Fruit of The Spirit
So many of my friends from E-talk have asked for copies of my study of Galatians 5:22-23, Paul's "Fruits of the Spirit" that I decided to create a blog so that anyone who finds it may make use of it as they choose. I hope the experiment works. But as I say in my closing tag on all my e-mails, "Hallelujah anyway!"
Please note the copyright I have placed on this text. It means that anyone may make use of it by giving the author due credit. There is no cost involved.
Here is the first of what will eventually be eleven chapters. The remainder will follow in due course as soon as I can post them.
LIVING BY THE SPIRIT
A Study of Galatians 5:22-23.
John Shearman
Copyright 2003
1 - INTRODUCTION
Through the ages human beings have discovered many ways of being religious. By no means are these exclusive to Christian practices. All religious traditions have their own particular ways to worship, their liturgies and creeds, their times and places for public and private observances. They have created their scriptures and other religious literature and developed various methods of meditation and prayer. The world’s art galleries and museums display many different visual expressions of faith. Libraries contain innumerable literary discussions of faith, doctrine, theology and more popular religious subjects.
In this age, ethically authentic behavior in keeping with one’s own individual convictions may possibly be the most significant way for modern believers to be religious. It certainly comes close to being the dimension of our lives where most people feel they do not measure up. Yet we hate hypocrisy. We may not perform all the rituals or know all the traditional words to say what we believe. Almost always, nonetheless, our conscience tells us when our actions do not match our ideals. And that makes us uncomfortable. We seem to know instinctively when we are failing. What is more, we don’t always know what to do about it. This book is about living what we believe.
A Familiar Scenario
Joe and Marge had been sparring bitterly - again. The pernicious quarrel had raged between them for no more than ten minutes, yet both felt deeply hurt by what had been said. On this particular day neither of them felt in the mood for making up.
To tell the truth, several battles like this had occurred recently. It had almost become a pattern for them. One strong willed individual or the other lost patience and sought to control the agenda for the whole household. At times, their angry outbursts had deteriorated into verbal abuse.
It always ended the same way. Each blamed the other for starting it. Whatever the trigger, probably both could have been held equally responsible. In the end, one or other withdrew in hurt silence. More often than not, Marge quit first because she disliked confrontations of any kind. Joe always seemed to be able to goad her into an argument so easily. That made her even angrier.
This time they ate lunch furiously, separately, and in hostile silence. Each had cut their own slices of bread and poured their own glasses of milk. Now came the cleanup. Joe looked at the scattered dishes on the table and kitchen counter. Too few items for the dishwashing machine. Should he do just his own and leave Marge’s in the sink for her to wash later? That didn’t seem right. Besides, the dishes were all mixed up, cutlery with cutlery, dish with dish, plate with plate. Doing the kindly thing and cleaning up for both of them was obviously the way to begin.
Joe put the dishes the sink feeling rather self-righteous. That dissipated quickly when he realized how angry he had been just a few minutes earlier. He knew he had failed again. A faint memory crept in to take his mind off his growing sense of guilt. Brother Lawrence, the 17th century French monk, had practiced the presence of God while washing pots and pans in the monastery kitchen. God in the dishwater? Is that so impossible?
As Joe swished the warm water slowly across the dishes, a sense of quiet self-control spread through him.. His temper cooled. He knew from previous quarrels with Marge that for any kind of peace between them, one or other had to take the initiative. Either one of them had to be generous and apologize.
The old feeling of self-justification quickly smothered that thought. He wasn’t ready for that. But he still wasn’t happy about all that had happened. How could he be? However much he blamed Marge, he knew he had been wrong too. Sooner or later, he would have to say, "I’m sorry."
To Joe’s surprise, he began to wonder how they could break out of this distressing pattern that threatened to wreck their marriage. They had been through some hard times and some good times. They had struggled through more severe storms of unconscionable rage than this one had been.
Life Isn’t Fiction
Joe and Marge are not entirely fictional characters. You may be able to identify with them at some points, perhaps a little painfully. We all need guidance for more effective living in a very complex and troubling world. We need some workable solutions for the day to day stresses and strains of ordinary family life and in the myriad of other relationships that fill up our lives. The same is true of the global community where six billion ordinary human beings are striving to
live in ever closer proximity.
