Galatians 5:22-24–Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation

Posted by Seth on Dec 2, 2009 in Bible Study, Daily Devotions |

Galatians 5:22-24–Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation

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Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Galatians 5:22-24 wherein we are presented with the fruit of the Spirit that is to flow from all who belong to Christ.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Fruit always flows from a source and that is the illustration that we see being used here. The fruit that is of the Holy Spirit is not something that is floating, drifting, or hidden somewhere as if they were substances to be chased after, but they instead appear in the one who is connected to the Holy Spirit. The language surrounding these verses attest to this: Walk by the Spirit…desires of the Spirit…led by the Spirit…live by the Spirit are the phrases used that point to the Source of any fruit that will be produced. We have our supreme example in Christ who, beginning His ministry, received a special anointing of the Holy Spirit at His baptism and then is said to be led by the Spirit into the wilderness and later operates by the Spirit as He continued on in faithfulness. No one better exemplifies the charge that we have before us, for He was in every way perfectly fruitful. And then, according to His promise to send the Holy Spirit to His followers, we see the great Counselor come and produce fruit in the apostles and then in those who believed in Jesus through their message.

If we spend a few moments thinking on the fruit that is listed before us, we understand why there really is no law against them. The Mosaic law and whether or not Christians needed to abide by it in the outward practices of it (especially circumcision) was a point of contention that Paul had spent much time addressing in this letter to the Galatians. What he does here then, is give them and us something new to focus on that stands above our own ideas of what is pure and our own methods of pursuing holiness. Love, joy, peace, etc. work on a very practical level in every context and in fact fulfill the law of Moses for they capture the true spirit of that law and what God was ultimately aimed at in it. God has always been looking for obedient, faithful hearts more than sacrifices or any other religious forms.

Finally, we see in the final sentence what everything boils down to as we begin to sense in our spirits the necessity of walking in such a way as to bear this fruit: belonging to Christ. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The call is for Christians to be who they are–servants of Jesus. The mixing of our fleshly desires and the practice of walking by the Spirit is not an option. We are to live in that new person which has been given spiritual life and leave alone what has been killed with Christ on the cross.

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