So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! --2 Corinthians 5:17
Paul believed each and every follower of Jesus was a New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17), a term referring to an individual disciple of Christ. In Paul's writings, three basic components were present in each person who became a new creation, providing a full profile of Christian personhood:
an initial change experienced by each new believer;
personal attributes a changed believer should exhibit;
and active membership in a community of faith, where these personal attributes were to be practiced.
For Paul, the initial change was an absolute requirement in order to be a new creation.(1) Appropriate personal attributes and active membership in a faith community were possible because of the change and were also ideals to which each follower of Jesus must aspire. While Paul himself endeavored to reach these ideals, he urged others to do so, as well (Phil 3:12-16) [standard link].
Component 1:
The "Change" in the Believer
Paul addressed his letters to people who had undergone a personal change-- a "switching of faith."(2) These folk had switched from not believing in Jesus to having faith in Jesus as God's means for salvation (Romans 5--8). This change was the basis of hope for the redemption of the body and adoption as God's child:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:18-25)
The change made a fundamental difference in the ethical and moral make-up of the individual,(3) happening at the very root of a person. The event was:
a dying and rising with Christ (Rom 6:6) [standard link]:
a change from bearing fruit for death "in the flesh" to bearing fruit for God "in the Spirit" (Rom 7:4-6) [standard link].
Paul told the Corinthian believers that they were not to be characterized by former vices because they had been washed; they were sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God (1 Cor 6:9-11) ([standard link]. Imbedded in this statement are clues about the faith-switching event. "Washed" probably refers to the point in time in the past when the Corinthians were baptized.(4) The term is used in with a Greek verb which means "to consecrate and include within the inner circle of what is holy."
Paul's Singular Purpose
Keep in mind that Paul wrote to instruct believers who had already undergone this process. His remarks were intended to aid the faithful in becoming more faithful.
Paul's purpose was singular: he wrote to direct believers toward some activities and away from others. He did not write to guide an inquiring person through the steps of gaining faith in God. He neither described the details of his own conversion systematically, nor did he outline the components in a sequential orderly manner for his readers.
Sometimes he accomplished his purpose by means of positive address and other times by negative address, defining what a person "in Christ" was not. Paul's remarks in 1 Cor 6:9-11 are one example of both positive and negative address. Other examples are: Galatians 5:16-26; Romans 1:29-32, 6:17-18, 7:4-6, 8:5-11, 13:11-14.
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Component 2:
Personal Attributes A Believer Should Exhibit
Paul used catalogues of vices and virtues to teach followers of Christ which personal qualities were appropriate (virtues), and which were to be avoided (vices). Catalogues were literary devices commonly used by Roman philosophers of Paul's day to elaborate ethical lists.(7) Each philosophical school had an opinion about how a person became virtuous, and also about what constituted virtue itself. The most familiar Pauline virtue and vice catalogue is Galatians 5:16-26. Paul also used a modified version of the virtue catalogue in 1 Corinthians 13 as he explicated the components of love, and in the letter to the Philippians 4:8 as he listed qualities to "think on."
Virtues = Fruit = Character
In Galatians 5:16-26, Paul referred to virtuous qualities as fruit of the Spirit. Since ones initial encounter with the risen Christ was a time when the believer received the Spirit, fruit marked the Spirit's presence and equipped the believer to live an appropriate lifestyle.
We may think of virtues, or fruit, as referring to character, although Paul used the Greek term for character only once in his writings (Phil 4:8). "Character" means the values and orientations to the world which shape the actions and responses of humankind. Our character is determined by our consistent and persistent habits which shape our behavior. Thinking of fruit in terms of character imposes contemporary terminology and understanding on Paul but it does not misrepresent Paul.
Paul left a clue for us in Romans 5:4 about the constitution of character. He used a term which refers to character that has come through test and trial. This tells us that Paul believed character (virtue) was realized and manifested through suffering and patience. Hope was brought forth through tested character. If we apply this clue to the discourse concerning fruit of the Spirit, it seems Paul believed that while virtues (fruit) were not gained by human effort, they realized through ongoing human effort.
What Is Fruit?
Fruit is mostly used by Paul in a metaphorical sense (Rom 1:13; Phil 1:11; 4:17). An exception is 1 Corinthians 9:7, "who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit," which indicates the term's literal meaning. Perhaps the literal meaning tells us why Paul used the term to describe virtues. In nature, fruit is a natural product of a vital source; it gains its life and growth from the source. Figuratively, fruit of the Spirit may be described as the natural product of a vital source, Spirit. When a person received the Spirit, s/he was also given the source out of which fruit was to grow.(8)
In Galatians 5:22, the word for "fruit" is singular. In its singular form, fruit represents all the virtuous qualities in the catalogue as a unity, together constituting the result of living by the Spirit.
It would be a mistake to think that a person automatically exhibited the fruit Paul listed at the time s/he first encountered the risen Christ. Paul realized this possible line of thought and ended the vice and virtue discussion with a conditional command, "if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Gal 5:25). This warning and the specific negatives which follow in the form "let us not have..." leave no doubt but that Paul assumed the person connected to a vital source was actively involved in the growth and development of fruit.
Fruit of the Spirit
The nine qualities (fruit of the spirit) Paul lists as attributes for Christian personhood are:
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
and self-control.
Love, Joy, and Peace
The first three fruits are the most significant of the nine. Hans Deter Betz writes that love, joy, and peace "represent spiritual power of the first order, and come close to being psychosomatic dispositions which must first be created in a person before they can be required as deeds.(9) He states the implications for Pauline ethics: "…people cannot be expected simply to act in an ethically responsible way, but they must first be empowered, and motivated before they can so act."(10)
The empowerment and motivation to act according to these qualities were a part of the faith-switching process. In the process of encountering Christ, a person became disposed to exhibit love, joy, and peace as personal qualities, through the power of Christ's Spirit.
