A Grape Concern...

Yes, you've read that correctly, as the title is deliberate. It was thought up after a verse in John's Gospel was brought to my attention - 15:1-2, which, from the NIV, reads:

 

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

This was brought to my attention after posting my last blog: He Who Overcomes. As one who believes in Eternal Security of the Believer, this verse certainly looks as if the whole doctrine falls flat.

 

When I consider many of the verses John wrote, such as he who believes in him shall have eternal life, he must mean what he had said. When Jesus declared himself the Bread of Life and everyone eating shall live, he meant that metaphorically, but still we don't expect any small print to condition such a statement. Then with his insistence on his union with the Father, and what the Father have given him he shall in no wise cast out. This concludes with a declaration that all three: The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were sealed with the covenant that none of those the Father had given will ever be lost, but all kept and protected - all of these found in chapters 6, 10 and 17. Luke also wrote that at the Last Supper, we have Jesus reassuring Peter that he had prayed to the Father that his faith would not fail (22:31-32.)

 

Then in the parables which Jesus himself taught, we can read of a woman taking leaven and mixing it into the dough - symbolising the Holy Spirit doing a work in the believer which cannot be undone, as the leaven cannot be separated from the dough once it has been mixed in - Matthew 13:33. Then the distinction between the wicked and the just (13:47-50) at the end of human history, which indicate that the wicked remained evil and the just, righteous, as pictured by different species of fish caught in the net. The parable of the tares tells very much the same thing - that the wheat and the tares were two distinct species of grass. The seeds of wheat were sown by the landowner himself, while the seeds of the tares were sown at the landowner's field by an enemy. The wheat remained as wheat, and tares as tares, there were no conversion from one to the other, no wheat turning into tares - Matthew 13:24-30.

 

The idea of Eternal Security, according to these parables and the discourses recorded in the Gospels, depends on who we are; children of God. In John 10, one of the Lord's main discourses is that sheep which belongs to the Good Shepherd will follow him, and they are promised eternal life, given to them by the Shepherd himself. Jesus then emphasised that none of his sheep would pay any attention to a stranger, for his voice being unfamiliar, would set off instinctive alarms which would cause them to flee from the voice of a stranger.

 

Then we have such beautiful promises in Paul's letters, in particular Romans chapter eight, and Ephesians Chapters 1-3. For example, I quote these verses (NIV):

 

What, then, can we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, he was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and who is interceding for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height or depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39, emphasis mine.

We as children of God cannot ever be separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus! These are the most plain and straightforward words which teaches Eternal Security, or Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS.) We cannot lose our salvation after conversion because we are a new creation! (2 Corinthians 5:17.) However, just as two species of fish will always remain the same two species, likewise, wheat will always be wheat and tares will always be tares, it's through the grace of God that we have been adopted into God's family from being Satan's slaves. In a sense, because of our regeneration of our spirits, we have become "changed species" and therefore we could never go back to the "species" we were before. That is why I'm such an advocate of OSAS. We are a new creation, forever adopted into God's family.

Therefore, on the face of it, John 15:1-8 looks like a direct contradiction to all what was said above. I'll quote verse 2 again, from the NIV:

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

The RSV puts it like this:

Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Like the RSV, the KJV as it:

Every branch that beareth not fruit he takes away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

According to the Greek/English New Testament, the verse says:

Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes it, and every (branch) the fruit bearing, he prunes it that fruit more it may bear.

It is the word "away" added into the verse by the English translators when the KJV was printed in 1611 and most likely in earlier English translations. The word was added to bring out the full sense of what Jesus was trying to say, according to the translators. However, the UK is not the land for growing grapevines, not so much because it isn't warm enough, rather, there is too little sunshine throughout the year. Therefore in the UK, and certainly in the days of King James' reign, no one here really understood what was involved in growing and harvesting grapes. By contrast, in the Middle East, where the land enjoys long spells of Summer sunshine, grapevines were, and are abundant. And such were harvested in the region for millennia. The Canaanites knew how to grow and harvest grapes long before Israel invaded Canaan under Joshua's leadership.