A wife of fifty-two years and two dynamic, creative children, now grown with families of their own, have blessed my own life. They have stayed with me through some heavy storms and have also brought much pleasure to our home. Over a span of the past twenty-five years, nine grandchildren have come into our extended family. We cannot deny that we belong to each other despite the times when we may have felt that we would dearly like to shun one or other. In some instances this actually happened. It is from living with this family that I owe any learning I have acquired about how to live by "the fruit of the Spirit" and to use it as a helpful corrective when things go off track.
The basic structure of this book comes from a letter written by the Apostle Paul to some very new Christians in the Roman province of Galatia. That region is now part of modern Turkey to the south of the capital city of Ankara. Paul related the phrase "the fruit of the Spirit" to the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. For him and for us, Jesus was the great example of how to live what we believe.
The title "Living By The Spirit" arose out of an e-mail posted to a list of faith sharers on the Internet. Some material written here has been drawn from similar sources or created to show how each of these "fruit" can benefit us individually and help create a deeper sense of community in the world in these first years of the 21st century. Some also comes from my own experience of nearly sixty years as a student for ministry and an ordained minister of The United Church of Canada.
As with ways of being religious, there are many ways to use the Bible. The approach I have taken assumes that the authors of the twenty-seven "books" of the New Testament knew by faith who Jesus was and had access to the earliest traditions of what he said and did.
Most of the New Testament was written from 20 to possibly 100 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. These gospels, letters and essays were not written as "scripture" or as biographies of that wholly unique person. They were composed to tell a particular audience of believers what Jesus meant to them and to their time and place. They also differed greatly in their ways of interpreting what they had heard from the few who had been the apostles of Jesus. In time, a plethora of stories, gospels and letters circulated, many of them containing fantastic details quite out of keeping with the "witness of the apostles."
About the middle of the second century and under pressure from those whom they called heretics, leaders of the Christian church realized that there must be a credible, literary witness about Jesus. So they decided to make a very selective set of documents permanently available to the church. It took several decades - and in a very few cases, centuries - to conclude which ones should be included and which discarded. After much debate and not a little controversy, the New Testament canon took its present shape. For the most part, it has remained so since about the end of the second century of the Christian era. In the past two hundred years the New Testament has been published in whole or in part in some 2000 languages. What is important to remember, however, is that the church created the scriptures, not vice versa.
My approach to the Bible does not permit a literal interpretation to every passage or text. Quite the contrary, the literal way of reading scripture gets us into a lot of trouble. Almost immediately we discover inconsistencies between what one author or another says may have happened or may have been said in particular instances.
For example, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, who actually saw the dove descending and heard the voice from heaven? Did everyone present? Or just Jesus and John? Or Jesus alone?. There is no way to make one clear, consistent version from the four descriptions of the same incident. Or is the dove a symbol or metaphor for what the gospel writers were really trying to say? Does such an interpretation get us closer to their understanding of Jesus?
On the other hand, this book approaches the Bible as spiritual reality, not a set of literal, historical facts. But it is real stuff. Spiritual reality is the stuff of story, symbol and metaphor. The words of the Bible are the medium through which the story is told. Above all else, the Bible has to be read as the story of God’s eternal, inexhaustible, unconditional love for all of creation. It is also about how human beings encountered that love over a limited time of a few centuries in a relatively small area of the planet Earth which has subsequently become of utmost significance to three great religious traditions. And the Bible tells us what God has done and is doing to prevent and rescue those who would deliberately separate themselves and their historical environment from God’s eternal care.
For Christians, the heart of the story is the life, death, resurrection and continuing spiritual presence and power in the world of Jesus of Nazareth. For nearly two thousand years the New Testament and the Christian church have witnessed to him as "the Christ, Son of the living God."
That phrase is in itself a statement of faith. So also is the statement made in one of the Twenty Articles of Doctrine in the Basis of Union of The United Church of Canada:
We receive the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, given by the inspiration of God, as containing the only infallible rule of faith and life, a faithful record of God’s revelations, and as the sure witness to Christ.
Leaving the issue of infallibility aside, this book we call the Bible helps us to discover how we may still find in these scriptures "a rule of faith and life."
I have drawn illustrations from many other sources too, especially from friends whom I have met through the electronic medium of the Internet. I have tried to acknowledge everyone whose material has helped clarify what I am trying to say. If I have omitted anyone, let me ask now for your forgiveness. The oversight was wholly unintended.
