Experiencing God's love… By faith or action?

We can only bring God's infinite love to others to the extent we have received it ourselves.

Why do we need to receive it before we can give it? Because in and of ourselves we do not have the ¹love others need. We are all designed for perfect love but cut ourselves off from the Father in all his infinite love by our rebellious distrust (our turning away from trust in God to trust in our self) and our attempts at living independent of this love and life i.e. God himself. We are now void of his love and can only offer it by being reconnected to God through Christ.

Receiving God's love

Receiving his love is not necessarily a feeling or emotional experience but a faith experience; the engaging of our trust. It is believing in the objective reality of God's fixed love for us in Christ. This is what we are called to do; to trust/believe. This is our "work." 

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

Receiving Gods love is believing, receiving and knowing we are already fully loved in Christ, not waiting for some subjective feeling of his love to overwhelm us and drive us to action. And how do we know this? We trust what he's said and did in and through Christ. 

Love (a subjective sense of it) however is also usually experienced and released in and through our loving others. Loving others as God calls us to is itself an act of faith which results in experiencing God's love.

This is why were are told we not only come into the kingdom by faith but we also live it and walk in it by faith. Our experiencing Gods' love starts with faith which in turn leads to even greater faith.

Gal 3:11  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." See also Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Heb 10:38

It is in our treating others with kindness and compassion (because we have been treated this way by God) that we experience His love in living it out and letting it flow through us to others.

What moves us to action?

Faith is our motivation. Or to be more precise, God himself and his infinite love is. As we believe and receive his love is fully ours (he is for us, not against us) it is released in and through us. This is the primary means -- our faithful obedience to love others as he loves us -- by which we receive/experience his vast unlimited, never-ending love. It is in our  believing his love is fully ours in Christ, we are moved to action/obedience.

This is also what it means to abide in Christ. To ²remain/stay/abide in a posture of faith that God loves us fully and infinitely in Christ regardless of what we do or don't do, feel or don't feel, experience or don't experience. It is only as and when we ²abide that we bear "much fruit." For without Christ (in his infinite all-embracing love) we can "do nothing" i.e. love others with God's kind of love i.e. bear much fruit.

This is the very same love that flows between the Father and Son. If we are in Christ's, this love is fully ours and already dwells in us by his Spirit; the very same Spirit of love that unites the Father and Son. Simply by virtue of God's Spirit living in us, we are living in and under the perfect covering and care of his love, regardless of our feelings i.e. this is the objective reality of our status, our state of being. 

The more we believe his love is totally ours (always fully present with us, in us and on us regardless of feelings or circumstances) the more we are empowered to live it out to others. The more we live out his love to others the more we engage, participate in and experience it. 

Joh 14:21  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (This was part of the answer of Christ to Phillip to "show us the Father" stated earlier in Joh 14:8  Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.")

The above passage indicates the (subjective) manifestation of God's (objective) love is clearly tied to our pursuit of God i.e. our keeping his commandments. 

Seeing the Father (and subjectively experiencing him fully) is directly tied to keeping God's commandment. The primary commandment being to "love one another" stated later in this same conversation. 

Joh 15:12  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

So which is first? Do we experience his love by faith or in our acting by faith?

Both

His love has already been fully poured out on us and demonstrated to us by God sending his Son to live and die for us. This is the objective reality of our status before God. There is nothing else needed to fully prove or secure God's love for us. The only thing preventing this love being fully ours (subjectively experiencing it) first hand is believing God and his Son did this for you and I personally and then acting accordingly. Once we recognize and accept Christ's work on our behalf, his Spirit of infinite love takes up his abode within us and his care for us, remains on us (objectively) without conditions.

However, once we are in Christ, we are now called to extend this same love to others who have yet to receive it. In our extending it, it flows to us and through us to others.

Joh 14:21  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home (dwell with, abide with, be present) with him.
__________________________________________________________

¹we all need Gods bottomless, never-ending, infinite love; mere human love, though meaningful, is insufficient.

²For a fuller discussion on abiding, click here. 

Participating in the promises of God

How do we engage God's promises -- and thereby God Himself?

We "plugin" to God and more fully experience his love when we are ¹singular in our focus on:

·       What He has already done for us by and in Christ as past proof of His love.  

