I. WHAT IT IS. The hope of righteousness appears to be the hope of realizing righteousness, the hope of becoming righteous. In St. Paul's language a hope is not our subjective anticipation, but the thing for which we hope. Such a possession we as Christians anticipate.

1. Righteousness is a great treasure. It is a worthy object of desire. It is better than any rewards it may entail. To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to feel the deepest and purest appetite for the best of all spiritual possessions.

2. Righteousness is not yet enjoyed. It is a hope. Even the Christian who has the faith that admits to it has not yet the full heritage. The longer we live the higher does the magnificent ideal tower above us until it is seen reaching up to heaven. Some righteousness we enter into with the first effort of faith, but the foretaste is only enough to make us yearn for more;

3. We may confidently hope for righteousness. It is a hope, not a mere surmise, that urges us forward. We are encouraged by the promises of the gospel. It is a grand inspiring thought that every Christian has the prospect of ultimate victory over all sin and ultimate attainment of pure and spotless goodness.

II. HOW WE ARE TO REGARD IT. We are to wait for it.

1. We must exercise patience. Sudden perfect holiness is impossible. The idea that it has been attained is one of the most awful delusions that have ever ensnared the minds of good men. Physically, of course, it is possible for us never to sin, and to be perfectly holy, as physically there is nothing to prevent us from drawing a mathematically straight line; but in experience the one is no more realized than the other, and morally both are equally impossible. The law of life is progress by gradual development.

2. Nevertheless, we must earnestly anticipate the future righteousness, We must wait for it as those who wait for the morning, i.e. we must watch. To be indifferent about it is not to wait for it. Indifference will disinherit us from the hope.

III. WITH WHAT GRACE WE CAN THUS REGARD IT.

1. Through the Spirit. Here as often elsewhere we cannot be certain whether the apostle is referring to the Spirit of God or to our spirit. The two work together. Human spirituality is the fruit of the inspiration of the Divine Spirit. It is in this spiritual state of mind that we hate sin and long for righteousness, and have glimpses of the future that cheer us with the prospect of the great hope. Our desires and anticipations are always fashioned and coloured by the state of our hearts. Waiting for the hope of righteousness is a habit of soul only possible to those who are spiritually minded.

2. By faith. Here we come to the key and secret of the whole experience. Faith

(1) makes us heirs of righteousness;

(2) is the present assurance of things hoped for, and therefore of.this great hope; and

(3) leads us into that spiritual atmosphere where waiting tot the hope of righteousness becomes natural to us. - W.F.A.

Faith is not opposed to the spirit, but is the child of it. Through the Spirit we wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

I. DECLARE THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE.

1. Its singularity. Not founded on parentage, outward rites and ceremonies, moral virtues and spiritual excellencies; but upon Christ.

2. Its speciality. In grace alone — looking entirely to the free mercy of God. Nothing by merit. Nobody has any claim upon God. He blesses us because He is good, not because we are; He saves us because He is gracious, not because He sees any grace inherent in us.

3. Its ground. It is founded upon right — a solid base for hope. We expect to be saved by an act of justice as well as by a deed of mercy. By faith the righteousness of Christ becomes ours, so that we have a right to salvation (Romans 4:23, 24, 25; Romans 5:1, 2; Romans 8:1-4, 32-34).

4. Its substance. A triumphant death, a glorious eternity.

5. The posture which our hope takes up. Waiting. All is done; we have but to wait for the reward. To the garment which covers us we dare not think of adding a single thread. To the acceptance in which we stand before God, we cannot hope to add a single jewel. Why attempt it? Has not Jesus said, "It is finished?" Waiting implies continuance. Our faith is not for to-day and to-morrow only, but for eternity.

II. THE RELATION OF THIS MATTER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. No division in the purposes and works of the three sacred Persons in the Trinity. Their will is one. That which glorifies Jesus cannot dishonour the Holy Spirit.