Finally, I add a special note of appreciation to my wife, Helen. On many occasions she has put up with my absence at the computer in the den of our retirement home. Her patience together with many other fruits of the Spirit have encouraged me to persist when we might have done other things together.
So let us begin.
Please note the copyright I have placed on this text. It means that anyone may make use of it by giving the author due credit. There is no cost involved.
Here is the first of what will eventually be eleven chapters. The remainder will follow in due course as soon as I can post them.
LIVING BY THE SPIRIT
A Study of Galatians 5:22-23.
John Shearman
Copyright 2003
1 - INTRODUCTION
Through the ages human beings have discovered many ways of being religious. By no means are these exclusive to Christian practices. All religious traditions have their own particular ways to worship, their liturgies and creeds, their times and places for public and private observances. They have created their scriptures and other religious literature and developed various methods of meditation and prayer. The world’s art galleries and museums display many different visual expressions of faith. Libraries contain innumerable literary discussions of faith, doctrine, theology and more popular religious subjects.
In this age, ethically authentic behavior in keeping with one’s own individual convictions may possibly be the most significant way for modern believers to be religious. It certainly comes close to being the dimension of our lives where most people feel they do not measure up. Yet we hate hypocrisy. We may not perform all the rituals or know all the traditional words to say what we believe. Almost always, nonetheless, our conscience tells us when our actions do not match our ideals. And that makes us uncomfortable. We seem to know instinctively when we are failing. What is more, we don’t always know what to do about it. This book is about living what we believe.
A Familiar Scenario
Joe and Marge had been sparring bitterly - again. The pernicious quarrel had raged between them for no more than ten minutes, yet both felt deeply hurt by what had been said. On this particular day neither of them felt in the mood for making up.
To tell the truth, several battles like this had occurred recently. It had almost become a pattern for them. One strong willed individual or the other lost patience and sought to control the agenda for the whole household. At times, their angry outbursts had deteriorated into verbal abuse.
It always ended the same way. Each blamed the other for starting it. Whatever the trigger, probably both could have been held equally responsible. In the end, one or other withdrew in hurt silence. More often than not, Marge quit first because she disliked confrontations of any kind. Joe always seemed to be able to goad her into an argument so easily. That made her even angrier.
This time they ate lunch furiously, separately, and in hostile silence. Each had cut their own slices of bread and poured their own glasses of milk. Now came the cleanup. Joe looked at the scattered dishes on the table and kitchen counter. Too few items for the dishwashing machine. Should he do just his own and leave Marge’s in the sink for her to wash later? That didn’t seem right. Besides, the dishes were all mixed up, cutlery with cutlery, dish with dish, plate with plate. Doing the kindly thing and cleaning up for both of them was obviously the way to begin.
Joe put the dishes the sink feeling rather self-righteous. That dissipated quickly when he realized how angry he had been just a few minutes earlier. He knew he had failed again. A faint memory crept in to take his mind off his growing sense of guilt. Brother Lawrence, the 17th century French monk, had practiced the presence of God while washing pots and pans in the monastery kitchen. God in the dishwater? Is that so impossible?
As Joe swished the warm water slowly across the dishes, a sense of quiet self-control spread through him.. His temper cooled. He knew from previous quarrels with Marge that for any kind of peace between them, one or other had to take the initiative. Either one of them had to be generous and apologize.
The old feeling of self-justification quickly smothered that thought. He wasn’t ready for that. But he still wasn’t happy about all that had happened. How could he be? However much he blamed Marge, he knew he had been wrong too. Sooner or later, he would have to say, "I’m sorry."
To Joe’s surprise, he began to wonder how they could break out of this distressing pattern that threatened to wreck their marriage. They had been through some hard times and some good times. They had struggled through more severe storms of unconscionable rage than this one had been.
Life Isn’t Fiction
Joe and Marge are not entirely fictional characters. You may be able to identify with them at some points, perhaps a little painfully. We all need guidance for more effective living in a very complex and troubling world. We need some workable solutions for the day to day stresses and strains of ordinary family life and in the myriad of other relationships that fill up our lives. The same is true of the global community where six billion ordinary human beings are striving to
live in ever closer proximity.
A wife of fifty-two years and two dynamic, creative children, now grown with families of their own, have blessed my own life. They have stayed with me through some heavy storms and have also brought much pleasure to our home. Over a span of the past twenty-five years, nine grandchildren have come into our extended family. We cannot deny that we belong to each other despite the times when we may have felt that we would dearly like to shun one or other. In some instances this actually happened. It is from living with this family that I owe any learning I have acquired about how to live by "the fruit of the Spirit" and to use it as a helpful corrective when things go off track.