·      What He is now doing for us as present proof of His love -- i.e. he is present with us, revealing Himself to us via His Spirit, praying for us. He is for us, not against us no matter how much our circumstances appear to indicate otherwise.

·      What He promises to do as our future hope and confirmation of His love -- i.e. we will be glorified, enter the bliss of eternity and fully partake in His glory once we behold Christ in all his unveiled beauty, wonder, and majesty. Now we only see "through a mirror dimly" (or glass darkly -- depending on the translation). 

Obedience i.e. singular focus on God - involves pushing away from anything we currently draw a sense of identity, significance, meaning, purpose, and value from -- "If anyone would come after me, let him ²deny himself..." -- so we might draw near to him i.e. position ourselves to experience and receive meaning, purpose, and value in, through and from Him, not something else.

For example, when we feel the need to disconnect and relax, instead of ³watching our favorite show, catching up on the news, playing a game or reading an engaging mystery, fantasy, or sci-fi etc ⁴we turn to God in prayer and meditation on his promises. We remind ourselves of all that Christ did, does, and will do for us. When we do, our sight of Him becomes fuller/clearer. We are reminded again -- something we constantly need -- that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God - i.e. words of God's promise, knowing our trust in God is strengthened when we meditate on and are reminded of those promises.

What promises exactly? 

*The promise of His love -- demonstrated by Christ sacrificing His life (past) so we might be fully restored to the Father in all His infinite love. 

*The promise of God's complete commitment of love to us now (present) by working in all things -  the good, bad, and ugly things - for our good.

*The hope (future) of experiencing the uninterrupted fullness of that love-Spirit in the presence of both Christ and the Father throughout eternity where there no longer is pain, tears or dying, only perfect unending joy.

Living out His love leads to a greater experience of it

We start out now by faith in his love already demonstrated in the past work of Christ, which leads to a present response by us of love/trust/obedience. This results in experiencing further evidence of His love in the present i.e. we receive a present, first-hand experience of His love in and by our obedience. We experience His love in some tangible way, such as answered prayer, in addition to simply believing He is for us. This isn't the full experience of His love yet to come, but it is a reminder of what God has in store for us in eternity.

So there is a cycle by which we participate in God's love. It starts with faith in His love demonstrated in the past work of Christ, which is the basis for our obedience - and the evidence of that faith -- resulting in our further experiencing that love through that obedience. Both faith in His love demonstrated by His past actions and directly experiencing that love now in some present tangible way are ⁵how we receive His love. It always begins with faith in what God has already done which leads to experiencing Him doing something now, which increases our hope of what He has in store for us in the future.  

Another way of saying it is we participate in God's love demonstrated by actions God has taken in the past -- actions that already prove His love to us - by believing in it. 

We also participate in God's love now through some manifestation of it e.g. answered prayer, a demonstration of some special circumstance/ providence as evidence God is with us, a special sense of His presence, heightened awareness and clarity of God's promises to us. 

So when we are told in His Word or given some circumstantial/ providential indication we are to take a certain action, we first simply step out by faith in His love already demonstrated in the past, trusting that His direction for us is out of love and for our highest good as well as his greatest honor/glory.

Our faith is such that we know the outcome of obedience will be good -- not necessarily easy -- because He's already proven He loves us from the past actions of Christ, the greatest evidence of His love.

Rom 8:32  He who did not spare his own Son (the greatest gift) but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things (the lesser gifts)? 

___________________________________

¹The following words of Christ -- with commentary -- indicate the necessity of having a singular focus:

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

i.e. whatever it is we value (treasure) most is what we long for (desire in our heart) most.

Mat 6:22  “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 

If we value -- and therefore focus on -- the right thing -- i.e. God -- the nature of our actions will be true, right, according to our design.

Mat 6:23  but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 

If we value (focus on) the wrong things all our actions will be a lie, violating our design and resulting in complete separation from the Source of life, light and of all things, leading to our harm and eventual destruction.

Mat 6:24  “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

We either value/worship the right thing i.e. God or the wrong thing, created things; money and the things money can buy. If we love the creation over the Creator we will come to hate Him and see His commandments as interference in finding life on our terms. If we love him above the creation we will come to disdain the creation as the source of life (not the creation in itself for it is created by God and therefore good) recognizing only God is life and all created things are from Him.

