Fruits of the Spirit — Works of the Flesh
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"Happy the heart where graces reign,
Where love inspires the breast;
Love is the brightest of the train.
And strengthens all the rest."
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22, 23.
"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims — abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." 1 Peter 2:11.
Among the fruits of which the Apostle of specifies is LOVE — a grace that cannot be too earnestly sought, as its value cannot be too highly estimated. Its importance may be shown by several considerations. One is, that the Saviour expressed His will on the subject in the form of a new and express law. "A new command I give you: Love one another." As the great Head of the Church, possessing all authority in heaven and on earth, the Lord Jesus was empowered to enact whatever laws He pleased; it is, however, worthy of remark, that in the exercise of that high function, the only subject on which He chose formally to legislate, was the one under consideration.
But it may be said — was not a command given of Old Testament to the same effect? Was not the second table of the moral law included in the saying, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself?" How then could it be called a new commandment? To this we reply, that it is evident that the love which Christ inculcated was of a different kind of love to that which the law of Moses required. The love prescribed by the old law was that of benevolence; while the love prescribed by the new law is that of delight.
The one was loving-kindness — that is, the love of the kind, or the love of man as man; the other is the love of man as a follower of Christ. And not merely are they different in their nature — but also as regards the considerations by which they are enforced; the great Legislator Himself, in the latter case, proposing His own example as the motive to, and the model of, obedience. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you — so you must love one another."
Again, the importance of love appears from the pre-eminence given to it above all other gifts and graces. "And now abides faith, hope, love — these three; but the greatest of these is love." It is here shown that love is the richest gem which sparkles in the Christian's crown!
Love is greater than either faith or hope in several respects. It is so, in the first place — as it is the end for which the other two are bestowed. The great design of the gospel is to re-stamp upon man the moral image of God; and if that image consists in one thing more than another — it is in love, for "God is love." Now, the salvation of the gospel is applied by faith, and to look for its completion is the work of hope; but love is the completion itself, it is that state of mind which it is the design of God in all His dispensations to produce. A building cannot be erected without scaffolding — but the building is of more importance than the scaffolding, being the end for which it was put up; and when the building is finished, the scaffolding is removed.
This leads us to observe, secondly, that love is greater than the other graces in point of duration. "Love never fails; but whether there are prophecies, they shall fail; whether there are tongues, they shall cease; whether there is knowledge, it shall vanish away." The shield of faith will be laid aside in heaven, for believing will be consummated in seeing and knowing. And as faith will be turned to sight — so hope will be lost in full fruition. There will be no submission there — for the days of trial and mourning will be ended.
There will be no self-denial — for there will be no cross to take up, and no burden to be borne. There will be no watchfulness — for there will be no enemy near; there will be no Canaanite left in the land; no thief can ever climb over the massive walls of the eternal city; and no foe can ever enter through its adamantine gates! There will be no prayer there — for every need will have been supplied, every sorrow soothed, and every sin forgiven. But if these graces will be absent — love will be there; and not faint and feeble as here on earth — but in full vigor and maturity! It will be there, beaming in every eye, and burning in every breast, forever and ever! It is thus a grace that will be unending in its duration. If we possess it here — then it will ascend with us above the skies, to be the temper of our souls to all eternity.
There is another sense in which the pre-eminence of love appears. Faith and hope are comparatively selfish graces. We believe and hope for ourselves; but in the exercise of love we regard the well-being of others. Faith and hope are the channels by which the streams of joy and peace flow from God to us; but by love, we dispense of those streams to others. In the one case — we are made the recipients of happiness; in the other we become its distributors. By the former we are made the heirs of salvation, to whom the angels of God minister; but by the latter we become ministering spirits ourselves, hushing the groans of creation, wiping away the tears of humanity, alleviating sorrow, and mitigating care on every hand, and leaving a blessing behind us wherever we go!
We may observe, once more, that the importance of this grace appears from the fact, that in the epistles addressed to the early churches, there is something about love, especially about brotherly love, in them all. Addressing the Romans, the apostle says, "Love each other with genuine affection;" and again, "Owe no man anything — but to love one another." If we turn to his first epistle to the Corinthians, we have one chapter entirely taken up with this topic, where its nature is explained, and its influence strikingly represented; and in the second epistle we find many affectionate appeals on the same subject. In the epistle to the Galatians, in addition to what is stated of the fruits of the Spirit, it is said, "By love, serve one another." Addressing the Ephesians, he says, "Be followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us."
To the Philippians His language is, "For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the affections of Jesus Christ: and this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment." To the Colossians again, "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all the saints." In the epistle to the Thessalonians, we have the emphatic words, "But as touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you; for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another." Among the many things which Timothy was exhorted to follow after, one of the first was love. Just so with the believing Hebrews — the apostle was for provoking them, and for their provoking each other to love; and in closing the epistle he says, "Let brotherly love continue."
In perfect harmony with these exhortations of Paul, are those of Peter. "Seeing," is his language, "that you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto sincere love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently." To refer to the epistles of John would be needless. There is nothing but love there. With an affection worthy of him who leaned on the bosom of incarnate love and compassion, he beseeches us, with the overflowing of tender importunity, as little children — to love one another. Now from all this there is but one conclusion at which we can arrive, namely, that that which is thus so prominently exhibited, and so repeatedly enjoined, must be important in the highest possible degree.
True religion, in a word, is love — and love is true religion. It is because love prevails in heaven — that religion prevails there. It is because there is no love in hell — that there is no religion in hell. And it is in proportion as love prevails in this world — that true religion prevails.
But the fruits of the Spirit enumerated by the apostle are numerous and diversified. We may, however, in accordance with the above observations, regard each and all of the graces subsequently specified, as so many modifications of the one we have been considering. What is joy — but love exulting! What is peace — but love reposing! What is patience — but love enduring! That it "suffers long, and is kind," the apostle, in another place, expressly declares. And in "kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control," we have what may be described as the amiability, the beneficence, the fidelity, the unostentatiousness, and the controlling influence of the same great principle. Or should it be thought that this representation is somewhat fanciful; no one can deny that if these several qualities are not actual modifications of love — yet that they are the inseparable adjuncts of it, and that where love abounds they cannot be absent.
With the fruits of the Spirit — the apostle contrasts the fruits of the flesh. "This I say then," is his language, "walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance — as I told you before — that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!" These evil passions and propensities, we are to shun as resolutely — as we are to seek the virtues, so lovely and of such good report, to which we have just referred.
And how many are the considerations which should induce us to guard against those fleshly lusts which war against the soul! If we live after the flesh — if we yield our members as servants to moral impurity and to iniquity — the certain consequence will be death — a death which never dies. The word is gone forth and shall not return, "The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur!" May God, in His infinite mercy, deliver the reader from such a doom!
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