In preparation for this blog I did a little research myself on the Internet, mainly to confirm what I have already suspected, from a sermon delivered some years ago, that branches not bearing fruit are not cut off by the gardener, instead they are moved to another position to maximise exposure to the sunlight.

 

Year old grapevines positioned on trellises

 

 

The fruitless branches referred to here were the youngest shoots which needs plenty of sunlight exposure before they can bear any fruit. Hence the need of climbing frames or trestles for these young shoots to be lifted up. These young shoots don't produce any fruit for the first year, maybe two years. The young branches will not be cut off from the vine, instead they guarantee that the vine has a future. When the branch begins to bear fruit, both good and inferior quality grapes grow on it. The inferior grapes are cut away and disposed of until the branch produces only sound fruit - good for both eating and wine making. A grapevine that is well taken care of can last up to a hundred years.

Christians who don't believe in Eternal Security will point to verse six, which reads:

If  anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

To be honest, it is easy to read "Hell" into the verse, making it read that abiding in Christ through human willpower or choice is essential  to "stay saved." Rather, the verse seem to imply that the branch became separated from the rest of the tree by some force before it started to wilt, or dry up. Living branches just don't voluntarily sever themselves from the rest of the tree, unless the whole tree is diseased. To be severed, it would either be cut with a pruning tool, a saw or an axe, or broken off by force. But in either case the cause of the severance is from outside, causing the branch to die afterwards. When considering that Jesus prayed for Peter's faith not to fail, and shortly afterwards made a request with his Father for all believers to be kept safe and protected; would God allow a branch to be broken off his tree by an outside force? Would God sever a believer after adoption into his family, against the request of his own Son?

But on the other hand, history is full of those who claim to be Christian but had never experienced a re-birth of the Spirit. Having travelled extensively, I have blended into whole populations who assert their Christian background but have never experienced a re-birth of the spirit. Many of these attend church on a regular basis, yet remain in their sin. I have even watched TV documentaries about Pirates of the Caribbean and seen the movies, how they have paid respect to the Bible and claim a Christian heritage, yet I doubt that any of them were saved; or in one of Charles Dickens's novels, how a career housebreaker and murderer had claimed a Christian background, but showed no indication of having salvation.

The fate of the lost could well be compared with discarded, wilted branches which are collected and burned. But we need to remember that the whole discourse, from the start of chapter 14 to the end of chapter 16 was about the Holy Spirit taking the place of Jesus' physical presence after his resurrection and ascension. In John 14:16-17, Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit will abide in them forever. The Holy Spirit in the vine is here symbolised as the sap flowing into the branch. The life of the branch is in the sap itself, enabling the branch to bear fruit. If the sap dries up, the branch will wither. In turn, the young, yet fruitless branch needs both the sap and plenty of sunlight before it can bear fruit. The sap is the Holy Spirit; the sunlight is the Bible, both essential for maturity.

The discourse took place after the Last Supper but before entry into the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas Iscariot had already gone to the Pharisees to discuss how to hand Jesus over to them. So the Lord was talking to the Eleven, all true believers. The illustration of the grapevine was familiar to all his listeners, who probably had a vineyard or even a single vine in their back gardens. They knew exactly what he was talking about. Young shoots are simply not mature enough for fruit bearing and instead, need to be exposed to the sunlight.

It is very much the same as in the parable of the sower. Four types of ground are mentioned; with the fourth, the good soil, eventually producing a crop which will feed others. But everyone knew, as well as Jesus himself, that seed falling on good soil will not produce a harvest the next day! Instead, for days after the initial sowing, maybe even for weeks, the surface of the soil does not look much different. But even then, after the first shoots begin to appear, it will be months before the crop is ready to harvest.

