The Fruit of the Spirit & the Spirit-Filled Life
The Fruit of the Spirit has kind of a VBS-theme vibe going on. That might be why it doesn't come up a lot in adult discipleship. Maybe it's just typecast—"Oh, that's mostly in the Bible so there's safe imagery for children's church. It's not really important for adults. Too cute." But the Fruit's position in Galatians 5 is actually really theologically significant. The Fruit is significant because Paul contrasts it with the acts of the flesh. They're opposites. Gal. 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: ... Gal. 5:23 But the fruit of the Spirit is: ... It almost sounds like Paul is contrasting two ways of living. In fact, that's exactly what he's doing! Gal. 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. This is one of the big themes in Paul's depiction of the Christian life. You either carry out the desires of the Spirit or you carry out the desires of the flesh. Those desires are