But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22–23.
We are concerned about the relationship between the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. Most of us live far below our capacities because of the many inner conflicts and frustrations which drain away a great deal of our spiritual energy. We could probably be one hundred percent more effective in serving the Lord if we did not suffer fatigue. The fatigue is mostly caused by pressures and stress within, not by the actual work of the Lord or by doing His will.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the answer to this problem, for by it the energies, the blessings, and the endowments of God are released within His people.
The fruit of the Spirit acts as a detonator (that which causes a charge to go off), bringing forth the full capacity of what God has placed within us. The fruit of the Spirit also serves as a great deterrent to the exhausting quality of inner stress and emotions.
For example, the peace of God can keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). It can suppress and hold in check everything that would normally shatter and exhaust you. The fruit of the Spirit serves as a regulator, or as a detonator, or as a suppressor of many things. Without the endowment of the fruit of the Spirit that God is producing within us there can be no real ministry and no effective operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
How can we acquire the fruit of the Spirit? This is very simple, but first we must change our standard approach to God. Usually we approach the Lord with human striving instead of being confident before Him. We come with struggle instead of a deep opening up to Him and appropriating that which He wants to give (Hebrews 4:16).
The key to this is to understand that God desires to reproduce His attributes in His people. This was His predestined plan, even before the foundation of the world. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Romans 8:29a, KJV.
Peter explains very clearly that God’s divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. He has given us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. II Peter 1:3–4, KJV. The fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh are actually mentioned right in this passage.
God wants you to participate in His attributes—His love, His joy, His peace! These are not qualities of the human nature that can be amplified and perfected; they are qualities of God’s own nature. He is bringing forth His own attributes within you. He is the faithful and true witness (Revelation 3:14); and so He works in you His faithfulness. He is love (I John 4:8); and so He works in you His love.
God has no incommunicable attributes. Everything that He is will be communicated to His new creation—even His great attribute of omniscience. I Corinthians 13:12 tells us that we will know even as we are known. His eternity will be communicated to us. One day we will know that tremendous life without end—eternal life in the expanse of eternity—just as God knows it. We will know His power, for He has ordained that if we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him (II Timothy 2:12, KJV). We will know His authority and His Lordship.
We will become everything that He is! At the present time, we are sons of God traveling incognito. It has not yet appeared what we shall be, but we know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. I John 3:2b.
Appears means to manifest and is in the aorist subjective tense which is the momentary tense, which refers to the appearing of the lord in these last days. This is not talking about the rapture, but his coming to us in which the disciples saw him go into heaven. He appeared to the disciples for forty days and then the waited 10 days in the upper room preparing for the outpouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost.
On the day of Pentecost they were baptized in the Spirit and received miracle working power to witness, referring to the promise of the Father-Acts 1:4-5. There will be a second coming of the Holy Spirit before the rapture which is a snatching away. If you have ever been raptured it is a scary event because of the speed in which you are traveling, I have been raptured once shooting through two galaxies as fast as the speed of light.
When he left the disciples he floated up into the air into the cloud of witnesses. This is a manifestation of his authority over the second heaven in which many fallen angles rule over the nations.
And he will come to his witnesses in these lasts days in like manner. It is like floating or flying in the spirit, you are moving very slowly, I experienced this right before I was raptured. Every encounter we have with the Lord changes us to the degree that we see him, it is a steadfastly looking or gazing at the Lord and it changes us.
Acts 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Acts 1: 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly (Root: from a compound of two words 1 the Greek word a. in Hebrew it is the first letter of the alphabet alpha (as a particle of union) and teino (to stretch); to gaze intently, behold earnestly, stedfastly, fasten the eyes upon, to stretch forth the neck and look so that you don’t miss anything) (earnestly, stedfastly, up stedfastly), set eyes.toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing (To look in the face, fix the eyes upon, stare at ) up into heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
What is the secret to moving in these promises? Do we have to wait until we die and go to heaven in order to receive them? Is some dispensational limitation holding us back, or is it possible, according to the Scriptures, to participate in these wonderful things of God right now?