It is a good illustration. Jesus had never advocated instant maturity straight after conversion. As with the wheat and the tares, both needed time to grow and mature. The woman mixed leaven into the dough, but this did not make the produce ready for eating. It would first need to be baked and then allowed to cool before consumption. The pattern is the same in all illustrations. The young branches does not produce fruit because the branch isn't yet mature. It needs extra sunlight. In the same way, a new believer isn't expected to bear fruit straight away. He needs first to grow spiritually. He needs to read the Bible, through it get to know the Lord, learn to pray and enjoy fellowship with other believers in a church where encouragement is found. Fruit will come later.

 

But once saved always saved. He is adopted into God's family and he will never perish. Fruit is not expected so soon after believing. Neither should we expect God to sever him from his family to a lost eternity in Hell.

The Other Five Fruits Of The Spirit

Last week we looked at the first three fruits of the Holy Spirit - Joy, Peace and Patience, together with Love, making up our emotional and spiritual relationship with God. These virtues could be viewed as passive, our direct standing with God as a result of being controlled by the infilling Holy Spirit. This week we look at the last five virtues, which are practical - how we treat other people around us, especially our Christian brothers and sisters.

Also in my last blog, I gave illustrations of two real life experiences - delays at an airport departure lounge, and being stuck in a supermarket checkout line by a fickle customer who was trying to redeem a few pence from a voucher. On both occasions I did not respond well. Take the airport delay incident. I was due to fly to Israel in 1993 to backpack the Holy Land for a couple of weeks when our airplane was found to have a technical fault - the hydraulic piping had sprung a leak, and had to be replaced with a new one before the plane can take off. This caused a six-hour delay which activated my panic button and I became very fidgety. Then I prayed for God to help me, and I became much calmer, felt peace and had patience. Nearby, some Orthodox Jews who were to share my flight were very serene and took the situation so calmly, that a couple of them slept through the ordeal. How come? Why as a Christian I had to pray while those Jews were naturally calm?

I think it was Jesus himself who gave an answer to this one. He said that it was not the righteous who needed a physician, but the sick. (See Mark 2:17.) I guess as an Italian, I panic very easily at the slightest threat or mishap, therefore I need the Holy Spirit far more than one who is naturally calm or have that British stoicism!

Now, supposing that during this long wait at the airport, someone cried out in despair, thinking that his vacation is already ruined. After all, that happened in 1978, but from someone sent back to the departure lounge as a result of an industrial dispute. Do I tease or mock this desperate person? Or more realistically, tell him to grow up? No, it's none of these things. The fruit of the Spirit is love, so I would do my best to make that person feel better. I talk to him, assuring him that we will take off soon and once we had arrived there, our delay will be quickly forgotten. One fruit of the Spirit here becomes manifest, kindness.

Then I offer to buy him a cup of coffee and perhaps a bar of chocolate or a cake at the nearby cafe, and he accepts, the fruit of goodness shines through. He opens up and we start talking, and he tells me why he is flying to Israel. He had suffered a bitter divorce and also having lost the custody of his children to their mother, he decided to visit Israel to see Masada, a hill fortress where a number of Jews in AD 70 decided on mass suicide rather than submit to their Roman oppressors, after reading so much about it in a novel. I respond with gentleness, refusing to pass any judgement, and when he begs me that the talk does not leave the table, faithfulness is the fruit of the spirit which would command loyalty.

By then I would feel love, joy, peace and patience, in fact I would have almost forgotten about the delay. He then asks me why I'm visiting Israel, and I answer that as a backpacker, I love the ancient archaeological sites and I feel a special affinity for the City of Jerusalem. Then, if the circumstance is right, I might explain that Jesus Christ was crucified at Jerusalem for the forgiveness of my sins.

The delay at the airport in 1993 was real, but of course the rest of the story was fabrication, but I have given it to point out that the fruit of the Spirit becomes manifest at certain, normally unfavourable situations. In the last blog, I gave the example of Peter, Paul and Silas, all three in prison. Peter was so secure in the love of Christ that his peace allowed him to sleep. Paul and Silas, being in each other's company manifested joy which caused them to sing praises to God, which convicted and saved the jailer and his family.

