Sermon: Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:13-25), Hillcrest UMC, June 27, 2010
Today’s scripture lesson presents us with two lists, the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. But before we consider the lists, I want to put them in context in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. At the beginning of chapter 5, following the allegory of chapter 4, in which Paul compares Christians to children of Sarah, not of the slave woman Hagar, Paul says, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Paul explains this freedom as freedom for Gentile Christian believers not to be subjected to the laws of circumcision and kosher foods followed by Jews and Jewish Christians.
But there is a condition, as he explains. “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another” (Gal. 5:13). In this chapter Paul emphasizes love as the central issue of Christian life style. To love as God loves in every situation is to do the right thing. “For the whole law,” says Paul, “is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Gal. 5:14, quoting Lev. 19:18). Richard B. Hays points out that “a saying of Rabbi Hillel [who lived and taught in Jerusalem a generation or two before Jesus] sums up Jewish law in the command, ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor’ ” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Gal. 5:14).
Love is the crowning virtue; it tops the list of the fruits of the Spirit that follows later in this chapter. When Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Mt. 22:36), he answered, quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Mt. 22:37). And he followed with a second commandment, quoting Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:39). “On these two commandments,” he explains, “hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:30). In another letter, Paul explains it this way:
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:8-10)
Here again, Paul quotes Leviticus 19:18. And we are all familiar with Paul’s famous love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, which concludes with the words, “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).
Fruit as a picture of what results from faithful Godly living is a common biblical metaphor. A good example is Isaiah’s Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard.
Let me sing for my beloved / my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard / on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, / and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it, / and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes (Myb9n!f3, ‘anāvîm), / but it yielded wild grapes(Myw9xuB4, be’ušîm). (Isa. 5:1-2)
Here the singer is God. His beloved is Israel. The care for the vineyard is God’s care for Israel, clearing stones, planting choice vines, building a watchtower, and hewing out a wine vat. But the result was not what should have been expected. In Hebrew, there is one word for “grapes” and another for “wild grapes.” Isaiah did not take the word for “grapes” and add the adjective “wild.” “Wild grapes” in English represents a completely different word that means “sour, unripe grapes.” Related words mean “stink” and “stench” (William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 10th corrected impression, 1988, s.v. wxuB4, be’uš, wxaBA, bā’aš, and wxoB4, be’ōš). Later, Isaiah explains.
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts / is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah / are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice (FPAw4m9, mišpāt), / but saw bloodshed (HPAw4m9, miśpāch);
righteousness (hq!dAc4, tsedāqāh), / but heard a cry (hq!&fAc4, tse‘āqāh)! (Isa. 5:7)
There’s a kind of rhyme in Hebrew there: justice (FPAw4m9, mišpāt), bloodshed (HPAw4m9, miśpāch); righteousness (hq!dAc4, tsedāqāh), cry, or outcry, (hq!&fAc4, tse‘āqāh). After noticing this vivid picture of God’s disappointment over Israel’s unfruitfulness, I was glad to read later God’s more pleasant song.
On that day:
A pleasant vineyard, sing about it!/ I, the LORD, am its keeper; / every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day / so that no one can harm it; I have no wrath. (Isa. 27:3-4a)
Jesus applies this kind of imagery to himself as “the true vine,” and we Christian believers as “the branches” (Jn. 15:1-8). ‘We are expected to abide in his love and bear much fruit.
I’m not much of a gardner. I’ve lived in towns and spent my time on other things. But my great-grandfather, I’m told, made his living, or part of it, from an orchard. He was one of those who came west and settled in northern Kansas. With relatives, I have visited the site of his orchard—there’s not much left now. But I have worked with farmers who grow things like corn and wheat. And in thinking about that I also wondered, Why is Paul’s list of sins and sinful attitudes called “the works of the flesh,” but the list of Christian virtues and attitudes called “the fruit,” not works, “of the Spirit.” For one thing, notice that the word “Spirit” is capitalized. It is not as though we must work at it to have love, joy peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Of course, we must pay some attention and cultivate these virtues. But we have the help of the Holy Spirit. They are called “fruit of the spirit.” Suppose that I had planted some corn in a garden. I get impatient, so I go out in the field and pull and tug on the corn stalks to make them grow. You know what would really happen. Pulling on the stalks wouldn’t make them grow. It would uproot them and they would die. To make plants grow, you provide the right conditions, the right soil and fertilizer, and water. Under those conditions growth happens.
I suppose its also not true that you have to work at it to commit the works of the flesh. But there’s a sense in which you become addicted, captured within a sinful life style from which you need the grace of God to emerge.
Let’s take a brief look at the lists. As for the sins—the works of the flesh—we are not to suppose that Paul is accusing the Galatians of committing them all. There were standard lists that both Christian and pagan moralists used. There is a longer list in Romans 1:29-31.
Works of the Flesh
fornication, porneiva
impurity, ajkaqarsiva
licentiousness, asevlgeia, “wanton disregard for social/moral standards,” self-abandonment, licentiousness
idolatry, eijdwlolatriva
sorcery, farmakeiva, “manipulation through incantations, spells, substances, or combinations thereof,” sorcery, magic
enmities, e[cqri
strife, e[riV
jealousy, zh:loV
anger, qumoiv
quarrels, ejriqei:a
discension, dicostasivai, “disagreement that threatens the unity of a group,” dissension
factions, aiJrevseiV, “choice of association based on shared principles or beliefs, ordinarily of a subgroup with views or beliefs that deviate in certain respects from those of the larger membership,” party, faction, acts 5:17; 26:5; “perceived as a threat to the integrity of the larger group”
envy, fqovnoi
drunkenness, mevqai
carousing, kw:moi
and things like these
But, says Paul, “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Fruit of the Spirit
As for the fruit of the spirit, Paul suggests that these are produce as we submit to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “There is no law against such things,” he says (Gal. 5:23b). “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
love, ajgavph
joy, carav
peace, eijrhvnh
patience, makroqumiva, “capacity for restraint in face of what is provocative” (a) in response to obnoxious acts or attitudesw patience, forbearance, [whether] at the level of interpersonal relationships, at the level of relation between God or Christ and human beings, or in response to discomfort or hardship, patience
kindness, crhstovthV
generosity, ajgaqwsuvnh, “quality or characteristic of being concerned about the well-being of others,” goodness
faithfulness, pistivV. The first meaning is “constancy in awareness of obligation to others,” faithfulness, fidelity. The second meaning I “belief or confidence evoked by another’s reputation for trustworthiness,” in the NT with focus, whether explicit or implied, on God or Christ for aid or salvation, faith, trust, confidence”B”
gentleness, prau<thV
self-control, ejgkravteia
When I was a teenager, our family lived in a small town in western Kansas. The town was named Haviland—like the Haviland china—but the Quaker settlers named the town for Laura Haviland, of the Underground Railroad for freeing slaves. After I left to pursue education and career, the church was rebuilt. Later, Barbara and I lived there—returning for me, new for her—and I saw that they had put on the front wall, behind the pulpit, a list of the fruit of the Spirit, “Love, Joy, Peace,” and so on. I take it that they understood their mission to make Christian disciples who exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.
---------