The threefold elements of character here. I venture to take the whole of this list for my text, because the very beauty of each element in it depends on its being but part of a whole, and because there are important lessons to be gathered from the grouping. We have then here an ideal of the noblest Christian character, and a distinct and profound teaching as to how to attain it. They are not what a man ought to bring forth, and when the great Husbandman comes, He finds no fruit there, however full of activity the life has been. The works of the flesh have no such unity, and are not worthy of being called fruit. There is further to be noted that the Apostle designates the results of the Spirit as fruit, in strong and intentional contrast with the results of the flesh, the grim catalogue of which precedes the radiant list in our text. The individual members are not isolated graces, but all connected, springing from one root and constituting an organic whole. 'The fruit of the Spirit,' says Paul, not the fruits, as we might more naturally have expected, and as the phrase is most often quoted all this rich variety of graces, of conduct and character, is thought of as one. Expositions of Holy Scripture - Alexander Maclaren 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23.
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