Galatians 5:22-26

Written ~ 08-17-2023

Galatians 5:22-26

“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. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous.”

Growing up I was very familiar with Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. But it wasn’t until now that I really took notice of verses 5:24-26.

Galatians 5:16-26 give us a complete outline of how we should live when the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our hearts, minds, and souls. These verses show us the “do’s and don’ts” of Christian living. (At the end of my study I will write out the verses 5:16-26 so you can look them over, in case you don’t have a Bible handy.)

Galatians 5:24…

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.”

When a non-believer comes to the point in their lives where the truth of who Jesus Christ is becomes a reality, it can hit them square in the face. As this happens, a very important decision needs to take place and that’s accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it is life altering. Our sinful nature is a powerful force, it holds back a lot of decisions for Salvation. But when the heart is yielding, surrendering, it is time to go to the foot of the cross, figuratively speaking. It is time to take all the guilt, shame, addiction, anger, hurt, arrogance, hopelessness, loneliness and lay it down. It’s time to give it all to Jesus. When repentance happens there’s a supernaturally powerful thing that happens, Salvation! When Jesus hung on that cross at Calvary, He bore the sin of the world, He did that so we wouldn’t have the sentence of eternal death. With the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, when we respond to the truth that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead and is alive and seated at the right Hand of Almighty God, with that response of acceptance and belief we now have life eternal! So, when the verse 5:24 says, “…we have nailed the passions and desires of our sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there…” that means everything that has kept us living in a very dark place, has now been left at the cross where Jesus already forgave and removed from us. With this action of “nailing and crucifying” our sin on the cross, it can give us a very tangible visual that the sin in our lives has been put to death and we never again should reach up and try to remove it from the nails, no, they are dead and gone, they are forgiven.

Galatians 5:25…

“Since we are living by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

The most miraculous occurrence that takes place, when someone gives their heart to Jesus Christ, is that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Almighty God takes up residence in their heart, mind, and soul. It means we now have the greatest teacher living within us to help guide us through life as a believer in Jesus Christ. I think most of us have heard the term “Born Again.” Maybe you only associate it with radical Christians, some crazy terminology that only they would use. But that is exactly what happens when Christ enters your life! Here are the words of Jesus in John 3:3-6…

“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you; no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”

When we enter into the saving power of Christ the Lord, we automatically receive the Holy Spirit, He brings new life. Thus, we are born again, we are born into a new life with Jesus and the Holy Spirit is our guide. So, guess what? You’re now a radical born-again believer in Jesus Christ! Don’t let that scare you, it simply means that your life has been forever changed. Let’s go back to verse 5:24…

“Since we are living by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

As we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit, we should begin to see the development, the supernatural production of spiritual fruits given to us by the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23…

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Some of these attributes may not come easily to some of us, that’s why as we learn and grow in our walk with Jesus, these fruits become real, they become intertwined with who we are. Our personalities begin to soften as the Holy Spirit weaves His love, His joy, His peace, His patience, His kindness, His goodness, His faithfulness, His gentleness, His self-control into our lives. These spiritual fruits become our new identity. We will be known by our fruit. Let’s paint a picture here, an illustration to help visualize what it means to be known by our fruit. Think about a grove of trees, each one different, some tall, some short, some big, some small. We quickly notice their beautiful leaves, their outstretched branches and with further examination we see fruit and by that fruit, we know its identity. Same goes with you and me. When someone looks into a crowd of people, they notice everyone is different, but what is it that distinguishes believers from the rest of the crowd? It is the fruit we bear. What fruit are you bearing?

Galatians 5 ends with verse 26, it’s an important verse, not to be overlooked…

“Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”

Why do you think Paul added that sentence to this passage? I believe it’s because of our sinful nature. The speed at which one person grows in their walk with the Lord is completely different from the next. It is easy to compare our “fruit” with someone else’s. Paul warns us not to become conceited. If you are learning by leaps and bounds all sorts of wonderful and powerful things from the Holy Spirit, choose to teach others! Don’t think of yourself as “high and mighty” and better than everyone else because you are learning these things with ease. But also, Paul warns not to be jealous of one another. So, what if you are the type of person who has a much more difficult time understanding spiritual truths, does that give you the right to be jealous of those who learn more quickly? No, it may just be that we need to humble ourselves and ask for help, so we can understand, so we can benefit from what the Holy Spirit wants to show each and every one of us. The other warning from Paul is, “do not provoke one another.” A few other words for provoke are aggravate, irritate, exasperate, upset. All of us have different ways of learning, all of us translate a meaning to a spiritual truth a little differently so it can be understood. It is not up to any one of us to point out those differences and make another believer feel inadequate. The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches and guides, if we have a problem with how someone else learns, then we need to take it up with the Holy Spirit, our hearts need to be opened and softened.

 My prayer is that we all learn from the Holy Spirit. We have the greatest resource of knowledge living right inside of us! Let’s have Him cultivate our hearts, we need Him to make our hearts ready for all He wants to pour into us. My heartfelt prayer is that each of us bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. To be known by our fruit. So, we can be pointed out as one of those radical born-again believers! Enjoy this journey called Christianity! You are alive in Christ!

~AMEN~

Galatians 5:16-26

¹⁶ So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. ¹⁷ The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. ¹⁸ But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. ¹⁹ When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. ²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. ²⁵ Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.