So taking a brief look at the remaining virtues:

Kindness. A lack of any form of cruelty, especially verbal. This includes teasing or mocking someone when they are in a difficult or adverse situation, or even to say that they don't have time or to declare that they have more important things to do. It also means showing a favour when others are opposed, or not have the time for. A good example of this is found in Mark 10:13-14 when some mothers came up to Jesus to ask to have their children blessed. The disciples scorned at what looked like a time-wasting request, but Jesus had the kindness to bless those children, despite what the disciples thought.

Goodness. The ability to give from the heart especially to someone who does not deserve it. The Italian word for good is bene, from which we have the English words benefit, benevolent, etc. Generally it the giving of good things which blesses the recipient. A good instruction of this is given by Paul, when he teaches: When your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he's thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Romans 12:20. Again, Jesus demonstrated this fruit of the Spirit when he miraculously fed the five thousand, some of them could well have bayed for his crucifixion later when Jesus was tried by Pilate.

Faithfulness. Believing what the other person or group of people has to say and staying loyal to them. This is quite opposite to deserting, gossipping, telling other of one's faults and as such, bringing that person to ridicule or to let him down, or to leave him in his dire situation. Moses remained faithful to the children of Israel, despite on many occasions the nation complained, moaned and were ready to desert him and flee back to Egypt. When Korah and his allies had persuaded the nation to question the leadership of Moses and Aaron, they then fell on their faces to plead for the whole nation, and punish only the conspirators (See Numbers 16:20-24.) Luke too, was faithful to Paul when he was in prison, after everyone else deserted him (2 Timothy 4:10-11).

Gentleness. I remember one house-group when we discussed this fruit of the Spirit, the general opinion of the leader was that many believed that gentleness was a lack of rugged masculinity. Having played rugby, the "he-man's game" we knew where he was coming from. We British have a history in loving to think of ourselves as a nation of conquerers, out to establish an Empire, to rule over others with force where necessary. And there are newspaper journalists even today lamenting over loss of Empire. Yet if there was a person with such gentleness, it was Jesus Christ himself, who the British say they follow as a national religion. He was particularly gentle with women, the woman at the well was one of them. He did not upbraid her for her sins, but rather, his gentleness won her heart to the point when she decided that this man must be a prophet. And he was gentle to the woman caught in the act of adultery. While the Pharisees were ready to stone her for her crime, all he said to her was, "Go, and sin no more." (John 8:11.) Yet no one could have been more masculine in human history as the Lord Jesus Christ. Another fine example of gentleness was with Peter, after delivery from prison, kept on knocking while those inside, who were praying for his release, were debating whether it was him or not. Peter's natural character was to have upbraided them for their slowness to believe and answer the door. Instead, when the door opened, Peter simply beckoned them to hold their peace, with the explanation of his deliverance (Acts 12:12-17.)

Self Control. The final virtue, this is the fruit of the Spirit which prevents a believer erupting into anger or other emotional turmoil, especially where self is directly involved. For example, if someone abuses you, how would you react? If by natural means, you retaliate or seek revenge, or even smack him in the mouth. But this fruit of the Spirit gives you the ability to return the insult with either a gentle reply or with nothing at all. One good example of this was when Jesus was slapped across the face by the soldiers just before the crucifixion, the mocking and the pressing of a crown of thorns on to his head. Jesus could have lashed out physically. He could have protested his innocence to Pilate. He could have even called down a legion of angels to slay them. Instead self control, allowed him to go to the cross without a fuss, most likely enough to convict many of their sins, and to declare, "Surely, this is the Son of God!" And I believe that self control is more than stoicism, the stiff upper lip or the bottling up of emotions. Self control involves returning evil with goodness, kindness and gentleness. It involves making sure that your enemy or adversity is fed and well looked after, a virtue that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

These are all the nine virtues which makes up the fruit of the Spirit. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control, to which there is no law. (N.I.V.) Each of these virtues is a strength to meet every need in one's walk with God and alongside others. I believe that the first four are connected vertically with our standing with God, the other five, horizontally with our relationship with other people. Therefore not only do I liken the Fruit of the Spirit as an orange with eight segments within a rind, but also to a cross, the Cross of Christ.

