To catalog the library of teaching on the fruit of the spirit would likely take a lifetime. Theres a lot of good ones, some questionable, and some that make no sense whatsoever. What Im about to offer may be new for some, hopefully it will shed a little light on the subject. Paul says in Galatians 5:22-23 - 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now, in the Greek text there is no punctuation, but theres also nothing to let us know if the author was making an aside (like I am here) - which if read differently reads in the Greek text there is no punctuation (but theres also nothing to let us know if the author was making an aside like I am here). It doesnt completely change the meaning of the text, but it does alter it slightly. Lets apply that here. What if we change/add some punctuation and read Pauls exhortation this way? But, the fruit of the spirit is love. (real love is found in peace and joy, real love is found in kindness and goodness, real love controls us). In the light of love, no conditionality can stand. Certainly changes our focus a little. Doesnt change the whole text either. You see, its fine if we play with the text a little bit. I understand we can go overboard with it, but thats not a reason to fear questioning how we read things (or how we vocalize them mentally). If we fully understood the statement the fruit of the spirit is love then we may make greater strides in our understanding of human darkness and emotion. Theres other fun things to do with this verse too, like pointing out that law is not simply Mosaic written law, its nomos - which means any law, even the christian law demanding faith1. Or pointing out that fruit is singular. Or that its the fruit of the spirit—not the spirit and you. But what we really need to grasp from this passage, what we need to fully understand is this: The spirit produces her own fruit. The fruit of the spirit is love. Love is found in peace and joy, in radical inclusion of the other. No law can stand against love, even the christian law demanding faith. Love will remain. Love never fails. Even in death. #ImperfectThoughts theimperfectpastor/index.php/blog/item/204-the-fruit-of-the-spirit
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 16:01:33 +0000
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