1. The faith which brings this righteousness is never exercised by any but those who are born of the Spirit. The new heart which the Spirit creates is the only soil in which faith will grow.

2. Faith for righteousness is based on the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

3. Simple faith is always the work of the Spirit.

4. When a man has believed, he obtains a great increase to his faith in Jesus by the work of the Spirit.

5. It is by the Spirit that we continue to exercise faith.

III. CONCLUDING INFERENCES.

1. Whoever has this hope of righteousness by faith has the Spirit of God. He that believeth hath the witness in himself. He that believeth in Him is not condemned.

2. Wherever there is any other hope, or hope based upon anything else but this, the Spirit of God is not present. The Spirit will not bear witness to man's home-born presumptuous hopes, but only to the finished work of Jesus.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

There is so great affinity between faith and hope, that the one cannot be separate from the other. Notwithstanding, there is a difference between them, which is gathered of their several offices, diversity of working, and of their ends.

1. They differ in respect of their subject, that is, of the ground wherein they rest. For faith resteth in the understanding, hope in the will; but the one is to the other, as the two cherubim on the mercy-seat.

2. They differ in respect of their office, i.e. of their working. Faith tells what is to be done, teaches, prescribes, directs; hope stirs up the mind that it may be strong, bold, courageous, that it may suffer and endure adversity, waiting for better things.

3. They differ as touching their object, that is, the special matter whereunto they look. Faith has for her object the truth, teaching us to cleave surely thereto, and looking upon the word and promise of the thing that is promised; hope has for her object the goodness of God, and looks upon the thing which is promised in the word, that is, upon such matters as faith teaches us to hope for.

4. They differ in order. Faith is the beginning of life, before all tribulation; hope proceeds from tribulation.

5. They differ by the diversity of working. Faith is a teacher and a judge, fighting against errors and heresies, judging spirits and doctrines; hope is, as it were, the general or captain of the field, fighting against tribulation, the cross, impatience, heaviness of spirit, weakness, desperation, and blasphemy, and it waits for good things even in the midst of all evils. Therefore, when I am instructed by faith in the Word of God, and lay hold of Christ, believing in Him with my whole heart, then am I righteous by this knowledge. When I am so justified by faith, or by this knowledge, by and by cometh the devil, the father of wiles, and laboureth to extinguish my faith by wiles and subtleties; that is to say, by lies, errors, and heresies. Moreover, because he is a murderer, he goeth about also to oppress it by violence. Here hope wrestling, layeth hold on the thing revealed by faith, and overcometh the devil that warreth against faith; and after this victory followeth peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

(Luther.)

In civil government, prudence and fortitude do differ, and yet these two virtues are so joined together, that they cannot easily be severed. Now, fortitude is a constancy of mind, which is not discouraged in adversity, but endureth valiantly, and waiteth for better things. But if fortitude be not guided by prudence, it is but temerity and rashness. On the other side, if fortitude be not joined with prudence, that prudence is but vain and unprofitable. Therefore, like as, in policy, prudence is but vain without fortitude; even so in divinity, faith without hope is nothing; for hope endureth adversity and is constant therein, and in the end overcometh all evils. And on the other side, like as fortitude without prudence is rashness, even so hope without faith is a presumption in spirit, and a tempting of God: for it hath no knowledge of Christ and.of the truth which faith teacheth, and therefore it is but a blind rashness and arrogancy. Wherefore, a godly man, before all things, must have a right understanding instructed by faith, according to the which the mind may be guided in afflictions, that it may hope for those good things which faith hath revealed and taught. To be short, faith is conceived by teaching; for thereby the mind is instructed what the truth is. Hope is conceived by exhortation; for by exhortation hope is stirred up in afflictions, which confirmeth him that is already justified by faith, that he be not overcome by adversities, but that he may be able more strongly to resist them.

(Luther.)

The heir must believe his title to an estate in reversion before he can hope for it: faith believes its title to glory, and then hope waits for it. Did not faith feed the lamp of hope with oil, it would soon die.

( Ambrose.)

1. The riches of a believer are not so much in possession as in expectation and hope.

2. None have right to heaven here, or shall enjoy it hereafter, who are wholly unrighteous.

3. No personal righteousness of our own can entitle us to this blessed hope and heavenly inheritance; but only the righteousness of Christ.

4. It is only the inward, efficacious teaching of God's Spirit, that can sufficiently instruct us in the knowledge of this imputed righteousness by faith, and make us with security and confidence venture our eternal well-being and hope of heaven upon it.

(James Fergusson.)

When faith is finished a good life is made perfect in our kind: let, therefore, no man expect events for which he hath no promise; nor call for God's fidelity without his own faithfulness; nor snatch at a promise without performing the condition; nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ, and to do nothing else; for that will but deceive us, and turn religion into words, holiness into hypocrisy, the promises of God into a snare, the truth of God into a lie. When God gives us better promises, He intends that we should pay Him a better obedience; when He forgives us what is past, He intends that we should sin no more; when He offers us His graces, He would have us make use of them; when He causes us to distrust ourselves His meaning is that we should rely on Him; when He enables us to do what He commands us, He commands us to do all that we can.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

Our religion is spiritual faith, which speaks after this fashion: "Believe in God; believe in Jesus Christ; believe in your own soul; believe in redemption from sin, from guilt, and from punishment; and believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting." This is our religion. Infidelity comes and unfolds its little couch and lays it on the ground, and says to my soul, "Rest there." But I have tried, and cannot. The bed is too short for my soul to stretch itself upon it. It only reaches from the cradle there to the grave yonder, while my soul has desires that wander through eternity. No, thank God, here is room: God is, Christ is, thy soul is, redemption is, pardon is, liberty from sin is, and the glorious life eternal is! Stretch thy soul upon that couch and rest for ever.

(Thomas Jones.)

I. CONSIDER FAITH IN CHRIST.

1. Explain the nature of it.(1) This includes in it an assent to the truth of Christ's being appointed of God, to be a Mediator betwixt Him and the sinful children of men.(2) An hearty acceptance of Him to be our Saviour, as He is proposed to us in the gospel. The apostle tells us that with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so as to be justified, to be entitled to life (Romans 10:10). Justifying faith is not seated only in the head, but in the heart.(3) True and saving faith in Christ imports a dependence upon Him.

2. It is our duty to believe in Christ.(1) The evidences of God's appointment of Jesus to be Mediator betwixt Him and men are sufficient to convince all attentive unprejudiced persons, upon whom the light of the gospel shines. The exact accomplishment of the many ancient prophecies recorded in the Old Testament, relating to the Messiah, in our Lord Jesus; the miracles wrought by Him in the presence of enemies, as well as friends, who could not deny the reality of them; and His resurrection from the dead on the third day.(2) As it is "a faithful saying," so it is "worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."(3) We all need Christ and His salvation, therefore it behoves us greatly to accept of Him.(4) Christ Jesus is an all-sufficient Saviour, therefore we ought to believe in Him, to depend upon Him.(5) We are expressly required in the Word of God to believe in Christ Jesus. A heart of unbelief is emphatically styled an evil heart; it rebels against the word of the living God, and departs from Him (Hebrews 3:12). Having showed that it is our duty to believe in Jesus Christ, give me leave to subjoin a few remarks.

1. Though it be our duty to believe in the Lord Jesus, and this should be pressed upon our consciences, yet we need the aids of Divine grace to enable us to discharge this duty; therefore we should ask them of God.

2. It is not only the duty of persons, when they are first awakened to a sense of sin, to believe in Jesus Christ; those also who have received Him should be daily exercising faith in Him.

