(Gal 5:22-23 NASB) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
It should be
abundantly clear that godliness, therefore holiness is expressed in the fruit
of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is agape… og-ga-pay (correct
pronunciation). Agape is a special kind of love. Many have said it is God love…
that is, the love that God has and gives. Rest assured that true righteousness
and holiness is an expression of agape. All of the up-tight saints that are
trying to walk the chalk miss this idea and in their tight fear miss agape and
its expression in their life.
Let’s take a
quick look at the description of agape. It can be found in Paul’s first letter
to the Corinthian saints in the thirteenth chapter.
(1Co 13:4-8 NASB) Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, (5) does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, (6) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (8) Love never fails…
The above
passage is another way of expressing the fruit of the Spirit and it describes
holiness. As was pointed out in previous posts, this spiritual fruit, agape is
birthed and sustained by peace with God, (Romans 5:1.) In fact, it is faith in
the gospel of grace that produces this Spiritual fruit. Now then, the saint has
to be grounded in the fact that they are completely made right in the eyes of
the Father to allow this agape to be produced.
If faith in
Christ is the reason for justification and right standing with the Father then,
our obedience to the commands cannot be. In fact, our obedience to the commands
will not even keep us in right standing with the Father. The only thing that
will do that is faith in the gospel. This is why Paul told the Colossians that
as they received the Lord Jesus (by faith) that is how they should WALK in him
(Col 2:6)… in other words, just like they believed in the gospel to be saved, they
must continue to believe in the gospel to faithfully walk in him.
I am not
shouting but I want to emphasize the following so I am putting it in capital
letters…. UNTIL THE SAINTS ARE COMPLETELY CONVINCED IN THE ABSOLUTE PERMENANT
EFFECACY OF GOD’S GRACE THEY CAN NEVER LOOK AT THE LAW TO BE INSTRUCTED IN
PROPER RESPONSE TO GOD’S GRACE! However, from the position of assurance of
justification no matter what, justification that is based solely on the work of
Christ and faith in that work, then one can look at the law and admonition
passages and begin to see ways that holiness can be displayed.
Still more to
come in this series…
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