Fruits of the Spirit I ...

Monday, June 10, 2013. We had one of our weekly youth groups yesterday in our church, and this time it was my part to lead the bible reading. We looked into Galatians 5, the passages about the fruits of the spirit, but also about the fruits of behavior when God is far away.

The Spirit in the Bible …

Let us have a look into the original biblical text. It contains quite strong statements. One part tells us, what happens when we live completely out of the spirit of the Lord:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

We also looked into the other parts of this chapter 5. We have discussed many of the terms here. Let us have an unbiased read of further parts as well:

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The Difference …

The text, which we have taken the two part from, starts with a clear statement against a particular understanding of religious rules. It is a strong speech for freedom, the freedom in Christ. But then, its author also strongly warns us - and the parts above contain the warnings. Freedom is not to be injust. Freedom is not to destroy, but to build.

When we start to talk about the Holy Spirit, you might think that there are better ways to introduce the spirit of God. And there are many fascinating passages about his wisdom in the Old Testament. There are fantastic texts about love and endurance in the New Testament. It is your choice, which entry route you want to take!

But we have been led into these more difficult parts. They clarify that the spirit of God is very much concerned about purity, about the right way and the right behaviour, about the right words, the right thoughts, the right motives. God is not a puppy dog, but he wants to influence my whole life, my thoughts and my actions. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts