Galatians – Chapter Five XXXIX

by Ed Urzi

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23 NET).

The next identifying quality associated with the fruit of the Spirit is kindness. Kindness is a characteristic that is often identified with compassion, benevolence, and good will. In addition, we can add the qualities of integrity and “moral excellence in character or demeanor(1) to these commonly accepted attributes.

This virtue is followed by goodness, a word that benefits from a closer examination. For instance, some define goodness as “anything that works for me.” In other words, something is good only if it works to achieve a desired result. Then there are others who are good simply because they want to avoid the negative consequences that might result from doing otherwise. If we removed those consequences, the incentive to be good would vanish as well.

However, Galatians 5:22 tells us that true goodness results from the internal work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. While some are motivated by self-interest or an external set of rules, there is a difference between doing good and being good. A person who displays this fruit of the Spirit is someone who acts in an upright manner even when he or she is not incentivized to do so.

Faithfulness is the next characteristic given to us in this passage. Faithfulness is an attribute that reflects the qualities of loyalty, reliability, trustworthiness, and fidelity. Jesus once discussed the importance of faithfulness in a message to His disciples…

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?” (Luke 10-12 NLT).

The next element associated with the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. Gentleness is an quality that can diffuse a confrontational situation by demonstrating a willingness to listen and consider another persons point of view. Gentleness is also displayed through a willingness to modify our opinion when it is appropriate to do so.

Finally, this passage references the quality of self-control. Self-control involves the ability to take control of our emotions instead of having them take control of us. A person who possesses the God-given quality of self-control is someone who is least likely to suffer the detrimental consequences that are often associated with a loss of composure.

(1) G5544 chrestotes https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g5544