How do we open our hearts so that the nature of God can be reproduced within us? Merely seeking answers to problems will not project us into these promises. Instead, we must rise in God to a place above the problems.
Usually your circumstances are beyond an answer. The only solution is that you rise to a spiritual place or sphere above them. When you come to an uncrossable river, do not try to build a raft or a boat. Instead, wait upon the Lord. Renew your strength. Then mount up with wings of eagles and fly over the river! Eagles do not worry about crossing rivers. Baby eagles are not taught to swim because they do not cross rivers that way; instead, they are taught to fly. God intends that we, like the eagle, rise above the problems—not swim through them!
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and rigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40:28–31.
There are not many answers in the New Testament. It is not a psychology book which provides counseling for solving problems; it is much more. Problems will always exist. For instance, during the Civil War, preachers in both the North and the South tried to find Bible verses about slavery. Those in the South insisted that no Scripture could be found forbidding slavery, while those in the North used the Scriptures to preach against slavery.
However, as far as the revelation of His Word was concerned, God’s interest was not merely in the abolition of slavery. He never has been primarily concerned about social reform or about the problems of social welfare. The solution to human problems was never the purpose of the Book. God did establish certain rules by which people can live together, but the basic problems that cause human misery are not His main concern.
His main objective is to provide something of Himself so that where we lack, we can be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19). This is the only answer. A thousand different problems may exist, but they can all be solved very simply by learning to open up and let God meet the need. And He will meet it, absolutely and completely.
The book of Galatians, more than any other book, puts an end to the human striving of the believer and brings him into the grace of God. Chapter 5 describes the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. It will paint a picture in your heart that will teach you to be open to God so that the things of His Spirit can be reproduced in you. It will help you to appropriate everything that God has for you.
Galatians 5:1–12, ASV: For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that, if Ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Yea, I testify again to every man that receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace. For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love. Ye were running well; who hindered you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion came not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence toward you in the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? then hath the stumbling-block of the cross been done away. I would that they that unsettle you would even go beyond circumcision.
This passage deals with the deadliness of legalism, of serving God by rules and regulations. Legalism is the greatest of all deterrents to the flow of God’s life into His people.
It is amazing that whenever the Spirit of the Lord begins to work in people’s lives, there is always a temptation to do what the Galatians did—try to finish in the flesh what God began in the Spirit.
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:2–3.
The Pentecostal movement is an example of this truth. They opened their hearts to certain blessings, such as the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. Then they realized that something more was needed, and so some of them began laying down rules and regulations. The outcome was a standard of holiness demanding an austere manner or behavior, and conduct.
However, any church following such legalistic standards levels off at the plane of experience they have received, never to go any further in God; usually they retrogress spiritually. They can “preach” people up to that experience; but then the whole thing is stifled, and nothing more from God is experienced.
Not only must we come into the grace of God and experience Him as the author of our faith; we must also experience Him, through His grace, as the finisher of our faith who leads us into perfection and into all that He provides (Hebrews 12:2).
What keeps you from growing spiritually? What makes unattainable the promises that God set before you when you became a Christian? If you want to receive circumcision, to live by a legalistic set of rules, you have been severed from Christ. If you seek to be justified by the Law, you have fallen from grace. Galatians 5:4. God called you to freedom! He called you to be free!
What happened to the Galatians? The Judaizers came to Galatia preaching a religion which was half Christianity and half the Law of Moses. They insisted that the Galatians be circumcised and keep certain rituals and observances of the old Law, as though their salvation was contingent upon these acts. The Galatians had been rejoicing in the Lord, but then they decided to be obedient to what the Judaizers commanded. It was at this time that Paul wrote to them, Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? Galatians 4:15a, KJV. Where is all the joy you had? It has leaked away. It is gone!
Paul explained something to them. He said: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians 2:20–21, KJV.
He was not struggling to live a Christian life; he was letting Christ live through him. In the early churches where the gospel was really understood, the people had an entirely different attitude than the Judaizers about what it meant to be a Christian. They knew that it was not their own efforts; it was their openness to God’s efforts for and in them.