II. CONSIDER HOPE IN CHRIST.

1. Let us consider what it is true Christians hope for in the Lord Jesus.(1) True Christians hope that the Lord Jesus will keep "that which they have committed unto Him against the great day."(2) They hope that He will "present them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."(3) True Christians hope through the Lord Jesus to be admitted to dwell for ever with Him in His Father's house.

2. Let us inquire into the reasons of this their hope in Christ.(1) God's appointment of the Lord Jesus to the work of mediation encourages the hope of believers in Him.(2) The dignity of Christ's Person encourages believers to hope in Him. We are expressly told in His Word that He hath "laid help upon One that is mighty" (Psalm 89:19).(3) The resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Christ encourage the hope of believers in Him.(4) The compassion of Christ is a reason of believers' hope in Him. Though He be "a great High Priest," and "is passed into the heavens," yet He is not such a One "as cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:14, 15, 16).(5) The promises of God in Christ Jesus greatly support the hope of believers in Him; they have a promise of very ancient date to bear up their hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2).Concluding reflections:

1. We may hence learn that true Christians should be ready always to answer every man that asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them. Seeing it is so reasonable, so well grounded, they should never be ashamed of it, nor suffer themselves to be moved from it by the vain cavils of men.

2. Is our hope in Christ Jesus? Then it should be our great care to "glorify His name, and to adorn His doctrine in all things." And in order hereto let us live answerably to our hope in Him.

3. It behoves us to be very solicitous that we do not take up with such a hope as shall make us ashamed. The salvation proposed by Jesus Christ to His disciples is inexpressibly great; and it should be our great concern that our expectations of it be not disappointed. "Not every one that says unto Christ, "Lord, Lord," that pretends respect for Him, "shall enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 7:21). "The hope of the hypocrite shall perish."

(S. Price.)

In these words observe —

1. The end, scope, and blessedness of a Christian in the word "hope."

2. The firm ground of it — "The righteousness of faith."

3. The carriage of Christians — "We wait."

4. The inward moving cause of waiting for this hope in this way —Through the Spirit. They are taught by Him, inclined by Him, so to do.

1. The blessedness of a Christian is implied in the word "hope." For hope is taken two ways in Scripture — for the thing hoped for, and for the affection or act of him that hopeth. Here it is taken in the first sense, for the thing hoped for. As also Titus 2:13, "Looking for the blessed hope." So Colossians 1:5, "For the hope which is laid up for us in heaven."

2. The ground and foundation of this hope, "The righteousness of faith." What it is I will show you by and by. Only here it is opposed, partly to the covenant of works, which could not give life; partly to the legal observances; for it presently followeth, "Neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision," etc. But by no means is it opposed to evangelical obedience; for the whole New Testament obedience is comprised in this term, "The righteousness of faith; " as appeareth by the apostle's explication in the next verse, "But faith, which works by love."

3. The duty of a Christian — "We wait." All true Christians wait for the mercy of God and life everlasting. And he calleth in waiting, because a believer hath not so much in possession as in expectation. And this waiting is not a devout sloth, but implieth diligence in the use of all means whereby we may obtain this hope.

4. The inward efficient cause — "Through the Spirit." We are taught by the Spirit, inclined by the Spirit so to do. That by the Spirit all true Christians are inclined to pursue after the hope built upon the righteousness of faith.

I. What is the righteousness of faith? We told you before it is opposed either to the law of works or the ceremonial observances of the law of Moses. But more particularly it may be determined —(1) Either with respect to the object of faith; or(2) to the act or grace of faith itself;(3) with respect to the rule and warrant of faith, which is the gospel or new covenant. We return to God, as our chief good and sovereign Lord, that we may love, serve, and obey Him, and be happy in His love. Faith respects Christ as Redeemer and Mediator, who hath opened the way for our return by His merit and satisfaction, or reconciliation wrought between us and God, and given us a heart to return by the renewing grace of His Spirit.

II. What is the hope built upon it, or the things hoped for by virtue of this righteousness? and they are pardon and life.

