Charity, or Love or Agapa Part one

First Corinthians 13:4 to 13

 

1. Charity suffereth long -

Paul now proceeds to illustrate the "nature" of love, or to show how it is exemplified. His illustrations are all drawn from its effect in regulating our conduct toward others, or our contact with them. The "reason" why he made use of this illustration, rather than its nature as evinced toward "God," was, probably, because it was especially necessary for them to understand in what way it should be manifested toward each other. There were contentions and strifes among them; there were of course suspicions, and jealousies, and heart-burnings; there would be unkind judging, the imputation of improper motives, and selfishness; there were envy, and pride, and boasting, all of which were inconsistent with love; and Paul therefore evidently designed to correct these evils, and to produce a different state of things by showing them what would be produced by the exercise of love. The word used here μακροθυμεῖ makrothumeidenotes "longanimity," slowness to anger or passion; longsuffering, patient endurance, forbearance. It is opposed to haste; to passionate expressions and thoughts, and to irritability. It denotes the state of mind which can bear long when oppressed, provoked, calumniated, and when one seeks to injure us;

 

compare Romans 2:4; Romans 9:22; 2 Corinthians 6:6; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12; 1 Timothy 1:16; 2 Timothy 3:10; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 3:15.

2. And is kind -

The word used here denotes to be good-natured, gentle, tender, affectionate. Love is benignant. It wishes well. It is not harsh, sour, morose, ill-natured. Tyndale renders it, "is courteous." The idea is, that under all provocations and ill-usage it is gentle and mild. "Hatred" prompts to harshness, severity, unkindness of expression, anger, and a desire of revenge. But love is the reverse of all these. A man who truly loves another will be kind to him, desirous of doing him good; will be "gentle," not severe and harsh; will be "courteous" because he desires his happiness, and would not pain his feelings. And as religion is love, and prompts to love, so it follows that it requires courtesy or true politeness, and will secure it; see 1 Peter 3:8. If all people were under the influence of true religion, they would always be truly polite and courteous; for true politeness is nothing more than an expression of benignity, or a desire to promote the happiness of all around us.

3. Envieth not -

οὐ ζηλόι ou zēloiThis word properly means to be "zealous" for or against any person or thing; that is, to be eager for, or anxious for or against anyone. It is used often in a good sense (1 Corinthians 12:31; See the 1 Corinthians 14:1, 1 Corinthians 14:39 notes; 2 Corinthians 11:2 note, etc.); but it may be used in a bad sense - to be zealous "against" a person; to be jealous of; to envy. Acts 7:9; Acts 17:5; James 4:2, "ye kill and envy." It is in this sense, evidently, that it is used here, - as denoting zeal, or ardent desire "against" any person. The sense is, love does not envy others the happiness which they enjoy; it delights in their welfare; and as their happiness is increased by their endowments, their rank, their reputation, their wealth, their health, their domestic comforts, their learning etc., those who are influenced by love "rejoice" in all this. They would not diminish it; they would not embarrass them in the possession; they would not detract from that happiness; they would not complain or repine that they themselves are not so highly favored - To envy is to feel uneasiness, mortification, or discontent at the sight of superior happiness, excellence or reputation enjoyed by another; to repine at another‘s prosperity; and to fret oneself on account of his real or fancied superiority.

 

Of course, it may be excited by anything in which another excels, or in which he is more favored than we are. It may be excited by superior wealth, beauty, learning, accomplishment, reputation, success. It may extend to any employment, or any rank in life. A man may be envied because he is happy while we are miserable; well, while we are sick; caressed, while we are neglected or overlooked; successful, while we meet with disappointment; handsome, while we are ill-formed; honored with office, while we are overlooked. He may be envied because he has a better farm than we have, or is a more skillful mechanic, or a more successful physician, lawyer, or clergyman. "Envy commonly lies in the same line of business, occupation, or rank." We do not, usually envy a monarch, a conqueror, or a nobleman, unless we are "aspiring" to the same rank. The farmer does not usually envy the blacksmith, but another farmer; the blacksmith does not usually envy the schoolmaster, or the lawyer, but another man in the same line of business with himself.

