A Word in Due Season Newsletter (April 1991)
Last month we considered the Greek words used in the list of the “Works of the Flesh” in Galatians 5:19-21. This month we will do a similar study of the “Fruit of the Spirit,” listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
As we said last month, fruit grows in a Christian’s life. We need to be “cultivating” these fruit in our lives!
Love: (agape) “divine love.”
Joy: (chara) “cheerfulness, delight;” from a word meaning “happy” and a salutation meaning, “Be well!”
Peace: (eirene) “peace, by implication, prosperity!”
Longsuffering: (makrothumia) “longanimity, forbearance, fortitude,” from a word meaning “with long enduring temper.” “Endurance, constancy, and perseverance,” says Thayer.
Gentleness: (chrestoles) “goodness of heart,” “kindness,” according to W.E. Vine; “usefulness, moral excellence,” from a word meaning “employed” or “useful” according to Strong; “moral goodness, integrity,” says Thayer.
Goodness: (agathosune) “goodness, virtue, or beneficence,” according to Strong; “uprightness of heart and life,” Thayer; “…sterner quality by which doing good to others is not necessarily by gentle means,” says W.E. Vine.
Faith: (pistis) “persuasion, credence, conviction, truth toward God,” from a word meaning “to pacify or consent.” “A conviction based upon hearing,” according to W.E. Vine.
Meekness: (praiotes) “gentleness,” by implication, “teachableness, humility.”
Temperance: (egkrateia) “self-control,” from a word meaning “to be strong in a thing, masterful.” “The various powers bestowed by God upon men are capable of abuse, the right use demands the controlling power of the will under the operation of the Spirit of God.” Vine.
Note that there are nine more “Works of the Flesh” than there are “Fruit of the Spirit!” Resisting the wrong requires less than doing the wrong! There are less “fruit” than “works” because fewer are required! If you let these things abound in you, you will be well on your way to Christian maturity. Let the fruit grow!! Cultivate it in your life! Water it with the water of the Word! (Ephesians 5:26)