1. Certainly pardon of sins is intended in the righteousness of faith, as appeareth by that of the apostle (Romans 4:6-8).

2. There is also in it salvation, or eternal life (Titus 3:7). These two benefits give us the greatest support and comfort against all kind of troubles.

III. What is the work of the Spirit in this business in urging believers to wait for the hope of righteousness by faith? The work of the Spirit doth either concern the duties of the new covenant or the privileges of the new covenant, or what is common to them both. I begin with the latter.

1. What is common to them both. He doth convince us- of the truth of the gospel, both of means and end; that there is such a hope, and the righteousness of faith is the only way to obtain it. Now this he doth externally and internally.(1) Externally, and by way of objective evidence. All the certainty that we have of the gospel is by the Spirit (Acts 5:32; John 15:26, 27).(2) Internally, enlightening their minds and inclining their hearts to embrace the truth; which maketh the former testimony effectual (Ephesians 1:17). To the sight of anything these things are necessary — an object, a medium, and a faculty. As in outward sight, an object that may be seen; a convenient light to represent it and make the object perspicuous; an organ or faculty of seeing in the eye. Unless there be an object, you bid a man see nothing. Unless there be a medium, a due light to represent it, as in a fog, or at midnight, the sharpest sight can see nothing. Unless there be a faculty, neither the object nor medium will avail; a blind man cannot see anything at noonday. Now here is an object, the way of salvation by Christ; a convenient light, it is represented in the gospel; and the faculty is prepared, for the eyes of the mind are opened by the Spirit, that we may see both way and end, the necessity of holiness, and the reality of future glory and blessedness.

2. The work of the Spirit as to the duties of the new covenant. He doth not only convince us of the reality and the necessity of Christ's obedience and our holiness, but by His powerful operation frameth and inclineth our hearts to the duties required of us. Faith itself is wrought in us by this holy Spirit, for it is "the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8); and so is repentance and obedience: Hebrews 8:10, "I will write My laws upon their hearts, and put them into their minds." Moses' law was written on tables of stone, as a rule without them; but Christ's law on the heart and mind, as drawing and inclining them to obey it. The renewing grace of the Spirit of God doth prepare us and fit us, and His exciting grace doth quicken us, that we may do what is pleasing in His sight.

3. The work of the Spirit as to the privileges of the new covenant, which are pardon and life.(1) As to pardon, He is the Comforter. He cometh into our hearts as the pledge of our atonement; we receive it when we receive the Spirit (Romans 5:11); and His sanctifying work is the sure evidence that God is at peace with us (1 Thessalonians 5:23).(2) As to life, He assureth us of it.

(a)He prepareth us and fitteth us for it (2 Corinthians 5:5).

(b)He assureth us of it (2 Corinthians 1:22).

(c)He comforteth us and raiseth, our longing after this blessed estate, for the beginnings we have here are called also the first-fruits (Romans 8:23). The beginnings are sweet; what will the completion be? Application:

1. Here you see your scope, what you should look for and hope for — the forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among the sanctified.

2. Here you see your work, and what you should now seek after — "The righteousness of faith."

3. Here you see your help, and what will enable you to obtain — "Through the Spirit." Oh! let these things be more in your thoughts.(1) For your happiness, or the great privileges which you should most value and hope for.(i) The forgiveness of sins. The sin be forgiven you can never have found peace within yourselves, but still God will be matter of fear and terror to you.(ii) By waiting on the duties of the gospel, this comfort is more and more settled in the heart.(2) For eternal life. Having spoke to your hope and scope, let me, secondly, now speak to your work, what you must seek after, and that is, "The righteousness of faith."To enforce this consider —

1. There is no appearing before God without some righteousness of one sort or another. Why? Because it is an holy and just God before whom we appear; and "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right" (Genesis 18:25); and 1 Samuel 6:20, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" If not now in the time of His patience, how, then, in the time of His recompense? His holiness inclineth Him to hate sin, and His justice to punish it. "Thy law is exceeding pure" (Psalm 19:140). The gospel abateth nothing of the purity of it. Now when we appear before an holy God, and must he judged by an holy law, surely we must have holiness and righteousness answerable, or how can we stand in the judgment?

