Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
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. [Note again how the Fruits of the Spirit lift one from the law.]
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
Galatians 5:16-26, WEB (World English Bible);
brackets mine
The American Standard Version (ASV) translates the ancient text with a slight difference in two words: patience becomes long-suffering and gentleness becomes meekness:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control.
ASV
The Revised Standard Version (RSV) interprets the wording exactly as the World English Bible (WEB):
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Surprisingly, a major Catholic Bible translates this passage quite differently from all Protestant translations, including the addition of three new Fruits. This translation into English was a literal, word-for-word translation of the ancient Latin Vulgate Bible, translated by Jerome from the years 382 to 405. The Latin Vulgate was translated from Hebrew and Chaldean Scriptures, which comprise the Christian Old Testament, and the Greek records of the Gospels, Epistles, and Revelation, which comprise the Christian New Testament.
This Catholic translation from Latin to English was published prior to the 1611 publication of the King James Version, upon which most modern Protestant Bibles are based. The Catholic English New Testament was first published in 1582 by the British College at Rheims. Later, in 1609, the British College at Douay published the Catholic Old Testament. Thus, this Bible is called the Douay-Rheims Version (DRV). Here is that most unusual translation.
But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience,
benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness,
faith, modesty, continency, and chastity.
Webster’s dictionary defines longanimity as “forbearance,” as in patient endurance, and continency, as the exercise of self-constraint in sexual matters. Mildness could easily correlate with “meekness.” We have also seen that Paul’s famous description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 has, in some translations, used the word charity for “love,” expressing the selfless character of the type of love Paul was writing about. The word benignity reveals just how literal the translation was from the Latin, this word having the Latin root for well-born, which was believed to result in a manner and tone that was kind and gentle. Chastity is not listed in any of the modern non-Catholic translations. Somehow that got lost over the years, and the interpretation is rendered “self-control.” Is it possible that this is temperance? Not likely, since we already have continency in the list, and chastity would mean abstinence, not moderation.
The most commonly published list of the Fruits of the Spirit contains nine fruits: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
In the Edgar Cayce discourses, patience is added, while maintaining long-suffering, as are mercy and forgiveness.
A blend of all these sources would produce this list:
The Fruits of the Spirit
Love
Mercy
Forgiveness
Patience
Faith
Meekness
Humility
Kindness
Gentleness
Peace
Joy
Goodness
Temperance
Long-suffering
It is this list that will be used in this book.
The Spirit of the Lord
Some consideration should be given to understanding what Spirit is. The first use of the term in connection with the Lord is found in the book of Numbers. In this passage, the Lord’s Spirit came upon Moses in the form of a descending cloud. Moses had gathered seventy good men with him. The Lord took some of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it on the seventy men. As a result, these men began to prophesy, but only while the Spirit was upon them. Here’s the passage:
And Moses went out and gave the people the words of the Lord; and he took seventy of the responsible men of the people, placing them round the Tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit that was on him; now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time.
Numbers 11:24-25; Bible in Basic English (BBE)
The full term Spirit of the Lord does not appear in the Bible until the book of Judges. In this following passage, the people of Israel were in captivity and were crying to the Lord to deliver them.
When the people of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who delivered them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim King of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
Judges 3:10
Othniel was the only judge in the Scriptures from the tribe of Judah. The name literally means “lion of God,” Oth’ni-el. Interestingly, Jesus is referred to as the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah.”
After this initial passage about the Spirit of the Lord coming upon the individual Othniel, the term appears over ninety more times in the Scriptures, including eight times in the New Testament.
In His local synagogue Jesus read a passage from Scripture before His townspeople, sat down, and then stated that today this passage had been fulfilled. Some who were present took this to mean that the Grace of the Lord was upon Him, while others questioned who He thought He was, speaking this way, because they knew Him as just the son of the carpenter Joseph.
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:16-21; RSV
Often Jesus stated that His powers, actions, and activities came from God the Father within Him.
The