Galatians 5:16 (KJV) says, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh This is the key verse for all three articles in this mini-series.

Finally, God is willing for every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I actually go further and say it is a command from God. But it is for believers only - those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. All he has to do is to ask, and God will fulfill his request.

The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Joy, Peace, Patience...

Last week I wrote an article titled, "The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Love.." In it I likened the singular word "Fruit" Paul uses as one orange, within are eight segments, each segment representing a virtue - Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control, all eight tightly protected with a rind which forms the one fruit - love, I believe to be symbolised by the one orange fruit.

Love is the most important of virtues, because it is the very character of God himself. We have seen that God is love, the interaction between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and his wish to share this interactive love with the pinnacle of all creation, mankind. The way of allowing this love to flow in us and through us to others is for the believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit, in other words, to be filled with God himself. With the Holy Spirit living within us, eight characteristics becomes manifest, the first one after love is Joy.

I recall 1978. That was the year I was about to take off from London Gatwick Airport for New York to spend a whole month backpacking the USA. But at the time of take off, at the start of August, there was a strike among French Air Traffic Controllers. That meant all flights into Europe from the British Isles were severely disrupted, delayed or cancelled. Therefore it was natural for me back then to feel apprehension on what to expect on arrival to the airport. This apprehension tempered my excitement of the coming adventure. Would I board the flight at all, let alone on time? Would I end up sleeping at the airport departure lounge? And with the knowledge that the Travel Insurance Policy which I carried did not cover industrial disputes in those days.

When I arrived at the airport to check in, the teller informed me that my flight was on schedule with take off on time. So at the boarding gate we were just about to file through to board the plane, when an announcement came through the speakers - addressed to the crowd of waiting passengers preparing to board at the very next gate. After spending the whole night at the departure lounge, they were told to return to the lounge from the gate. One young man about my age at the time, vented his frustration after seeing that his dream trip to Spain was ruined, after working so hard to save up for it throughout the year. As they filed back to the lounge, we boarded the plane. My spirits were up, despite feeling sorry for the frustrated young man who should have been at the Spanish Costa by then, after what had meant to be his first night at his hotel.

Suppose the tables had been turned, with the American Air Traffic Controllers being on strike instead of the French? Would I had been any better in handling the situation than the frustrated young man on the other flight? This was why I shared this story. It highlights that there is a difference between happiness and joy.

Happiness is a feelgood factor based on the current circumstance. Even though I was a Christian in 1978, I knew full well that I would not have been mature enough to handle the situation any better than the other guy. What I felt was happiness, because the plane I was on was about to take off on time. But joy is based on the knowledge and trust that God is in the situation, and being held up by an industrial dispute was foreseen by God, with the plan that all things work out for the good for those who love him, and are called according to his purpose. But to be joyful in such a frustrating situation is not natural. Let me emphasise this here: It is impossible to feel naturally joyful when your vacation is ruined or even spoiled by some body's idea of what looks to be greed and spitefulness. Let's be realistic. This sort of situation would make anyone feel like tearing at their hair in frustration!

But it is also a test on one's Christian maturity, on whether he is filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit within. Because the basis of joy is its partner-virtue, Peace which, I believe, that it was no accident that Paul lists Peace right after Joy, as the two go together. Then the third characteristic, Patience also provides the third strength for the other two to be manifest. So in this article we are looking at a group of three virtues that looks to be directly linked to the inner man, his spiritual state. If this is true, then the other five are to do on how one re-acts with others, and we shall look on those in the next blog. In all, one can conclude that the first three after love - joy, peace and patience are to do with our relationship with God. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control seems to be all to do with our relationship with other people. Therefore we can conclude that the fruit of the Spirit also resembles the Cross, our vertical relationship with God together with our horizontal relationship with other people.