The terminology of the religious world reflects the legalistic attitude of the Judaizers. Everyday phrases echo that legalistic approach to God. For example, people say, “Well, we have to get to work for the Lord. He needs people who will work for Him. Let’s get out in the harvest field and be laborers for the Lord.” That is ridiculous! The Lord never needed anyone to work for Him and He never will. He can do His work by Himself more quickly than a human being can do it for Him.
The Word does not say that God needs people to work for Him; it says that we are “laborers together with Christ” (I Corinthians 3:9). Christ does not need people to work for Him in human strength; He needs people to open their hearts so that He can work with and through them. What counts is not human effort, but divine effort through us. Mark 16 tells us that the disciples went everywhere preaching the Word, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Mark 16:20, KJV.
What we do by ourselves bears no fruit, but what we open our hearts for God to do through us is tremendously effective.
How can we surrender to God and let Him become great within us? That is what the book of Galatians is about, from beginning to end. Paul said, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:6.
You will not overcome by being circumcised, nor will you overcome by not being circumcised. Each case is an example of human effort.
At one extreme is circumcision, or an “ultra-holiness” standard of living. At the other extreme is what we might call “free grace.” It is preferred by those who delight in doing anything they want. They take for granted that the grace of God will abound, but that is not grace at all. Each extreme is an attempt to establish a certain action as something that God will bless. However, circumcision does not avail anything and neither does uncircumcision, but only faith that works by love.
Notice how carefully Paul continued this idea in Galatians 6:15: For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. The issue is not what we ourselves do, but rather what God creates within us—what our love and faith turn loose of a new creation, a mighty work with God. We must not frustrate the grace of God (Galatians 2:21). Instead, we must learn how to receive His wonderful attributes into our lives. The moment we enter a legalistic approach, we sever ourselves from grace.
Hebrews 9:14 brings it out very clearly that we need our conscience to be purged from dead works. Some type of conscience seems to be ingrained in everyone. Even the drunkard who beats his wife has a conscience. If a little child says, “I don’t have any shoes,” that drunkard will cry and give the necessary money to that child. Upon seeing such a deed one might conclude that there is good in every man; but his action is not a result of something good in his nature. It is merely the result of a conscience which is a slave to dead works. The fellow needs to remember to let that good come out when he goes home and beats his wife. Something must change his whole nature.
In many churches the standard procedure is to preach a sermon which makes some of the people feel that they are not even Christians or “saved,” and then to let them rush to the altar to repent of all their sins: “Lord, I’m sorry, I won’t do it anymore. I promise You I will pray and read the Word every day. I will start witnessing, Lord. I’m going to be a better Christian!” However, the next week they are not better Christians; instead, they are making the same mistakes again. Why? Because they promised God to work at being better Christians as though they could do all of this by their own effort alone, and that will never succeed.
A Christian is not a walking human do-it-yourself kit. A Christian is a product, from beginning to end, of the grace of God! Why can’t we let God have all the glory? Why can’t we start out by submitting to Him and then every step of the way be utterly dependent upon Him? Why can’t we learn to live in that receptive state so that we draw His grace day after day, so that we live by Him?
This is what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5). The little branch does not have to worry—he just keeps sucking and drawing life out of that vine. Everything of the fruit of the Spirit is in Jesus, the heavenly vine, and it flows to you. It is produced within you. If it is not in you, that is your responsibility: you are not yielding to God. If it is in you, then God gets all the glory and all the praise.
Why does not God allow consecration services to be more effective and work better in people’s lives? Why do they not succeed? Year after year, Christians fall short because they try to be righteous by making promises to God of what they neither can nor will do; and God makes a liar of every one of them.
No one can stand before the Lord and say, “Lord, I promised You what I would do and I kept that promise.” No one can do it by himself. Fleshly effort cannot produce a spiritual end. That which is born of the flesh is flesh (John 3:6). And if a thing is born of your fleshly zeal, it has to die; but if it is born of the Spirit of God, it is God Himself, built right into your life, into the very fiber of your being.
