View source for Fruits of the Spirit — Works of the Flesh

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<p>&quot;Happy the heart where&nbsp;<em>graces</em><em>&nbsp;</em>reign,&nbsp;<br>
  Where love inspires the breast;&nbsp;<br>
  Love is the brightest of the train.&nbsp;<br>
  And strengthens all the rest.&quot;<br><br>
  &quot;But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,  kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.&quot; Galatians  5:22, 23.<br><br>
  &quot;Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims — abstain  from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.&quot; 1 Peter  2:11.<br><br>
  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&nbsp;<em>new</em><em>&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>express law</em>. &quot;A new command I give you: Love one another.&quot; As the great  Head of the Church, possessing all authority in heaven and on earth, the Lord Jesus was empowered  to enact whatever&nbsp;<em>laws</em><em>&nbsp;</em>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.<br><br>
  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,  &quot;You shall love your neighbour as yourself?&quot; How then could it be  called a&nbsp;<em>new</em><em>&nbsp;</em>commandment? To this we reply, that it is evident that the love which Christ inculcated was of a&nbsp;<em>different kind</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of love to that which  the law of Moses required. The love prescribed by the old law was that of&nbsp;<em>benevolence</em>; while the love prescribed by the new law is that of&nbsp;<em>delight</em>. <br><br>
  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. &quot;A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved  you — so you must love one another.&quot;<br><br>
  Again, the importance of love appears from the pre-eminence given to it  above all other gifts and graces. &quot;And now abides faith, hope, love —  these three; but the&nbsp;<em>greatest</em> of these is  love.&quot; It is here shown that&nbsp;<em>love is the richest  gem which sparkles in the Christian's crown!</em> <br><br>
  <em>Love</em><em>&nbsp;</em>is greater than  either&nbsp;<em>faith</em><em>&nbsp;</em>or&nbsp;<em>hope</em><em>&nbsp;</em>in several respects. It is so, in the first place — as it is the&nbsp;<strong>end</strong><strong>&nbsp;</strong>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 &quot;God is love.&quot; Now, the salvation of the gospel is&nbsp;<em>applied</em><em>&nbsp;</em>by&nbsp;<em>faith</em>, and to look for its completion is the work of&nbsp;<em>hope</em>; 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.<br><br>
  This leads us to observe, secondly, that love is greater than the other  graces in point of&nbsp;<strong>duration</strong>.&nbsp;<em>&quot;Love never fails;</em>&nbsp;but whether there are  prophecies, they shall fail; whether there are tongues, they shall cease;  whether there is knowledge, it shall vanish away.&quot; The shield of&nbsp;<em>faith</em><em>&nbsp;</em>will be laid aside in  heaven, for&nbsp;<em>believing</em><em>&nbsp;</em>will be consummated in<em> seeing</em><em>&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>knowing</em>. And as faith will  be turned to&nbsp;<em>sight</em>&nbsp;— so&nbsp;<em>hope</em><em>&nbsp;</em>will be lost in full&nbsp;<em>fruition</em>. There will be no&nbsp;<em>submission</em><em>&nbsp;</em>there — for the days  of trial and mourning will be ended. <br><br>
  There will be no&nbsp;<em>self-denial</em>&nbsp;— for there will be no cross to take up, and no burden to be borne.  There will be no&nbsp;<em>watchfulness</em>&nbsp;— for there will be no enemy near; there will be no&nbsp;<em>Canaanite</em><em>&nbsp;</em>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&nbsp;<em>prayer</em><em>&nbsp;</em>there — for every  need will have been supplied, every sorrow soothed, and every sin forgiven. But  if these graces will be absent —&nbsp;<em>love</em><em>&nbsp;</em>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&nbsp;<em>unending</em><em>&nbsp;</em>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.<br><br>
  There is another sense in which the pre-eminence of love appears.&nbsp;<em>Faith</em><em>&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>hope</em><em>&nbsp;</em>are comparatively&nbsp;<em>selfish</em><em>&nbsp;</em>graces. We believe  and hope for ourselves; but in the exercise of love we regard<em>&nbsp;</em><em>the well-being of others</em>. Faith and hope are the channels by  which the streams of joy and peace flow from God to&nbsp;<em>us;</em>&nbsp;but by love, we dispense of those  streams to&nbsp;<em>others</em>. In the one case —  we are made the&nbsp;<em>recipients</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of happiness; in the other we become its&nbsp;<em>distributors</em>. 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!<br><br>
  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, &quot;Love each other with genuine  affection;&quot; and again, &quot;Owe no man anything — but to love one  another.&quot; If we turn to his first epistle to the Corinthians, we have one  chapter entirely taken up with this topic, where its&nbsp;<em>nature</em><em>&nbsp;</em>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, &quot;By  love, serve one another.&quot; Addressing the Ephesians, he says, &quot;Be  followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ  also has loved us, and has given Himself for us.&quot; <br><br>
  To the Philippians His language is, &quot;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.&quot; To the Colossians again, &quot;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&nbsp;<em>love</em><em>&nbsp;</em>which you have to all  the saints.&quot; In the epistle to the Thessalonians, we have the emphatic  words, &quot;But as touching&nbsp;<em>brotherly love</em>, you need not that I  write unto you; for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another.&quot;  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, &quot;Let brotherly  love continue.&quot;<br><br>
  In perfect harmony with these exhortations of Paul,  are those of Peter.  &quot;Seeing,&quot; is his language, &quot;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.&quot; 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&nbsp;<em>prominently exhibited</em>, and so repeatedly  enjoined, must be important in the highest possible degree.<br><br>
  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.<br><br>
  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&nbsp;<em>modifications</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of the one we have  been considering. What is&nbsp;<em>joy</em>&nbsp;— but love exulting! What is&nbsp;<em>peace</em>&nbsp;— but love reposing! What is&nbsp;<em>patience</em>&nbsp;— but love enduring! That it &quot;suffers long, and is kind,&quot; the  apostle, in another place, expressly declares. And in &quot;kindness, goodness,  faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,&quot; 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&nbsp;<em>modifications</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of love — yet that they are the inseparable&nbsp;<em>adjuncts</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of it, and that where  love abounds they cannot be absent.<br><br>
  With the fruits of the&nbsp;<em>Spirit</em>&nbsp;— the apostle contrasts the fruits of the&nbsp;<em>flesh</em>. &quot;This I say then,&quot; is his language, &quot;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!&quot; These evil passions and  propensities, we are to&nbsp;<em>shun</em><em>&nbsp;</em>as resolutely — as we are to&nbsp;<em>seek</em><em>&nbsp;</em>the virtues, so lovely and of such good report, to which we have just  referred. <br><br>
  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, &quot;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!&quot;  May God, in His infinite mercy, deliver the reader from such a doom!</p>

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