It would be impossible to nurture joy naturally while stuck at an airport. But I can relate a similar incident in 1993, also at London Gatwick, concerning my flight to Israel to do a little backpacking there for two weeks. Our flight was delayed for six hours due to a technical fault on the plane, and the replacement part was at the principal airport of London - Heathrow - a good few miles away, hence such a long delay. At first I panicked, but after silent prayer I felt at peace which was backed by being patient.

Yet close by, there was a group of Orthodox Jews who were also to board the same flight. Their dress mode stood them out in contrast to everybody else in the lounge. Yet among them there was not a ruffle of emotion. They looked serene, one or two even took the opportunity for a nap. So was my sense of peace supernatural? Indeed it was. Otherwise my reaction to the delay would have been similar to that of the young man back in 1978. After all, it was 1978 since I last disembarked from a plane, the intervening fifteen years were spent building up my window cleaning business.

Joy - the feelgood or happiness felt despite adverse circumstances. The best example of this found in the Bible is recorded in Acts 16:25. Here Paul and Silas were shackled in prison, without any guilty cause. Therefore not only were they locked in a cell but they were unable to walk around. In a situation like this one could be in near panic, or protesting his innocence. Instead they were singing their praise to God, within earshot of other prisoners. In fact so infectious were their joy, that the jailer and his family were saved.

Being two together in the same cell seemed to have enhanced their joy to the point of singing praises to God. Earlier, Peter too was locked up in a cell (Acts 12:1-10). Being alone, chained to two guards, one on each side together with two more at the door, Peter did not express his joy outwardly as Paul and Silas had done. But the fruit of peace and patience took his mind off the circumstance, and enjoyed a good sleep. A person in the throes of panic usually cannot rest, let alone sleep.

Peace - A feeling of contentment which is free from worry, anxiety, fear, stress or any other turbulent emotion. It can be likened to a very calm sea, with not a breath of wind to stir up the waves. This kind of peace can only be achieved with the full reassurance that one is forever secure in the love and sovereignty of God. That is one of the reasons why I believe in Once Saved Always Saved, and therefore a true believer is forever a child of God, redeemed. This kind of reassurance brings peace to the soul even in the most unjust and hostile circumstance. It was this sense of peace which allowed Peter to sleep. He knew that the worse Herod could have done to him was destroy the body and allow the apostle to go home to Heaven.

Patience - The ability to wait for something even during a long or unreasonable delay. This is a fruit of the Spirit which took a very long time to come to maturity in my soul. One of my besetting sins is at a supermarket checkout line. You perhaps are familiar with the story. You stand there waiting and waiting to be served, while the customer in front keeps on quibbling at the teller over a 10p (or say, a 15 cent) voucher. Eventually the teller calls on the store manager as arbiter, only to find that his delay in arrival is due to a more important discussion over the phone. In my case, it was the perfect opportunity for my emotions to rise to a full-blown rage. If there is an area in my life where the Holy Spirit needs to do a lot of work, it is at the supermarket checkout line. Wouldn't had been much better, say had I offered the customer some loose change and gently plead with that person to accept the money and move on? Not only would this diffuse the situation, but it would have been highly likely to have received thanks from those queuing behind me!

The circumstances of Peter, Paul and Silas were much worse than being stuck in a supermarket checkout line or airport departure lounge. Their very lives were at stake. But their peace and joy which enabled them to sleep or sing praises were interlinked with their patience. None of the three were fidgeting or watching the clock, wishing that whatever they were waiting for would be over and done quick.

Moses, was to my opinion, the greatest example of demonstrating patience. After leading the children of Israel out of Egypt by means of such miracles of God, Moses had to put up with forty years of baying from a whinging and complaining nation. Yet rather than taking vengeance at such ungratefulness, he always interceded when God himself came down to discipline and punish them for their unbelief.

Love, along with joy, peace and patience are fruits of the Holy Spirit which adds strength to every situation in one's walk with God. Jesus said to all believing on him only to ask their Father in Heaven for the Holy Spirit, and God is willing to fulfill their request. In other words, God is saying,
"You wish to be filled with my Spirit? Well, there you are, he is yours!"
(See Luke 11:13.)