We need to build up this truth in our hearts until we turn away from desperately striving to discipline ourselves, until we stop trying to turn over a new leaf, and we stop making new resolutions and promises to God of what we are going to do. We need to come to the place where we are utterly dependent upon Him, and we draw from Him continually.
We all need to be put in a desperate position where we know that we cannot make it in ourselves, that we have absolutely no chance unless God meets us—and not just one time, but continually. If God wants to show you special favor and do something really good for you, He will position you so that every morning you realize, “Lord, I’ll never make it today without Your help.” Then every night you will thank Him, “By Your grace I made it today. I am utterly dependent upon You.” Very few men and women are so favored by God that they are put into such a position of utter dependence, but nothing will lead you into a greater place in God than that.
I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
That is at times one of the hardest verses in the Bible to believe. You feel that it cannot be true because you seem constantly to be pushed beyond what you can endure, beyond the point where you have the power or the wisdom to meet your problems.
When a person’s human strength and wisdom is depleted, he does not know which way to turn or what to do. He does not have any reserve of inner resources to meet the need. That is when he feels, “I am being tempted above what I am able to bear.” However, the Word tells us that no temptation comes to us but what is common to man.
God has a way of allowing you to be tempted a little beyond your wisdom, your strength, and your faith. Why? Because each time, in that moment of desperation, you draw on God a little more. He becomes your way of escape. You reach into greater faith because you are pushed to the point where you must have more faith. You grow because you are placed in circumstances where you have to be stronger—you have to draw more on God.
If you were never put in that place, you would passively thank Him for all the wonderful revelations and blessings, but it is unlikely that you would ever go any further spiritually. Pressure comes to push you into a place where you must draw more of God.
What is the answer to your need? It is not being more legalistic; nor is it making more promises to God. How many times have you already promised God that you would do better? Did you do better? No. God cannot allow you to do better by your human efforts; that is contrary to the grace of God. Your promises seem only to make a liar of you.
When you follow the course of circumcision, you sever yourself from the grace of God. The grace of God is the greatest truth of all. Above all else, the Father honors the person who will place themselves in God’s hands and say, “I need you, Lord. I draw from You.”
A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. Galatians 5:9.
Just a little legalism is enough to cripple or destroy your walk with God. It causes the entire pattern of spiritual growth to become distorted.
Those who miss the grace of God become zealots for dead works. They become involved in many activities, which they ask the Lord to bless, but their activities are not directed by the Spirit of the Lord. Instead, they are inspired by the flesh. They look to God for a little help, hoping that He will make their project run smoothly, when actually, everything they do is for personal glory and credit before the face of God. God is not interested in that.
He never judges you by the size of your works; He judges you by your faithfulness, and by the way you open your heart and allow the Spirit of the Lord to lead you and bring you forth into the living works.
Fleshly efforts can be tremendously inspiring. They may even be great works; but you still will not be rewarded for their greatness. You will only be rewarded for the way God is able to minister and to work through you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Your whole life is severed from Christ when you enter into legalism instead of the grace of God.
Grace is basic to the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, for these things are endowments from God. The fruit of the Spirit are not inherent qualities within a believer which he can work on and slowly perfect through discipline. The fruit of the Spirit are qualitites imparted directly from the nature of God.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the abilities of God; but the fruit of the Spirit is the very nature of God, His divine nature. Everything of the divine nature and character of God can be imparted to you, just as His abilities can be imparted. If you question that in relation to the fruit of the Spirit, then remember—that is how you began to walk with God. You came to the Lord and He received you. He draped you with His righteousness, putting it upon you like a robe!
He did not perfect a good, religious, righteous instinct that already existed within you; He robed you with His righteousness! If you believe that He can give you His righteousness, then also believe that He can robe you with His love, His joy, and His peace.
The fruit of the Spirit are endowments that God implants within you as you open your heart to Him. Open your heart to the Lord and let Him happen to you! Do not labor in yourself, but believe! Give full diligence of faith to enter into His rest. How can you enter into His rest? Cease from your labors as God also did from His.