 

The physician envies another physician more learned or more successful; the lawyer envies another lawyer; the clergyman is jealous of another clergyman. The fashionable female who seeks admiration or flattery on account of accomplishment or beauty envies another who is more distinguished and more successful in those things. And so the poet envies a rival poet and the orator, a rival orator; and the statesman, a rival statesman. The correction of all these things is "love." If we loved others; if we rejoiced in their happiness, we should not envy them. "They are not to blame" for these superior endowments; but if those endowments are the direct gift of God, we should he thankful that he has made others happy; if they are the fruit of their own industry, and virtue, and skill and application, we should esteem them the more, and value them the more highly. They have not injured us; and we should not be unhappy, or seek to injure them, because God has blessed them, or because they have been more industrious, virtuous, and successful than we have.

 

Every person should have his own level in society, and we should rejoice in the happiness of all - Love will produce another effect. We should not "envy" them, because he that is under the influence of Christian love is more happy than those in the world who are usually the objects of envy. There is often much wretchedness under a clothing "of purple and fine linen." There is not always happiness in a splendid mansion; in the caresses of the great; in a post of honor; in a palace, or on a throne. Alexander the Great wept on the throne of the world. Happiness is in the heart; and contentment, and the love of God, and the hope of heaven produce happiness which rank, and wealth, and fashion, and earthly honor cannot purchase. And could the sad and heavy hearts of those in elevated ranks of life be always seen; and especially could their end be seen, there would be no occasion or disposition to envy them.

4

How To Study The Bible

The sacred page is not meant to be the end, but only the means toward the end, which is knowing God himself. A. W. Tozer

Why Read Scripture?

It is said that you study the Bible to know God. But the truth is, you won't fully know God. Think of another mystery about knowing someone else: about how you never really, fully get to know your friends, your children, or your spouse. There's always the unexpected, the surprise, the seemingly out-of-character action, something new, or something that's been there all along but you didn't notice it or it hadn't come up before. A complete knowledge of anyone (including yourself) is a mystery that's out of human reach. Yet, you do in a sense, know them: you develop an understanding in which you have far more than enough trust to go by as you relate to them. The same is true of knowing God -- only, God is so complex it boggles the mind. God does not remove the mystery, but through Scripture you can develop that same kind of understanding, solidarity, and trust. Not just a 'basic' knowledge, either; you can understand God and divine purposes with awesome depth. You can learn enough to grasp who God is, what God's about, how a life of following Jesus can be lived out, and where it's headed. Enough to catch the virus of God's good news and have it lodge itself in every cell. Not a full comprehension of the relationship, but an apprehension of it that's more than enough for it to be not only God's way, but yours too. Through the Bible, far more than anywhere else, the Spirit reveals what God is up to so you can recognize when it's happening around you and within you, and then move forward.

A Library, Not A Storage Bin

　

The Bible were not written, gathered, and kept over the years just to be a bin for holding grand truths and stories with morals that have good effects. Though anyone can find in it (or be led by the Spirit to find in it) answers to many great mysteries, and even find from it the right questions to ask, it's not a question book or an answer book. It's not enough to just study Scripture, or to be able to remember a scriptural section or verse at any given moment, or have other measures of supposed scripture mastery. When you read it without faith, you miss the whole point of having it. Sure, you might develop strength of character from its examples, pattern your life according to the moral values in it, and even impact the world with something it taught you. But that's not why it's there. The Bible's not firstly a book about mysteries or wisdom or morality; it's not even a book about religion. Scripture was written with a very different purpose in mind: the Spirit uses it to reveal the purpose, vision, and love of God, and to start, shape, and deepen faith in Christ. The Spirit made it to show how Christ recreated our relationship with God. The Scriptures are great because of the Great One who stands behind it and that Great One's love for us, a love that came to us, suffered death, and overcame even death so that we might also overcome it. The medium (of print or speech or Web) is not the message; the God who Reveals is the message, and the medium is the messenger. Even more, the message is that of a love letter, not that of a rap sheet or a facts list. And like with a love letter, it's not so much how it's said than Who says it and why.

"Perhaps there will be many Christians to whom it would not occur to pose the question whether the process of secularization has anything to do with the biblical understanding of the goal of history. The Bible, for them, belongs to a religious world which is not admitted to belong to the world of secular events... But this is to read the Bible wrongly. Whatever else it may be, the Bible is a secular book dealing with the sort of events which a news editor accepts for publication in a daily newspaper; it is concerned with secular events, wars, revolutions, enslavements and liberations, migrants and refugees, famines and epidemics and all the rest... We miss this because we do not sufficiently treat the Bible as a whole. When we do this, we see at once that the Bible... is in its main design a universal history. It is an interpretation of human history as a whole, beginning with the saga of creation and ending with a vision of the gathering together of all the nations and the consummation of God's purpose for mankind."