He is the best gift anyone can receive.

The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Love...

In this blog, along with those following, I like to look at the well known text, Galatians 5:22, which reads:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, against such things there is no law.

I included this verse of Scripture in my last blog, All Things Work Out For Good... published January 3rd, 2012. In this article, let's take a look on the first one love.

It is an interesting that Paul here writes "fruit" in the singular, and not in the plural, as he lists nine virtues here. This brings to my mind an image of an orange. An orange is one fruit, but once the rind is peeled, a number of segments are exposed, in this case, eight. Furthermore, each segment of the orange is complete in itself, each having its own skin, which means that all eight segments can be separated yet each remaining intact and without risk of any damage. But all together within the protection of the rind which covers them, it is one fruit, and to me the orange represent all which the eight segments represent - love.

An Orange cut in half reveals eight segments

First, let us point out that God is Love (1 John 4:8). That is more than saying that God has love. True pure love had always, and will always, exist between the three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The other eight listed virtues are just all different characteristics of this one love. Because God has existed from eternity past in three persons, God is complete in himself. He never needed to be loved by anyone outside the Godhead, neither does he ever feel the need to love anyone. This is quite a contrast to the Allah of the Muslims or the Jehovah of the Watchtower, both being lonely entities in eternity past, before initiating Creation. Instead, the true God is all in all, perfect and complete. But it was his pleasure to share his love with creation, and that was the reason why God created the earth and put mankind on it, to reveal his love for him, for man to share in the love of the Trinity and at the same time, lovingly care for all other life on the planet and to have dominion over it. All of God's creation was perfect, including our first parents, Adam and Eve.

But when sin entered the world through Eve's deception and Adam's disobedience, a separation took place between God and mankind, and mankind has been struggling ever since, including attempting to get right with God by self effort, the basis of all what is called religion.

In my last post, I shared my experience of being terrified of Hell just after Christmas Day. I then examined the source of this fear and discovered that it was caused by God temporarily withdrawing his presence as part of his discipline to me as his son, to partake in his holiness. Not only is God being love, he is the source of all life. Therefore, for life to exist, God has to be present in order for the life to be sustained.

Death is the cessation of life. It is the result when God withdraws his presence entirely. When a saint, or true Christian believer dies, only his body ceases to live, and that is destined for the grave. His soul goes immediately to Heaven to be in the full presence of God. But when the unbelieving sinner dies, his soul is forever separated from the presence of the living God, who is love and perfect holiness. It is this separation and banishment from his presence which,I believe, defines Hell.

But while we are alive, every single person, even the unbeliever, enjoys the presence of God up to a certain degree in his life. Various Scripture teaches this. First, we have John 1:9 saying that the true light which shines in every man was coming into the world. Isaiah 49:6 also says that Christ will be a light to the gentiles. Also Romans 1:19-21 God has made his presence felt and seen through Creation, and verse 21 says that God is in them, that is, the unbelievers (KJV) or they knew God (NIV). In Romans 2:4 Paul writes that the goodness of God is with them, along with patience, riches and forbearance. The conscience is by means of distinguishing right from wrong, it is a guiding light from God and every person has it. But the best known verse is John 3:16 which says that God so loved the world. So every person alive has the presence of God in his life. I believe that alongside conscience and a level of light shone into the person, this also what sustains the heartbeat, the flow of the bloodstream, the digestive system and breathing (most of the time) and the magnificent immune system, protecting the body from disease-bearing foreign bugs. All these indicate the presence of God in the person, sustaining him, loving him, for the purpose of repentance, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God, and eternal life, which is the eternal presence of the Life-Giver. Therefore we can say that physical death is the complete withdrawal of God's presence, resulting in the cessation of bodily life.

A friend of mine once said to me that surely God could not have loved the Iraqi dictator, the late Saddam Hussein. I replied by quoting John 3:16, even when it was hard to imagine God loving such a person. But loved him he did, as with Adolf Hitler, Lenin, Joseph Stalin and other notorious dictators. God's grace was available to them during their lives as it is to us now.