²We usually don't think about what it is we are denying ourselves of. It's more a sense than an understanding i.e. we know when we do but can't necessarily put into words what it is. In essence, it is denying ourselves a sense of value, meaning, purpose, and significance -- in a word, love -- through self-achievement and self-gratification, instead of finding this in God through Christ's achievement on our behalf. 

To say it another way, we attempt to "self-love." The interesting part is "taking up our cross" appears to be the key way we engage and experience God's love most. Suffering is not just unavoidable, it's necessary for our transformation. Through it, we are reminded of our need for His love and the inadequacy of finding love anywhere else through performance. 

³None of these things are bad in themselves. The issue is why do we engage in them. We are told, "...whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." There are times we can do these things for the glory of God and there are times when we don't. The intent of our hearts is the key. 

⁴This is not something we must work up the will power to do but is the organic/naturally occurring fruit of seeing and experiencing God's infinite love. We are responders to love. We love God because he first loved us. 

⁵Hope in the unobstructed and uninterrupted fullness of that love also plays a role. For a further discussion of hope click here. 

Not everyone believes what God says about why Christ took on flesh and died. Followers of Christ do.

what moves us to faithfulness?

Psa 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,

At least two things are involved in *experiencing God's working in our lives -- having his caring attention/eye on us, thereby moving/motivating us to faithfulness i.e. to obedience. 

fear of the Lord AND hope in his steadfast love                                                             

      

Fear- The utmost regard for God's absolute rule (sovereignty), majesty, power, and holiness. Recognizing these things about God is the beginning of wisdom i.e. where wise living starts.                                                              
Hope- The anticipation of being in God's presence and experiencing the fullness of who he is in all his infinite love **according to or in proportion to our faithfulness to him in this life.

"... who hope in his steadfast love..." Why do we hope in God's steadfast love? Don't we have and experience his love now? We do but only by faith, from afar if you will, not yet fully seeing Him as He is i.e. not through direct first-hand experience but "through a glass darkly..." 

Though God's disposition is one of perfect love towards us now and can not be added to or taken away from -- it's based on the perfect work of Christ, not our imperfect feeble attempts at perfect faithfulness -- we will not experience the fullness of his love until we see him face to face in eternity. 

It is this hope, the hope of complete transformation and glorification, and the promise of the fullest ***experience of his love -- which will increase throughout eternity -- this hope moves us to diligently pursue to him.

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." I John 3:2-3

"For the one who ****sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Gal 6:8-9. Give up what? Hope of eternal bliss/life. 

____________________________

*We must distinguish between having God's love and participating/experiencing it. Having it is based on Christ's efforts alone, not ours. We can never do enough to secure God's love for us. Experiencing and more fully participating in his love, however, is contingent on faithful obedience i.e.  "the just shall live by faith..."  For a further discussion on this click here. 

** "according to..." also carries with it a respect/fear for God i.e. God does things a certain way (according to design) and if we do not live accordingly we experience the repercussions of living contrary to that design.

***The essence of our reward is greater union with God and therefore greater participation and firsthand experience of his perfect love in proportion to our faithfulness i.e. faithful obedience. 

By "in proportion..." we mean our experience and participation in God and His love throughout eternity are in proportion to our trust/faithful obedience to him now, in this life. Our faithfulness doesn't save us but it does increase our capacity to enjoy God. God is the reward of that faithfulness. Participation in God's love throughout eternity is the reward for our faithfulness now, in this life.

****Sewing and reaping is evidence of design and a Designer.

God's love...conditional or unconditional?

What does it mean - and not mean - when were are told God loves us unconditionally? 

* For those who are in Christ, Gods love is totally unconditional. Nothing they do, good or bad, can add to or take away from his infinite never-ending love. 

Rom 5:8  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Eph 2:5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (NOTHING!) 39 ... will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

* However the most stringent conditions required to be in harmony with God and partake in his beauty, love, and joy are still fully in effect. 

Mat 5:17  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Mat 5:18  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 

But they were also perfectly met/satisfied, just not by us. We were not able to meet them. So Jesus met them for us and then assigned/credited his track record of perfect obedience to us as if we lived it. In Christ God now see's us and loves us as if we are perfectly righteous.

