All Articles For The Fruit of the Spirit

Rev. Smit is pastor of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Previous article in this series: April 1, 2008, p. 300. Following love and joy, the next aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians 5:22, is peace. Like love and joy, peace is also a significant part of the believer’s life. In fact, I believe that it would be fair to conclude that peace is very precious to you, dear reader. We would be most miserable, wouldn’t we, without the peace that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7) and without the blessed enjoyment of that peace with...

Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Previous article in this series: January 15, 2008, p. 186. In the previous article about “Joy,” we learned that Christ calls us unto the production of His wonder-fruit by His Spirit through His Word, which includes, for example, the command, “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, Rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4) Because in fulfillment of that call of Christ the sovereign Spirit works in and through us the gift of joy, we consciously learn and experience this joy according to our new nature. This joy is...

Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Previous article in this series: November 15, 2007, p. 57. Significantly, joy, one of the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, is near the beginning of the list in Galatians 5:22, right beside love. Joy for the believer is not unimportant. The new life of Christ in us is one not of misery, but of spiritual joy. Even the wine of the Lord’s Supper signifies that the life that Christ works in us is not dismal and dark, but full of real, heavenly joy and...

Rev. Smit is pastor of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Previous article in this series: December 1, 2006, p. 111. Some time ago we considered an introduction to the truth of the fruit of the Spirit, which is mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. At that time, we focused on the concept of the fruit of the Spirit itself. Now we will resume our meditative sketch of the fruit of the Spirit with an examination of each individual aspect as those aspects are mentioned in other parts of Scripture. According to Galatians 5:22, the first of the nine parts of the...

Rev. Smit is pastor of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. The apostle Paul warns us in the book of Galatians to avoid two extremes: on the one hand, the error of believing and living as though justification is by faith and also by and because of our obedience to the law; and, on the other hand, the error of believing and living as though our liberty in Christ is an opportunity to serve the lusts of the flesh. Instead of walking in either of those two evils of legalism or of anti-nomianism, we are called by the...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2010, p. 208. So far, we have considered the truth that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and gentleness. Now, we consider that the fruit of the Spirit includes the virtue of goodness. With the consideration of goodness, we once again can appreciate that the various aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are a blessed unity. For example, where there is the true love of Christ in us, there will also be present the virtue of goodness. One who truly loves his neighbor will also do good to...

Previous article in this series: January 15, 2011, p.181. A virtue that the Holy Spirit nurtures in the believer by the doctrines of His sovereign, electing, and irresistible grace is the virtue of meekness. The Canons of Dordt, I, 13 teach that “the sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God additional matter for daily humiliation before Him….” In the Canons of Dordt, V, 12, we confess that the doctrine of the preservation and perseverance of the saints does not produce in the believer a “spirit of pride,” but is “a source of humility,” among many...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2010, p. 103. Because Christ is faithful to His church, His saints also share in that blessed virtue, faithfulness, by His Spirit of sanctification. Some of the saints noted for their faithfulness in the Bible include Abraham (Num. 9:8); Moses (Num. 12:7, Heb. 3:5); Daniel (Dan. 6:4); Hanani (Neh. 7:2); Shelamiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah, and Hanan (Neh. 13:13); the Colossian saints in general (Col. 1:9), and Onesimus of the Colossian church in particular (Col. 4:9). The Lord gives special attention to the need for this virtue among officebearers in His church....

Previous article in this series: September 15, 2010, p 494.

Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Previous article in this series: August 2008, p. 452.