The Fruit Of The spirit
When Paul gives to us his introduction to the great spiritual realities as recorded in 1 Cor. 1:30, he says, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." He puts wisdom first. The same thing holds true in speaking of the gifts of the spirit in 1 Cor. 12:7-8. "But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same spirit." Wisdom is placed first here, showing that in the mind of the Father, wisdom holds the foremost place.
Now you can understand clearly the previous statement that it is not a problem of knowledge, but it is a problem of wisdom which knows how to use wisely the knowledge that has been gained. In Gal. 5:22 we have this great passage, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law." This is not the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but the fruit of the recreated spirit. See the 16th verse, "Walk by the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (or the desires of the senses)."
"For the senses are struggling against your spirit, and your spirit is struggling against your senses, for these are contrary the one to the other, that ye may not do the things that ye would. But if ye are led by the spirit, (your own recreated spirit, not the Holy Spirit) ye are not under law." Then He shows the works of the Senses. It is a striking fact that we have always thought of these two passages as the work of the Holy Spirit, but they are not. The first fruitage of this recreated spirit is love. It goes on down through the list of nine marvelous fruits that the spirit bears in its daily contacts with man. Ahead of all these He has placed wisdom to use knowledge, to use love, and to make love a blessing to the world; wisdom to control joy, and wisdom to witness of the peace of God that passeth all understanding.
It is of the first importance that we recognize that wisdom, and all these other fruits of the recreated life, are the products of our own human spirit. As we keep in the closest fellowship with the Word, these great realities shine forth in our lives.
The Hidden Man.
