June 26, 2016

“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 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 be guided by the Spirit.” Galatians 5:19-25

Do you still think that the works of the flesh are so obvious to people? Many of the “works” that are mentioned are just the way that people interact with others in this world. In Paul’s thinking, all parts of the body constitutes the totality of “Flesh” – and within flesh, sin resides – nothing good resides in the flesh.

And then the text says, “In contrast…” – or in other words, the opposite of works of the flesh are works of the Spirit. And the first work of the Spirit that is listed is love. One commentary suggested that the list of 9 “Fruits” could also be listed as “Love:”, with a colon – and then with the other 8 defining what love is. Now that is an interesting way of looking at the “Fruits of the Spirit”. I have talked in the past about the “Fruits…” – that they are not nine separate fruits, but one fruit known in nine expressions. This then would help us see the “Fruits..” as a single unit. Love is the beginning of how we are to live – and when we have love, that love is defined with joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It can almost be read in a similar way as we understand 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous…” and so on.

It seems to me, as a humble pastor, that maybe G-d is saying something to us. Maybe, G-d is telling us we are to focus less on fleshy passions and activities, and focus more on love. That perhaps love is that important – in all relationships – especially our relationship with G-d. And perhaps the more we focus on loving each other the less we may feel it necessary to worry about things like “…strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” And, maybe we also will find that our relationships are just a little better – especially our relationship with G-d.

Pastor Dave