What the Gospel Does (No Other Gospel #20)

I've said this several times, but at the heart of Galatians is the idea of contrast, of two diverging roads which we must choose between. Galatians is always intensely practical--it is an appeal to chose one road and reject another. Galatians is a book of the crossroads. Throughout the first several chapters, there were two roads of doctrine, two gospels. Here, beginning in chapter 5, we have two roads of practice, two ways of life. There are two ways we can live. There are two paths in which we can walk. Two principals on which we can live our life. That is the basic thrust behind this passage.

This I say then, Walk in 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: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-25)

This passage begins and ends with the same exhortation, the exhortation to walk in the Spirit. The word “walk” is important because it pictures deliberate, concrete action. There is a great deal of scientific and mechanical knowledge that goes into the production of rubber; without such knowledge, it wouldn't be possible to make rubber at all. But none of that accomplishes anything until the rubber meets the road. Faith without works is dead. Salvation does not come from good works, but it does lead to good works. But the point is actually a little finer than that.

But before we get to that, we need to look at the contrast that forms the heart of this passage, which is that between the Flesh and Spirit. These two things, these two principals, are mutually exclusive. Verse 17: “These are contrary the one to the other.” They cannot peacefully coexist. They have competing interests. They lust against each other; lust here simply means desire; the NET Bible translates it: “the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh.” And because of this controversy, things are never quite the way they should be. “Ye cannot do the things ye would.” Or, rather, you do not do the thing you would. There is debate about how to interpret this phrase, but at the least, it indicates this idea of conflict and two opposing forces that cannot both be obeyed.

This thought is also very clear in verse 16, where Paul says that if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The implication is that if we don't walk in the Spirit, then we WILL fulfill the lust of the flesh. “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:6-7) The phrase “carnal mind” literally means “the minding of the flesh”; the word for flesh in Galatians. (Carnal comes from the Latin word for Flesh.) Once again we have this same idea. These two principals are diametrically opposed and everyone must choose to follow one or the other. But exactly what are they?

One thing we have to say at the outset. In certain contexts, “flesh” has taken on a specific connotation; when used by some people it refers solely to the sexual nature of man, whether in a legitimate or illegitimate sense. And that's simply not what the word means, at least not in a New Testament context.

The Greek word here is Sarx which literally means “the soft substance of the living body; which covers the bones and is permeated with blood.” (Thayer) That is, literally, “flesh.” So, for instance, 1 Corinthians 15:39: “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” Paul is simply referring to the substance of the body and pointing out that the human body is different from that of an animal, a fish, or a bird, even though they all fit under the general heading of the word “body.”

So when Paul speaks of the works of the flesh does he simply mean the works of the body? Should we picture this conflict between flesh and spirit as a conflict between the material and immaterial parts of our nature? Certainly, this is how some people interpret it and there is a degree of plausibility to it. We realize that sins such as gluttony, drunkenness, and fornication are linked to our bodily natures--to the functions we share in common with the animals.

The only problem with this view is that it's wrong; wrong for two reasons. First, because the functions of our body which may be a means of sin may also be a means of virtue. The act of eating may be the sin of gluttony but it also may be a means of glorifying God. The very act which, in one context, may be the first work of the flesh may, in another context, be an image of the love God to the church. The problem with bodily sins is not that they are bodily but that they are sins. The body is the means of these sins and the source of temptation, but it is not the sin itself. Indeed, even as the source of temptation, I think it may be overrated. I am doubtful as to how many people become drunkards merely out of physical thirst, and I am next to positive that nearly as many people are led into fornication by societal expectations, corrupted mental imaginations, and egoism as by merely physical lust. In Matthew 15:19, Jesus said this about the origin of sin:  “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Sin proceeds from the heart, not the body.

Secondly, the identification of Sarx with our physical nature doesn't work because of the other works of the flesh. Paul does mention fornication and drunkenness but also many other sins as well. We'll get to what they are later, but the point to notice is that they are not all physical sins but also social and spiritual sins. Not all the works of the flesh are in a literal sense sins of the body. So what does Paul mean by calling sin the work of the Flesh if he does not mean that they are literally the work of the body?

