… bearing fruit in every good work …
Summary: Living in two worlds can be confusing if we don’t know there is a difference between our inner world and the outer world.
In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul writes:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
And then he adds this interesting clarification: “Against such things there is no law.” (Ibid)
Why?
Why would Paul add this follow-up statement to his description of the Spirit’s fruit? The answer has to do with where the fruit is found.
People are complex creatures. We live in two worlds simultaneously. Sometimes, it is hard to tell the difference between the two.
One world is our inner self. We can be standing still in a crowded room and experience thoughts and feelings that no one else is aware of. Anger, frustration, and pain can fill a person while everyone else is oblivious to what is happening. Spiritual battles often play out in this space.
The other world is the physical world we live in. This world includes the words we say and the things we do. There are laws that govern our actions in this world, but in our inner world, there are no laws.
When Paul talks about the “fruit of the Spirit,” everything he lists can be applied to our inner world. Love, joy, peace, and patience all describe feelings we experience privately. Self-control describes the authority of our inner world to control what we do in the outside world.
Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness are a little bit different. These “fruits” can describe attitudes of the mind and heart, but they can also describe actions. When Paul writes, “bearing fruit in every good work,” he is talking about the actions we take in the outside world.
Things get complicated in the outside world.
Sometimes, when we do something we intend to be a kindness, people are offended. Sometimes goodness is seen as being intrusive, and faithfulness is seen as being inflexible. Even gentleness can be misinterpreted as weakness or fear.
The world doesn’t appreciate God’s values. Yet the world is a mix of people, some godly and some ungodly (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). The godly appreciate the good and the kind, even if the ungodly do not.
“Every good work” is a mixture of inner and outer actions. As the “fruit of the Spirit” grows in our inner world, we start to see a different kind of fruit in “every good work” we do in the outer world.
Application: Lean into Jesus in everything you think and do.
Food for Thought: How does the fruit of the Spirit respond to ungodly reactions to good works?
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