What is true spirituality?
Too many people think of spirituality primarily by the externals:
- The Puritans are commonly portrayed dressed in black with sullen looks on their faces. (Quakers, Amish dress)
- Other religious traditions include the wearing of habits, robes, vestments and clerical collars.
- For some spirituality is represented by wearing a cross or some other religious icon/symbol.
- More modern practice equates spirituality with bumper stickers (ex. “Honk if you love Jesus,” Ichthus, etc.), charitable giving/deeds, or attending as many services each week as possible.
But, are these things alone really the evidence of true spirituality?
The problem with focusing on the externals to assess true spirituality is that it leads to a performance-based Christianity that tries to force conformity to institutional norms through rules and regulations (otherwise known as legalism), which usually tends toward spiritual hypocrisy, spiritual burnout, and/or spiritual elitism. It is inevitable that true spirituality will ultimately affect every aspect of the way we live (including external matters), but before it is anything else it is first a matter of the heart.
When we consider what the Bible has to say about spirituality we learn that God sets His premium NOT PRIMARILY ON HOW WE LOOK, BUT ON WHO CONTROLS US FROM THE INSIDE SO THAT WE MAY PROJECT THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST.
Charles Ryrie accurately defines spirituality this way, “Spirituality is a mature and maturing relation to the Holy Spirit...[it] involves control by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), and if the Spirit has come to glorify Christ (John 16:14), then a spiritual person will manifest Christ in his character and actions.” (Charles Ryrie, What Is Spirituality?, Bibliotheca Sacra, [July, 1969], pgs. 205, 208 [saved in Google Docs])
True spirituality, then, is best measured by the character of Christ that is produced in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). The greater the Spirit’s control, the more evident will be the “fruit of the Spirit,” which is the true mark of spirituality.
This aspect of spirituality (“fruit of the Spirit”) should not be confused with the “gifts of the Spirit.” At the moment of conversion to Christ, every believer receives at least one spiritual gift that God intends for him to use in service to his Master. "Gifts” are functions and capacities given to each believer in order to serve the Christian community, but not all believers share the same gifts. The “fruit of the Spirit,” however, is available in its entirety to every believer that is “led by the Spirit” making this the foundational mark of true spirituality.
The nine qualities that are produced by the Holy Spirit in the life of a surrendered believer are sometimes divided into three categories for the sake of application: 1. Spiritual virtues (love, joy, peace). 2. Social virtues (longsuffering, kindness, goodness). 3. Personal virtues (faithfulness, gentleness, self-control).
But, it is important that we not make too much of these kinds of distinctions since the emphasis of the singular “fruit of the Spirit” is that they are a unity and all these qualities should be found in the believer who is led by the Spirit of God. Thus, these nine qualities are various aspects of the generative power of the Spirit produced in the life of all surrendered believers. They are qualities that are expressed as the natural product of the Christian’s relationship with the Spirit of God.
We must also be careful not to assume that because these qualities are called the “fruit of the Spirit” that there is no personal responsibility in cooperating with the Spirit to actively express these virtues in our daily lives. As Galatians 5:25 demonstrates...we have an ethical responsibility to participate with the Spirit of God in expressing these virtues, though they can only be fully realized as they are produced in the believer through yieldedness to the Holy Spirit.
One of the striking contrasts of this passage is found in the distinction made between the “works of the flesh” (5:19-21) and the “fruit of the Spirit” (5:22-23). The “works of the flesh” is the product of our fallen human nature allowed to express itself according to its own dictates with little or no restraint. Our basic humanity is inherently evil and sinful, as Paul taught when discussing the struggle he had with his flesh:
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (Romans 7:18-20)
These acts of our “flesh” are essentially self-centered and primarily concerned with the gratification of our own physical and emotional desires. They are destructive to community life, while on the other hand, every aspect of the “fruit of the Spirit” enhances community life.
Consider this list of evils that comes from living according to the ways of our human nature.
1. Adultery, 2. Fornication, 3. Uncleaness (a broad term meaning moral depravity in thought, word, and deed), 4. Lewdness (lacking any moral restraint...shameless, brazen, and open displays of the aforementioned), 5. Idolatry, 6. Sorcery (Gk. “pharmakeia”), 7. Hatred, 8. Contentions (strife, discord), 9. Jealousies, 10. Outbursts of wrath, 11. Selfish ambitions, 12. Dissentions (opposing groups, cliques, gangs), 13. Heresies, 14. Envy, 15. Murders, 16. Drunkenness, 17. Revelries (unrestrained partying, drunkenness)...”and the like.”
Now, contrast the “fruit of the Spirit” with these depraved “works of the flesh.”
1. Love
It may be that love is the primary focus of this entire ethical appeal. In other words...all the other moral qualities in this list define and flow out of love. This is another possibility as to why Paul chose the singular “fruit of the Spirit” while he used the plural when speaking of the “works of the flesh.”