For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:10–11.
When the divine works of God are being wrought through you, you find yourself busier than ever before; however, it is not fleshly labor, it is God working through you.
Galatians 5 speaks about our being free men, and about the purpose and objective of our freedom in God. For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would. But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Galatians 5:13–18, ASV.
You were called for freedom, but you cannot use your freedom for yourself. You were set free so that you might become a servant—a love slave to serve the Body. Always keep God’s objective in mind. He set you free from the bondage of legalism because as long as you are under the Law, you can never serve Him or His people effectively. He set you free, and He lets His grace flow through you, so that by it you can become a servant of the Body of Christ in love.
Galatians 5:17 says that the flesh lusts against the Spirit, or, to put it in modern terms, “The flesh wars against the Spirit.” What does the word “flesh” mean? The Greek word sarx is used in different ways in the New Testament, until sometimes you think that it is a good thing. In I Peter 4:1 it is used in a good way: “He that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”
But Romans 7:18 says, “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” When you read that, you think that the flesh is terrible. But the truth of the matter is that the word “flesh” is best translated “human nature.” It indicates what a man is, by human nature, apart from God.
The flesh is that union of soul and body that thinks, feels, acts independently of God. The human nature wars against the divine nature, for the two are contrary one towards another. What should you do when you find that the human nature is constantly warring against the Spirit within you? Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh or any other desires of the human nature.
Your position in Christ has great importance: If you are led by the Spirit of God you are not under the Law. How can you say that you are not under the Law? The key is to be led by the Spirit. Learn to live by the Spirit and you will not be under the Law. It is a spiritual position or a plateau that you can reach in Christ. It can be compared to the law of gravity. The higher an object goes into the atmosphere, the less the law of gravity controls it. If it goes high enough, it will break out of the realm where the law of gravity has control over it. If it slips back into that realm, gravity immediately starts working again, pulling it down.
Apply this illustration to your walk with God. If you are led by the Spirit and walking by the Spirit, you are no longer under the Law. You have risen to a place where it cannot touch you. If you are under the grace of God and led by the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit brings forth life and motivations within you which are not even related to the Law. The Law is not related to the divine nature; it is related to the human nature. There are no laws governing the divine nature.
I Corinthians 2:15, KJV: But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
A spiritual person reaches a plane where he cannot be judged by the Law. For example, there is no law in the Word that regulates the love of God. Neither can man pass laws regulating the love of God, because he knows nothing about it. The length, the breadth, the height, and the depth of the love of Christ passes knowledge (Ephesians 3:18–19).
What about the joy of the Lord? I Peter 1:8 tells us that it is joy unspeakable and full of glory. How can man make laws governing something that is unspeakable? Laws were invented for the human nature and its impulses, not for the things of God. If you walk in the Spirit, the laws which have such a deadly effect upon you can be severed—you can walk on a plane where you are free of them. You can find a place where you are not under law at all, but wholly under the grace of God. Live a little higher. Believe to walk closer to God!
Hebrews 4:1–11 presents a paradoxical picture of how we reach this high plane. There we are instructed: Labor to enter into God’s rest! Work at the business of not working! Strive not to strive! Struggle not to struggle! If you are led by the Spirit, then you are not under the Law. This does not mean that the works of the flesh are suddenly made right. It means that they have no more power over you.
Galatians 5:19–26 contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit that God wants to produce in us. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties (or heresies—sedition to the true gospel of Jesus Christ), envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like … Verses 19–21, ASV.
The King James version begins the list of the works of the flesh with adultery, but that is not in the original Greek text. The word used is porneia, or “fornication.” Related to this is the word porne, or “prostitute,” which comes from the verb pernemi, “to sell.” A prostitute sells love, which really is no love at all. In contrast to this “boughten love,” the first of the fruit of the Spirit is God’s love.
