Galatians 5:22 - Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness

Three weeks ago we started into Paul’s enumeration of the fruit of the Spirit. So far we've covered love, joy, peace, and patience. We've discovered that these are supernatural virtues produced by the Holy Spirit in us when we are walking by the Spirit. This is God’s gracious work of making us into the image of Christ and preparing us for the kingdom in its fullness. They are eschatological in nature and epitomized by Jesus in his earthly life. In this lesson we covered three more.

The first of these is kindness. As applied to God it expresses his gracious attitude and actions toward sinners. Love, as we have already seen, is the greatest of the gifts and the king of the virtues. Kindness is an expression of that love. Those who are kind treat others in the same way as God has treated them. And that is the key. Those who have been the recipients of great grace should be dispensers of great grace. If you think about it, kindness is just an expression of the Golden Rule.

The second virtue we look at in this lesson is goodness. In the New Testament this word is used as something more than merely the quality of being just or righteous. It connotes generosity. It is the quality of doing good things, benevolent thing, to others. It is the virtue of treating others well.

Faithfulness (pistis in the Greek) is a word which is sometimes translated faith but not in this context. In this context fidelity or faithfulness is most likely what is intended. It connotes loyalty and dependability. It is epitomized by Jesus Christ who, as a faithful high priest, made propitiation for the sins of the people. 

You will find the audio to this lesson at the link below. Just click and listen or download for later. I pray it will be a blessing to you.

Click here: Galatians 5:22 - Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness


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