Galatians 6: Fruit of the Tree
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviors blood!
Died He for me who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
I. Bear one another’s burdens in love.
II. Sow to the Spirit.
III. Glory in the Cross of Christ.
The order is backwards in this chapter, beginning with the fruit and tracing it back to the root. It begins with the application, continues with the way to nourish the application, and concludes with the root. In practice, we gor from the root, to the nourishment, to the fruit.
I. Bear on another’s burdens in love.
A. The brother caught in sin.
1. Those walking in the flesh will not gently restore a fallen brother or sister.
2. The fruit of the Spirit leads us to walk in love as Christ has loved us.
B. Sharing all burdens.
“If you are very desirous to keep a law, Christ enjoins on you a law which you are bound to prefer to all others, and that is, to cherish kindness towards each other. He who has not this has nothing.” John Calvin
C. Maintaining personal responsibility.
“But it frequently happens that, by comparing ourselves with others, the low opinion which we form of them leads us to entertain a high opinion of ourselves.” John Calvin
II. Sow to the Spirit.
“To sow to the flesh, is to look forward to the wants of the present life, without any regard to a future life…They are said to sow whose views are directed more to heaven than to earth, and whose life is regulated by the desire of reaching the kingdom of God.” John Calvin
III. Glory in the Cross of Christ.
A. Those wanting to glory in circumcision (and avoiding persecution).
B. Glorying in Christ’s cross (and suffering persecution).
“The cross, the death of our Lord upon the cross, is not something to be regretted… Nor is it something to be kept out of sight or hidden. ‘God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Put that in the centre, place it in the front… because it is by this that we are saved.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
C. Grace
Header Image digitally reproduced with the permission of the Papyrology Collection, University of Michigan Library.