0382. The Fruit of the Spirit

The Fruit of the Spirit

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal_5:22-23).

A token of salvation is the fruitage which we bear. Christ said "By their fruits ye shall know them: Do men gather grapes of thorns? or figs of thistles?"

The people of the world may bring forth a certain code of ethics, they may endeavor to lift themselves above themselves, and to seek a daily renewing: they may possess a high standard of morals, and attain a respectable manifestation of human righteousness; but it is still true that the flesh "is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." The works of the flesh are still manifest, and they are these: "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresy, envyings, murder, drunkenness, revellings and such like."

After twenty centuries of man’s boasted progress, and of social reform, every newspaper bears witness to the immoralities of the hour.

It is still true that one cannot "gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles." It is still true that "a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."

We readily grant that not all Christians produce, bountifully, the fruit of the Spirit. Alas, many are walking after the flesh. We also grant that when Christians fail to produce the fruit of the Spirit, the world will judge them as unsaved. "Herein is the Father glorified that we bear much fruit."

The people about us believe we are justified when they see our works. So, we may count as a token of our salvation, manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. This is a token not so much to us, individually, as it is a token to those around us. The manifestation of the works of the flesh is also a token of perdition.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR