Are you walking in the Spirit? Do you possess God’s character? The Bible describes God’s character as an expression of the fruit of the Spirit (reference Galatians 5:22-23a).
But before the apostle Paul explains God’s character to the churches in Galatia, he begins his letter to them with a reprimand. Paul is stunned that they’ve quickly distorted the truth of the gospel—moving away from the grace Jesus gave them and instead relying on religious laws for justification before God (Galatians 1:6; 3:1-14).
Using Abraham’s life as an example, Paul explains that the believers in Galatia are justified by faith alone in Jesus, who set them free to live controlled by God and not controlled by their own sinful desires. Paul also taught them that their freedom in Jesus should not result in reckless and destructive living, nor should they be enslaved to religious practices, but rather they should use their freedom to serve one another in love (Galatians 3:6 – 5:1).
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. … For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:1, 13-14
Paul didn’t want the believers in Galatia to associate following God with “slavery” – a list of laws to obey – but rather to view life with God as complete “freedom” to love God and others using everything available to them.
Life with God, under God’s control (not your own control), affords you the freedom to do whatever is good and pleasing to God while avoiding living solely for yourself, to fulfill your sinful desires (reference Galatians 5:16-18).
Your faith in Jesus results in God giving you His character (i.e., the fruit of the Spirit). When you live under God’s control, He produces His character in and through your life. Paul taught that those who live controlled by God possess God’s character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Galatians 5:22-25
If you have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus, you possess the fruit (singular) of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), but possession of God’s character does not always result in visible or accurate expression in one’s life.
You have a responsibility to take what God has given you: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (i.e., the fruit of the Spirit) and choose to live under God’s control so that He can produce expressions of His character in your daily life as evidence that you know Him and live with and for Him.
Whenever you express the fruit of the Spirit, you demonstrate that you are living in submission to the Spirit of God. This type of living is a visible, accurate expression of God’s character on display throughout your life. The Bible describes this as “walking in the Spirit” or being “led by the Spirit” or “living by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 18, 25).
According to Paul’s teachings in Galatians, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control is your possession of God’s character through saving faith in Jesus. Those who know God and live “under God’s control” have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as their possession, not as something to do as much as it is an expression of who you are and how you choose to live life (i.e., under God’s control) allowing God to produce His character in you and put His character on display for others to see.
According to the Bible, living this way is achievable because God gives you His character as your possession to express accurately who God is to others and demonstrate that He controls your life (Galatians 5:16-18, 22-25).
However, accurately expressing God’s character requires maximum effort because living selfishly often masks or distorts the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control of God. Therefore, living under God’s control is truly “work” but with God’s empowerment and consistent relinquishing control to God can result in evidence of “spiritual fruitfulness” (2 Peter 1:1-8).
This knowledge that God empowers the expression of His character informs why Paul ends this letter to the Galatians with “Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” (Galatians 5:26)
Those living under God’s control do not become conceited because they possess God’s character, which is given by God. They do not boast about expressing God’s character accurately because God empowers this as well.
Boasting or provoking others to acknowledge your possession and expression of God’s character doesn’t make any sense if the motivation is an accurate, visible expression of God’s character so others see evidence of the truth about God and that life lived under God’s control is how life should be lived. There is no reason for envy or jealousy among followers of God because every follower of God possesses His character – it’s the fruit of the Spirit, given by God. How often and accurately you live as an expression of God’s character to those around you is your choice to live under God’s control with His empowerment.
Consider these reflection questions:
- How does understanding God’s character as your possession change how you approach life?
- What specific areas in your life could benefit from surrendering more fully to God’s control and guidance so your life is an expression of God’s character?
- In what ways can you better reflect God’s character – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – to those around you?