And now let us go back to the creation of Adam and Eve. One of God's chief principles of the whole of Creation is for Christ, who himself is God, to have a people for himself, so intimate that these people are likened to a bride. When a person repents and believes in Jesus as Saviour, the presence of God in his life becomes more real, due to the re-birth of the man's spirit, the receiving of eternal life and becoming the home of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The saved person becomes a member of the church, which is the bride of Christ. And I think this is why there is both male and female. Of course, the idea of a couple in the biological sense is procreation, to produce children. But there is a mystical connection between the marriage of a man to a woman and of Jesus Christ and his Church. Therefore, marriage is a kind of figure, the husband
is the figure of Jesus Christ, the wife as his Church, the bride of Christ, a model of which God foresaw from eternity past.

But let me here say that there are many unmarried Christians in the churches, as there have always been. I myself have been an unmarried Christian for nearly 27 years. Paul the Apostle himself was unmarried, a rare occurrence in Jewish life, and yet he wrote a lot about marriage. Therefore does a single person become less of a member of the Bride of Christ than a married man? By no means! A single Christian is every bit a member of the Bride as the married.

But the husband represents Christ. Just as the Lord Jesus was the breadwinner by leading a perfect, sin-free life and so to speak, earned his right to lay down his life to redeem us, so I believe that the man was designed by God with the in-built trait for productivity and to provide for his wife and family. But more than that, a husband should love his wife and be devoted to her in the same way as Christ loves the church and is fully devoted to her. The rise in feminism and the woman's liberation movement was caused by, I believe, the man's lack of showing proper love to his wife. Many men were dominant, others had a way of making their wives feel inferior or subjective to them without receiving the love, devotion and protection they deserved. Here in the UK, it is considered wimpish or lacking masculinity to show emotion, other than the emotion of anger, considered by some as "a true masculine trait". In turn, British newspaper journalists praise the British stoicism and the stiff upper lip as being "proper masculine traits" but unfortunately had the potential in leading to an environment where there was lack of love and affection in the home.

According to the latest statistics, one in three marriages end in divorce here in the UK. Some years ago I watched a TV documentary on the rise of divorces in Britain. One couple was featured in the programme on why this particular middle-aged husband was cooling towards his wife of more than twenty years. After intensive interviewing, she finally admitted that she had been attending night college and studied for a qualification that would launch her into a career which would give her independence. Having been brought up to be the traditional breadwinner, he felt that her prospective independence had killed something in their once robust marriage. To be fair, it would have been worth asking whether he showed love and devotion to her. Or did he spend much of his leisure time in his own pursuits? In addition to this, there was a story carried in the Daily Mail only last week about one husband who was divorcing his wife because she was specific in placing her career above the needs of her husband. Then the female journalist who reported the incident basically called the man an idiot, lacking consideration for his wife's ambition to fulfill her own wishes. I was aghast! When I logged in on the next day to check over the article again in preparation to this blog, the Daily Mail had already deleted it from its website.

I thought I should add here for those who may conclude that I'm against equal rights for women. That is not true. All I'm saying is that both men and women have different roles, neither one superior or inferior to the other. The man, or husband is a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is head of the Church (see Ephesians 5:22-24). Now here is a question: if the Church chooses to exist independently of Jesus Christ, his love or provisions, how would the Lord himself feel?

God had created Eve out of the man Adam, and it was specifically for her to be a helper meet for him. Despite what feminists might say, woman was to be a companion to her husband, to love and be submissive to him (see Ephesians 5:22-33). In turn, he would love her and be fully devoted to her well being. I believe that if husbands in the Western world had taken heed to this sound advice, feminism and "equal rights for women" would never had been thought of, simply because the wife who is secure in her husband's love would not even think otherwise.

Finally, 1 John 4:8 says that God is love.

So let us quote 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 where Paul speaks of the greatness and goodness of love. But here we substituted the word "God" in place of "love" and we came up with this result (from the NIV):

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. He is not rude, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hope, always perseveres.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.