THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
The Galatian letter highlights the impossibility of uniting Judaism, a religion of the flesh, with Christianity, a religion of the Spirit (JND), “For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other ………” (chap.5:17). Clearly, the natural and the spiritual are different, separate and wholly irreconcilable, a principle seen throughout Scripture. In verses 19-23 of chapter 5 the fruit of the Spirit is shown in sharp contrast to the works of the flesh, the manifestations of a new spiritual nature contrasted with the worst manifestations of human nature.
The Holy Spirit’s activity in the people of God, a spiritual people, is of a spiritual order and so it follows that the fruit He produces is spiritual, as in divine love, joy that is the exclusive privilege of the redeemed, the peace of God and so on. It is the display of a spiritual nature, just as its human equivalents are the display of human nature. However, it is not uncommon to hear the fruit of the Spirit referred to as the graces of a natural order, human affection, social joy and so on, but such a naturalistic view is at odds with the spiritual nature of the Holy Spirit’s operations: “The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him ……… (John 14:17).
As the fruit of the Spirit is clearly of a spiritual order it can only be discerned spiritually by the faculty of faith, and so it follows that it is fruit for God (Rom.7:4) and for His saints: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned (I Cor.2:14). Natural man can see and readily appreciate human love, joy, peace, etc. but not their spiritual counterparts. It may be stating the obvious, but the world is the sphere of the natural, the house of God the sphere of the spiritual.
A common fallacy is the notion that the unregenerate are influenced by the display of the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ in a believer’s secular life. It is a fallacy because, in the first instance secular daily life is the sphere of natural things and secondly because spiritual things are unseen by the world, 2 Cor.4:18, so that the unregenerate cannot be influenced by them. This erroneous view arises from failure to distinguish between the natural and spiritual conditions, a common error amongst us. A correct understanding of the interface between the believer and the unregenerate would recognise the influence borne by his natural manner of life, ideally a life in keeping with the secular commandments found in the epistles. The believer’s testimony in the world is first and foremost at the natural level, credibility in daily life, the only thing the unbeliever can understand, a fitting vehicle for gospel testimony – “First that which is natural, then that which is spiritual”. We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen, whilst the opposite is true of the unbeliever.
The believer is, of course, involved in both the secular world and the christian sphere of the house of God and so he is in the unique position of displaying human graces and exercising natural gifts in secular life, whilst displaying the fruit of the Spirit and exercising spiritualgifts in Christian or assembly life. Though the natural and spiritual spheres are shown to be distinct and separate in scripture (John 3:3,6 and 1 Cor. 2:14), they are considered to be one and the same thing in the religious confusion of Christendom, error that should not mark the Christian community. The fruit of the Spirit is spiritual fruit, exclusively for God and the spiritual people of God, nothing to do with the world.