To answer that, we have to look at the other meanings of the word Sarx.

Because Sarx means the body, it is also used by extension to refer to humanity.  So in 1 Peter 1:24, to describe the transitory nature of man, Peter says: “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grace.” Or, again, in John 1:14, in speaking of the Incarnation, John says “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” To say that Jesus was made flesh means first that he had a real, physical body and by extension that he was a human being, made like us in all things except sin.

The word Sarx also means that which is natural. We talked about this in a previous article. Ishmael was born after the flesh; that is, his birth was just a natural, ordinary occurrence perfectly according to the rules of life unlike the miraculous birth of Isaac. Or, again, in Hebrews 12:9, the writer uses the term “fathers of our flesh” to refer to our natural, earthly fathers as opposed to our Heavenly Father.

There is one other point we have to notice here. What is put in opposition to the flesh? The Spirit. Note that it is “the” Spirit. Not simply spirit or a spirit but “The” Spirit.  Paul has a similar discussion in Romans 8. But look specifically at Romans 8:9. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” What do we have in opposition to the flesh? The Spirit of God; the Spirit of Christ. That is, the Holy Spirit. For Paul, “spirit” is not a name for an immaterial substance in philosophy--it is the name of a person, the name of God. It is not merely spirit, as such, but the Spirit of Christ. We have two choices, Paul makes clear--to follow our “flesh” or to follow the Spirit of Christ. In other words, flesh is not the opposite of spirit, as such, but of God.

Putting all that together, we can understand what Paul means by the word Sarx. It is not flesh as such, nor even humanity as such, but human nature in contradistinction to God's nature and God's control.

Imagining you are holding a light bulb in your hand. A light bulb is a device for giving out light. Obviously, that's a very useful function. That can be very convenient and under certain circumstances could mean the difference between life and death--being able to see in what would otherwise be darkness is a very valuable thing. So if, say, you were lost out in the woods at night and needed to be able to find your way, would you be happy to find that you have a light bulb in your pocket? Obviously not. Because just having a light bulb doesn't give you light. It has to be connected to some kind of electric current.

So this the point. We can basically divide a light bulb that isn't plugged in or turned on into a totally different category than a light bulb which is. They share some properties--both are roundish in shape and are composed of glass. But their function and some of their attributes are different.  A light bulb in a lamp has properties that a plain bulb does not--specifically, it gives off light which the other does not. One would hurt your eyes to look at and burn your fingers to touch; the other is cold and dark. A person ignorant of our modern inventions might have trouble understanding and believing that the two bulbs are really the same thing.

That's how you have to think of this word “flesh.” Human nature, human beings, the totality of human essence--who we are--is one thing when it is in the proper relationship with God's spirit and something else when it is not. There are many commonalities between the two, of course, but in a fundamental sense, they are diametrically opposed, like the two bulbs, one of light and one darkness. The “flesh” in Paul's sense is what you have when you remove the Spirit of God from its rightful place in the heart of man. Just as when you remove a light bulb from its power source, it becomes something different with different properties, just so human nature becomes something different with different properties when disconnected from God. The works of the flesh are what are naturally produced by human nature when it is not filled with the Holy Spirit.

If that's not clear enough, here are a few definitions tending to the same idea: “[Flesh is] Mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God; accordingly it includes whatever in the soul is weak, low, debased, tending to ungodliness and vice.” (Thayer) “'Flesh' signified the entire nature of man, sense and reason, without the Holy Spirit.” (Philip Melanchthon, quoted in Thayer) “The flesh is anything in us which gives sin its chance; it is human nature without God.” (Willaim Barclay, Ephesians 2:1-3)

That is why we have this clear cut sense of distinction, of two mutually exclusive paths. Obviously, these two things--walking in the Spirit and fulfilling the lusts of the flesh--are opposites. You can't do both; they, by definition, exclude each other. Flesh begins exactly at that point where the Spirit leaves off. However, we do have to take into consideration 1 Corinthians 3:1. “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.” Paul speaks to the Corinthians as being “in Christ” if only babes but also as being carnal, that is, as being fleshly. Within these specific Christians, anyway, the two principles did coexist. This is where we get the word Carnality in the sense of a principle of sin which exists within the believer but which we believe can be removed in Entire Sanctification. However, we must be clear about one thing. After listing all the works of the flesh, Paul reminds the Galatians of what he had already told them, that those which practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. So while the flesh as a principle may exist in a Christian, it obviously cannot be in control, not be producing the works of the flesh.

