There is a reason Jesus and the Apostles chose the specific words they used to describe the Christian life - they taught with a language that would reveal the purpose of their message clearly to those who heard it or would read it. Each allegory and metaphor chosen was used because of the culture they were speaking to and the timelessness of their message both. When Paul described the nine Gifts of the Spirit, he specifically chose the plural form of the Greek word which essentially meant unmerited / unearned favor paid forward. When he described the Fruit of the Spirit, he specifically chose a single-tense word to say that these 9 attributes are what reveal a person as living life by the Spirit. It is only by the Spirit that one can maintain each aspect simultaneously, in all circumstances daily. Yet also, the most stark contrast is that the Gifts have no requisite for reception - they are definitively freely given to be given away as you will. Yet Fruit is definitively something that must be sown as a seed, cultivated as a plant, and only after a time of careful preparation and work does that plant bear fruit, which must then be tended to until time for harvest. In order then to perpetuate a life in the Spirit, the authority (power) we are given to make disciples of all nations is not revealed in the Gifts, but in bearing the Fruit. The Gifts reveal us as His disciples, but the Fruit is what we give away in all we do in order to expand the Kindgom. Just as sin was passed through generations as a curse because of the seed contained in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, so then is the blessing of eternal life passed through generations because of the seed contained in the fruit of the Tree of Life. The 120 had to wait for the day of Pentecost not to receive the Gifts, for they had already walked in these for their entire journey with Jesus, but because 50 days prior Jesus had breathed the seed of the Spirit into them and they had to wait for it to mature that they would bear Fruit to feed to those who would seek the shelter of the Church. Without the Gifts, we cannot be seen as disciples, but without the Fruit we havent the power to make disciples. #wee!
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 10:24:07 +0000
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