Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Galatians 5:19-6:2
In Galatians 5, St. Paul contrasts what he called “the works of the flesh” and the “fruit of the Spirit.” These two groupings stand in direct contradiction to one another. One cannot be growing both at the same time. Either one is cultivating the works of the flesh, or the fruit of the Spirit.
St. Paul lists the works of the flesh as follows: fornication (which for those who do not know the meaning of this word, it refers to extra-marital relations before one is married; adultery is extra-marital relations after one is married. Most of us know that adultery is a sin but we forget that fornication is on equal footing with adultery), impurity, licentiousness (another word for immorality), idolatry (making an idol out of something), sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing. He called them “plain” in Galatians 5:19. This likely means that they are easy to identify, and easy to cultivate. There is nothing complex in falling to these temptations.
This is contrasted to the Fruit of the Spirit, which are identified as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. These are more complicated concepts. They take years to cultivate. One could spend a lifetime working to master just one of them. However, if one focuses on a single fruit and masters it, the others will follow since they are all closely related.
Saint Paul says, in regard to the Fruit of the Spirit, there is no law. (Galatians 5:23) It is never wrong to love, or to be kind, or gentle. Sin can be defined as the absence of love. One cannot be loving and sinning at the same time. Thus, when one is not sure what to do, a gesture of love is never going to be wrong.
If there is a hierarchy of the fruit of the Spirit, that would be love, the first on the list. Everything else sprouts forth from love. Saint Paul writes that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24) In other words, those who wish to follow after Christ seek to eradicate the words of the flesh from their lives, and instead invest their time, effort, emotion and heart into cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25) The fruit of the Spirit is not just a mission statement for a good life but are the foundation for every step one takes. Ideally they figure into every conversation, every decision. When we are consumed by desire for these Spiritual fruit, there is no room for self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. (Galatians 5:26) We cannot express love when we are expressing self-conceit, when we are provoking others, or when we express envy for others.
No one, however disciplined he is, no matter how seriously he cultivates the fruit of the Spirit, is immune from sin. We all sin, we all fall, we all fail to love at times. When we fail to love, we should be corrected and restored with a spirit of gentleness. When we see another person fall, we are to use that same spirit to correct and restore them. We are to refrain from judging the failure of others, lest in failing to express love, we also commit sin. Rather, we are to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2) And that burden might be a struggle, or even a sin, a shortcoming. We are to bear with one another and also bear the struggles of others. This is the law of Christ—To love God and in order to do that, we must avoid sin. But to also love one another, to encourage one another to love God and avoid sin. And when one falls away from God, or stumbles into sin, to encourage them to begin again with love of God, to get back to cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.
One final note, and that is on the word “cultivate.” This is a farming term, related to how we grow plants and trees. Sunlight, water, healthy soil, and an appropriate temperature of both air and soil are necessary ingredients to cultivating healthy trees and plants. The fruit of the Spirit, encouragement from others, worship, prayer, Scripture reading and serving others are the necessary ingredients to cultivating Christianity in ourselves and in each other. And just like with growing plants, the necessary ingredients must be received and experienced consistently. A drought or a freeze damages the crop. It’s the same with our Christianity—it must be experienced on a regular basis. A drought when it comes to prayer, worship, Scripture or service will only result in damaging the fruit we are trying to cultivate.
Lord, thank You for the inspiring words of Saint Paul: the works of the flesh that we are to avoid and the fruit of the Spirit which we are to cultivate. Help me temper my desire for the works of the flesh. Bring people around me who will inspire me to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. Each time I fail to love, give me a spirit of repentance so that I quickly turn from sin and turn back to love. Help me to encourage others around me to love and not sin, and to repent and return to love each time they do. Help me know that it is never wrong to love. Forgive my failures to love, my many sins. Amen.
Sin is failure to love. It is never wrong to love.
