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Galatians 5:22
“The fruit of the Spirit is . . . peace, patience.”
God does not wait for us to be holy before He saves us, but He comes to us in our unholiness to rescue us by His grace. Yet He does not leave us in unholiness once He rescues us. By His work of progressive sanctification, He purifies us more and more, enabling us to live unto righteousness sincerely, albeit imperfectly. Our sanctification is evident in our bearing the fruit of the Spirit, the first of these being love and joy (Gal. 5:22–23).
Besides the fruits of love and joy, God the Holy Spirit also causes us to manifest peace and patience (v. 22). First, we will consider Christian peace. Matthew Henry offers sound insight when he says that peace is “peace, with God and conscience, or a peaceableness of temper and behaviour towards others.” We see in this statement that the Christian’s peace begins when we are at peace with God. Having been justified by faith alone in Christ alone, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Before we believe, we are in bondage to sin and therefore at war with God and He is at war with us. When we trust in Jesus, God declares us righteous and the war comes to an end—forever. God does not make a temporary truce with us but grants an eternal peace.
Since Christians are no longer at war with God, we begin to act as peacemakers (see also Matt. 5:9). We do not go around with chips on our shoulders, and we look for ways to settle conflicts peacefully but without compromising the truth. As God has made peace with us, we seek to make peace with others.
Today’s passage also gives patience as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Matthew Henry writes that patience means “long-suffering, patience to defer anger, and a contentedness to bear injuries.” Christians do not stew in their anger but seek to temper it and to bear with others even if others will not bear with them. Knowing that they have a sure inheritance in heaven, Christians learn to persevere through trials, waiting patiently for God’s intervention. Christian patience does not seek revenge but leaves vengeance to the Lord. Such patience can be only a supernatural gift. Dr. R.C. Sproul comments, “The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to be patient in ways that the flesh doesn’t; the Spirit enables us to imitate the very long-suffering that God has with us with each other.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Understanding our peace with God helps us be patient with others. We recognize how patient the Lord was with us before we came to trust in Him, and if the perfectly holy God could be patient with sinners, so can we who are imperfect be patient with sinners. May we be patient with others in imitation of our patient and peacemaking Creator.
For further study
- Psalm 4:8
- Ecclesiastes 7:8
- Romans 12:18
- Hebrews 11
The bible in a year
- Jeremiah 4–5
- 1 Timothy 2