Hia David.
About the fruit ...
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Gal 5:25 [u]If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.[/u] Gal 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
"The 'fruit' of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (against such there is no law.)
Paul is discussing "walking in the Spirit", like Jesus did.
Love is always first - then how can we have love without the others ?
How could we be walking in HIS Spirit - and only possess a few of these and not the rest?
Only when we get in the flesh again - we lose love and the whole other listed virtues fall with it. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
How could you have joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance without love?
And if you are walking in His Spirit then they are one "nature" --- HIS. _________________________________________________
1 Corth 12:31 - The sense seems to be this, I have proved that all endowments in the church are produced by the Holy Spirit; and that He confers them as he pleases. I have been showing that no one should be proud or elated on account of extraordinary endowments; and that, on the other hand, no one should be depressed, or sad, or discontented, because he has a more humble rank. I have been endeavoring to repress and subdue the spirit of discontent, jealousy, and ambition; and to produce a willingness in all to occupy the station where God has placed you. But, I do not intend to deny that it is proper to desire the most useful endowments; that a man should wish to be brought under the influence of the Spirit, and qualified for eminent usefulness. I do not mean to say that it is wrong for a man to regard the higher gifts of the Spirit as valuable and desirable, if they may be obtained; nor that the spirit which seeks to excel in spiritual endowments and in usefulness, is improper. Yet all cannot be apostles; all cannot be prophets. I would not have you, therefore, seek such offices, and manifest a spirit of ambition. I would seek to regulate the desire which I would not repress as improper; and in order to that, I would show you that, instead of aspiring to offices and extraordinary endowments which are beyond your grasp, there is a way, more truly valuable, that is open to you all, and where all may excel. Paul thus endeavors to give a practicable and feasible turn to the whole subject, and further to repress the longings of ambition and the contentions of strife, by exciting emulation to obtain that which was accessible to them all, and which, just in the proportion in which it was obtained, would repress discontent, and strife, and ambition, and produce order, and peace, and contentedness with their endowments and their lot, the main thing which he was desirous of producing in this chapter. This, therefore, is one of the happy turns in which the writings of Paul abounds. He did not denounce their zeal as wicked. He did not attempt at once to repress it. He did not say that it was wrong to desire high endowments. But he showed them an endowment which was more valuable than all the others; which was accessible to all; and which, if possessed, would make them contented, and produce the harmonious operation of all the parts of the church. That endowment was love. A more excellent way - See the next chapter. I will show you a more excellent way of evincing your zeal than by aspiring to the place of apostles, prophets, or rulers, and that is by cultivating universal charity or love.
Albert Barnes above did a great job.
That's why the two chpt.s about the gifts have a chpt on Love sandwiched between them. Though there were no verse numbers or chapters in what Paul originally wrote. It was just one long discourse on the Body walking in dependence on The Head or in His Spirit --- same thing. But the greatest of these is love.
Any better?
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