Originally Posted by Grandpa
I already knew you wouldn't understand. And yet it is so simple!!
What laws are not kept by the Fruit of the Spirit that is produced by Christ in us who have faith in Him??? These fruit are not produced by your works but by His.
Galatians 5:22-23
[SUP]22 [/SUP]But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
[SUP]23 [/SUP]Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Now lets take on those who practice lawlessness. Practice being the key term.
If you are not caused to walk in His Statutes by the production of Spiritual Fruit in your life then you are breaking the law and practicing lawlessness. You are walking in your own carnal understanding of keeping commandments. You cannot follow the law this way. You cannot be perfect like God is perfect. But you can be perfected by the Lord Jesus if you have faith in Him.
The reason that there is no law against the “
fruit of the Spirit” is because it is the law and the prophets. These nine attributes are defined as a single
fruit.
Matthew 12:25 (KJV)
[SUP]25 [/SUP]And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
The disciples who walked directly with Jesus didn't have a full understanding immediately, and gaining understanding in order to walk in the truth was and is imperative.
John 16:12-13
12. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
As we continue in ALL of the word, and grow and mature, I believe that we are given more as we are able to bear it and to walk in it, and it's out with the old leaven, and in with the new. So I end this book with the New Testament “fruit of the Spirit.” Was this fruit something endorsed in the Epistles only, or was it God’s will from the beginning? Here’s your answer.
Exodus 20:6 (KJV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP]And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that
love me, and keep my commandments.
Leviticus 19:18 (KJV)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself: I
am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 5:10 (KJV)
[SUP]10 [/SUP]And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that
love me and keep my commandments.
1 Kings 1:40 (KJV)
[SUP]40 [/SUP]And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great
joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.
Isaiah 12:3 (KJV)
[SUP]3 [/SUP]Therefore with
joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Exodus 18:23 (KJV)
[SUP]23 [/SUP]If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee
so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in
peace.
Leviticus 3:6 (KJV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP]And if his offering for a sacrifice of
peace offering unto the LORD
be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.
Exodus 34:6 (KJV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP]And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth,
2 Samuel 22:36 (KJV)
[SUP]36 [/SUP]Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy
gentleness hath made me great.
Faith is/was ordained as an Old Testament principle to be kept as a priority in the New Testament.
Habakkuk 2:4 (KJV)
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Behold, his soul
which is lifted up is not upright in him: but
the just shall live by his faith.
Romans 1:17 (KJV)
[SUP]17 [/SUP]For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,
The just shall live by faith.
Psalm 45:4 (KJV)
[SUP]4 [/SUP]And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and
meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
Temperance is self-control as in
“not to covet,” or “
being drunk” “gluttonous” and so on. It is exhortation of the fruit of the spirit that I endorsed in the only negative, for covet is an attribute of the carnal, and the opposite is the attribute of the Lord’s Holy Spirit.
Exodus 20:17 (KJV)
[SUP]17 [/SUP]
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that
is thy neighbour's.
Deuteronomy 21:20-21 (KJV)
[SUP]20 [/SUP]And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son
is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice;
he is a
glutton, and a drunkard.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
We would never dream of stoning our own children for being drunk, or rebellious today, but we must still recognize this spiritual aspect. Any loving parent would desire to destroy those actions before they destroy their children. That’s what Jesus has done. God’s love wants us to be separated from those transgressions that separate us from Him. Parents that truly love their children will have the same desire.
Isaiah 32:15-17 (KJV)
[SUP]15 [/SUP]Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a
fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
[SUP]16 [/SUP]Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and
righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
[SUP]17 [/SUP]And the
work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of
righteousness quietness and
assurance for ever.
When we study the Mosaic Law we should concentrate on the spiritual meanings, relating those ordinances to the fulfillment of all things through Christ. If the law is spiritual, as Paul said, then we should always be searching for the spiritual meaning. Some will be confrontational saying that Christians need to make a choice between Paul and Moses. They were both called to do God's will in the time sequence God had determined. Why fight about what part of the Word of God is negated when none of it is? If God wanted it to be invalid, He wouldn't have preserved it. If one is going to follow Paul instead of Moses, then they should quit endorsing the Law in the physical realm, rather than the spiritual, because they actually are contradicting the very teachings of Jesus Christ.
It's the carnal mind that concentrates on carnal thoughts, convincing itself of a righteousness that can be found in less than 100% of God. This frame of mind actually believes in itself as being more righteous than the Pharisees because they have determined the Mosaic Law as invalid, extinct, and negated through Christ. There is a rhetorical question that we should ask ourselves. Does the strength of the law expose the weakness of the flesh, or does the strength of the salvation expose the weakness of the law? One cannot have it both ways.