----- Lesslie Newbigin, *Honest Religion for Secular Man*

Thirst to Know

To learn of God requires that you thirst to find out. It's the same thirst you have for learning your lover, or the field of work you most want to do. Knowing plenty is not good enough; there's always more, better, more robust and full. Keep reading, keep listening to others when they communicate about what Scripture says. One teacher will speak of its beauty, another of its plan, yet another of its usefulness, and still another about its ugly parts and puzzles. Maybe one Bible verse will teach Scripture's gospel heart, while another will overturn the tables on your misunderstandings or how you're being cowardly in applying it. Maybe someone will puncture your excess zeal, or show how you put off doing what God is calling you to do, or thank you for doing it right. But you have to thirst. You don't have to spend 24/7 on it -- that would seriously get in the way of why you're thirsting. But be intentional - be eager to learn. And be disciplined - many folks have taken on the discipline of daily scripture readings, not as a law, but as a good habit. Remember that 'consensus' is a somewhat-informed, commonly-held opinion that's begging to be challenged. Question, challenge, wrestle, and sometimes even insistently reject what you hear. Doubt your knowledge, doubt your doubts, and don't believe everything that you think. Trust instead that the Spirit is at work, and it is this same Spirit that communicates through the Bible beyond and above anything else. God wants you to know. The One you thirst to know is the One who loves you so much that you have been made a part of the coming party. What's not to love about that?

How?

But how do you learn from the Bible? The very idea of learning important stuff about God can be intimidating. But you can do it. There are more details elsewhere on this site, but it boils down to this:

study it yourself;

study it with others;

live how the Spirit leads you by it;

live it out with others, especially (but not only) others who are living it out.

Your mind will change as you learn - if it doesn't, then you're not learning. You will live differently as you mature in your faith. You will make mistakes. Many mistakes. That's okay, you can make them, just don't hold on to them or fear them, for that's part of the learning process. You learn from your mistakes. You will also stir up nastier sides of yourself, perhaps even using what you read to bolster evils within you. But, don't fear that, either, because: (1) you can turn away from these sort of wrongs, and (2) God forgives, and provides a new start. The Spirit's guidance means you have no reason to fear the Scriptures.

Don't just read Scripture. Do something with it!

The Scriptures Speak, and Stuff Happens

It's often said in mainline Protestant churches that the Bible is only the Word of God when it is read with faith. I myself would not put it quite that way. It seems to me that there is something inherent about the Scriptures that is the Spirit's own, in a way unlike anything else. Christians acknowledge this in saying that the Spirit inspired the actual writings and speeches (such as by the prophets, story-tellers and editors) that led to the writings. If so, much of the Spirit's greatness would have rubbed off on it. One way to see if it's so is to see if it bears a key mark of God's Word: it does not come back empty. Do the books of the Scriptures (the Bible canon) meet this standard even in non-believers' hands? Yes. For all of this modern culture's disbelief and cynical bitterness, it's not at all rare to see the Scripture's effect. Even in the hands on those who don't believe in Christ or even in a god, whether in art or literature, diplomacy or politics, family life or inner transcendent longings, and whenever people speak of peace or justice or morality or character or vision, something of the Word's words, meanings, ethics, and intents do in fact come through. Sometimes those doing it have no idea where it came from; sometimes they know full well and ignore or reject God but still learn from the truths God put into Scriptures. It does not come back empty.