Love (Gal 5:26, 1 Cor 13)(11)
"If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body, so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor 13:3)
The most comprehensive description of love to be found in Paul's writings is a poetic piece in the Corinthian correspondence (1 Cor 13) [standard link]. Here Paul underlined the necessity of love. He said that even if one
does something helpful,
does something for a good cause,
gives one's own physical self for another,
that action is empty and devoid of meaning if not undertaken in the spirit of love. Without the motivation of the spiritual power of love, an action was not related to the fruit of the Spirit.
The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians begins with a claim that love is a supreme and necessary component of Christian personhood (1 Cor 13:1-3). What follows is two sections in which love is personified and described in terms of its specific expressions.
In these two sections Paul described love's expressions positively and negatively. Then he connected the expressions to real life experience in a concrete, visceral way. Keep in mind that as he listed negative expressions of love, i.e., what love was not, Paul was thinking not only of intentionally unloving expressions, but also of actions undertaken for a good cause, without the spiritual power of love as empowerment and motivation.
Paul believed that, through love, each believer was freed from the negative aggressions and personal anxiety which would otherwise motivate actions toward others. Each believer was empowered to regard others with love and not as a possible threat to her/his personhood. (12) This is why Paul writes that love is necessary for a believer; he believed a person's attitude and behavior was inextricably connected to the spiritual power of love to motivate. The positive qualities of love that Paul lists describe the changed attitude of a person who had encountered the risen Christ.
Described positively, "love is patient and kind. Love rejoices in the good. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Cor 13:4-7) An interpretive paraphrase might read as follows: "Love supports our very lives, believes and hopes all things are possible, looks to the maximum potential of goodness; goodness exists and may in any moment be made evident. Therefore, love endures all things, because nothing can cause love to let go of the inherent possibility of goodness in life."(13)
Two parallels between 1 Corinthians and the virtue catalogue in Galatians are worth noting. First, patience, kindness, and believing all things (1 Cor 13) [standard link] parallels three qualities in the Galatians list - patience, kindness, and faithfulness (Gal 5:22-26) [standard link]. Secondly, a communal component is present in both 1 Cor 13 and Gal 5:22-26. Paul prefaced the Galatian list by stating that love was "a love toward others." (Gal 5:12, 14) In 1 Corinthians 13, love was the way in which the gifts of the spirit were to function among the community's members. In fact, love and not spiritual gifts was to be recognized as the sign of the Spirit (1 Cor 13:2).
Joy (14)and Peace (15) (Gal 5:26)
"For the kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Rom 14:17)
If we read the parts of Paul's letters which refer to joy, we see that he strongly emphasized that joy was a divine gift.(16) Joy was grounded in a conscious relationship to God, which began during a person's faith-switching encounter with the risen Christ (Rom 14:17; 15:13; Phil 1:4, 25). Joy continued to be an integral part of Christian growth. Thus we read Paul's comments to the Philippians concerning their "progress and joy in the faith," their reason for rejoicing being that Christ was proclaimed (Phil 1:18, 25).
As divine gift, joy took concrete form through human agency, in fellowship with others. Like love, joy operated within the context of community and was the means of participating positively in the community. This is why we read Paul's instructions to the believers in Rome to "rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." (Rom 12:15)
Peace, the third of the more significant spiritual powers, occurs frequently in Paul's writings. Paul believed peace came about as a result of a personal encounter with the risen Christ. This is the meaning of "being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:1). Paul believed peace to be empowering because it was based on the consciousness of ones right relation to God. This meaning is found in the equivalent Hebrew term for peace, shalom, and in a more limited basis, in Greco-Roman culture.(17)
The concept of peace carried a much more positive connotation in the Hebrew culture than in the Greco-Roman environment. Its root meaning was "well-being," with a strong emphasis on the material side.(18) It is also used to refer to a nation enjoying prosperity, and to a person's bodily health.(19) In the Greco-Roman culture, peace indicated only the absence of strife and hostility. "Peace" referred to the Pax Romana which characterized the reign of Augustus. In Greco-Roman culture, the more positive attitude of peace, according to Paul, was indicated by terms meaning "friendly love" or "harmony."
As he did with love and joy, Paul connected the expression of peace to a community setting. At various points in his writings, Paul firmly situated peace as a power which was to be operative within the community with words like these: "Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Cor 13:11: other examples are: Rom 12:18; 1 Cor 7:15; 1 Thess 5:13) The qualities of fruit which follow these first three are also directly related to a personal encounter with Christ and to a community setting.
Patience,(20) Kindness,(21) Goodness(22)
Love is patient and love is kind. (1 Cor 13:4)
In Paul's letters, the term patience refers to a quality of steadfastness or restraint which believers were to exercise toward people whose conduct provoked anger.(23)
Paul is the only New Testament writer who associates patience with kindness. Pauline literature (including later writings by Paul's followers) is the only New Testament literature in which kindness is attributed to God (Rom 2:4; 9:23; 11:22; Titus 3:4). The kindly disposition of God, an aspect of God's patience, was the basis for the kindness Paul expected believers to exercise toward other people (Rom 15:14; 2 Cor 6:6).
Paul believed goodness was possible only in association with God's Spirit. This is stated most clearly in Romans 7:18: "that which is good does not dwell within the flesh." It is important to bear in mind that Paul used flesh figuratively in his writings. Flesh referred to anything which was opposed to the Spirit.
Patience, kindness, and goodness form a trilogy of sorts in the Galatians catalogue. They each underline an aspect of fruit, which must be read together to grasp the full meaning of any one quality. A kindly disposition expands the significance of patience; goodness indicates that moral excellence, and not evil intention, was an aspect of the Spirit's fruit.
Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control
Faithfulness(24)
"...whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." (Rom 14:23)
This passage from the letter to the Romans underlines the necessity Paul accorded faith for the Christian life. Faith occurs frequently in Paul's letters, and is used by Paul in a variety of ways. Paul used faith to mean faithfulness in the sense of reliability (Rom 3:3; Gal; 5:22; 2 Thess 1:4). He also used the term to mean "have faith" or "believing" in the religious sense of the term. Believers were to have faith in God, and in Christ.(25) Faith can also mean "have faith" when it is used with reference to God or Christ, i.e. when "having faith" indicated true piety and refers to the fact that one is a Christian.(26) When faith referred specifically to Christian virtue, the term was used in conjunction with other terms, such as love (1 Cor 13:13; 2 Cor 8:7; 1 Thess 3:6; 5:8; Phlm 5; 1 Thess 1:3; 5:8.
In any usage, faith was a product of God's Spirit, and initially a part of a person's encounter with the risen Christ. Faith signified the turning to, and constant, continued reference to God's saving act, and one's personal salvation history. This saving act was actualized for the individual in the act of baptism.(Gal 3:27-29) Faithfulness was a quality which permeated all of life, so that being a believer was a constant act of living in relation to God's act of salvation. This included ones life in community. Faithfulness empowered and motivated the person who had encountered and believed in the risen Christ to "walk in the Spirit."
Gentleness(27)
Shall I come to you with a rod or with love in a spirit of gentleness? (1 Cor 4:21)
In this quote, Paul recommends the quality of gentleness to the Corinthian believers, whom he considered to be acting arrogantly. Gentleness, in Paul's writings, meant courtesy, or the act of being considerate. Paul believed that gentleness would empower and motivate a believer to correct an erring sister or brother without arrogance, impatience, or anger (Gal 6:1).
Paul modeled this quality of fruit in his relationship with the Corinthian believers. Even though the Corinthians behaved arrogantly, Paul was unable to think in terms of harsh punishment toward them (1 Cor 4:21). Even if the Corinthians were arrogant, they would not make it impossible for him to bring the gentleness of Christ to bear against them (2 Cor 10:1).
As was the case with the other characteristics of fruit, the potential for gentleness was endowed upon each person during their encounter with the risen Christ. Each person was to exercise gentleness within the faith community.
Self-control(28)
"If they do not exercise self-control, let them marry." (1 Cor 7:9)
Originally introduced into Greek ethics by Socrates, the term "self-control" was a central concept of Greco-roman ethics and was also a theme used by Hellenistic Jewish writers.(29) The term occurs in Paul's writings only three times. It is also rare in other New Testament writings, appearing only in Acts 24:25 and 2 Peter 1:6. The expression occurs more commonly in early Christian writings beyond the New Testament period.(30)
Traditionally, self-control referred to matters of sex-related activities. However, in Paul's letters, it is used once to refer to self-control over sex-related matters (1 Cor 7:9), and twice in a general sense. One general usage of the term occurs in 1 Corinthians 9:25, in which Paul points out the need for athletes to practice self-control. In this instance, the verb tense and mood indicate that Paul is referring to a universal principle concerning bodily health, rather than to a specific admonition against sexual promiscuity. Since vice and virtue catalogues usually contained general qualities, it is probable that here, too, Paul intended to refer to self-control over ones bodily health, of which sexual activity was a part. Christians who had encountered the risen Christ had the potential to embrace self-control as a means of caring for and attending to their bodies. This was a way to maintain themselves as "fit" people while they sought to attain their goal of perfection (Phil 3:16).
Summary
The fruit, or virtues, which Paul listed were not merely abstract qualities - they were the result of the Spirit which motivated and empowered believers to realize through human agency the divine gift of fruit, an essential part of ones initial encounter with the risen Christ. The qualities Paul listed in Galatians 5:22 were aspects of fruit each believer were equipped to bear, and not individual fruits.
The fruit of God's Spirit was to be exercised within a social context and yielded a social, as well as personal, influence. By contrasting the qualities of flesh (5:19-21) and Spirit (5:22-23), Paul argued that emancipation from one life (flesh) was possible because freedom to participate in another (Spirit) was possible. As a result of an individual's faith-switching experience, a person moved from the realm of the flesh to that of the Spirit. This move involved responses and obligations on the part of the believer which issued forth from the qualities of the new realm. In this sense, the characteristics of fruit could be viewed as regulators of personal conduct in relationship to a larger community.
A final point to note regarding fruit is its affiliation to Christian freedom. Fruit and freedom are both phenomenon of the Spirit, fruit being the qualities which accompany the freedom. By defining appropriate personal attributes for a freed person, fruit of the Spirit regulates personal conduct. By associating fruit and freedom, Paul used these personal attributes to set parameters for freedom in the Spirit. This is an important point to keep in mind while reading the Corinthian correspondence.
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Component 3:
A Believer In Community
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. (Romans 12:4-5)
In Paul's mind, the change to the realm of God's power for righteousness required one to operate within a social and relational context. The body of Christ motif lays out the contours of such a relational context (1 Cor 12:12-26; Rom 12:4-5). By using this motif, Paul explained in metaphorical style how the fruit of Spirit operated within a faith community.
The body metaphor was commonly used in antiquity to restore unity among dissident members of society.(31) Paul also used this metaphor to promote unity, but his metaphor was the body of the crucified and risen Christ. Along with the theme of unity, Paul used his metaphor to promote a form of caring for each other among the individual limbs of the body.(32) Unity among believers is explicitly tied to relations of each individual to another in the letter to the Romans, although it is certainly implied in 1 Corinthians 12 [standard link].
