Galatians 5:16-26
I wondered whether Paul penned these “fruits of the Spirit” (vv. 22-23) in a particular order or if he just rattled them off in his letter. But as I imagined these fruits to be a particular ordering by him, I wondered at some reasoning behind his ordering and put together some thoughts.
- Love is listed first, not surprisingly. “And now abide faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13) “Love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
- Joy follows love. If we truly have love, joy will radiate from our lives.
- Peace follows joy. Complete joy in our lives leaves us with an inexplicable peace – a relaxation “…that can be felt” (lifted from Exodus 10:21).
- Patience follows our internal peace. Circumstance and what others do will trouble us less and less.
- Kindness follows patience. Our patience with others will result in kind acts directed their way, both intentional and unthinking.
- Goodness is both an internal feeling and an external reflection of who we have become.
- Faithfulness – as reflected in our human experiences – people will come to anticipate, even expect our positive demeanor. They can count on us!!
- Gentleness is probably an attribute that we least see in the people (and the world) around us. Maybe it follows from the first seven?
- Self-control is listed last, maybe because it’s the most difficult – or maybe it just follows when the other eight fruits of the Spirit are exhibited in our lives.
I was also thinking that these fruits of the Spirit reflect what we take in, what we send out, and what we retain inside us. And I’m going to leave that thought for you to think about! GLORY!!
Slava Bohu!
I like the ordering, Fred! One thing I noticed was that we need to be led by the Spirit, v. 18a. A big if-then clause. We can’t just ignore the law. Only if we are led by the Spirit, then we won’t need the law to show us sin because the Spirit will lead us elsewhere. It’s a daily, ongoing thing. Simple but really hard to do. Only by grace.