There are various stages of being a sinner. Not every sinner is exactly the same position in relation to God. Nor is every Christian in exactly the same position; there are various stages and degrees of spirituality. But the point to grasp is that at the moment of conversion a very definite and concrete line exists. Before that point, to some degree or another, the flesh, the nature of sin, has control. It obviously doesn't have full control. Not every sinner commits every act of the flesh; even sinners can resist some temptations. But in general, the flesh has control. And after that point, the flesh is not in control. It may be active, but it is not in control. To one extent or another, all those who are Christians at all have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts, as Paul says in verse 24. How is that possible? How does a convert escape from the power of sin? How does a carnal Christian life a life that is still different from the life of the world? How does a person at the point of sanctification become free of the flesh? How does a sanctified Christian avoid lapsing back into the ways of the flesh? Through the work of the Spirit. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit which counteracts the power of the flesh.

And that brings us back to the central statement of this passage: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Because flesh is, by definition, the absence of the spirit, if we are walking in the spirit, we will escape the power of the flesh.  That is true no matter where we are in the Christian life. It is as true for the saint of ninety as for the brand new convert. We must walk in the Spirit and if we don't, then we will fulfill the lust of the flesh. It doesn't matter how long or brightly a light bulb has shone it will still go out once you unplug it. Maturity in Christ does many things, but it does not make us independent of God. We must always make the choice to follow the Spirit; to live in accordance with his designs; to be continually filled with the Spirit (as Paul told the Ephesians). “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

So, having laid all that groundwork, let's look a little more closely at the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit.  Paul says that the works of the flesh are manifest. These aren't hidden things. Paul wasn't pulling up some obscure and little known fact. The works of the flesh are things everybody knew about. And if we look at them, we'll realize that not much has changed in 2000 years.

Adultery, fornication, idolatry, hatred, wrath, murders, and drunkenness are all self-explanatory. It's worth noting that some versions lack the word adultery but it's a moot point since fornication includes adultery.

Uncleanness (which means exactly the same thing in Greek that it does in English) can mean any form of impurity, but most commentators take it as referring to sexual impurity here. Lasciviousness means a lack of self-control. William Barclay writes: “It has been defined as 'readiness for any pleasure.' The man who practises it has been said to know no restraint, but to do whatever caprice and wanton insolence may suggest... The idea is that of a man who is so far gone in desire that he has ceased to care what people say or think.” (Galatians 5:16-21).

Witchcraft is Pharmakeia, the source of our word Pharmacy, and means the use of drugs and poisons. The NT world was full of those who believed in and practiced or attempted to practice witchcraft, often combining it with the use of drugs and medicines.

Variance means rivalry or a quarrel: “contention, debate, strife” (Strong)

Emulations is literally zeal, a zealous desire for something. Albert Barnes: “In a bad sense, meaning heart-burning, or jealousy, or perhaps inordinate ambition. The sense is, ardour or zeal in a bad cause, leading to strife, etc.”

Strife. The word originally meant to work for pay and was then given a political connotation to describe a man who was seeking public office for purely selfish reasons and by dishonest means. (Things which fortunately never happen in modern politics.) Barclay translates it: “Self-seeking.” But also has the idea of seeking one's own good at the cost of others, of causing strife or intrigue.

Seditions. The word literally means disunion and has the idea of breaking up or breaking apart. When Paul described the Corinthian church with its different, competing parties built around Paul, Peter, and Apollos, he uses this word.

Heresies. Literally, a choice. Strife caused by differences of opinion; breaking up into factions. The RSV translates it “party spirit.” Even when it is necessary to stand up for doctrines, we have to beware of this party spirit, of bitterness and self-absorption, of building walls that are personal rather than doctrinal.