Rom 12:5 reads, "So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." In 1 Cor 12, "individually members one of another" is missing; "individually members of it," i.e., the body of Christ occurs in 1 Cor 12:27. In the Corinthian letter, the description of interdependency among parts of the body (12:20-23) along with the description of reciprocal care (12:25-26) implies what is clearly stated in Rom 12:5. Paul developed his metaphor more fully in 1 Cor 12:12-26, so it can tell us the rules which were necessary if members of a faith community were to be "individually members one of another."
Paul's View of Unity in the Christian Community
1 Cor 12:12-26 consists of three sections. In the first section (12:12-14), Paul delineated several points which he believed to be essential for an adequate understanding of Christian personhood. As he had stated in 12:4-11, the basis for unity was the one Spirit whose manifestation was given to each believer for the common good (12:7). Thus unity among members meant the elimination of values which had previously been determined by social and cultural factors.(33) Not only did the Spirit unite members to each other, it was also the means for the union of members with Christ.
Solidarity, not uniformity, characterized this unity. Diversity was necessary if the body was to be totally functional. Paul promoted diversity because the community was one body. Therefore, many different functions were necessary for its operation.(34) Since the body was determined by its parts, its wholeness as well as its unity lay in its diversity.
The implications of the unity among many members for the community are explained in the two remaining sections of the passage (12:15-26). This is a more elaborate explanation for the practical significance of diversity: first through the necessity for diverse functions (12:15-20), then by means of a detailed plan by which diverse members could effect and maintain unity among themselves (12:21-26).(35)
The overall relationship among diverse members was to be marked by mutuality and general solidarity.(36) Different manifestations of the Spirit were given to be used for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). While honoring the necessity of diversity among members, Paul clearly prioritized the community's needs over the needs of its individual members throughout 12:15-26.(37) Thus Paul can state in Romans 12:5 that the members who make up the body are "individually members one of another."
The rhetorical questions in 1 Corinthians 12:17 and 12:19 indicate that Paul's strategy in 12:15-20 was to point out all members were needed for the existence of the body.
Paul rejected the idea that some members could deny or disown their place in the body.(38) This is an important point. It not only means that everyone could be accepted in the body and given their place of service in accordance with their gifts. Paul also meant that everyone should be responsible to the body by participating in its life. He did not advocate freedom to choose if one would or would not participate.
Paul's Idea Freedom in Christ
Paul believed that a body characterized by mutuality and solidarity allowed each member freedom in Christ. The freedom Paul advocated was for each member to be free to be who s/he was, not in an individualistic sense, but as a whole person who was gifted by the Spirit and treated by respect and mutual love by the other members. Participation in the community was necessary for one to realize freedom.
We can understand Paul's idea about freedom more clearly by noticing two applications of it in (1 Corinthians 12:21-26 [standard link]. In this section, Paul explained some necessary commitments the members of the body must make in order to insure unity in diversity. First, in 12:21-24a Paul used body imagery to address the system which was operative in the Corinthian community.(39) He specifically refuted the position held by the powerful, which suggested that they could experience freedom in the body without other community members who did not share their superior rank. According to Paul, the problem was twofold:
self-sufficiency on the part of the powerful,
and a demeaning attitude toward other body members over whom they held power.
The solution he offered was that the powerful members needed to share power with their weaker community members.
A rebuttal was developed by drawing an analogy between the "weaker" organs of the body and the less powerful members of the Corinthian community. Essentially, Paul conveyed the message, "Looks are deceiving!" The apparent weakness of some body parts has no relationship to their real value and necessity to the body.(40) To further his point, Paul told the Corinthians the weaker parts of the body were indispensable and then referred to the sex organs as being one of those weaker parts.
Secondly, Paul delved deeper into his analogy to urge the powerful toward a commitment of compensation for the weaker.(41) For example, Paul wrote, we put clothing over our sex organs because this is a weaker part which needs more attention. This is not the case with the face, which needs no covering. Thus he advocated a system for the community whereby the needs of each member was met. This system was crucial for Paul because it was necessary in order for each person to experience the freedom to be a whole member of the body, with personal integrity intact, i.e. a person of virtue. The system of care was also necessary because the suffering of one member caused all members to suffer (12:26).
Paul's Plan for the Community of Believers
Paul's communal plan for believers in the risen Christ involved the proper use of power, diversity, and mutuality. In the midst of a society in which governing power would have normally been bestowed on some members and not on others, Paul argued for a transformed perspective, a renewed mind (Rom 12:2).
First emphasizing the fact that those with power over others needed to make an adjustment in their conduct, Paul argued that members of the body of Christ were to receive honor and respect based not on their social rank but on their status as partakers of the one sacramental loaf (1 Cor 10:17; 11:27). Those members who were weaker should be compensated so that they, too, shared power and were free to be virtuous body members responding to their Lord and other community members with integrity.
Secondly, Paul stressed the crucial importance of diversity and solidarity in order for unity to exist. Diversity was possible because the Spirit of Christ permeated the entire body, and bestowed the various spiritual gifts needed by the body to each individual member. Uniformity among members was not possible, since the body needed diversity in order to function, and thereby sustain each member's freedom in Christ. Solidarity was necessary because, due to diverse distribution of gifts, members needed each other for the community to be functional. The need for each member's participation called for the practice of mutual care, one for the other. After all, the Corinthians were "individually members one of another."
Summary
I have traced Paul's description of a New Creation from a person's initial "faith-switching" encounter with the risen Christ, to the description Paul gives of the potential virtues each person holds as a result of the encounter, to the guidelines for the community in which each believer is meant to participate, exercising those virtues and fulfilling their potential. Taken together, these three components provide a full picture of Christian personhood, according to Paul.
