V E A SERIES BY J. RICHARD CHASE
mg, as we speak about it in Scrip ture, can often refer to reaching others for Christ. More often than not, however, the concept of the fruit of the Spirit is related to the qualities to be found in our lives. As an example, it is possible for an individual to be a soul winner and yet not be too careful in see ing that self-control characterizes his life. Fruit-bearing is primarily demonstrated by the kind of life we live. Proverbs 10:16 reminds us, "The labour of the righteous tendeth to life." In other words, the fruit of a righteous person is life eternal. The verse goes on to say, "The fruit of the wicked is to sin." He tends only to produce that which is contrary to God. The testimony of Jesus bears on this too. He said, "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16-20).
It is most interesting to note that here in Galatians 5:22, 23, Paul uses the word "fruit" as a single noun. It is not plural. This is a very significant point. The qualities of love, joy, peace and longsuffering are all combined to give us the picture of the Christian's life. These are not "fruits" that we would pick and choose. You cannot have love without joy. And you cannot have joy without peace. On down the list it goes. These are all to be ob vious characteristics of our life. Consider a parallel illustration. What would you say is a college? Is it a group of buildings, a stu dent body, a faculty, a staff, an administration? Of course, it is obvious that all of these things are combined, along with a num ber of other facets. These attri butes, then, are to be viewed as a Page 21
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