The Fruit of Christ - Gospel Freedom in Galatians - November 17 Readings: Galatians 5:22-25

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Gospel Freedom in Galatians  

Background: What was the key issue in the early church? Race. Culture. Issues that are still with us today. The church at its inception on Pentecost was essentially 100% Jewish and the Apostles and the church in Jerusalem seemed content to keep it that way. Then God called a Pharisee named Saul to salvation and set him aside as an Apostle to the Gentiles. Over the next 30 years, the church became primarily Gentile with a Jewish minority, and many Jews fought it. 

Galatians was Paul's first letter, written at the end of his first missionary journey when Gentiles began to come to Christ in droves. A group, sometimes called Judaizers and sometimes the circumcision party, opposed the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. If they were to be part of the church, they needed to become Jewish - follow the law and Jewish rituals. Paul fought them tooth and nail his entire ministry. The gospel was for the whole world. 

Galatians is a powerful argument for a gospel free from the works of the law. 

As often as time allows, the reader is encouraged to read the entire book - it will not take more than a few minutes. Each day we will work our way through the book passage by passage. 


Today's Reading:  Galatians 1-6  Focus Passage - Galatians 5:22-25


But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.


Through the Bible Readings: Ezekiel 40, Hebrews 9, Psalm 124, Proverbs 28:7–9

 

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional:  The Fruit of Christ   


What is the marker of a real Christian? How do we know that someone is a true believer? 

This question has been answered in many ways during my life, and I believe it has been answered wrongly. We were taught that if we prayed the words to a prayer or that if we made a certain public profession of faith, we had done everything we needed to be saved. Evangelists used to teach people to write a statement in their Bibles to the effect, “On this date, David Miller did everything he needed to do to be eternally saved.” We can have assurance of salvation because we prayed the sinner’s prayer, went forward, got baptized, or whatever other actions were required. 

There are two problems with that. First, it bases assurance of salvation on something YOU did, on your works. I am saved because I prayed. Because I walked the aisle. Because I did this or that. Second, it gives assurance of salvation to people who live their lives with no evidence of genuine conversion.

I have done many funerals where I've heard some variation of this. “Certainly Uncle Bucky was saved. He went forward when he was 8, got baptized and joined the church. He never attended again and lived a pretty rough life, but, you know, ‘once saved, always saved,’ right?” If we give people a false assurance of their salvation, we are not doing them favors eternally. The fact is, the Bible never roots our assurance of salvation on any of these things.

 In Galatians 5:22-23, we see the Fruit of the Spirit, and we find where true assurance of salvation is rooted. When you are born again, the Spirit of God indwells you and begins to conform you to Christ, to produce the Fruit of the Spirit in you. Verses 22-23 list 9 evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

This list, like that of the works of the flesh we examined yesterday, is not exhaustive and many of the words have overlapping meanings, but they summarize the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those Christ has redeemed, the evidence that Christ is at work in us. There are three groups of three here – love, joy, and peace are the first, then patience, kindness, and goodness, and finally, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Some have speculated on these groupings in 3s, pointing out that God exists in Trinity and the number 3 represents his completeness. Of course, we can never know, but it is significant that these characteristics represent not perfect humanity but the character of Christ built into us.

The work of the Spirit is to make us like Jesus. That is how we know that we are in Christ. It begins at that moment that we trust Christ, but the proof of the reality of that event is the Spirit's work in us, making us more like Jesus Christ. 

Father, make me more like Jesus Christ every day. Produce in me the fruit of your Spirit.  


Think and Pray:

Can you examine your life and see the work of the Spirit making you more like Jesus Christ? 




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