Read It With Attitude

The Bible screams to be read with faith. But it really matters what faith one has. Case in point: Saul of Tarsus. He had read the Hebrew Scriptures all his life long. He was even trained in the school of thought and practice which was slowly developing what would eventually become the Talmud. He thoroughly believed in God -- not just any god, but the God of Abraham and Sarah, of Moses and of David -- and probably believed strongly enough to give up his life if need be (a very real possibility in Roman times). By all the standards of Scripture as revealed up to Jesus' time, he was following God as he should have. But those standards had been radically changed only a few years earlier, and God set about to break through all that Saul knew. God didn't use Scripture to make the breakthrough. There was no New Testament yet to bear the new Word, since people were still busy living the New Testament. So God created an experience that would open Saul up to the truth: Saul was blinded. When his blindness ended, he had new eyes for seeing what had already been revealed in a new light: a new Word from God, Jesus. Saul was no longer Saul, but Paul, an apostle. And Paul went on to live, and write, that new revelation, as the author of letters and as the foremost evangelist of all. The light that the Spirit shed through Paul's life and pen, in turn, now lights our way.

One part of a good attitude toward Scripture is to read it with passion. In 2010 in Capetown, the Third Lausanne Congress expressed it as loving Scripture like its pages were love letters from the one you love, "not for the paper they are, but for the person who speaks through them." They further expressed this love, for:

The Person Scripture reveals, as "the primary witness to the Lord Jesus Christ".

The story the Scriptures tell, which is "for all people on earth".

The truth the Scriptures teach, which is "the foundation for exploring and understanding all dimensions of God's truth".

The life its God calls for, for "nothing commends the gospel more eloquently than a transformed life".

Free In Christ

A reader writes:

You wrote that "Experiences that are not found in Scripture can be Christian, so long as they adhere to the gospel as found in Scripture, and to Paul's concerns for order, and can be tested by all the means of discernment at our disposal." Where does Scripture say this?

Some people say, "if it's not in Scripture, it's not Christian". That would be to miss the whole point of Scripture. Scripture was not meant to be the bare limit of what we can do in the faith. If it were, we couldn't worship the way we do, we couldn't be organized in congregations (as we know them) or denominations, and we certainly couldn't use the Internet. Our work, play, art, romance, political systems, music recordings, and "nuclear family" (a modern construct) would rarely be able to be put to use for God. The truth is, Scripture simply doesn't directly cover such things, and isn't meant to. Scripture is there to teach you about Christ and what it means to follow him. It gives you ways to sift and evaluate, and helps you develop a God-pleasing way of looking at the world within you and around you. Scripture shows you the way God works so you know it when you see it, or when you do it.

The apostle Paul speaks of Christian freedom, that we are not saved by following Law (Romans 8). All is permitted in Christ, but not all is good or right (1 Cor 6). Scripture teaches you what good and right are, what evil and wrong are, what the fruit are, what the commands are. But new things are happening all the time. Through the Scriptures, God gave us ways to discern how and where the Spirit is leading us, mostly by showing us what God is up to. We have to test our experiences: how does it reflect, or help us reflect, the gospel or the love of Christ, how does it help us become Christlike, how is God's will for the human race, or for you, furthered by this? If your experiences, or anything else, fall in line with the Gospel, and has the character of what Scripture teaches as the Spirit's fruit, God may well be at work in it, no matter how strange or contradictory it seems.

"The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden."---- G.K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, 01-03-1920

The Bible is Scripture, not a drugstore novel.

QUOTES

"Faith is the master, and reason the maid-servant."----- Martin Luther

"Consider that the first time someone spoke of God in the third person and therefore no longer with God but about God was that very moment when the question resounded, 'Did God really say?' (Genesis 3:1). This fact ought to make us think."----- Helmut Thielicke

"Through this experience I found that the Bible was not adequate. I needed God in a personal way -- not as an object of my study, but as friend, guide, comforter. I needed an existential experience of the Holy One. Quite frankly, I found that the Bible was not the answer. I found the Scriptures to be helpful -- even authoritatively helpful -- as a guide. But without my feeling God, the Bible gave me little solace.

In the midst of this 'summer from hell', I began to examine what had become of my faith. I found a longing to get closer to God, but found myself unable to do so through my normal means: exegesis, Scripture reading, more exegesis. I believe that I had depersonalized God so much that when I really needed him I didn't know how to relate."----- Daniel Wallace, about what happened during his son's bout with rare cancer. In *Christianity Today*, 12 Sept 1994.

About the Bible:

Lesson 1: What is Scripture, and why?

Lesson 2: The Bible as God's Message

Lesson 3: Scripture Teaches Us

Lesson 4: The Bible in discernment

Lesson 5: Studying the Bible

Lesson 6: Thought Processes for the Bible

Lesson 7: What Does 'Biblical' Mean?

