flesh with fear whereas the Holy Spirit helps us progress towards Christlikeness which was not a necessity previously but now is mandatory. Paul uses the term “led by the Spirit” to establish that there is a new leader who has the responsibility. Law holds us from sinning but the Holy Spirit makes us holy and pure. We can see this in Mathew 4:1, Acts 16:7 etc where the Holy Spirit leads everybody to perfection and progression.

When Paul starts talking about the works of the flesh, he says that these actions and evident and thus prove the dominance of the flesh. This is one important location where Paul breaks his “No Condemnation” (Romans 8:1) teaching. The lesson here and also in Romans 8:1 is that we are saved from condemnation only when we are led by the Holy Spirit. If we are not being led so, it is evident that the flesh rules and so there will be condemnation for sure.

Paul uses the word “works” for these actions which explain how the flesh produces this. We do not realize at most incidents where the flesh is in control until it brings up these actions. If these actions show up, it is evident that the flesh has started to control a lot earlier in our thoughts and decisions and it has started to display externally. This is the reason the Holy Spirit resides inside us to stop the flesh in our thoughts.

If we categorize the works of the flesh the first four starts at our personal life, the next two with our relationship with God and all the rest on fellowship. This is the order in which we fail and also the areas in which we should be very careful at. Let us note that heresies and drunkenness are placed in between envy and anger. Heresies are ways that we twist the gospel to justify ourselves. This is placed along with murder because not only we are falsely justified but we make others fail into sin. Further on, Paul does not close the list but adds other items which the Holy Spirit conveys to us. This is because we should not judge by this list alone, but allow the Holy Spirit to help us understand a vast other areas in which we need cleansing. If we have a definite list, it becomes law.

Now, the fruit of the Spirit is given in singular form which shows that the complete fruit has all these characters. These are not individual fruits but attributes like the verse “God is Love”. The requirement for a fruit to be consumed is that all its characteristics should be present. If there is a fruit without sweetness or its skin it is immediately rejected. A person without self-control is as harmful as any person without all these characteristics.

The sentence “Against such there is no law” explains that there is no requirement of a law for people who had grown enough to become such a fruit. This does not remove the OT law alone but every other law. We become lights of the world as Jesus expects from us. The next verse (v24) says that these men have crucified their desires and passions so that these do not appear again for any other law to discipline them.

With this understanding let us honor the fellowship and liberty Jesus has given us.

Amen.

Falling from Grace

Galatians 5:4 “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. “

This situation is mentioned only here in the Bible where Grace is the tremendous outflow of God’s love upon mankind and yes there can be a situation where we can withdraw from this grace even after receiving it.  Satan’s one method of deception is that he convinces us that we have to try hard with our might to please God. This marks most of us as failures causing discouragement. But, this condemnation from a loving God comes not as the end result of our diversion towards law, but at the beginning. As soon as we try to use any other method other than grace to come towards God, then He is offended as we do not value His ultimate gift of grace.

This can be compared with a situation when a powerful person had come to visit us to our home and we ignore him and go try to get an appointment to meet the same person through his secretary. We need this understanding of grace where God has directly come to save us with His mighty wisdom , power and love. We have to note that the fall from grace has happened as soon as they attempted to be justified by law and not after they did that. Even a small thought of using our own strength offends Him.

From verse 2, we can understand that Christ will profit us nothing if we go back to law. During the dispensation of grace, God is very patient at our sins and weaknesses but is furious when we reject grace. This happens when we go behind celebrity pastors, prophets and trust in them completely than in Christ Himself.

Verses 5 and 6 explain that the only response we need to give back to grace is faith by love. In Luke 17:6 when Jesus was requested to increase the faith of the apostles, Jesus mentions about the power of faith even in the size of a mustard seed. This tiny faith becomes powerful not by of any of its characteristics, but because of its presence there. Sin does not remove faith, but deviation from grace removes the complete presence of faith. That’s why Jesus was excited by the faith of the Centurion in Mathew 8.

 The same incident as recorded in Mathew 17:20, the reason for the lack of ability to do miracles was that the disciples did not have faith (verse 17). There is a difference between absence of faith and presence in the size of a mustard seed. Any disbelief will automatically make us faithless. There are many verses (John 16:9) which point to the lack of faith leading towards sin. Faith is the license we are expected to have for Christian growth and the Holy Spirit helps as the fuel. Lack of faith distracts us to make drastic decisions in our personal and spiritual lives. If we are faithless and do not believe in God’s grace, we will try to do things on our own for salvation. Faith is total dependence on God’s might, wisdom and love.

