– Henry Neufeld, General Editor
Using This Book
This study guide is will be found very helpful for small groups, such as Sunday School classes. Individual students working on their own will benefit from the stimulation it provides. It might serve as an introductory textbook.
The book itself will give you with an overview of a topic, The Spirit’s Fruit (Galatians 5:22-25), providing specific questions for discussion. There are several things you can do to make your study more profitable.
1 Where resources are suggested, divide them between members of the class and consult them during your study time. Students can bring what they have learned to the class. This is also a good time to help your church improve its library. Suggest some of these resources for your library shelves.
2 Share. The Participatory Study Guides to Bible books pioneered sharing as an integral part of your study, but it will work just as well when you are studying a topic. Sharing does not mean harassing other people with your viewpoint. It’s a matter of listening and being accountable in your community. If you come to a conclusion, listen to others who can comment on it and possibly point out reasons that you may be wrong, or ideas that may not have occurred to you.
This is the second topical guide in this series. It is exceptionally practical. Be sure to think of living the word as you learn it!
1:
Information: Why This?
When I was a boy, I had a really wicked temper. It was short and it was brutal. I would get in fights every recess. I got “C’s” in Citizenship, which for most classmates was an automatic “A.” A “C” in Citizenship was like getting an “F” in any other subject. It meant I did not play well with others, I did not get along, and I had a vicious temper.
My teacher took me out into the hall when I was in fourth grade. “David, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you. I’ve kept you in during recess. I’ve set you in the corner. I’ve sent you to the principal’s office. I’ve sent notes home to your parents. I’m at my wit’s end, and I don’t know what else to do. What do I have to do to get you to behave and not to fight?”
It was a serious question and she was genuinely puzzled.
In sixth grade, a classmate came over to play and accidentally hit me with a toy. I flew off the handle and sent her home. She apologized and nearly cried, but I was insistent. She was cute as a button, one of our class cheerleaders and had a crush on me, but I did not care. Even though it was an accident, I was angry. She went home and that ended the crush.
One of my friends in high school had a set of boxing gloves. We put together a make-shift boxing ring and took turns boxing with each other. My turn came along; my partner was taller with longer arms and a greater reach. He’d also boxed some with his older brothers and his father. We put the gloves on and went at it, and I went berserk. The next thing I knew, he was cowering in a corner and the rest of the gang was busy holding me down until I cooled off.
Early in my first marriage we were playing double solitaire one night, a game that requires speed. I couldn’t play fast enough and lost every game, but we kept playing. Unlike Charlie Brown playing checkers with Lucy, I knew I would win a game.
She asked, “David, why are you angry?”
“I’m not angry!” I protested.
“If you’re not angry, then why are you yelling and why are you pounding the table?”
“I’m not . . .” I shouted and realized I was indeed pounding the table.
I have an anger management issue.
Over the years, I’ve tried a number of different techniques. Most of them did not work. I can count to ten, but that just gives me time to build up a good head of steam. Taking long, slow, deep breaths requires me to be aware of the rising anger before it peaks. Walking away from the situation requires a lot of self-control and runs counter to my fighting instincts.
Philosophically, I am a pacifist. I agree that violence is never a solution, that we can reason things out together. Emotionally, I’m a fighter, and too often, my emotions win out. I realize that anger can have a good side; anger can give us energy and determination to do a task that needs to be done. I also realize anger has a significant down side as well.
There may be psychological or emotional wounds as a result of anger that go far deeper and last far longer than any physical wounds. Losing one’s temper may reflect a lack of self-confidence as well as a lack of self-control. Frustration and depression can be forms of self-directed anger.
In my Bible study and as part of my personal discipline, I memorize verses of scripture. I do not remember the instance, but I stumbled across Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit are these: first of all love, then joy, then peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Against these, there is no Law.” There are only nine, not ten, but it is a good list. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. Reciting these has helped me immensely with my anger management issue, especially when the list ends with self-control. It is hard to fly off the handle when I start with love and joy and end with self-control. They remind me that our life together in the faith as Christians is called to be a fruit-filled life.
Having a ready supply of scripture verses stored in our memory can be a helpful resource for our daily lives. Most of us learned to memorize certain passages in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School or Confirmation classes. We’ve learned the Lord’s Prayer, the Twenty-Third Psalm, maybe the Ten Commandments and perhaps a few others. Knowing more is better than knowing less. In Jesus’ temptation with the Devil, we are reminded that even Satan can quote scripture! Knowing a variety of passages that can apply to different situations can be a help in our daily lives, just as affirmations or breath prayers can help us find and focus on the way we would go.
As Christians, our lives are gifted. We are gifted with the Holy Spirit, gifted with the spirit of Christ. Paul writes in Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:8-12 about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and reminds us that we each have some of the gifts: gifts of healing, teaching, helping, serving, speaking, interpreting, and giving. “There is a variety of gifts, but one Spirit who gives them” (1 Cor 12:4). We all are gifted; we have all received the gift of the Holy Spirit. We each get some of the gifts; none of us get all of the gifts.
The fruit of the Spirit is different. Jesus tells us in John 15:1-6 that we are all to bear much fruit, and our fruit is to excel in quality and in quantity. Jesus tells us the way we are to bear fruit is by abiding in him, as a branch bears fruit by abiding in the vine. Paul gives us a list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. While we each get some of the gifts of the Spirit, everyone gets all of the fruit of the Spirit. We are all called to bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. We all bear all the fruit! This is the essence of living a fruit-filled life. We are all fruitful; we all bear all the fruit, each in its season.
When Paul describes the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, he always speaks in the plural, “gifts.” In Galatians 5:22-23, when Paul speaks of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, he speaks in the singular. There are a variety of gifts of the Spirit, but only one fruit. The fruit may be variously described and experienced, yet it remains a singular fruit. The various characteristics of this one fruitful Spirit are listed and will be considered, but in this consideration we need to keep in mind that the fruit is one, the fruitful life is one, as we are all one in the Spirit.
The fruit also fall into three categories, based upon our relationships: those that relate to God (love, joy, peace), those that relate to others (patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness) and those that relate to us personally (gentleness, self-control.) The fruitful life is a life integrating ourselves with God and with others. Just as God consists of a Trinity, however we choose to describe it: Father-Son-Holy Spirit; Creator-Redeemer-Sustainer; The One who Forms us, Frees us, and Fills us; the Source of all Being, the Eternal Word, the Life-giving Spirit, so