Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
The MacArthur Study Bible: “no law. When a Christian walks by the Spirit and manifests his fruit, he needs no external law to produce the attitudes and behavior that please God.”
In the OT, God gave His people the Ten Commandments to follow, and rituals such as sacrificing animals to cleanse themselves of their sins. But it was insufficient, and so those sacrifices had to be offered over and over again. Until Christ.
God gave up His Son Jesus, who came willing as a Holy, living, and spotless sacrifice. He was completely blameless and without sin, yet He bore the righteous wrath of God for the sins of His people. Once was enough; the Perfect Sacrifice soothed the wrath of God, “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:14
The debt, our debt, was paid.
No longer must we follow the law in an attempt to have a righteous standing with God, but rather we have the privilege of striving after righteousness out of gratitude for what He has accomplished. We love Him because He loves us, and we desire to serve Him to bring Him glory. It is what we were created for.
“Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Psalms 100:3
After Christ ascended into heaven, He sent us the Helper, who dwells within every believer. The Holy Spirit is who enables us to produce the fruit that pleases our Lord. He guides us in the way we should go and helps us put to death the sins of the flesh.
And so Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-26:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will 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 things 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 keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
I hope you’ve enjoyed this short study of the fruits of the Spirit, and that you continue to study God’s Word and follow His leading. Give Him all the glory, for He is worthy of all our praise!
An extra excerpt from Scripture:
Romans 8:1-17 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
I used some of this passage in the introduction. What a gift that, covered by the blood of the Lamb, we can call God our Father. In heaven with Him, we will be glorified and finally able to experience perfect unity with our Maker, Savior, and Lord. Every day is one day closer.
*I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”
Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.
And when before Thy throne,
I stand in Him complete:
“Jesus died my soul to save”,
my lips shall still repeat.”
*Elvina M. Hall
The Misplaced Mom 
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