Paul believed each and every follower of Jesus was a New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17), a term referring to an individual disciple of Christ. In Paul's writings, three basic components were present in each person who became a new creation, providing a full profile of Christian personhood:
an initial change experienced by each new believer;
personal attributes a changed believer should exhibit;
and active membership in a community of faith, where these personal attributes were to be practiced.
For Paul, the initial change was an absolute requirement in order to be a new creation.(1) Appropriate personal attributes and active membership in a faith community were possible because of the change and were also ideals to which each follower of Jesus must aspire. While Paul himself endeavored to reach these ideals, he urged others to do so, as well (Phil 3:12-16) [standard link].
Component 1:
The "Change" in the Believer
Paul addressed his letters to people who had undergone a personal change-- a "switching of faith."(2) These folk had switched from not believing in Jesus to having faith in Jesus as God's means for salvation (Romans 5--8). This change was the basis of hope for the redemption of the body and adoption as God's child:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:18-25)
The change made a fundamental difference in the ethical and moral make-up of the individual,(3) happening at the very root of a person. The event was:
a dying and rising with Christ (Rom 6:6) [standard link]:
a change from bearing fruit for death "in the flesh" to bearing fruit for God "in the Spirit" (Rom 7:4-6) [standard link].
Paul told the Corinthian believers that they were not to be characterized by former vices because they had been washed; they were sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God (1 Cor 6:9-11) ([standard link]. Imbedded in this statement are clues about the faith-switching event. "Washed" probably refers to the point in time in the past when the Corinthians were baptized.(4) The term is used in with a Greek verb which means "to consecrate and include within the inner circle of what is holy."
Paul's Singular Purpose
Keep in mind that Paul wrote to instruct believers who had already undergone this process. His remarks were intended to aid the faithful in becoming more faithful.
Paul's purpose was singular: he wrote to direct believers toward some activities and away from others. He did not write to guide an inquiring person through the steps of gaining faith in God. He neither described the details of his own conversion systematically, nor did he outline the components in a sequential orderly manner for his readers.
Sometimes he accomplished his purpose by means of positive address and other times by negative address, defining what a person "in Christ" was not. Paul's remarks in 1 Cor 6:9-11 are one example of both positive and negative address. Other examples are: Galatians 5:16-26; Romans 1:29-32, 6:17-18, 7:4-6, 8:5-11, 13:11-14.
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Component 2:
Personal Attributes A Believer Should Exhibit
Paul used catalogues of vices and virtues to teach followers of Christ which personal qualities were appropriate (virtues), and which were to be avoided (vices). Catalogues were literary devices commonly used by Roman philosophers of Paul's day to elaborate ethical lists.(7) Each philosophical school had an opinion about how a person became virtuous, and also about what constituted virtue itself. The most familiar Pauline virtue and vice catalogue is Galatians 5:16-26. Paul also used a modified version of the virtue catalogue in 1 Corinthians 13 as he explicated the components of love, and in the letter to the Philippians 4:8 as he listed qualities to "think on."
Virtues = Fruit = Character
In Galatians 5:16-26, Paul referred to virtuous qualities as fruit of the Spirit. Since ones initial encounter with the risen Christ was a time when the believer received the Spirit, fruit marked the Spirit's presence and equipped the believer to live an appropriate lifestyle.
We may think of virtues, or fruit, as referring to character, although Paul used the Greek term for character only once in his writings (Phil 4:8). "Character" means the values and orientations to the world which shape the actions and responses of humankind. Our character is determined by our consistent and persistent habits which shape our behavior. Thinking of fruit in terms of character imposes contemporary terminology and understanding on Paul but it does not misrepresent Paul.
Paul left a clue for us in Romans 5:4 about the constitution of character. He used a term which refers to character that has come through test and trial. This tells us that Paul believed character (virtue) was realized and manifested through suffering and patience. Hope was brought forth through tested character. If we apply this clue to the discourse concerning fruit of the Spirit, it seems Paul believed that while virtues (fruit) were not gained by human effort, they realized through ongoing human effort.
What Is Fruit?
Fruit is mostly used by Paul in a metaphorical sense (Rom 1:13; Phil 1:11; 4:17). An exception is 1 Corinthians 9:7, "who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit," which indicates the term's literal meaning. Perhaps the literal meaning tells us why Paul used the term to describe virtues. In nature, fruit is a natural product of a vital source; it gains its life and growth from the source. Figuratively, fruit of the Spirit may be described as the natural product of a vital source, Spirit. When a person received the Spirit, s/he was also given the source out of which fruit was to grow.(8)
In Galatians 5:22, the word for "fruit" is singular. In its singular form, fruit represents all the virtuous qualities in the catalogue as a unity, together constituting the result of living by the Spirit.
It would be a mistake to think that a person automatically exhibited the fruit Paul listed at the time s/he first encountered the risen Christ. Paul realized this possible line of thought and ended the vice and virtue discussion with a conditional command, "if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Gal 5:25). This warning and the specific negatives which follow in the form "let us not have..." leave no doubt but that Paul assumed the person connected to a vital source was actively involved in the growth and development of fruit.
Fruit of the Spirit
The nine qualities (fruit of the spirit) Paul lists as attributes for Christian personhood are:
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
and self-control.
Love, Joy, and Peace
The first three fruits are the most significant of the nine. Hans Deter Betz writes that love, joy, and peace "represent spiritual power of the first order, and come close to being psychosomatic dispositions which must first be created in a person before they can be required as deeds.(9) He states the implications for Pauline ethics: "…people cannot be expected simply to act in an ethically responsible way, but they must first be empowered, and motivated before they can so act."(10)
The empowerment and motivation to act according to these qualities were a part of the faith-switching process. In the process of encountering Christ, a person became disposed to exhibit love, joy, and peace as personal qualities, through the power of Christ's Spirit.