Lesson 8: Some Key Concepts of Bible Study

Lesson 9: Words For Describing the Bible

Lesson 10: Devotional Bible reading

More about the Holy Writ:

Starting Out

Scripture Teaches Us

the Scriptures are there for you

The Spirit in human authors

grasping the Bible's meaning

narrative interpretive methods

Scripture in prayer

Bible code theories

decisive for worldview and way of life

The Bible is inspired

is the Bible always right?

rrread rrrealll sslloooww (apologies to Dave Ross)

Scripture as a window

on the 'search for Jesus'

read with other people

Try out these actions

on the "Q" source

on bible criticism

Prayer For Guidance and Wisdom

Let us ask the Lord to broaden our ideas, make them clearer, and bring them closer to the truth, that we might also understand the other matters which He has revealed to His prophets. May we study the Holy Spirit's writings under the guidance of that same Spirit and compare one spiritual interpretation with another, so that our explanation of the texts may be worthy of God and the Holy Spirit whom inspired them. May we do this through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom glory and power belong -- and will belong throughout the ages. ----- Origen

Questions

Look at the list of words that are used for describing the Holy Writ. Which one(s) mean the most to you? Why? Which one do you have the hardest time accepting? Why?

What one hing most puzzles you about the Bible? Or about how other folks you know approach it?

For those whose churches/cells/small groups have had to scrpturally re-examine its actions or stance on a specific matter:

How did you turn to the Word of God in this process? What else did you use?

Were you able to form consensus?

At what point did you discover that change was needed and actions must be taken?

In what ways was Scripture helpful? Was there a way it might have held you back in any way from fixing the situation? How?

Try these out:

Describe what you experience when reading or hearing Scripture. (I don't mean what you're 'supposed to' experience. What you do experience.)

Choose a book of the Bible you've never read before, and read it aloud at the loudness and speed you would use in ordinary speech. Read it all the way through, even the technical parts. This can be done a chapter or two a day, which gives you more time to think about it.

Or, choose a poetic passage, such as in the Psalms, Song of Songs, or Lamentations. Read it aloud, slowly, giving yourself time to savor it and let it sink in.

Think of Scriptural ideas, symbol, or passages that have affected your life through non-Christian or general-public sources or people. (They're all over the place, but you may have to think a bit to find them.)

Name one thing you have learned from the Scriptures.

When you're studying the Gospel, try memorizing some of the key summary lines Jesus says, or scriptures of encouragement, or some of the promises Jesus makes to His followers.

If you're reading the Bible in a church study group, try asking yourselves the question: What does Scripture say about our part in the mission of Christ's

Why we have the Five Points of TULIP Part One

five main points of doctrine

　

 

The year of our Lord 2018–19 marks the four-hundredth anniversary of the meeting of the Synod of Dort in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. The synod was convened in order to settle the ongoing controversy in the Dutch churches regarding the teaching of Jacobus Arminius and his followers on the topic of election. The document produced by the synod, the Canons of Dort, affirmed five main points of doctrine in response to the errors of the Arminians. These five points are often described today as the "doctrines of grace." They are also frequently associated with the acronym TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints), even though this acronym alters the sequence of the points adopted and in some cases may offer a misleading impression of the canons’ teaching.

 

This article will follow the sequence of the canons. Though it is often forgotten, this sequence was already established by the time the Synod of Dort convened in 1618. Before the meeting of the synod, the Arminians had presented their teaching in the form of five opinions. The five points of the Canons of Dort were written, therefore, as a direct reply to the errors of Arminius and his followers. They were written not to offer a complete statement of the Reformed faith but to settle the controversy regarding Calvinist soteriology provoked by the teaching of Arminius.

 

In the course of its deliberations, the Synod of Dort judged the five Arminian articles to be contrary to the Word of God. Against the Arminian teachings of divine election based on foreseen faith, universal atonement, resistible or ineffectual grace, and the possibility of a fall from grace, the canons set forth the biblical doctrines of unconditional election, definite atonement or particular redemption, radical depravity, effectual grace, and the perseverance of the saints. On each of these points, the canons first present a positive statement of the Scriptural teaching and then conclude with a rejection of the corresponding Arminian errors.

