“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.”
Galatians 5:22-23
Galatians 5 is a powerful passage. Earlier in the chapter, Paul summarizes the entirety of the law in a way similar to how Jesus summarized it in the Gospels: love. “The whole of the law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
He then explains that the Gospel sets us free—free to love others rather than just ourselves.
Love of self versus the love of others is the contrast Paul references at the start of these verses. He is contrasting the fruit of the Spirit with the works of the flesh. Said differently, the fruit of conforming our hearts to Christ and loving others versus the obvious selfishness that abounds when our priority is self-love.
A pet peeve of mine is people saying the “Fruits of the Spirit.” Fruit is singular, not plural, in this passage. I am sure I am too sensitive about this, but I think it is an important distinction. The fruit is not separable. If we have allowed the Spirit to conform our passions to be like Christ’s, it is not then possible for us to have patience but not faithfulness. Nor is it possible that we have love but not kindness. They are all the same fruit. Some aspects of the fruit will be more easily apparent in some, just as some oranges are a brighter orange or some are rounder, while others are sweeter. But all oranges possess the essential aspects of being an orange. Similarly, the essential aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, Christ-likeness, are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we have the fruit, we have all of it in some measure.
These nine essential aspects are what we should focus our lives and efforts on. This singular Christlikeness should be our passion, our goal, and our guide for living. This other-centered character that we manifest should be a contrast to the selfishness we see around us. It is this contrast that testifies to Christ and His power. Our kind, gentle love should contrast with the anger, quarreling, and strife of the world.
A Quote to Consider:
“If we are going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are or we have to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t wanna do it.”
I do not think we are a Christian nation, nor do I believe we should be a Christian nation. When I was deep in the Baptist world, I used to joke that the difference between Baptists and Catholics was 1500 years and political power. Then I taught at a Baptist college in Louisiana and realized it does not take 1500 years, and it does not take that much power.
I should add that implicit in my comment was the prevalent Baptist assumption that time and power corrupted the Catholic church. I do believe that power corrupts, but I do not believe that the Catholic Church or the Southern Baptist Convention is irredeemably corrupted by that power.
But back to Colbert’s point, if we want our country to be more Christian, then we need to advocate for governmental policies that demonstrate our love for others. We need to advocate for policies that promote love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As Paul says, there is no law against these things, and I believe that a society with that kind of moral character would be better, more Christ-like, whether or not it claims to be explicitly Christian.
Prayer:
Spirit of Christ,
Cultivate in me the singular fruit of Your presence—peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and a love that flowers into joy. May each flavor of that fruit nourish those around me and declare Your goodness.
Amen
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