*However, once we have received his free offer/gift of righteousness through Christ, our fully taking part in and experiencing this perfectly secured unconditional love is conditional. It is conditioned upon our faith and faithfulness to God. 

We are not talking about securing God's love and acceptance of us (objectively). Christ already accomplished this for us. We are talking about experiencing and participating in this fully secured love. 

There is nothing for us to do to make God's love more certain/secure and us more acceptable i.e nothing we do will add to or take away from that love in and through Christ.

Because of Christ's faithfulness/efforts we are free to pursue God with his perfect love fully set upon us even if we do not pursue him perfectly. Nothing stops God's love; not even our unfaithfulness.

Our being perfectly loved in Christ regardless of our faithfulness frees and empowers us to become perfect in devotion and faithfulness to Christ. 

In summary here are the two contrasting ways we relate to God's love: 

• his love is unconditional -- or rather conditioned upon Christ's efforts 
• our experiencing and fully participating in it is conditional - based on our faith/faithfulness.

This is possibly one of the hardest distinctions to grasp and causes great confusion for many. We mix these up all the time. I did and on occasion have to remind myself of this. 

We must keep these separate while at the same time see how they are vitally connected. The latter -  participating in God's love - is grounded in and flows out of the former - we are perfectly and fully loved in Christ. We must constantly remind ourselves that we are fully accepted and loved no matter what and yet at the same time know that to fully participate in that love, requires our complete trust/obedience. 

Without the former, the latter would not be possible and without the latter, we will never fully participate in the former. In other words, to fully benefit from the former, we must do the latter.

The following verses support the latter i.e. the conditional nature of experiencing/ participating in God's love.  

John 14:21  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest  myself to him.”...

This verse tells us obedience is:

 *evidence of our love for God, not the cause of it 

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me..." 

*it is also the means by which we experience the Fathers love 

"... he who loves me will be loved by my Father...," 

*and Christ's love 

"...and I (Christ) will love him and manifest myself to him.”  

John 14:23  Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Again  

*evidence of our love 

"...if anyone loves me, he will keep my word..."

*means by which we experience God's love 

"...my Father will love him..." 

*and Christs...

"we will come to him and make our home with him..."

Heb 4:16  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jas 4:8  draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The following shows how the latter is only possible because of the former. 

Heb 7:19  (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Heb 10:22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Heb 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

The following verse shows how we can never experience the former by our efforts/obedience to the law.

Heb 10:1  For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

The following passage shows how we are free to do the latter because the former has been fully taken care of. 

Romans 8:1-4 ¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For a more succinct explanation click here

Walk by the Spirit, not under the law

What does it mean to be free in Christ and operate by or walk in the Spirit? 

Are these connected? If so how?

Also, how are the works of the flesh and being under the law tied together? Does this connection give us a clue as to how grace and walking in the Spirit go together, i.e. are these opposite parallels?

To understand the conflict between the law and grace is to understand the conflict between the flesh (human nature's inclination to try to earn love - God's and others - instead of receiving it as a gift) and the Spirit, i.e. experiencing God's love by grace not by works i.e. not causes bondage - it enslaves us. We are enslaved because when our desire for love and acceptance is based on our efforts (vs Christ's) we must always seek approval from others because we never fully obtain it (we only experience it fleeting moments) because we never live righteous enough to gain it. 

Even in our fleeting moments of living well, it ²never truly satisfies our deep longing and need for acceptance (love). As a result, we are on a treadmill of continually seeking love yet never fully obtaining it. This is a spiritual striving that never succeeds but results in burnout. 

You never get perfectly approved or feel perfectly accepted-loved because: 

1. You are never good enough - never perfect enough. 

2.  Our need for love is infinite because we're designed for perfect infinite love - i.e. for God, and His acceptance and approval. 

Like an addict enslaved to their addiction, we must go back, again and again, to constantly replenish our need for love, acceptance, and approval so we might be declared righteous-right by God and others i.e. we are always seeking approval to be told "good job!" We are in bondage to this constant need for acceptance, approval, and praise because we are disconnected from the only true and lasting source of love i.e. God.