 

First Point: Unconditional Election

 

In the opening articles of the first main point of doctrine, the canons summarize the most important aspects of the biblical gospel. These include the fact that "all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death" (article 1), that God has manifested His love in the sending of His only begotten Son (article 2), and that God’s anger continues to rest upon those who do not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ (article 3). Within the framework of these truths, the canons address the fundamental question to which the biblical doctrine of election is addressed: Why do some believe and repent at the preaching of the gospel but others remain in their sins and under the just condemnation of God? The answer to this question at its deepest level is God’s unconditional election in Christ of some persons to salvation:

The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from [God’s] eternal decision. For all His works are known to God from eternity

 

(Acts 15:18; "Known to God from eternity, are all His works"

 

Eph. 1:11). In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ^{12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.}

In accordance with this decision He graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of His chosen ones and inclines them to believe, but by His just judgment He leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us His act—unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just—of distinguishing between people equally lost. (article 6)

 

Because God’s sovereign and gracious purpose of election is the source of faith, the canons go on to assert that it cannot therefore be based on faith. God does not elect to save anyone "on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen" (article 8). Faith is not a meritorious work but is itself a gracious gift that God grants to those whom He calls according to His purpose

 

(^{Acts 13:48; And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to conium. 52 And the disciples were filled}

^{with joy and with the Holy Spirit.}

^{Eph. 2:8–9; . For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.}

^{Phil. 1:29). For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.}

 

The conversion of those who are called through the ministry of the gospel must not be credited to them, "as though one distinguishes himself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains)."

 

After articulating the scriptural teaching of unconditional election, the canons further affirm that this sovereign and gracious election of a particular number of people to salvation means that some sinners have been "passed by" and "left" in their sins (article 15). Those whom God does not elect to save in Christ belong to the company of all fallen sinners who "by their own fault" have willfully plunged themselves into a "common misery." In the case of the elect, God mercifully and graciously elects to grant them salvation in and through the work of Christ

 

(^{Eph. 1:3–7). Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing gin the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.}

In the case of the reprobate, God demonstrates His justice by choosing to withhold His grace and to finally condemn them for their sins and unbelief

 

(^{Rom. 9:22–24).\\}

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

DOCTRINE OF SIN OUTLINED

the study of the doctrine of sin

I. SIN IS AGAINST MAN'S PRESENT GOOD, IN THIS LIFE, against the good of his body and the good of his soul. For on both it has brought a curse and death.


(1) Against the good of man's body.
(2) Against the good of man's soul. (1) In a natural sense
(i) It is against man's well-being in this life.

a. Sin is against man's rest and ease, of which man is a great lover; and, indeed, he needs it as a great part of the well-being of his life.
b. Sin is against man's comfort and joy. In sorrow shalt thou eat all the days of thy life (Genesis 3.17). Not one whole merry day!
c. Sin is against man' s health. From it come all diseases and sicknesses; till sin there were no such things.
d. Sin is against the quiet of a man's natural conscience.
e. Sin is against the beauty of man
f. Sin is against the loving and conjugal co-habitation of soul and body.
g. Sin is against man's relative good in this world. Thus sin sets itself to oppose man's well-being,

(ii) Sin is against the very being of man. (2) Sin is also against the good of man in a moral sense (i) It has degraded man, by defiling him,

a. To his body, for the flesh is filthy (2 Corinthians 7.1),
b. This defilement also cleaves to the soul, which is the principal subject of it.
  (ii) Sin has darkened man's understanding.
  a. By his groping, which, in the Scripture, is constantly attributed to blindness and darkness. Peruse Deuteronomy 28.29; Job 5.14, and 12.25; and Isaiah 59.10.
b. Though the light shines, yet man's darkness comprehends it not (John 1.5).
c. By his walking in all kinds of wickedness, which are called the works of darkness (Ephesians 5.11).
d. Man knows not whither he goes. (John I2.35; 1 John 2.11).
e. He stumbles, and does not know why (John 11.9,10; Proverbs 4.19).
f. Man knows not his time, nor how to order his thoughts, words and actions.
g. He can be content to be led, even by a dog.
  (iii) Sin has depraved man' s understanding, and made him a fool, a sot, a very brute; ignorant, foolish and beast are joined together in Psalm 73.22.