2. No ether righteousness will serve the turn but the righteousness of faith; and therefore, till we submit to the new covenant, we are in a woeful case. Now the righteousness of the new covenant is supreme or subordinate; the supreme by way of merit and satisfaction, the subordinate by way of application and qualification on our parts.(1) The supreme is the righteousness or obedience of Christ, which can alone deliver us from hell: Job 33:24, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom." There is no deliverance from eternal destruction, which our sins deserve, but only by the ransom which He hath paid. Till His justice be satisfied by Christ, no good can come unto us.(2) The subordinate righteousness, which qualifieth us, and giveth us an interest, is faith, repentance, and new obedience; all which are hugely necessary, convenient, and gracious terms.

(T. Manton, D. D.)

How foolish and ignorant we should esteem an artificer, who, having taken a piece of iron, should melt and mould, file and polish it, and then imagine that it has become gold! It shines, it is true; but is its brilliancy a proof that it is no longer iron? And does not God require pure and refined gold; that is to say, a perfect righteousness and a perfect holiness?

(Malan.)

As the graft is kept in union with the stock by means of the clay which has been applied by the gardener, so is the believer united to Christ by faith, which is the gift of God. The clay cement keeps the parts together, but has no virtue in itself: so faith is the means of union to Christ; it shows that the husbandman has been there. When the clay is removed in an ordinary tree, the graft is found united to the stock: so, when faith is swallowed up in sight, then the perfect union of Christ and His people is seen.

(J. H. Balfour.)

Galatians, Paul, PhilippiansGalatiaAcceptance, Await, Eagerly, Faith, Hope, Longing, Principle, Righteousness, Spirit, Wait, Waiting1. He wills them to stand in their liberty,
3. and not to observe circumcision;
13. but rather love, which is the sum of the law.
19. He lists the works of the flesh,
22. and the fruits of the Spirit,
25. and exhorts to walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:5

     1125   God, righteousness
     3233   Holy Spirit, and sanctification
     3254   Holy Spirit, fruit of
     4018   life, spiritual
     5840   eagerness
     5914   optimism
     8022   faith, basis of salvation
     8157   righteousness, as faith
     8272   holiness, growth in
     8678   waiting on God
     8825   self-righteousness, and gospel
     9613   hope, as confidence

Galatians 5:1-6

     7512   Gentiles, in NT

Galatians 5:1-10

     4432   dough

Galatians 5:1-12

     7334   circumcision
     8316   orthodoxy, in NT

Galatians 5:2-6

     7525   exclusiveness

Galatians 5:2-12

     4554   yeast

Galatians 5:2-25

     6511   salvation

Galatians 5:4-5

     3236   Holy Spirit, and Scripture
     6670   grace, and Holy Spirit

Galatians 5:4-6

     6678   justification, Christ's work

Galatians 5:5-6

     8102   abiding in Christ

March 28. "The Fruit of the Spirit is all Goodness" (Gal. v. 22).
"The fruit of the Spirit is all goodness" (Gal. v. 22). Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. Goodness is just "Godness." It is to be like God. And God-like goodness has special reference to the active benevolence of God. The apostle gives us the difference between goodness and righteousness in this passage in Romans, "Scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die." The righteous man is the man of stiff, inflexible uprightness; but he may be …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 1. "The Fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness" (Gal. v. 22).
"The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness" (Gal. v. 22). Nature's harshness has melted away and she is now beaming with the smile of spring, and everything around us whispers of the gentleness of God. This beautiful fruit is in lovely harmony with the gentle month of which it is the keynote. May the Holy Spirit lead us, beloved, these days, into His sweetness, quietness, and gentleness, subduing every coarse, rude, harsh, and unholy habit, and making us like Him, of whom it is said, "He shall not strive, …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity Works of the Flesh and Fruits of the Spirit.
Text: Galatians 5, 16-24. 16 But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Church Officers Warned of Vain-Glory.
Text: Galatians 5, 25-26 and 6, 1-10. 25 If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. 26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another. 1 Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3 For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