Only in Christ are you freed from this bondage because you are fully approved and accepted by God through Christ's efforts on your behalf (vs our own which never work long-term). In Christ, your acceptance is now by grace not works.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be (i.e. attempt to be) justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

“Justified by the law…” What does this mean? It is attempting to use superficial "obedience" to a prescribed behavior (spelled out in God's law) to ⁴gain acceptance and approval (that sense of feeling right and approved i.e. righteous) from God first, but also from others. To be acknowledged as right or righteous makes us feel just and justified. But it doesn't mean we actually are. Trying to live "according to the law" is our feeble attempt to be good, righteous - right in the eyes of others - to feel accepted, and approved by God or men.

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

“Obeying the truth…” And what truth is that? To live according to or by genuine approval and acceptance from God Himself i.e. the only true justification comes by faith in the righteousness God provides in and through Christ, not what you and I attempt to earn through our efforts i.e. good behavior.

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Once we are in Christ we are free from trying to earn God's approval because we already fully have it in and through Christ. Once we have it, the love of God becomes the driving force behind true obedience, not our impotent attempts to be lovable and therefore acceptable through right conduct. 

 Obedience matters but not superficial obedience that gives the appearance of righteousness but true submission and allegiance that springs forth from the heart out of love for God i.e. a heart already captured by his love and submitted to God.

True faithfulness and obedience are evidence (fruit) of knowing you are perfectly loved i.e. accepted and approved by God in and through Christ. To know this is to be freed in Christ, which is also to operate in the Spirit. We are free because we are moved to action from within - by love i.e. the Spirit - and not pressured from without to gain approval. 

In Christ, we have God's perfect acceptance and approval, i.e. His love. We are freed from trying to earn these by our efforts. 

The love and Spirit of God are directly tied together if not one and the same. The more we understand that God’s love is based on Christ’s performance (not ours) the freer we become, and the more we are driven-moved by that love - i.e. by the Spirit - to love God and others - to fulfill "the law of love."

Keep in Step with the Spirit 

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

"...walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh..."

Walking in the flesh is the opposite of walking by the Spirit. It is seeking to gain the approval of God and man through our good deeds. Walking in the Spirit (to be in and under God's perfect and infinite love-acceptance-approval) moves us to love others – and do good deeds - because we already know we are fully loved in and by Christ. When our conduct is driven by God's acceptance and approval - i.e. His love/Spirit - we will not pursue (or desire) acceptance-seeking behavior i.e. the "desire of the flesh." These two approaches - Spirit vs flesh or grace vs law - are truly opposite and opposed to each other.

Also, note in v 18 that the opposite of walking in the Spirit is being under the law. You would think Paul instead would say this was living by the flesh. And this would also be correct according to v 17. How is this so? Being under the law i.e. seeking approval through obedience to the law is walking in flesh i.e. it is approval-love-seeking behavior. 

Living by the flesh and being under the law are the same thing. Again, this is an attempt to live by the law in order to gain God's acceptance and approval. 

So when Paul says walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh or not under the law, he is saying the same thing.

The desire to serve God because you know you are fully loved by Him already (the essence of the gospel of grace), eliminates the need to gain the approval of others through "right" i.e. righteous living. When you are moved by love i.e. the Spirit, you will fulfill the “law of love.” You are not under a requirement to win God's approval through obedience to the law i.e. you are not driven by the need to gain love-acceptance-approval through your own good-righteous deeds. You already fully have this in Christ as a gift (earned by Christ's good deeds and credited i.e. given to you). 

Along with that acceptance and approval, you have God's infinite love. It is already fully and perfectly yours and not something to be striven for (earned or worked for).

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

“sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies...” are all the result of seeking to feel loved and gaining a sense of acceptance, approval, significance, value, etc. through our efforts i.e. operating in the flesh. This is a list of what we either do to feel loved or what we experience when we fail to gain it e.g anger, strife, etc. All of these are "works of the flesh" i.e. actions we take to earn anothers approval and acceptance in order to feel good about ourselves.

Spiritual fruit is a byproduct of proper sun(Son) light, rain, and soil. When given these proper ingredients, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, are the outcome. 