Envyings. Barclay comments on this word: “The essence of it is that it does not describe the spirit which desires, nobly or ignobly, to have what someone else has; it describes the spirit which grudges the fact that the other person has these things at all. It does not so much want the things for itself; it merely wants to take them from the other. The Stoics defined it as 'grief at someone else's good.' Basil called it 'grief at your neighbour's good fortune.' It is the quality, not so much of the jealous, but rather of the embittered mind.” (Galatians 5:16-21)

Revellings. Carousing. Pleasure pursued without restraint. Party-spirit but in a different sense than heresies.

“And such like.” In other words, Paul wasn't trying to list all the possible works of the flesh; he is merely giving a few examples to paint the general picture--a picture which is a rather ugly picture and a rather familiar one. The works of the flesh are still manifest as is their result, which is that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But not only do these works have a consequence in the next life, but in this. It is significant that most of these works of the flesh are directly related to our interaction with one another. This goes back up to what Paul said in verse 15 that if we live without the law, it will lead to biting and devouring one another and ultimately to being consumed by one another. Sin is not a successful model for life. The works of the flesh are not a good foundation for a life, for a community and, especially, for a church. All of these sins are sins against love; if we truly loved one another and God we would not do any of these things; a fact which is obvious in theory if not always in practice.

We need to notice one thing: these are referred to as the WORKS of the flesh. WORKS is plural and I think that's significant for this reason: Paul isn't saying that sin, that the flesh, will lead to all of these things in every instance. There are many sinners who have never committed some of these sins. Personal training, personality, opportunity, and free will largely determine what the flesh will lead to in any given life. Not every sinner commits every sin, but every sin is of the same general character. This is the sort of thing which sin leads to.

In contrast to that, we have the FRUIT of the Spirit; this is what is produced in the human heart when it is under the control of the Holy Spirit. This is singular and I think the implication is that all of these should exist in every Christian heart. Not necessarily to the same degree; some people may grow more quickly in some area than another, but these characteristics should be found at least in a basic form in all those who are living and walking in the Spirit.

If you take a track of ground, even good, fertile ground, and leave it for a few years without doing anything to it, it will go wild; it will turn into a wilderness of weeds and brambles. A few wild berries may grow there but nothing of great value. But take the same ground, carefully cultivate it, and you could produce an orchard or garden rich with food. Man is made from the dust and at best his nature may be no more than dirt; left to itself, it will produce only tares, only the thorns and thistles which are the symbol of sin. But when properly cultivated by the great Gardner, it may produce good fruit. The difference between a wilderness and a garden is not necessarily the dirt--the same dirt may produce either. What makes the difference is how it is cared for and, specifically, what is planted.

If you plant an apple seed, what will grow? An apple tree that produces apples. If you want strawberries, what do you have to plant? A strawberry. It is a rule of nature that like produces like. In Genesis, this is stated by speaking of “the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind.” (Genesis 1:11) If you want a specific fruit, you have to plant that specific fruit. That's why we have to remember that this is the Fruit of the Spirit. It is the fruit produced by the Spirit. But that also means it is fruit which is like the Spirit. God, existing eternally in the bountiful orchard of His nature planted His Spirit like a seed within the dust of humanity in order to bring forth in us the fruit of God. In other words, the Fruit of the Spirit is not merely something that God wants to see in us; it is the nature of God being produced in us through the influence of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is what is naturally produced by the Holy Spirit.

Love is one of those words which is difficult if not impossible to define but which can be known by experience. If you have ever been loved by someone or have ever loved someone that will get you closer to knowing what love is than looking the word up in a dictionary. The word for love here is Agape. As I suppose everyone knows by now, the writers of Scripture used Agape to mean a specific kind of love. It is not romantic love nor the affection of family nor the love of friendship. Agape is deliberate and unconditional, given in free and costly measure. If we have love for one another, this does not necessarily mean having warm, fuzzy feelings for one another. It means having this deliberate attitude of love for one another. It is a matter of loyalty and decision, rooted more in the volition than the emotions, though it pulls both head and heart along behind it. But the point to notice is this. In John 15:9, Jesus tells his disciples: “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.” The word that Jesus uses for love here is the verb form of Agape. God is love. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit live in a trinity of love for one another. And that love is the same love which Jesus showed to His disciples. When we show love to one another we are reflecting the love which is the life of God Himself. There can be love on earth only because there is love in Heaven; God's house can be a place of love because God is a God of love.

