The Two-Hundred-Thirty-Eighth (Galatians Part 11)

We’re getting to the end of our study of Galatians, and this week we’re going to go through the fruits of the spirit.  Then, we’ve only got one more week to finish this study up and review what we found as we went through it!  So, let’s get into it!

There are a lot of sermons, studies, and just general focus on the fruits of the spirit amongst believers, which is a good thing.  In general, the fruits are pretty self-explanatory, in contrast to the intricacies of the acts of the flesh we looked at last week.  In those acts, it was necessary to go into depth on just how much is encompassed by the words Paul chose.  Otherwise, we might find ourselves trying to justify an action as not an act of the flesh due to the fact that it doesn’t neatly fall into the English words they are translated to.

Of course, it is in man’s nature to focus on the negative and try to make sure exactly how we don’t “unknowingly” commit things like the acts of the flesh, but I think it’s very telling that in order to fully understand what Paul was talking about we had to go into detail on pretty much every word.  It is a characteristic of evil that it seeks to obscure its influence and its actions.  It’s not surprising that over time the words for evil things like the acts of the flesh morph and change to muddle exactly what they are, or to pull out certain aspects and therefore require additional and different words in order to fully explain the original evil action or influence.

As we will see, the fruits of the spirit, in contrast to the acts of the flesh, are very clear, and this is a characteristic of truth and goodness.  Yes, there are certain fruits of which expounding is useful in order to better understand them, but in general, it’s not required.  There is one, overarching thing to understand about the fruits of the spirit versus the acts of the flesh, however.

The major difference between the fruits of the spirit and the acts of the flesh are how they come to be and their effects, and those aspects are all in the names.  If you think about fruits versus acts, what comes to mind?  Well, I can do a lot of acts every day, and all throughout my life, but those acts do not necessarily grow anything.  Fruits, on the other hand, are all about growth.

Fruits are about growth not only in how they come to be, but also in what they are meant to do.  They grow from a tree, bush, or vine as a result of that plant getting the right nutrients in the soil, sunlight, and water.  Then, once they are picked, eaten by animals, or fall off the plant their whole purpose is to nourish something and then grow another one of those plants.  The fruit is consumed, either by man, animal, insect or bacteria, and its seed, when given the proper conditions grows another plant to eventually produce more fruit.

The same is true for the fruits of the spirit.  We’ll get into each one in a moment, but for now, take patience, which is sometimes translated to longsuffering.  When Yeshua brought me back to Him, and Sara Gene and I were going through the relationship struggles of dealing with who I had been before and what I had done as that person, I firmly believe that one of the things that most influenced the fact that we made it through was the fruit of patience that the Holy Spirit grew in me during that time.

Things were rough, as you can imagine, but my patience was steadfast, and I can only attribute that to the Holy Spirit.  You would have no choice but to agree if you knew me before!  There is so much impatience, retaliation, and expectation of response in the world in situations involving accusations, attacks, and confrontation that it really throws people off when you show patience.  They almost don’t know what to do with themselves!  But when the “soil” is ready in a person, that fruit of patience will cause them to question why there wasn’t a typical worldly response, and that is when the fruit will be planted and it will grow.  And for these fruits, it’s not just an identical plant that grows, but an entire kingdom.

So, with that, let’s get into these fruits!  They’re listed in chapter five of Galatians (Galatians 5:22-23), and the first is love.  We’ve looked in depth at love before, and the particular word used in this instance is agape.  If you recall, this is the selfless, sacrificial love.  It is the one that is shown when someone is not expecting anything in return.  This is so foreign to the world because the world is always looking to only do things that benefit them, so it naturally causes curiosity and intrigue when this form of love is shown.

The next two are joy and peace.  In joy, someone shows gladness and delight despite their circumstances, and that’s the key difference between worldly joy and this fruit of the spirit.  A worldly joy is dependent on something good happening or a person having a good life, while a “fruitly” joy is one that exists despite, or even in spite of, those things.  Peace, similarly, requires a lack of strife, war, or conflict in the world, however the fruit of peace is present even when a person is in a conflict.    

As for patience, the Greek word used is makrothumia.  This comes from makros, which means long, and thymos, which means passion or anger.  Now, this doesn’t mean a person with patience has passion or anger for a long time, it means the person has the restraint to not hastily retaliate, punish, or flare up emotionally.  It means not responding to anger with anger or accusation with accusation.  It means remaining calm, despite being faced with a person or circumstance that is frustrating, emotionally charged, or clearly leading to confrontation.  

The next fruit is kindness, and the best way to describe it is to give an example.  Paul used this word in his letter to Titus, and the example he provides is the sacrifice of Yeshua (Titus 3:4).  It was the kindness of YHWH that caused Him to provide His Son, Yeshua, in order that we would be saved despite ourselves.  Our friend, the HELPS Word-studies, describes this word as “useful kindness,” and that it means meeting real needs.  What more of a real need did sinful man have than a way to be cleansed of our sinful nature?!