The basic structure of this book comes from a letter written by the Apostle Paul to some very new Christians in the Roman province of Galatia. That region is now part of modern Turkey to the south of the capital city of Ankara. Paul related the phrase "the fruit of the Spirit" to the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. For him and for us, Jesus was the great example of how to live what we believe.
The title "Living By The Spirit" arose out of an e-mail posted to a list of faith sharers on the Internet. Some material written here has been drawn from similar sources or created to show how each of these "fruit" can benefit us individually and help create a deeper sense of community in the world in these first years of the 21st century. Some also comes from my own experience of nearly sixty years as a student for ministry and an ordained minister of The United Church of Canada.
As with ways of being religious, there are many ways to use the Bible. The approach I have taken assumes that the authors of the twenty-seven "books" of the New Testament knew by faith who Jesus was and had access to the earliest traditions of what he said and did.
Most of the New Testament was written from 20 to possibly 100 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. These gospels, letters and essays were not written as "scripture" or as biographies of that wholly unique person. They were composed to tell a particular audience of believers what Jesus meant to them and to their time and place. They also differed greatly in their ways of interpreting what they had heard from the few who had been the apostles of Jesus. In time, a plethora of stories, gospels and letters circulated, many of them containing fantastic details quite out of keeping with the "witness of the apostles."
About the middle of the second century and under pressure from those whom they called heretics, leaders of the Christian church realized that there must be a credible, literary witness about Jesus. So they decided to make a very selective set of documents permanently available to the church. It took several decades - and in a very few cases, centuries - to conclude which ones should be included and which discarded. After much debate and not a little controversy, the New Testament canon took its present shape. For the most part, it has remained so since about the end of the second century of the Christian era. In the past two hundred years the New Testament has been published in whole or in part in some 2000 languages. What is important to remember, however, is that the church created the scriptures, not vice versa.
My approach to the Bible does not permit a literal interpretation to every passage or text. Quite the contrary, the literal way of reading scripture gets us into a lot of trouble. Almost immediately we discover inconsistencies between what one author or another says may have happened or may have been said in particular instances.
For example, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, who actually saw the dove descending and heard the voice from heaven? Did everyone present? Or just Jesus and John? Or Jesus alone?. There is no way to make one clear, consistent version from the four descriptions of the same incident. Or is the dove a symbol or metaphor for what the gospel writers were really trying to say? Does such an interpretation get us closer to their understanding of Jesus?
On the other hand, this book approaches the Bible as spiritual reality, not a set of literal, historical facts. But it is real stuff. Spiritual reality is the stuff of story, symbol and metaphor. The words of the Bible are the medium through which the story is told. Above all else, the Bible has to be read as the story of God’s eternal, inexhaustible, unconditional love for all of creation. It is also about how human beings encountered that love over a limited time of a few centuries in a relatively small area of the planet Earth which has subsequently become of utmost significance to three great religious traditions. And the Bible tells us what God has done and is doing to prevent and rescue those who would deliberately separate themselves and their historical environment from God’s eternal care.
For Christians, the heart of the story is the life, death, resurrection and continuing spiritual presence and power in the world of Jesus of Nazareth. For nearly two thousand years the New Testament and the Christian church have witnessed to him as "the Christ, Son of the living God."
That phrase is in itself a statement of faith. So also is the statement made in one of the Twenty Articles of Doctrine in the Basis of Union of The United Church of Canada:
We receive the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, given by the inspiration of God, as containing the only infallible rule of faith and life, a faithful record of God’s revelations, and as the sure witness to Christ.
Leaving the issue of infallibility aside, this book we call the Bible helps us to discover how we may still find in these scriptures "a rule of faith and life."
I have drawn illustrations from many other sources too, especially from friends whom I have met through the electronic medium of the Internet. I have tried to acknowledge everyone whose material has helped clarify what I am trying to say. If I have omitted anyone, let me ask now for your forgiveness. The oversight was wholly unintended.
Finally, I add a special note of appreciation to my wife, Helen. On many occasions she has put up with my absence at the computer in the den of our retirement home. Her patience together with many other fruits of the Spirit have encouraged me to persist when we might have done other things together.
So let us begin.
posted by John at 11:31 AM
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