The difference lies in whether or not the love is bought. For example, some women think they love their husbands, when actually their love falls under the heading porneia. They use their love as a lever against their husbands, in order to get what they want. According to the laws of the land, they are good, legal wives; but according to God, it is porneia.
The love we are to have for one another is not a bargaining love. Limitations or conditions cannot be placed upon it. The love that comes by the fruit of the Spirit is not based on worthiness. God loved us in our unworthiness; therefore, we love one another in our unworthiness. We do not judge one another. The works of the flesh are the fleshly counterpart to the fruit of the Spirit that comes forth in us. God is creating His own unselfish nature within us so that we, too, can reach out in love to the world.
Notice that some of the works of the flesh are given in singular form, while others are plural. That is the way they appear in the Greek text. Greek idiom requires that certain words be plural in order to accurately convey their meaning. For instance, it is not “wrath,” but “wraths”—in other words, frequent outbursts of wrath.
The works of the flesh describe the fleshly qualities that come forth in a person’s life. Only three of them—fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness—are generally considered sins of the flesh, while things like idolatry and sorcery are not usually associated with the flesh. However, all of these things are the product of the human nature apart from God.
Concerning the works of the flesh, Paul said, … of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. Galatians 5:21–23, ASV.
Not even the Ten Commandments were given concerning God’s nature; they were given to regulate the human nature. There is no law about God’s nature.
And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.
Things born of the flesh can actually be put to death; the divine nature can become so strong that the flesh is brought under its control. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:24–26, ASV.
Walking by the Spirit creates a definite immunity to the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Conversely, if you are not led by the Spirit, you are under the Law, under the jurisdiction and control of the flesh.
The fruit of the Spirit is very important. Without it, you are continually aware of an inward civil war: the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh. You are unable to do the things that you would, because you are hindered and prevented by the things of the flesh which dominate your life (Galatians 5:17).
Anyone who wants to walk with God must advance beyond this initial conflict of spiritual immaturity where the flesh can set aside the divine nature and purpose of the will of God in his life, almost at will. He must become strong in the nature of God to overcome the human nature. This is what God wants to do for you through the fruit of the Spirit, and it is possible because the fruit of the Spirit is beyond the Law; it is an impartation of the divine nature coming from God and flowing into you.
Romans 8:28–29, ASV: And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Everything that happens to you, both good and bad, works toward the appropriation of the divine nature, toward conformity to the image of the Son of God.
Christians sometimes wonder why they have a difficult life filled with troubles. If they could be taught how to submit to what God wants in their lives, God would not have to make life so difficult for them. Some people serve God only because He keeps chastening them; and out of desperation, they keep struggling into more and more of God. When God says that all things work together for good, the good that He has in mind is your being conformed to the image of His Son. If that is not the deliberate choice of what you seek, you will find great pressure upon you.
A young person from a Christian home often faces one problem after another, literally going through upheavals.
This is generally an indication that at some time in their childhood God truly met them and placed His hand upon them so positively that from then on the child could not escape the awareness of it.
As time passes, they may become rebellious, trying to fight God. When this happens, God causes that young person to have a very difficult time until they finally concurs with God’s plan for their life—they are to open their heart to God and become conformed to the image of God’s Son. When they finally open their heart to God, God will meet them and begin revealing Himself to that young person again.
This goes back to the beginning when God first put His hand upon your life. God is kind to you not to let you lose out with Him. Jonah is an example of this. God loved Jonah, and out of love He caused the fish to swallow him up so that he could do God’s will.
You may look at your circumstances and not see any love, but God says that all things work together for good to those who love Him. He knows what He is doing. He is very efficient because He has been God for a long time! He never falls short. He is most adequate, and He wants to reproduce Himself within you.
As a disciple, God does not tell you, “Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify you, saying, ‘What a busy person you are! How dedicated you must be to literally burn out for God!’ ” That is not the purpose of being a ministry. Instead, you are to let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16, KJV.
The nature of God is to shine forth in everything you do. That brings glory to Him, and it happens only through the fruit of the Spirit, only when you are so walking with God that His love, His joy, His peace, and His long-suffering are all seen in you.