Joy is the second part of the fruit of the Spirit. In regards to joy, Psalm 16:11 says this: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” God is the fountain of joy. He is the “well-spring of the joy of living” as one songwriter put it. All joy, all happiness is, in some sense and to some degree, a reflection or distillation of this eternal, unyielding joy that exists in God. But joy here, I think, is something a little more distinct and specific. In John 15:11, Jesus tells His disciples:. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” We may not think of Jesus as having joy. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. When He spoke these words H,e was about to go into the darkest moments of His already dark life. And yet He could speak of His joy and the joy He would impart to His disciples. The author of Hebrews speaks to this point: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) The joy in question here isn't an emotion of cheerfulness. Jesus did not feel especially cheerful about being crucified; one does not sweat blood through cheerfulness. But there was a joy set before Him because he was fulfilling the will of the Father; there was a joy set before Him because He knew what would be accomplished through His death. He may not have gone to the cross singing and laughing, but He also didn't go whining and complaining. There was a joy set before Him which he could hold onto even when things were at their worst. We will not always have joyful circumstances in life. Some of us may even be called upon to suffer or die for God's sake. We will not always be cheerful. But there is a joy set before us and that joy, through the Spirit, may be full.

It is worth note that joy is the only part of the fruit of the spirit which is not primarily about our relationship with other people. Love and peace are social virtues, but joy is more individual. However, if we have joy it should have an impact on how we live with others. Generally speaking, and all other things being equal, happy people are nicer to be around than unhappy ones. The joy of the Lord is our strength and that strength should be used to lift up others; unlike the gravity of gloom which only pulls others down.

The word peace, at its basic level, means political peace--freedom from war and from that a state of peace within the nation. In Greek cities, there was an officer called the keeper of the peace who was to ensure that things remained peaceful and well ordered. This corresponds to what the US Constitution calls “Domestic Tranquility.”  And so by extension, it means peace with one another; a life of harmony. In Philippians, Paul calls God the God of Peace. God is a God of harmony; a God of well-being and stability. When Jesus came to earth, it was with the cry of peace on earth. Granted that God's work often brings strife and upheaval, yet at its heart, God's work is always the work of peace. And the peacemakers are called the children of God because they live according to the pattern of God. But this can only be accomplished through long-suffering.

Long-suffering has two different meanings. It can mean bearing difficult things without giving up and without becoming discouraged. One of the Jewish writers says that the Romans conquered the world because of their long-suffering--because no matter how badly they might be beaten in battle, they would never admit that they had lost the war. Long-suffering, in this sense, is what Churchill meant when he said: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” We might translate it perseverance.

But long-suffering also means patience and forbearance with others; dealing with difficult people without getting angry or seeking revenge. Barclay defines it as “the spirit which bears insult and injury without bitterness and without complaint. It is the spirit which can suffer unpleasant people with graciousness and fools without irritation.” (Ephesians 4:1-3) And once again our pattern for this is God. “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Peter 3:20) The world of Noah was wicked; every imagination of man was only evil continually. We know something of this in our world today but it is safe to assume it was far worse in Noah's day. If it had been up to us, many of us would have just wiped out the world immediately.  But God was long-suffering; for a hundred years or more, God allowed the world to continue, giving men the chance to repent; placing Noah before them as a preacher and an object lesson; giving them every opportunity to escape the judgment. He was not quick to anger; not quick to bring judgment and condemnation. And that is in miniature the entire story of God's dealing with mankind. God moves slowly. God is never in a hurry to bring judgment. And that is how we should be; willing to bear with others; not being quick to write them off or throw them aside.

