concatenation

Friday, February 6, 2009

Daily Office Bible readings, ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

This new life through the Spirit of God will bring about transformation into the image of the One whose children we are, into the likeness of the One who loved us to the end and who dwells now in us. There's a good sermon by Tim Keller that I've linked below for you to download if you want to. It's on this passage.

He draws one of his points from Jonathan Edwards. Edwards uses a big word to speak about "the fruit of the Spirit" - it's "concatenation" (a series of interconnected events or things). He says that the while Paul refers to fruit in the singular, he describes that singular fruit in a plural and varied manner. Each fruit is interdependent on the others. You can't have or be growing in one and not the others. Gentleness may just be personality, if there's not faithfulness and self-sacrificing love; joy may be present, but only if there is no need for patience...

(Gifts of the Spirit are not interdependent nor interconnected, within the individual - they are interconnected within the Body of Christ, cf. 1 Cor. 12)

This is what the Spirit does. Yes, we cooperate; but if the Spirit is present he will do it. Gradually, with some seasons much more productive than others, but surely - for the pleasure of the One who planted the seed, and waters it, and gives it growth.

"How to change" can be found at
free sermons from Redeemer Presbyterian, NY