Sinclair B. Ferguson

Yesterday we began some reflections on what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit, and I said I would read them out each day this week.

Galatians chapter 5.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Fruit grows on trees, but we might say in this instance, fruit grows in threes, because these nine fruit of the Spirit seem to divide into three sections.

The first three are love, joy, and peace, a trilogy.

And this isn't the only place that Paul mentions them together.

You might immediately think of Romans 5, verses 1 to 11.

Since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God, and we have joy in the hope of His glory, and even in times of suffering, and all because of the way God has demonstrated His love towards us and poured out that love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

What's interesting about these three being mentioned in Romans 5 is that the order there, peace, joy, love, is different.

Here the order is love, joy, peace.

I wonder why that is.

I suspect it's because in Romans 5, Paul is talking about the roots of our own Christian experience.

We have peace with God, and that leads us to rejoice.

And as we rejoice, our hearts are filled with the love of God for us, poured out into us by the Holy Spirit.

But in Galatians, Paul is speaking about the fruit that flows from these roots.

So when the Spirit unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are at peace with God.

We begin to rejoice and our hearts are filled with love.

And the New Testament places massive emphasis on the importance of love.

We learn that from the Lord Jesus in John 13 verse 34.

This is my commandment that you love one another.