Love (Gal 5:26, 1 Cor 13)(11)
"If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body, so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor 13:3)
The most comprehensive description of love to be found in Paul's writings is a poetic piece in the Corinthian correspondence (1 Cor 13) [standard link]. Here Paul underlined the necessity of love. He said that even if one
does something helpful,
does something for a good cause,
gives one's own physical self for another,
that action is empty and devoid of meaning if not undertaken in the spirit of love. Without the motivation of the spiritual power of love, an action was not related to the fruit of the Spirit.
The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians begins with a claim that love is a supreme and necessary component of Christian personhood (1 Cor 13:1-3). What follows is two sections in which love is personified and described in terms of its specific expressions.
In these two sections Paul described love's expressions positively and negatively. Then he connected the expressions to real life experience in a concrete, visceral way. Keep in mind that as he listed negative expressions of love, i.e., what love was not, Paul was thinking not only of intentionally unloving expressions, but also of actions undertaken for a good cause, without the spiritual power of love as empowerment and motivation.
Paul believed that, through love, each believer was freed from the negative aggressions and personal anxiety which would otherwise motivate actions toward others. Each believer was empowered to regard others with love and not as a possible threat to her/his personhood. (12) This is why Paul writes that love is necessary for a believer; he believed a person's attitude and behavior was inextricably connected to the spiritual power of love to motivate. The positive qualities of love that Paul lists describe the changed attitude of a person who had encountered the risen Christ.
Described positively, "love is patient and kind. Love rejoices in the good. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Cor 13:4-7) An interpretive paraphrase might read as follows: "Love supports our very lives, believes and hopes all things are possible, looks to the maximum potential of goodness; goodness exists and may in any moment be made evident. Therefore, love endures all things, because nothing can cause love to let go of the inherent possibility of goodness in life."(13)
Two parallels between 1 Corinthians and the virtue catalogue in Galatians are worth noting. First, patience, kindness, and believing all things (1 Cor 13) [standard link] parallels three qualities in the Galatians list - patience, kindness, and faithfulness (Gal 5:22-26) [standard link]. Secondly, a communal component is present in both 1 Cor 13 and Gal 5:22-26. Paul prefaced the Galatian list by stating that love was "a love toward others." (Gal 5:12, 14) In 1 Corinthians 13, love was the way in which the gifts of the spirit were to function among the community's members. In fact, love and not spiritual gifts was to be recognized as the sign of the Spirit (1 Cor 13:2).
Joy (14)and Peace (15) (Gal 5:26)
"For the kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Rom 14:17)
If we read the parts of Paul's letters which refer to joy, we see that he strongly emphasized that joy was a divine gift.(16) Joy was grounded in a conscious relationship to God, which began during a person's faith-switching encounter with the risen Christ (Rom 14:17; 15:13; Phil 1:4, 25). Joy continued to be an integral part of Christian growth. Thus we read Paul's comments to the Philippians concerning their "progress and joy in the faith," their reason for rejoicing being that Christ was proclaimed (Phil 1:18, 25).
As divine gift, joy took concrete form through human agency, in fellowship with others. Like love, joy operated within the context of community and was the means of participating positively in the community. This is why we read Paul's instructions to the believers in Rome to "rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." (Rom 12:15)
Peace, the third of the more significant spiritual powers, occurs frequently in Paul's writings. Paul believed peace came about as a result of a personal encounter with the risen Christ. This is the meaning of "being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:1). Paul believed peace to be empowering because it was based on the consciousness of ones right relation to God. This meaning is found in the equivalent Hebrew term for peace, shalom, and in a more limited basis, in Greco-Roman culture.(17)
The concept of peace carried a much more positive connotation in the Hebrew culture than in the Greco-Roman environment. Its root meaning was "well-being," with a strong emphasis on the material side.(18) It is also used to refer to a nation enjoying prosperity, and to a person's bodily health.(19) In the Greco-Roman culture, peace indicated only the absence of strife and hostility. "Peace" referred to the Pax Romana which characterized the reign of Augustus. In Greco-Roman culture, the more positive attitude of peace, according to Paul, was indicated by terms meaning "friendly love" or "harmony."
As he did with love and joy, Paul connected the expression of peace to a community setting. At various points in his writings, Paul firmly situated peace as a power which was to be operative within the community with words like these: "Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Cor 13:11: other examples are: Rom 12:18; 1 Cor 7:15; 1 Thess 5:13) The qualities of fruit which follow these first three are also directly related to a personal encounter with Christ and to a community setting.
Patience,(20) Kindness,(21) Goodness(22)
Love is patient and love is kind. (1 Cor 13:4)
In Paul's letters, the term patience refers to a quality of steadfastness or restraint which believers were to exercise toward people whose conduct provoked anger.(23)
Paul is the only New Testament writer who associates patience with kindness. Pauline literature (including later writings by Paul's followers) is the only New Testament literature in which kindness is attributed to God (Rom 2:4; 9:23; 11:22; Titus 3:4). The kindly disposition of God, an aspect of God's patience, was the basis for the kindness Paul expected believers to exercise toward other people (Rom 15:14; 2 Cor 6:6).
Paul believed goodness was possible only in association with God's Spirit. This is stated most clearly in Romans 7:18: "that which is good does not dwell within the flesh." It is important to bear in mind that Paul used flesh figuratively in his writings. Flesh referred to anything which was opposed to the Spirit.
Patience, kindness, and goodness form a trilogy of sorts in the Galatians catalogue. They each underline an aspect of fruit, which must be read together to grasp the full meaning of any one quality. A kindly disposition expands the significance of patience; goodness indicates that moral excellence, and not evil intention, was an aspect of the Spirit's fruit.
Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control
Faithfulness(24)
"...whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." (Rom 14:23)
This passage from the letter to the Romans underlines the necessity Paul accorded faith for the Christian life. Faith occurs frequently in Paul's letters, and is used by Paul in a variety of ways. Paul used faith to mean faithfulness in the sense of reliability (Rom 3:3; Gal; 5:22; 2 Thess 1:4). He also used the term to mean "have faith" or "believing" in the religious sense of the term. Believers were to have faith in God, and in Christ.(25) Faith can also mean "have faith" when it is used with reference to God or Christ, i.e. when "having faith" indicated true piety and refers to the fact that one is a Christian.(26) When faith referred specifically to Christian virtue, the term was used in conjunction with other terms, such as love (1 Cor 13:13; 2 Cor 8:7; 1 Thess 3:6; 5:8; Phlm 5; 1 Thess 1:3; 5:8.
In any usage, faith was a product of God's Spirit, and initially a part of a person's encounter with the risen Christ. Faith signified the turning to, and constant, continued reference to God's saving act, and one's personal salvation history. This saving act was actualized for the individual in the act of baptism.(Gal 3:27-29) Faithfulness was a quality which permeated all of life, so that being a believer was a constant act of living in relation to God's act of salvation. This included ones life in community. Faithfulness empowered and motivated the person who had encountered and believed in the risen Christ to "walk in the Spirit."
Gentleness(27)
Shall I come to you with a rod or with love in a spirit of gentleness? (1 Cor 4:21)
In this quote, Paul recommends the quality of gentleness to the Corinthian believers, whom he considered to be acting arrogantly. Gentleness, in Paul's writings, meant courtesy, or the act of being considerate. Paul believed that gentleness would empower and motivate a believer to correct an erring sister or brother without arrogance, impatience, or anger (Gal 6:1).
Paul modeled this quality of fruit in his relationship with the Corinthian believers. Even though the Corinthians behaved arrogantly, Paul was unable to think in terms of harsh punishment toward them (1 Cor 4:21). Even if the Corinthians were arrogant, they would not make it impossible for him to bring the gentleness of Christ to bear against them (2 Cor 10:1).
As was the case with the other characteristics of fruit, the potential for gentleness was endowed upon each person during their encounter with the risen Christ. Each person was to exercise gentleness within the faith community.
Self-control(28)
"If they do not exercise self-control, let them marry." (1 Cor 7:9)
Originally introduced into Greek ethics by Socrates, the term "self-control" was a central concept of Greco-roman ethics and was also a theme used by Hellenistic Jewish writers.(29) The term occurs in Paul's writings only three times. It is also rare in other New Testament writings, appearing only in Acts 24:25 and 2 Peter 1:6. The expression occurs more commonly in early Christian writings beyond the New Testament period.(30)
Traditionally, self-control referred to matters of sex-related activities. However, in Paul's letters, it is used once to refer to self-control over sex-related matters (1 Cor 7:9), and twice in a general sense. One general usage of the term occurs in 1 Corinthians 9:25, in which Paul points out the need for athletes to practice self-control. In this instance, the verb tense and mood indicate that Paul is referring to a universal principle concerning bodily health, rather than to a specific admonition against sexual promiscuity. Since vice and virtue catalogues usually contained general qualities, it is probable that here, too, Paul intended to refer to self-control over ones bodily health, of which sexual activity was a part. Christians who had encountered the risen Christ had the potential to embrace self-control as a means of caring for and attending to their bodies. This was a way to maintain themselves as "fit" people while they sought to attain their goal of perfection (Phil 3:16).
Summary
The fruit, or virtues, which Paul listed were not merely abstract qualities - they were the result of the Spirit which motivated and empowered believers to realize through human agency the divine gift of fruit, an essential part of ones initial encounter with the risen Christ. The qualities Paul listed in Galatians 5:22 were aspects of fruit each believer were equipped to bear, and not individual fruits.
The fruit of God's Spirit was to be exercised within a social context and yielded a social, as well as personal, influence. By contrasting the qualities of flesh (5:19-21) and Spirit (5:22-23), Paul argued that emancipation from one life (flesh) was possible because freedom to participate in another (Spirit) was possible. As a result of an individual's faith-switching experience, a person moved from the realm of the flesh to that of the Spirit. This move involved responses and obligations on the part of the believer which issued forth from the qualities of the new realm. In this sense, the characteristics of fruit could be viewed as regulators of personal conduct in relationship to a larger community.
A final point to note regarding fruit is its affiliation to Christian freedom. Fruit and freedom are both phenomenon of the Spirit, fruit being the qualities which accompany the freedom. By defining appropriate personal attributes for a freed person, fruit of the Spirit regulates personal conduct. By associating fruit and freedom, Paul used these personal attributes to set parameters for freedom in the Spirit. This is an important point to keep in mind while reading the Corinthian correspondence.
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Component 3:
A Believer In Community
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. (Romans 12:4-5)
In Paul's mind, the change to the realm of God's power for righteousness required one to operate within a social and relational context. The body of Christ motif lays out the contours of such a relational context (1 Cor 12:12-26; Rom 12:4-5). By using this motif, Paul explained in metaphorical style how the fruit of Spirit operated within a faith community.
The body metaphor was commonly used in antiquity to restore unity among dissident members of society.(31) Paul also used this metaphor to promote unity, but his metaphor was the body of the crucified and risen Christ. Along with the theme of unity, Paul used his metaphor to promote a form of caring for each other among the individual limbs of the body.(32) Unity among believers is explicitly tied to relations of each individual to another in the letter to the Romans, although it is certainly implied in 1 Corinthians 12 [standard link].