'Walk in the Spirit'
'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.'--GAL. v. 16. We are not to suppose that the Apostle here uses the familiar contrast of spirit and flesh to express simply different elements of human nature. Without entering here on questions for which a sermon is scarcely a suitable vehicle of discussion, it may be sufficient for our present purpose to say that, as usually, when employing this antithesis the Apostle means by Spirit the divine, the Spirit of God, which he triumphed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What Makes a Christian: Circumcision or Faith?
'In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.'--GAL. v. 6. It is a very singular instance of imaginative misreading of plain facts that the primitive Church should be held up as a pattern Church. The early communities had apostolic teaching; but beyond that, they seem to have been in no respect above, and in many respects below, the level of subsequent ages. If we may judge of their morality by the exhortations and dehortations which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fruit of the Spirit
'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance'--GAL. v. 22, 23. '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. The individual members are not isolated graces, but all connected, springing from one root and constituting an organic whole. There is further to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

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H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

Sixth Day for the Spirit of Love in the Church
WHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit of Love in the Church "I pray that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and Thou in Me; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me ... that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them."--JOHN x"The fruit of the Spirit is love."--GAL. v. 22. Believers are one in Christ, as He is one with the Father. The love of God rests on them, and can dwell in them. Pray that the power of the Holy …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Brokenness
We want to be very simple in this matter of Revival. Revival is just the life of the Lord Jesus poured into human hearts. Jesus is always victorious. In heaven they are praising Him all the time for His victory. Whatever may be our experience of failure and barrenness, He is never defeated. His power is boundless. And we, on our part, have only to get into a right relationship with Him, and we shall see His power being demonstrated in our hearts and lives and service, and His victorious life will …
Roy Hession and Revel Hession—The Calvary Road

The Dove and the Lamb
Victorious living and effective soul-winning service are not the product of our better selves and hard endeavours, but are simply the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are not called upon to produce the fruit, but simply to bear it. It is all the time to be His fruit. Nothing is more important then, than that we should be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit, or to keep to the metaphor, that the "trees of the Lord should be continuously full of sap"--His sap. How this may be so for us is graphically …
Roy Hession and Revel Hession—The Calvary Road

The Holy Spirit Bringing Forth in the Believer Christlike Graces of Character.
There is a singular charm, a charm that one can scarcely explain, in the words of Paul in Gal. v. 22, 23, R. V., "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance." What a catalogue we have here of lovely moral characteristics. Paul tells us that they are the fruit of the Spirit, that is, if the Holy Spirit is given control of our lives, this is the fruit that He will bear. All real beauty of character, all real Christlikeness in us, …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

Joy
'The fruit of the Spirit is joy.' Gal 5:52. The third fruit of justification, adoption, and sanctification, is joy in the Holy Ghost. Joy is setting the soul upon the top of a pinnacle - it is the cream of the sincere milk of the word. Spiritual joy is a sweet and delightful passion, arising from the apprehension and feeling of some good, whereby the soul is supported under present troubles, and fenced against future fear. I. It is a delightful passion. It is contrary to sorrow, which is a perturbation …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Routing of Giant Doubt
THE ROUTING OF GIANT DOUBT Doubts! doubts! doubts! Just a company of them around me all the time worse than Job's miserable comforters. What can I do with them? I should like to dismiss them, but it seems I can not. They make me much trouble, but it seems I can not get them to leave me. Especially are the doubts concerning my entire consecration aggravating, and those, too, concerning my entire cleansing. I fear to come out boldly and declare that I believe that Christ fully saves me now. I believe …
Robert Lee Berry—Adventures in the Land of Canaan