The New English Translation says: “Another way to punctuate this is ‘love’ followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following ‘love’ as defining love.”
Author, John Painter writes, “The fruit of the Spirit is love . . .What follows appears to add to love. But the list adds nothing to Paul's understanding of love. It is nothing more nor less than a characterization of love.” (John Painter, The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, p.58 [saved in Google Docs])
Love is a repeated theme in this chapter: cf. 5:6; 5:13,14.
As the rays of the sun are refracted in drops of water to give the many colors of the rainbow, so the rays of God’s love are refracted in the life of a believer to display the many splendored beauty of Christ’s character.
2. Joy
The first result of love in any relationship is true joy. It is the evidence of a healthy relationship with others. Where there is conflict and bitterness, as there was in Galatia, there can be no real joy.
3. Peace
In the first century mindset, peace was more than the absence of difficulty, opposition, and pain. It involved personal wholeness that was manifested in healthy relationships.
The Jewish greeting of Shalom was about wishing someone the highest good that promotes healthy relationships.
4. Longsuffering
This word occurs in the NT in the sense of patiently enduring wrongs without responding with anger or vengeance (2 Corinthians 6:6; Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 1:11; 3:12; 2 Timothy 3:10; 4:2; Hebrews 6:12; James 5:10).
It is the opposite of “fits of rage” or a short temper.
5. Kindness
This could be called “benevolence in action” and is used as an attribute of God (cf. Rom 2:4; 11:22; Titus 3:4), as well as a virtue to be expressed by God’s people (2 Corinthians 6:6; Colossians 3:12).
As God was benevolent/kind to us through His Son, we are to be benevolent/kind towards others because of His Son.
6. Goodness
This represents both an uprightness of soul, as well as actions that reach out to others to do good even when it’s not deserved.
These two attributes together (kindness and goodness) could be defined together as a sweet disposition while doing and being good to others.
7. Faithfulness
Because this text is a list of virtues and this noun is one of eight others, the context determines the best meaning to be “faithfulness.” It is the idea of keeping commitments in relationships...something the Galatians struggled to demonstrate toward Paul (4:13–16).
8. Gentleness (meekness)
Aristotle...defined this word as the mean between the extremes of “excessive anger” and the “inability to be angry.”
In the apocryphal writings of the LXX it is used of “modesty,” “consideration,” or “gentleness” toward others. Because “meekness” is used here as the opposite of the arrogant and self-assertive spirit that is part of the “works of the flesh,” then probably the best understanding of this word is “gentleness” or “consideration.”
Meekness is really an expression of humility as you consider the needs and hurts of others before your own personal goals and ambitions.
9. Self-control
This is a virtue that prevents all of the evil excesses of the flesh. In relationships this quality keeps a person from using others to gratify his own selfish appetites. This includes the strength to say no to yourself, as well as to the desires of your sinful nature.
”...Against such there is no law.” Is it any wonder there would be no “law” against these virtues or necessary to regulate them? With the “works of the flesh,” laws are absolutely necessary to curtail the gratuitous lusts that harm others, yourself, and society.
When you look at these two opposite and disparate lists, you begin to see the rhetorical effect Paul is trying to achieve.
You have the singular “fruit” as opposed to the plural “works.” You have the virtues of the Spirit over against the vices of the flesh. You have a list that is heterogeneous while the other is homogeneous. One list has three groups of three virtues each while the other list is a disjointed display of depravity. One list is harmonious in tone while the other is filled with discordant sounds.
And the primary difference in the two kinds of life...one is lived under the control of the Holy Spirit while the other is lived according to that part of our human nature that refuses to submit to God (Galatians 3:3; 4:29; 5:16-19, 24; Romans 8:4-6, 9, 13).
Here’s the bottom line: the only way to be truly spiritual is to allow the spirit of God to control your life in an ever increasing way.
Three important things to remember about being spiritual:
1. Fruit is produced, not manufactured.
- Galatians 5:22, 23 is not a series of commands or exhortations. It is a list of promises!
- We can’t be spiritually fruitful in our energy alone (though we must cooperate with the Spirit - cf. 2 Peter 1:3-11).
- As you yield to the Holy Spirit you become increasingly more like the Holy Spirit.
2. Fruit takes time to mature.
- It’s a mistake to expect "instant change" in our spiritual lives.
- “Instant change” happens sometimes, but not always.
- It is also a mistake to think that God is finished with you after a certain amount of time.
3. Fruit-bearing takes patient cultivation.
- We must cultivate a desire to become spiritually mature.
- We must cultivate a life of yieldedness to the Holy Spirit.
- We must cultivate a commitment to the Word, prayer, church and spiritual examination.
