49 min
02 Fruit of the Spirit: Love Part 1 Wednesday in the Word
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- Kristendom
Love as a fruit of the Spirit is action-oriented and choice-driven, not a warm fuzzy feeling. Believers choose to treat our neighbors well because the Spirit has taught us some fundamental truths about who we are before God. Love as a fruit of the Spirit is active forgiveness, patience, compassion and seeking the welfare of another.
Key Points
* Fruit represents the thing that is eventually produced. When you plant an apple tree, eventually it grows apples.
* The items on this list result from the Spirit working in believers.
* Love (like all the other fruit of the Spirit) isn't an emotion It is a perspective change brought about by the Spirit teaching us wisdom and truth that results in action and attitude.
* Love as a fruit of the Spirit is rooted in understanding our essential equality before God.
* Love as a fruit of the Spirit is becoming people willing to see our place under God, standing next to our neighbors, equal in dignity and equal in guilt and willing to act for the benefit of others in the way we would want them to act for our benefit. This is both our hope and the result of the work of the Spirit.
* Passages: 1Timothy 1:5; Leviticus 19:18; 1John 3:16-18; Luke 6:27-35.
* Greek Word: Strong’s G26
Next: 03 Fruit of the Spirit: Love Part 2
Previous: 01 Fruit of the Spirit: Introduction
Series: Fruit of the Spirit
Love as a Fruit of the Spirit Part 1
In this series, we are looking at the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. My purpose in this series is to understand what these concepts are from a biblical perspective. That’s going to take us all over the Bible.
We probably have some vague idea what the items on the list mean. Maybe filled in by our own experience or psychology or philosophy. I want to explore what the Bible says about these topics, to recover what Paul had in mind when he wrote the list.
Last week, I summarized the book of Galatians and explained to the context in which we find this list. To review briefly, in the letter to the Galatians, Paul corrects the teaching of the Judaizers. They claim belief in Jesus Christ is not enough to be saved. They argue Gentiles must also keep the law, be circumcised and live like Jews.
Paul corrects that view. Most of the letter is a defense of justification by faith alone. In Galatians 5, which is the immediate context of the list, Paul explains why being free from the law is not an excuse to sin. He argues that trying to obey the law on our own resources produces only a fake moral transformation. We are putting something on the outside, but nothing is really changing on the inside.
On the other hand, freedom in Christ gives us a different motivation to avoid sin. Instead of the threat of the penalties of the Law, we now have the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This kind of obedience is a real moral transformation because it results from the work of the Spirit, changing us from the inside out.
Love as a fruit of the Spirit is action-oriented and choice-driven, not a warm fuzzy feeling. Believers choose to treat our neighbors well because the Spirit has taught us some fundamental truths about who we are before God. Love as a fruit of the Spirit is active forgiveness, patience, compassion and seeking the welfare of another.
Key Points
* Fruit represents the thing that is eventually produced. When you plant an apple tree, eventually it grows apples.
* The items on this list result from the Spirit working in believers.
* Love (like all the other fruit of the Spirit) isn't an emotion It is a perspective change brought about by the Spirit teaching us wisdom and truth that results in action and attitude.
* Love as a fruit of the Spirit is rooted in understanding our essential equality before God.
* Love as a fruit of the Spirit is becoming people willing to see our place under God, standing next to our neighbors, equal in dignity and equal in guilt and willing to act for the benefit of others in the way we would want them to act for our benefit. This is both our hope and the result of the work of the Spirit.
* Passages: 1Timothy 1:5; Leviticus 19:18; 1John 3:16-18; Luke 6:27-35.
* Greek Word: Strong’s G26
Next: 03 Fruit of the Spirit: Love Part 2
Previous: 01 Fruit of the Spirit: Introduction
Series: Fruit of the Spirit
Love as a Fruit of the Spirit Part 1
In this series, we are looking at the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. My purpose in this series is to understand what these concepts are from a biblical perspective. That’s going to take us all over the Bible.
We probably have some vague idea what the items on the list mean. Maybe filled in by our own experience or psychology or philosophy. I want to explore what the Bible says about these topics, to recover what Paul had in mind when he wrote the list.
Last week, I summarized the book of Galatians and explained to the context in which we find this list. To review briefly, in the letter to the Galatians, Paul corrects the teaching of the Judaizers. They claim belief in Jesus Christ is not enough to be saved. They argue Gentiles must also keep the law, be circumcised and live like Jews.
Paul corrects that view. Most of the letter is a defense of justification by faith alone. In Galatians 5, which is the immediate context of the list, Paul explains why being free from the law is not an excuse to sin. He argues that trying to obey the law on our own resources produces only a fake moral transformation. We are putting something on the outside, but nothing is really changing on the inside.
On the other hand, freedom in Christ gives us a different motivation to avoid sin. Instead of the threat of the penalties of the Law, we now have the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This kind of obedience is a real moral transformation because it results from the work of the Spirit, changing us from the inside out.
49 min