Gentleness and goodness are an interesting pair because the Greek word translated here gentleness is sometimes translated goodness. But the word used here for goodness means primarily moral goodness; ethical purity; doing the right thing for the right reason; good as opposed to evil. It is the goodness that makes the good guys the good guys and not the bad buys. But gentleness has a different connotation; it is goodness in the sense of that which is sweet and kind; Thayer says it's opposites are harsh, hard, sharp, and bitter; the NET Bible translates it “kindness.” Goodness is that which is right, but gentleness is that which is kind and pleasant and gentle. Albert Barnes: “Religion makes no one crabbed, and morose, and sour. It sweetens the temper; corrects an irritable disposition; makes the heart kind; disposes us to make all around us as happy as possible. This is true politeness.” Obviously, goodness is an attribute of God. I don't think I have to explain that. But throughout the life of Jesus, we also see the quality of gentleness or kindness. While Jesus wasn't afraid to speak strong words when necessary, He was still a man of gentleness, who dealt with people kindly. He could offer encouragement as well as rebuke and speak words of grace as well as judgment.

Faith, here, seems to mean “faithfulness;” that is, fidelity; honesty, reliability. A Christian is someone who keeps faith; who keeps his promises; someone you can count on; someone who can keep a secret. We serve a faithful God; a God who always keeps his promises. And so we should be the same. We should be as faithful to others as God is faithful to us.

An interesting (though probably irrelevant) fact about meekness is that the Greek word is found 9 times in the New Testament, and in four of those cases it is grouped with one or more of the fruit of the spirit. Meekness and long-suffering are similar in that both involve the idea of putting aside our own rights and being willing to bear with others. But this also has the connotation of consideration and gentleness; of not allowing our own concerns to make us harsh or uncaring to others. Though this word is never used in the Gospels, this is definitely the picture we get from the gospels. Jesus came to this earth with a specific mission. The three years of his ministry were packed with important things leading towards his dark destiny, yet Jesus was always willing to set all that to the back of his mind and work with people where they were. We find him blessing the children or teaching Mary in Bethany or healing random people. Even on the eve of His death; even at the blackest moment of His life when His own friends were sleeping rather than praying with him, He dealt with them gently and with kindness. This is what Paul in 2 Corinthians calls “the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:1)

Temperance means self-control, discipline. Eugene Peterson renders it: “able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.” Paul uses a connected word in 1 Corinthians when he speaks of the training of an athlete. An athlete has to force himself to eat certain things and not to eat other things; not perform difficult and tedious exercises when it would be easier not to. Temperance is doing what needs to be done even when we don't want to, even when it would be easier or more pleasant not to. In some ways, it is the more mundane and prosaic version of courage; the refusal to give in to fear or adversity.

We see this in the life of Jesus when he was tempted to turn stones into bread. Being human He was hungry and it was natural to desire food. But He chose not to satisfy His hunger in that way; exercising self-control and temperance, submitting His hunger to His own will and the will of the Father.

And that's what makes this virtue very interesting. Most people, most religions recognize the value of some of the fruit of the spirit. Love, goodness, faith, and temperance are more-or-less universally recognized as important. Many people, even those who aren't Christians, might say that God wants us to be temperate. But in Christianity, God Himself exercised temperance. In Christianity, God himself was tempted to take the easy way out; in Christ, God had to show self-control and temperance. And while I'm not going into the theological subtleties involved, I think in that temptation of Christ, we see pictured not just the virtue of a man but the virtue of God; that that moment in some sense recapitulates something which we cannot fathom in the nature of God; that in some sense temperance is an attribute not just of Jesus but of God the Father. We think that God is good automatically because He's God and obviously there is a sense in which that is true. But it seems that there is also a sense that, just like for us, God's virtue is a matter of His will and that there is in the Divine Life some sense of sacrifice and discipline which we see dimly reflected in the life of Christ and in our exercise of temperance and self-control.

That brings us to the end of the Fruit of the Spirit. There are a few things we need to note in closing.