Man's folly is shown to be great in three ways a. In relation to his chief and ultimate end,

Three things, among many others that might be named, that man's happiness cannot be made up of any or all creature-enjoyments, of having the world for a portion, even all of it. For, beside what has just been said:

(1) It was not so when man was in paradise
(2) That cannot be our happiness which is below us
(3) That cannot be our happiness which is not so much as a token of the love of God b. Man's folly appears to be great in relation to the means and way leading to happiness, as well as in relation to his end and happiness; he mistakes them both.
(1) Idolatry is man's folly. To worship no God, or that which is not a God, but an idol, is folly.
(2) Superstition is man's folly, also, as to religion

This must suffice to show man's folly, and how sin has duped man, as to his end, happiness, and the means to it, religion. I now proceed to show

 

c. Man's folly as to the non-improvement or mis-improvement of means, when made known in truth and clearness
Let us consider some examples, and only some, of man's folly:
(1) Man is so heady, hasty and rash in his undertakings. Nothing more becomes a man than deliberation and consideration.
(2) Man laughs at, and sports himself in his sin and misery.
(3) Man says, It is vain to serve God
(4) Man is so ungrateful to God, who has put him under an infinite obligation.
(5) If God corrects man, or afflicts him for his sin and folly, he soon grows angry with God.
(6) Man's folly is apparent in that he is unteachable.
7) Some men are such fools as to apostatize, even after they have received the truth and have gone far in the profession of it, which is no small folly. 'As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly' (Proverbs 26.11 compared with 2 Peter 2.20-22).
  (iv) Sin has degraded man and made him a beast

a. Sin has made man like a beast, and not only like one, but, indeed, a very beast!

(1) Sinful man is like the beasts in ignorance and stupidity. 'So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee' (Psalm 73.22).
(2) Sinful man is like the beasts in sensuality, as if he were only belly-wise, and had no soul to mind, or a soul only to mind his body.
(3) Sinful man's likeness to the beasts consists in, and is apparent from his unfitness and unsuitableness for society and communion with God and man
  b. Sinners are like the worst of beasts
c. Sin has made men worse than the beasts; more beasts than the beasts themselves and worse than the worst of beasts.

(1) The beasts do not transgress the law of their nature, but man has done and does so over and over again
(2) Sinful man is worse than the beasts in the very quality for which he is likened to them. The ox and ass have no understanding, and sinful man is compared to them for ignorance and stupidity; but they are more knowing than he (Isaiah 1.3).
 

The wicked tyrannical rulers of the world are compared to a roaring lion and a ranging bear (Proverbs 28.15): they have no pity, but make a prey of all to whom they come near. Hypocrites are like vipers (Matthew 23.33). Herod was called a fox, not only for his craft and cunning, but for hunting after the life of the Lamb, Christ Jesus. Thus some sinners are like some animals and some like others, but there are two animals to which all sinners are likened: the goat and the dog.

 

a. Sinners are called goats (Matthew 25.32,33):

(1) Goats are very lascivious, wanton and lustful. Sinners are so too: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye are the things they are taken with (1 John 2.16). To these they give themselves up. The Apostle says, Among whom we all had our conversation in the lusts of the flesh (Ephesians 2.3), and served divers lusts (Titus 3.3). In this they are like goats.

(2) Goats are stinking animals. A goatish smell is a stinking smell, and to smell of or like the goat is to have a very strong, unsavoury and stinking scent. Likewise the wicked are in abomination to the Lord, a very stink in his nostrils.

(3) Goats are very bold and adventurous animals. They climb rocks and precipices to browse and feed on what they can get with hazard. In this sinners are like them too; they run risks and many dangerous adventures for a little, indeed, no satisfaction. They venture peace, conscience, life, soul and all, to get that which is not bread (Isaiah 55. 2).

 

b. Sinners are likened to dogs. I shall not make divisions in this nor pursue the metaphor into details, of which a little was said before. I will only show that though it was more usual with the Jews to call the Gentiles dogs, and our Saviour spoke in their language when he told the woman that it was not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs (Matthew 15.26), yet it is a common name for sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, to all without God and Christ; for without are dogs (Revelation 22.15).

 

(v) Sin has separated man from God in a moral sense

 

a. From the sight of God. Man could talk with God face to face, as a man converses with his friend, but alas! man cannot see his face and live

b. From the life of God. Sin has separated man not only from living to God and with God but from living the life of God, that is, such a life as God lives, which is a life of holiness and perfection

c. From the love of God.

d. From communion with God.

e. From the covenant relationship in which he stood to God.