Rom 12:5 reads, "So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." In 1 Cor 12, "individually members one of another" is missing; "individually members of it," i.e., the body of Christ occurs in 1 Cor 12:27. In the Corinthian letter, the description of interdependency among parts of the body (12:20-23) along with the description of reciprocal care (12:25-26) implies what is clearly stated in Rom 12:5. Paul developed his metaphor more fully in 1 Cor 12:12-26, so it can tell us the rules which were necessary if members of a faith community were to be "individually members one of another."
Paul's View of Unity in the Christian Community
1 Cor 12:12-26 consists of three sections. In the first section (12:12-14), Paul delineated several points which he believed to be essential for an adequate understanding of Christian personhood. As he had stated in 12:4-11, the basis for unity was the one Spirit whose manifestation was given to each believer for the common good (12:7). Thus unity among members meant the elimination of values which had previously been determined by social and cultural factors.(33) Not only did the Spirit unite members to each other, it was also the means for the union of members with Christ.
Solidarity, not uniformity, characterized this unity. Diversity was necessary if the body was to be totally functional. Paul promoted diversity because the community was one body. Therefore, many different functions were necessary for its operation.(34) Since the body was determined by its parts, its wholeness as well as its unity lay in its diversity.
The implications of the unity among many members for the community are explained in the two remaining sections of the passage (12:15-26). This is a more elaborate explanation for the practical significance of diversity: first through the necessity for diverse functions (12:15-20), then by means of a detailed plan by which diverse members could effect and maintain unity among themselves (12:21-26).(35)
The overall relationship among diverse members was to be marked by mutuality and general solidarity.(36) Different manifestations of the Spirit were given to be used for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). While honoring the necessity of diversity among members, Paul clearly prioritized the community's needs over the needs of its individual members throughout 12:15-26.(37) Thus Paul can state in Romans 12:5 that the members who make up the body are "individually members one of another."
The rhetorical questions in 1 Corinthians 12:17 and 12:19 indicate that Paul's strategy in 12:15-20 was to point out all members were needed for the existence of the body.
Paul rejected the idea that some members could deny or disown their place in the body.(38) This is an important point. It not only means that everyone could be accepted in the body and given their place of service in accordance with their gifts. Paul also meant that everyone should be responsible to the body by participating in its life. He did not advocate freedom to choose if one would or would not participate.
Paul's Idea Freedom in Christ
Paul believed that a body characterized by mutuality and solidarity allowed each member freedom in Christ. The freedom Paul advocated was for each member to be free to be who s/he was, not in an individualistic sense, but as a whole person who was gifted by the Spirit and treated by respect and mutual love by the other members. Participation in the community was necessary for one to realize freedom.
We can understand Paul's idea about freedom more clearly by noticing two applications of it in (1 Corinthians 12:21-26 [standard link]. In this section, Paul explained some necessary commitments the members of the body must make in order to insure unity in diversity. First, in 12:21-24a Paul used body imagery to address the system which was operative in the Corinthian community.(39) He specifically refuted the position held by the powerful, which suggested that they could experience freedom in the body without other community members who did not share their superior rank. According to Paul, the problem was twofold:
self-sufficiency on the part of the powerful,
and a demeaning attitude toward other body members over whom they held power.
The solution he offered was that the powerful members needed to share power with their weaker community members.
A rebuttal was developed by drawing an analogy between the "weaker" organs of the body and the less powerful members of the Corinthian community. Essentially, Paul conveyed the message, "Looks are deceiving!" The apparent weakness of some body parts has no relationship to their real value and necessity to the body.(40) To further his point, Paul told the Corinthians the weaker parts of the body were indispensable and then referred to the sex organs as being one of those weaker parts.
Secondly, Paul delved deeper into his analogy to urge the powerful toward a commitment of compensation for the weaker.(41) For example, Paul wrote, we put clothing over our sex organs because this is a weaker part which needs more attention. This is not the case with the face, which needs no covering. Thus he advocated a system for the community whereby the needs of each member was met. This system was crucial for Paul because it was necessary in order for each person to experience the freedom to be a whole member of the body, with personal integrity intact, i.e. a person of virtue. The system of care was also necessary because the suffering of one member caused all members to suffer (12:26).
Paul's Plan for the Community of Believers
Paul's communal plan for believers in the risen Christ involved the proper use of power, diversity, and mutuality. In the midst of a society in which governing power would have normally been bestowed on some members and not on others, Paul argued for a transformed perspective, a renewed mind (Rom 12:2).
First emphasizing the fact that those with power over others needed to make an adjustment in their conduct, Paul argued that members of the body of Christ were to receive honor and respect based not on their social rank but on their status as partakers of the one sacramental loaf (1 Cor 10:17; 11:27). Those members who were weaker should be compensated so that they, too, shared power and were free to be virtuous body members responding to their Lord and other community members with integrity.
Secondly, Paul stressed the crucial importance of diversity and solidarity in order for unity to exist. Diversity was possible because the Spirit of Christ permeated the entire body, and bestowed the various spiritual gifts needed by the body to each individual member. Uniformity among members was not possible, since the body needed diversity in order to function, and thereby sustain each member's freedom in Christ. Solidarity was necessary because, due to diverse distribution of gifts, members needed each other for the community to be functional. The need for each member's participation called for the practice of mutual care, one for the other. After all, the Corinthians were "individually members one of another."
Summary
I have traced Paul's description of a New Creation from a person's initial "faith-switching" encounter with the risen Christ, to the description Paul gives of the potential virtues each person holds as a result of the encounter, to the guidelines for the community in which each believer is meant to participate, exercising those virtues and fulfilling their potential. Taken together, these three components provide a full picture of Christian personhood, according to Paul.
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