Because these are the fruit of the Spirit, all Christians, all those who have the Spirit of Christ, should show them to some degree. But obviously, there is a degree of growth in them. And they don't just happen automatically. What does Paul say in verse 25? “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” In other words, Paul is exhorting the Galatians to live in a way that is consistent with what they are. We can picture it like a garden. No amount of hoeing and weeding and pruning will ever make anything grow. That requires a seed. But once a seed has been planted, we have to care for it or it will not survive. When we become Christians, God plants a seed in our hearts; the fruit of the Spirit. But unless we make the conscious choice to care for this garden, to walk in the Spirit, then that fruit will shrivel and eventually die.

Along with that, we have to recognize that there is growth both of these graces themselves and of our knowledge and experience. Let's take a very simple example. The first fruit of the spirit is love. Suppose someone in the church is going through a hard time financially; they've just lost their job and you know they're struggling just to make ends meet. And so you decide, out of love, to help them out by making them a meal. That is the kind of thing love might prompt you to do. But all the love in the world will not teach you how to cook. That is a separate art which may be used in the service of love. In the same way, gentleness or kindness will lead you to be polite to others; but politeness is an art not a virtue and has to be learned separately.  There is a growth in grace and there is also a growth in the skill and knowledge to use that grace affectively. And with that, there is the experience of using it.

The more truly we have love and these other graces, the more we will want to use them correctly and so will try to learn the arts and skills which go with them. As we do, we gain experience in using them. And as we use them effectively, it helps to grow the original graces, so that we form a cycle; but not a vicious cycle, rather a blessed cycle.

There is one other thing we have to notice in this passage. Back up in verses 16-18, Paul is painting the contrast between the flesh and the spirit, showing them as mutually exclusive, competing principles. And he concludes it with these words: “if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” It sounds strange since up to that point the contrast is between Spirit and Flesh, but here it is Spirit and Law.

Now, Paul is well-known for his choppy and sometimes positively scatterbrained approach to writing. He is not above talking about one topic in the middle of a section dedicated to another topic. So Verse 18 may just be jumping back up to the topic of the first half of the book; the contrast between the law and the gospel. He may just be saying: “Oh, and by the way, if you are following the Spirit, you won't be a Legalist or a Covenantal Nomist.” He may even be making the point that Legalism is incapable of producing true victory over the Flesh (a point he makes much more fully in Romans.) After listing the Fruit of the Spirit, Paul adds “Against such there is no law.” Eugene Peterson paraphrases that: “Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.” Again, this is a point Paul makes elsewhere and it is certainly true. Being careful and conscientious may help you avoid many moral pitfalls in life, but it will not produce love, joy, or peace.

However, I think there is another meaning to these phrases. Remember what it is a law does. What do we think of the primary job of laws, of police, of judges? It is to condemn and punish wrongdoing. That is what the law does. It has a curse for those who disobey it (and a blessing for those who obey it). And that's why those who walk in the Spirit are not under the law--because they are not under condemnation. The first half of Galatians deals with how, through faith, we escape the condemnation of the law for the sins of the past; justification through faith. But this is about how we escape the condemnation of the law in the present and that is through the work of the Spirit (which we receive by faith) which enables us to live above sin. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2) We are not under condemnation. Condemnation brings death, but it is the wages only of those who do the works of the flesh.

We escape the condemnation of the law by having the power to obey the law (though also because we have an advocate if we do fail). And to some people that wouldn't seem like a very good deal. You can escape the consequences of the works of the flesh only by avoiding the works of the flesh. Just like the Jewish law, here we have a long series of Thou Shalt Nots.

But notice the end of verse 23 again. There are certain things that a very clearly and definitely walled off from the Christian. There are things that are to have no part in a Christian's life and no amount of grace and faith erases these prohibitions. But the very best things in life, the cream of the crop, the luscious Fruit of the Spirit--that we can have all we want of. There is a law against murder; there is no law against love. Envy is off-limits, but joy and peace are fine. To some people, this may not seem like a good exchange, but it really is. Everything truly good and worthwhile; everything worth having in life is open to us. The things forbidden are the things we don't want. God puts warning labels only on poisons. The good and edible food is all open for the taking, for against such there is no law.