The Fruits of the Spirit.  I have not treated this passage hitherto, because I do not understand the apostle to be referring to the Holy Spirit, but to man’s spirit.  In this fifth chapter of Galatians the apostle divides man into two domains, one of the flesh and another of the spirit.  He says:  “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” (Gal. 5:17).  It is impossible to imagine “the flesh” preventing the Holy Spirit from doing “the things he would.”  It is also impossible to conceive that the Holy Spirit is lusting against man’s flesh.  But we all recognize that there is a terrible conflict between man’s flesh and his spirit.  These are contrary the one to the other and lust against each other.  When man’s flesh triumphs over his spirit, certain works are inevitable which Paul enumerates.  When the Spirit (in man) dominates the flesh, then certain “fruits of the Spirit” appear.  They are the fruits of man’s spiritual nature triumphing over his fleshly nature.  The same contrast is set forth in Galatians, chapter 6, where it speaks of sowing to the flesh and to the Spirit.  How can any man sow to the Holy Spirit?  Paul describes the same conflict in the seventh chapter of Romans.  I think that the spirit (of man) can be aided by the Holy Spirit in its battle against the flesh, but the “fruits” mentioned are of man’s spirit and not the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God at Work To-Day.  Says one, “Is not the Spirit actively at work in the world to-day?” Of course he is.  It is not a question of what he is doing but how he is doing it.  The religious world is pretty generally agreed that the Spirit is pleading with the world of the unsaved through the motives and inducements of the gospel, the moral truth which appeals to the intellect and heart of the unconverted to turn to God and be saved; that all the saving power of God is found in Christ and the gospel which reveals him; that God will not go beyond the cross of Christ to save any man.  It is Christ “who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:  that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”  All that is necessary for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption—­and that is all we need—­is found in Christ.  This being so, we need no other power but gospel power in our attempts to become children of God or to live as children of God.  We get into confusion when we try to obtain some other and more direct power.  We are led into a dependence upon our feelings, which are unreliable.