In John 3:36, we see faith and obedience positioned in opposite directions. If somebody has faith, he will automatically obey and progress. If we do not have faith, then there is wrath of God. There is condemnation for people who do not have faith in the Son. There are many other verses like Mark 16:16 where lack of faith becomes the only reason for Christians to fail into sin.

In Mark 6:6, we read Jesus wondering how it is possible for people to not believe. These people were just the relatives of the Lord and we have higher expectations now as recipients of grace. After receiving grace, if we still cannot trust in Him, God is puzzled why man is so selfish that even the ultimate sacrifice would not make him believe. Satan has always been using deception as the best weapon against grace. Churches like the Roman Catholic church had failed because at some point they mixed other traditions and rituals in the church. This happens everywhere including protestant churches and now even Pentecostalism has started to fail because spiritual experiences and some partial sacrifices are being emphasized more than faith and grace. At some point everybody become church-goers and not true Christians.

Verse 8 portrays Christ as the one who had called us. The reason Paul uses this name is because we forget our purpose on why we had been called. Calling has been done after pre knowledge and  predestination. We have progressed these levels and after being called we are about to be justified by the blood of Christ. We are all in this level and will be glorified soon only because of our submission to grace and our possession of faith. Let us hold on tightly to grace.

Amen.

Known by God

Galatians 4:9 “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?”

Apostle Paul in this verse explains that if we had known God, we are now actually known by God Himself and so, the expectations on us are very higher. The problem Paul is raising here is that our status now is we have a mutual understanding with God and even then we try to please God by worldly elements. God takes these as insults and that’s why Paul is positioning this as a serious deviation from the plan of God on mankind. The actual requirement of God is that we have to turn away from sin and love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This is the progress we need to give to God and not in terms of anything of this world.

We are now in pursuit of a stronger and richer element after receiving grace. This is actual freedom. This is the best encouragement we can ever have in this world. But we still seek more mercy from God through deeds and this is pathetic. That is why Paul uses the word “beggarly”. As in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, the opposite of knowing God is lust. We need to note that knowledge removes lust and not power or wealth. If knowledge could remove lust, then the knowledge should be about something richer and much better. This understanding of God is needed to us. Whatever He has provided till now is nothing when compared to what He is.

As per John 17:3, knowing God is eternal life. This is the prize given to us. The previous verse explains that Jesus came to this earth with authority over all flesh so that we, people who were given to Jesus by the Father would know God and Jesus. We can read this as we’ll want to live forever with Him if we know Him. This knowledge of God that He loves us so much happened only when Christ came into this world. If we know more of Him, we would not just receive eternal life, but love inside us would overflow into eternal life as in the dialogue with Samaritan lady (John 4:13, 14). This is why God has sent His spirit to enable us call Him as “Abba Father”. This knowledge to make us lovingly call Him is eternal life. We are not called to live for ourselves in heaven, but are called there to love Him. 1 John 4:7, 8 says the basic quality of knowing God is to love Him.

Based on 1 Cor 8:3, God knows us through our love. The previous verse says that if we think we know a lot, we actually do not as there are ways in which we need to know things. And that sole way is love. Paul expects us to use this method of discernment in things like what to eat and what not. This is a wonderful encouragement to us where love rules over knowledge. Even if we do not know a lot about Christ and yet we love Him, He knows us completely.

If our knowledge about Him is so strongly focused on His love, then God expects to know how much we love Him. In reality, He already knows and is worried that our love isn’t maturing well in time.

To many of our questions during our Christian maturity like why there are problems, starvation or what is right or wrong, a clear answer is that we know God and God knows us. Based on Psalm 139:1, God has searched our real motives and knows us by them.  And since God does not just want us to prosper here, but prosper in heavenly riches, it requires Him to discipline us towards perfection. He looks at every motive (Proverbs 16:2) behind our deeds. If we do good for self-exclamation, it is immediately ignored by Him. This is the reason the Holy Spirit has come to live inside us and not as a physical companion. We need cleansing from within and not outwardly. Also, Christ hated hypocrisy more than any other sin as this leads to deception that we are right because the world sees us as righteous and then we land in hell. We have to listen to the Holy Spirit and change our inner thoughts first before showing off charity.

When raising children (1 Samuel 16:7), it is required that we ask them to develop the right motives because that is the actual weight that is valued. More than training them into wise or talented, we should want their hearts to be pure.