Title Judgment Equation / Galatians 5:16-24
Content Judgment Expression/Galatians 5:16-24
The famous passage in Galatians 5:16 and below is the nine fruits of the Spirit. We often say 'let's bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit'. And we put a lot of effort into producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. However, it does not work well, and on the contrary, there are cases where only the fruit of the body remains. The biggest reason for this is because we missed the fact that this Word is not about bearing any fruit. The Bible says, 'I do not tell you to bear fruit, but to follow the Holy Spirit'. This is very different. The Bible never says to 'bear fruit'. The fruit always appears as a matter of discerning what kind of tree it is.
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they plunder.
is a wolf, and you will know them by their fruit: grapes from thorns, or from thistles
Shall I pick figs? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree
bears bad fruit; a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot
It cannot bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:15-18).
It can be seen that the fruit is used as a criterion for 'discrimination'. You may not know the tree that produces the fruit, but you can tell what kind of tree it is by looking at the fruit. A good tree does not bear bad fruit, and a bad tree does not produce good fruit. That's why it is said to 'know the tree by the fruit'. There is no place where a tree is told to bear only 'good fruit' while standing still. So, the claim to 'bear the fruit of the Spirit' in Galatians 5 has nothing to do with this.
Now, in Galatians 5:16 and below, what does it mean to ask us for the fruit of the Spirit? What else should we know about this fruit? The Bible lists these fruits so that we can check whether we are following the Spirit or the flesh. And it is not meant to bear these fruits listed. Of course, this fruit bears fruit. However, it means 'Distinguish whether you are following the Spirit or the flesh, by the fruit of what you are doing'. So the text is the discriminant that distinguishes the flesh from the Spirit.
“I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
The lust of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the lust of the Spirit is against the flesh.
These two oppose each other, so that you cannot do what you want. (Gal.
5:16-17)"
The only way to not bear fruit in the flesh is to walk in the Spirit. And what is stated is that you know where you belong by the fruit you bear. The biggest mistake believers make is fighting for what's right. There must always be a fight against heresy. However, there are cases where 'I am right' is not the reason for judging others and putting them to death. In other words, it differentiates me and others into right and wrong.
From this point of view, the important point here is not to miss that the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit are both personal. That is, it is not competent. What God requires of his saints is not 'ability' but 'character'. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... For these fruits, believers usually think of 'faith' as some 'power'. But the problem is that those abilities solve the problem and kill the opponent.
The observance of faith and the direction of faith that God requires of believers are 'characteristic' and 'personal'. But we try to understand it only in terms of accomplishing something. We really like to get things done. pray for power to do that
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do. But let's look at the following statement.
“Therefore, you will know them by their fruits. Everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will go to heaven.
Not all will enter, but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, let us know your name
to prophesy in your name, to cast out demons in your name, and to cast out many
Have I not done a mighty thing?" Then I said to them plainly, "I
I never knew you; I will say, 'Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness' (Matt.
7:20-23)"
According to Matthew 7:23, it is said that these people are lawless, and that the Lord has never known them. And to clarify this meaning, the famous parable of a house built on a rock and a house built on sand is given until verses 24-27. We usually think that those who hear the word of the Lord and put them into practice are the ones who built their house on the rock, and those who hear the word of the Lord and do not do it are fools who built their house on the sand. However, if this parable is a parable that contrasts the presence or absence of practice, the house built should be compared. In other words, the parable in this text compares the man who built a house based on the word of the Lord and the man who built a house based on things other than the word of the Lord. It is not a comparison of building a house, but a comparison of what it is built on. The reason why a house is strong and when it collapses is because of its foundation.