Fruit of the Spirit

The presence of these [i.e., the fruit of the Spirit] affections and qualities in the mind is proof of the saving energy of the Holy Ghost in regenerating the human soul; the absence of them proves the want of it....The prevalence of these qualities, clear and unquestionable in the consciousness, leaves the question of regeneration settled beyond a doubt

At the heart of our assurance as a Christian is the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. It's absence should tell us immediately that the Holy Spirit has never applied His regenerating power to our lives, so that we remain lost in sin and under the judgment of God.

Is the fruit of the Spirit being manifest in your life? Let us consider together the evidence of true conversion in the fruit of the Spirit.

There is a big difference between the "gifts of the Spirit" and "the fruit of the Spirit."

The gifts are for the purpose of ministry in the church, while the fruit of the Spirit helps us to have assurance and to give power to our Christian witness. Gifts may vary from one believer to another, while the fruit of the Spirit manifests itself in solidarity within every believer. Gifts as acts of service can be imitated, while the fruit of the Spirit as character cannot.

The premise which Paul builds in this portion of Galatians is that in the same way the unregenerate nature produces "deeds of the flesh" the regenerated nature will be a well-spring of "the fruit of the Spirit."

The Holy Spirit cannot indwell a life without evidence of His holy presence and influence. He permeates the whole of the believer's character. He changes him at the root of his nature so that a "moral energy" as it were, works the holy character of Jesus Christ in and through the believer. The fruit of the Spirit is not a choice we make, but an inevitable manifestation in those who are truly born of God. (

Paul describes...not the fruits, as we might more naturally have expected, and as the phrase is most often quoted; all this rich variety of graces, of conduct and character, is thought of as one. The individual members are not isolated graces, but all connected, springing from one root and constituting an organic whole.

There is further to be noted that the Apostle designates the results of the Spirit as fruit, in strong and intentional contrast with the results of the flesh, the grim catalogue of which precedes the radiant list in our text.

The works of the flesh have no such unity, and are not worthy of being called fruit. They are not what a man ought to bring forth, and when the great Husbandman comes, He finds no fruit there, however full of activity the life has been.

We have then here an ideal of the noblest Christian character, and a distinct and profound teaching as to how to attain it. I venture to take the whole of this list for my text, because the very beauty of each element in it depends on its being but part of a whole, and because there are important lessons to be gathered from the grouping.

In Ephesians Paul mentions 4 components of the fruit of the Spirit with the result being unity...

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (cf walking in the Spirit, Galatians 5:16),

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience (fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22), showing forbearance to one another in love,

3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (another fruit of the Spirit). (See notes Ephesians 4:1; 4:2; 4:3)

Paul's use of fruit in the singular writing that...

The use of the singular "fruit" instead of the plural "fruits" is instructive. It suggests the common root and interdependence of these several spiritual graces mentioned. They can be produced only in a life that is rooted in the Spirit; they cannot be hung outwardly upon a life like the toys and ornaments on a Christmas tree. Fruitage in the Spirit requires rootage in the Spirit. As it has been well put,
 

Christian character is Christ's excellency reproduced by the Spirit in a renewed life.

To bring forth the fruit of the Spirit is not only the Christian's happy privilege; it is his bound duty as well. In a soul born of the Spirit there is to be fruit borne in the Spirit. The fact that we could do nothing to earn our salvation is by no means to be interpreted as implying that, having been saved by grace, we can do nothing to show our gratitude for the salvation we have received. Dare we be unmindful of the words of our Saviour to the effect that our heavenly Father is glorified when we bring forth much fruit: "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (John 15:8)? _{(C. Norman Bartlett: Galatians and You: Studies in the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, 1948)}

Fruit (_{2590)(karpos) can be used in its literal sense to refer to fruit, produce or offspring, which describes that which is produced by the inherent energy of a living organism.}

When used figuratively fruit describes the consequence of physical, mental, or spiritual action. In the NT the figurative use predominates (especially in the Gospels) where human actions and words are viewed as fruit growing out of a person's essential being or character. This is also the way Paul uses karpos in the present passage, as an expression for desirable, righteous qualities in one’s life, the fruit of the Spirit.

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Winding Roads of Life