Otherwise, people may say, “What a great gift they have! What a marvelous ministry they have! What a great man or women they are!” If that is the case, then you are missing the mark. But you are on the right course if the Lord is being glorified and magnified in whatever you do.
I John 3:2: Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
God wants to communicate Himself to us, to make us like Him. When we see Him, we will be like Him. He will “transform these vile bodies and fashion them like unto His glorious body by the power whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21, KJV).
We “behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18).
God desires to reproduce Himself in you. Everything that He is and everything that He has He can communicate. To the extent that God is revealed to you, to that extent you take on His attributes.
On the mountain, Moses asked the Lord, “Let me see Thy glory.” When he came down from the mountain, the glory of the Lord shone upon his face (Exodus 33:18; 34:29). Every man who has sought the Lord and seen His love loves from that time on. We love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19)—we only mirror and reflect back a communicated attribute. We love God with the same love with which He loved us.
When a person has great faith, it is because the One who is faithful and true (Revelation 19:11) has been revealed to them; and from that time on they believe with the faith of the Lord.
Whatever our precious Lord is, it is His intention and purpose to communicate that to you. He rubs off on anyone who looks at Him. To look upon Him to any degree changes the beholder. First you see Him, and then you become like Him. Whenever you have a revelation of the Lord, you are changed into the same image.
That is why we will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet (I Corinthians 15:51–52); we will behold His glory. No one who believes and loves Jesus Christ can avoid changing, for to see Him is to be changed. When He reveals Himself, everything that He is and does is communicated to us.
Do you want the secret of the fruit of the Spirit? Get alone and wait on the Lord. Let Him be revealed to you, because to the extent that He is revealed to you, to that extent you will have the fruit of the Spirit. Possess it! It is yours! Does it sound too simple? Perhaps that is why people are not reaching into it. They refuse to let the Lord’s way be simple to them, or perhaps they do not realize how simple and practical His way really is.
The New Testament Church was filled with men who performed signs and wonders, who walked and lived in such a way that people took knowledge of them that they had been with the Lord (Acts 4:13). Their being with the Lord had communicated His nature to them. His handiwork, His fingerprint, was upon them. Everything they did and everything they were revealed Jesus.
How do you obtain the fruit of the Spirit? By impartation from the Lord. The Lord communicates it to you just as He does any other part of His nature. You no longer need to strive to love a person whom you dislike. Where will you get love for that person? There is only one place: the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him impart it to you.
When someone says something against you, how do you react? Does your flesh rise up in enmity, or do you rejoice? Are you exceedingly glad, knowing that they so persecuted the prophets who were before you? (Matthew 5:11–12). How can you rejoice when people persecute you and say all manner of evil against you? If it is with the Lord’s joy. Even in the shadow of the cross, the Lord had joy. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame.
Everything that you need—all the courage for living, all the peace, all the inner unity and organization of your whole being—comes through the precious impartation of God’s nature and His love.
Nothing can be more rich or wonderful for you than a time of waiting on God for the fruit of the Spirit. Get alone before the Lord and meditate on Galatians 5—the deadliness of legalism and the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.
You cannot follow legalism; the striving of the flesh will lead you nowhere. Instead, open your heart to God’s impartation. Everything you receive comes from God, on the basis of faith, by His grace. Believe that He wants to give the fruit of the Spirit to you as much as He does to anyone else. His intention is that everything He is be imparted to every believer. God is the only one who can give of Himself that freely, without becoming smaller, but actually becoming greater in it.
Let Him pour Himself out upon you. Drink Him in. Instead of struggling and beating the altar for patience, long-suffering, and gentleness, wait before the Lord and drink in His nature. When you are tempted to try something in the flesh to produce change, then remember: He is the Author, and He is the Finisher (Hebrews 12:2). Having begun a good work in you, He will perform it unto the day of the Lord (Philippians 1:6). He is the one who will do it. To interfere with God is futile, but to cooperate with Him, drinking in His grace and blessing, will bring change in you faster than anything else.