Conflicts with Giant Mistake
CONFLICTS WITH GIANT MISTAKE I make so many mistakes, it seems I am just a bundle of contradictions. I try to do good; but at times my efforts are so crude that I seem to do more harm than good. What shall I do? And though all the time I try hard not to make mistakes, yet I still make them. It seems to me that surely I am not sanctified, or else I should be more perfect. Do not the Scriptures command us to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect? I am not perfect; far from it. Really I …
Robert Lee Berry—Adventures in the Land of Canaan

I have Said This, Lest Haply Married Fruitfulness Dare to vie with virgin Chastity...
7. I have said this, lest haply married fruitfulness dare to vie with virgin chastity, and to set forth Mary herself, and to say unto the virgins of God, She had in her flesh two things worthy of honor, virginity and fruitfulness; inasmuch as she both continued a virgin, and bore: this happiness, since we could not both have the whole, we have divided, that ye be virgins, we be mothers: for what is wanting to you in children, let your virginity, that hath been preserved, be a consolation: for us, …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

The Inward Warfare. Gal 5:17
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John Newton—Olney Hymns

And on this Account That, Which, the Parts that Beget Being Bridled by Modesty...
5. And on this account that, which, the parts that beget being bridled by modesty, is most chiefly and properly to be called Continence, is violated by no transgression, if the higher Continence, concerning which we have been some time speaking, be preserved in the heart. For this reason the Lord, after He had said, "For from the heart go forth evil thoughts," then went on to add what it is that belongs to evil thoughts, "murders, adulteries," and the rest. He spake not of all; but, having named …
St. Augustine—On Continence

All we Therefore, who Believe in the Living and True God...
18. All we therefore, who believe in the Living and True God, Whose Nature, being in the highest sense good and incapable of change, neither doth any evil, nor suffers any evil, from Whom is every good, even that which admits of decrease, and Who admits not at all of decrease in His own Good, Which is Himself, when we hear the Apostle saying, "Walk in the Spirit, and perform ye not the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: For these are opposed …
St. Augustine—On Continence

And Also, when He Exhorts Us, that we Live not after the Flesh...
9. And also, when he exhorts us, that we live not after the flesh, lest we die, but that by the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the flesh, that we may live; surely the trumpet which sounds, shows the war in which we are engaged, and enkindles us to contend keenly, and to do our enemies to death, [1832] that we be not done to death by them. But who those enemies are, it hath set forth plainly enough. For those are they, whom it willed should be done to death by us, that is to say, the works of the …
St. Augustine—On Continence

Here Therefore These Men Too Evil, While they Essay to Make Void the Law...
9. Here therefore these men too evil, while they essay to make void the Law, force us to approve these Scriptures. For they mark what is said, that they who are under the Law are in bondage, and they keep flying above the rest that last saying, "Ye are made empty [1715] of Christ, as many of you as are justified in the Law; ye have fallen from Grace." [1716] We grant that all these things are true, and we say that the Law is not necessary, save for them unto whom bondage is yet profitable: and that …
St. Augustine—On the Profit of Believing.

The Daily Walk with Others (iii. ).
Thrice happy they who at Thy side, Thou Child of Nazareth, Have learnt to give their struggling pride Into Thy hands to death: If thus indeed we lay us low, Thou wilt exalt us o'er the foe; And let the exaltation be That we are lost in Thee. Let me say a little on a subject which, like the last, is one of some delicacy and difficulty, though its problems are of a very different kind. It is, the relation between the Curate and his Incumbent; or more particularly, the Curate's position and conduct …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

How those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 23.) Differently to be admonished are those that are at variance and those that are at peace. For those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord. For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. v. 22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Hence Paul …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

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