FOS 2- Fruit of the Spirit Intro Part 2

In part 1 of the introduction, one of the things I encouraged you to do was to read Galatians leading up to the list of the fruit of the Spirit (Galtians 5:22-23). If you missed part one you can find it in my blog in the link below.

In today's study, I would like to focus on Galatians 4:22-31. At first glance, this may seem confusing and out of place. It may even seem unrelated to the section on fruit of the Spirit, but it is very pertinent. It references Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

To get a better understanding of the situation you can read about Abraham in Genesis chapters 16 and 21. Those two chapters will give you a bit of an idea of things, but even better would be to start in Genesis chapter 12 to get an idea of what led up to the situation. God called Abraham out of his homeland when he was 75 years old and Sarah (Abram and Sarai at the time) was 65. They had no children and yet God promised to bless the world through their offspring. Sarah was considered barren. Even for that time, 65 was considered past the age of childbearing.

In Genesis chapter 16 we learn that they had been in the new land for 10 years and still had no children. At that time Sarah and Abraham took matters into their own hands and Sarah offered her servant Hagar for Abraham to have a child with. According to scholars, this was common practice at the time, yet that does not make it any more right, nor does it negate the fact that they did not wait on God. As we would imagine, it caused problems then and ongoing problems now in the Middle East. Genesis 16:16 tells us Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born.

That should be enough background information to help set the scene for Galatians 4:22-31. In those verses, comparisons are made. I've listed them below.

Ishmael: son of the slave, born according to the flesh, representing the covenant from Mt. Sinai (this references the covenant with the people through Moses when they wandered in the wilderness- the ten commandments and other laws God gave them. Exodus 19:18- chapter 20)

Isaac: son of the free woman, born of the promise, representing the Jerusalem above (heaven and also represented by the New Covenant through Jesus)

This section is significant to the study of the fruit of the Spirit because it helps lay the groundwork for doing things in our own strength versus doing them through God's power provided by the Holy Spirit. When we do things in our own power they can look like godly things but they don't clearly point to God and can lead to other problems.

Having Ishmael might have seemed like a solution, but if God had transferred his promise to Ishmael, His own glory wouldn't have shown through. When Isaac was born, Sarah was 90 years old! What better way is there to point to God and His sufficiency? On a side note, this was 25 years after God first promised to bless the world through Abraham's offspring. How many of us have that kind of patience (one of the fruit of the spirit)?

This story is a perfect introduction to our need to grow in the fruit of the Spirit by allowing the Spirit to do the life-changing work in us, and recognizing that it will not look the same as the world's versions of these character qualities.

Don't settle for good enough. Instead, let God refine you (and me). We are a work in progress. We grow not to earn salvation, Jesus did that, but to draw us into a closer relationship with Him and to give Him glory.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philemon 1:6 ESV 

The verses below are a great summary of what we learn in Galatians preceding the fruit of the Spirit.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

2 Corinthians 3:5-12 ESV