Goodness and faithfulness are the next two fruits.  For goodness, the important distinction is that it means an uprightness in one’s heart, not just an uprightness according to societal norms or the ethics derived by a group of people.  This goodness comes from the higher authority of YHWH, not anything man could come up with.  Faithfulness is actually just the Greek word for faith, so really this fruit is just the fullness, or filling up, of faith.  This is why Yeshua stated that even faith the size of a mustard seed would move mountains (Matthew 17:20), because the rest of the faith required for that action is provided by the Holy Spirit!

Gentleness is next, and this is sometimes translated to meekness or humility.  It means gentle strength, and in Greco-Roman culture at the time, as well as presently, it is often seen as a lack of courage or strength.  There are some key verses to look at for this particular fruit to help us understand how to characterize it.

In general, gentleness means meeting someone or some situation in a way that achieves a desired result in a kind and measured way.  Paul wrote to Timothy about believers instructing those that oppose them using gentleness (2 Timothy 2:25).  In writing to Titus about believers exhibiting gentleness, he contrasts it with being quarrelsome or contentious, and slandering (Titus 3:2).  The last verse to look at though, is one that tells us where gentleness comes from (James 3:13).  James talks about doing deeds in gentleness, and that gentleness comes from wisdom.  This wisdom means having both a practical and spiritual understanding of things, which gives us the basis to know what truly matters and how to approach people or situations.

The last fruit, but certainly not the least one, is self-control.  This Greek word is egkrateia, and it comes from en, which means in, and kratos, which means strength or power.  In other words, self-control is the dominion, or strength, over one’s self that enables us to control our fleshly desires.  Peter talks about self-control (2 Peter 1:6), and what we find from his statement is that when we gain knowledge, we must add self-control.  According to Peter, the more knowledge you have, the more self-control you must have, and this just makes sense, doesn’t it?  

As you learn more about the true depth of evil certain people or groups of people are involved in, it certainly takes more self-control not to do something brash or blow up emotionally.  Peter’s environment was a perfect example of this.  His own brothers in the Jewish faith not a few years earlier were loving, kind, and caring to him.  Then, simply based on his beliefs, they turned and persecuted him and the rest of the believers, jailing them and murdering them.  Learning every day about new horrors and acts against believers the Jews, and eventually the Romans, committed against believers required more and more self-control to not respond in kind.  

In that context, Peter was talking about always growing as a believer, and I think that’s an important and appropriate message to touch on here.  Many times, human nature is to settle in things.  I like to call it reaching the lowest energy state, because like electrons in an atom that move from higher energy orbits to lower ones once gaps occur in those lower orbits, man has a tendency to move to a lower state of action or motivation when there is a lack of outside influence and an opportunity to settle.  Believers must be careful not to settle in our assurance of eternal life by our faith in Yeshua, which is what Peter was driving at.    

We must always seek to grow ourselves the way Peter describes (2 Peter 1:5-9).  Starting with faith, we add to it virtue.  In Greek culture, virtue was associated with the fulfillment of purpose or function.  Essentially, what Peter is talking about here is a believer filling his or her intended purpose in the body of Yeshua.  To virtue, we add knowledge, and for a believer this means a knowledge of YHWH and His Word.  This is only achieved through study of His Word!

As we looked at earlier, self-control is added to knowledge and to self-control we add perseverance.  Another word to use for this is endurance.  We will encounter difficulties and trials, and our endurance through these things is a measure of our commitment to YHWH.  Remaining true to who He calls us to be and how He calls us to act requires self-control, but how long we exercise that self-control is where our perseverance comes in.

To perseverance, we add godliness, but that English word is a bit confusing in my opinion.  It is translated from the Greek word eusebeia, which comes from eu, meaning well, and sebomai, which means to worship or revere.  So, godliness is actually referring to being devoted to YHWH, and worshipping, or serving, Him well.  Essentially, this is just an extension of perseverance, since part of our serving Him is enduring the trials we experience while doing so.

The final culmination of the believer’s progression Peter lays out is adding brotherly love to godliness and then love to brotherly love.  As you might expect, the Greek words for these two forms of love are different, and the difference amounts to the measure and object of that love.  While brotherly love is a familial bond amongst believers that exceeds that of mere friendship, the agape love that is added to it is that selfless love mentioned earlier, and it’s directed towards all mankind.  

It takes growth of a believer, maturity, to move from the brotherly love to the selfless love directed even to those who wish to harm.  Take time this week to not only reflect on where you’re at in Peter’s “believer growth plan” but also take inventory of which fruits of the spirit you regularly exhibit and those you may need to ask Him for growth on.  We hope you have a wonderful week!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH Bless you!  

-Rob and Sara Gene