Introduction
Over the next ten weeks, we are going to be taking an in-depth look at the Fruit of the Spirit. In the Bible, fruit is an important evidence of our spiritual health. Jesus told his disciples in John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Or again in Luke 6:43-48: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
But before we can consider each of the fruits listed in Galatians 5:22-23, we need to situate them in the larger context of chapter five and the book as a whole. When we do so, we will see the more clearly the fertile ground of freedom in which the fruits of the Spirit flourish as well as the dangerous weeds that threaten to choke them out. Specifically, this morning we are going to look at the Galatians’ struggle with freedom, the surprising root of the struggle, and the way faith working through love is answer to this struggle.
Struggling with Freedom
Chapter 5 verse 1 is the climax of the argument Paul has been developing in the previous two chapters (and throughout the whole book). The situation and argument goes like this: “Paul had assured these Galatian believers that by putting their faith in the Messiah, Jesus, they had in fact become part of God’s people. They too were children of Abraham—not by becoming Jews (Culturally, or ethnically, or by proselyte conversion)—but by becoming children of God, adopted into God’s family by God’s grace and by faith in Jesus the Messiah. Though they were Gentiles, they had now become part of God’s covenant people. They were included among the spiritual seed of Abraham. Essentially, Paul tells them, if you are in Christ then you are in Abraham, and God’s promises are for you (See Gal. 3:7-9, 13-14, 26-29).” – Christopher Wright
Simply put, Paul says that the great freedom, into which Christ has freed us, is the reality that Christ has fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law, so that by faith in Him, we no longer stand as slaves under the curse of the law, but are adopted as sons into His family. Listen to how Paul puts this in 4:4-7: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
This is an extraordinary freedom! But notice how Paul immediately says that, like all freedom, it must be guarded and preserved or it can be lost. We are to “stand firm” (a military term) and refuse to submit to these threats. Paul tells the Galatians that they must not submit again to “a yoke of slavery.” The Jews often spoke of the study and practice of the whole law as “coming under the yoke.” The “again” means that Paul is likening the slavery of their pagan past to this new slavery of conforming to the whole law. Let’s look at these two temptations, which are the chief threats to gospel freedom.
- The Threat of Losing our Freedom (vs. 1-12): The Galatians were facing a significant temptation and Paul wants them to understand what was at stake. Circumcision was not a harmless addition to faith in Christ, it must, of necessity, stand in place of Him. The Judiazers were proclaiming a different religion altogether; one based on law-keeping as a path to relationship with God. Paul is clear: This is a dead end. If you want one part of your obedience to count, you have to keep everything (vs. 3). You cannot add to Christ’s work without subtracting from it. The consequences of this are so serious that Paul wishes those who practice circumcision would go the whole way! (vs. 12)
- The Threat of Abusing our Freedom (vs. 13-15): But while rejecting our law-keeping as the basis for gaining favor with God, Paul knows another threat to true freedom is lurking around the corner: The temptation to use our freedom as an opportunity (lit. “springboard” or “base of operations”) for the flesh. The flesh is the “center of human pride and self-willing.” Rather than serving God, the flesh is only interested in self-service, but often self-service disguised as obedience (Matt. 15:1-9; Isaiah 29:13; Ezek. 33:31).
The Surprising Root
These are not theoretical temptations. They lurk in the heart of every Christian. We are constantly in danger of forsaking the true freedom of the Gospel for human counterfeits that only lead back into slavery. Why is this the case? Ever since the first sin of our parents, Legalism has been deeply buried in the human heart. First of all, Legalism is an attitude of the heart that separates the law of God from the person of God. This means that for the legalist in all of us, the will of God is not a revelation of His gracious and generous character, but is a high bar that must be overcome to earn his favor. It believes that obligation precedes relationship because God is stingy, hard, and difficult to please. Like Eve in the garden, we believe that if we are to receive good from God we must get it for ourselves and so we get to work; the hard, unrelenting work of saving ourselves. In the end, legalism and license are not far apart at all. They both spring from the same fount: They turn to self-service in place serving a God they cannot trust because they don’t believe His is good.
The Answer is Love Made Flesh
So, what’s the answer? “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” True freedom is rooted in love. Selfishness and insecurity cannot produce love because love is joyful self-giving. Only faith can connect us to Christ who is our righteousness and the proof that God’s love is freely given to us: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 Jn. 4:10-11).
Both Legalism and License are only oriented to God as a means of getting things from Him. But in the Gospel, we are overwhelmed by reality that Christ died for us not because of the value we would bring Him. God didn’t need us! We do not increase His profit or contribute to his value. Instead, the Gospel is the declaration that God loves us for our own sakes (Deut. 7:7-8). He loves us and so He gave! And so it is with us: “Christian freedom is freedom to love and therefore freedom to serve.”
“Legalism (and License) can, therefore, be banished only when we see that the real “truth about God” is that when we glorify Him we also come to “enjoy him forever,” and with him enjoy everything he has given us. To the unbelieving [heart] this is incomprehensible. But it is the happy first principle of the believing [heart].” – Sinclair Ferguson