Not some of these, but all of them. It is not fruits of the Spirit but fruit (singular) of the Spirit, the byproduct of operating under the umbrella of God’s perfect acceptance - love i.e. grace.

This is also not a checklist of things to do, it is who we are when operating in and by the love-Spirit of God. There is no pressure to perform. This is why it brings freedom. This is our organic, supernatural state of being when we understand we already have the perfect love, approval, acceptance, and care - Son light - of God. No law - i.e. our attempts to obey it for approval - can or will create these characteristics ("...against such conduct, there is no law"). When we are "in Christ" we are the objects of God's perfect and infinite love. This love fills up, overpowers, and eliminates the need to seek love, acceptance, and approval through feeble attempts to live righteously i.e. through the law. We will not be hungry for love horizontally (from our fellow creatures) when we are full of perfect love vertically...i.e. God’s love.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

"If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit..." To live under the blanket of God's love is to operate in and by God's love i.e. it is to operate in and by the Spirit - of love - resulting in right-righteous living i.e. the fruit of the Spirit-love. If we are in Christ, we are in the Spirit - in and under the status of being perfectly loved and approved by God - let us align or keep in step with this status i.e. walk and live according to it. Let us live in and by the Spirit-grace-love of God, not under the law. Let us live in the understanding (by faith) that we are already fully loved, accepted, and approved in Christ, not try to gain theses from God or men through so-called "righteous" deeds.

In summary, walking by the flesh is living to gain the approval (love) of God and others. Walking in or by the Spirit is knowing we already fully have God's love and approval in Christ and being empowered to live righteously by it i.e. by love, by the Spirit (of love). 

Inward motivation and outward behavior.

The outcome of "right living" can look exactly the same with both approaches on the outside, but under the hood what drives our conduct is completely different. In fact, they are the opposite of each other.

For a further discussion on what righteousness is click here. 

For a further discussion on the gospel vs. religion, click here. 

For a further discussion on the definition of flesh, Spirit, law, etc. click here. 

For a further discussion on legalism, click here. 

For a further discussion on cultural Christians and followers of Jesus, click here. 

For a further discussion on how and why were are wired for love, click here and here.  

For a further discussion on how God's Spirit stirs our spirit-love click here.

_________________________________

¹As God's image-bearer you and I are the closest to being like God (we have the greatest capacity for a relationship with God) more than anyone or anything else in creation and therefore other God-like beings are sought hardest by us for acceptance and approval. Praise from God is most desired, but since most reject God they look for praise, approval, and love from the next best thing - those who are like God i.e. our fellow image bearers of God.

²Only perfect acceptance by God through Christ satisfies our need for perfect love.

³We may experience tiny snippets of approval on occasion, but never permanently. The love we are able to scratch out by our feeble efforts is never great enough to satisfy our infinite need for love nor is it lasting. Which is why we're constantly seeking it. We are a spiritual bottomless pit with an emotional black hole at the core of our being. 

So we have two problems.  

The quantity of love i.e. its permanence and the quality of love i.e. its depth or greatness. 

We are looking to others who can not love us with perfect love - love that is deep enough (quality) or permanent (quantity) - because of their limitations. We are all in the same boat - lacking, wanting, needing, and seeking infinite love. 

Infinite love can only come from an infinite Source. We or others are not that Source (though we can be the conduit through which infinite love can flow...and that is because we were designed that way by the Creator-Source of infinite love).

Infinite love can not and will never be met by a finite source i.e. other image-bearers, including ourselves and our own self-love. 

We were created to be filled with infinite love, not limited, temporary, fleeting love. Only God's love is infinite; man's is not. 

Infinite love can only come from an Infinite Source because only an Infinite Source addresses the depth or greatness of love and the extent or permanence of it, that we need and must have. And we must have it because God created us to have it i.e. To have Him, the only Source of infinite love.

Also, even though God is the only Source of Infinite love, we can never do enough or be good enough to gain it by our efforts. 

Thank God we don't need to because Christ secured this for us by His righteous efforts and will assign them to us if we will receive it.

In summary

1. Other fellow image-bearers are finite and can never give us infinite love; in depth (quality) or extent (quantity). 

2. Even if their love were infinite - which it isn't - we can never perform well enough to gain it.

3. We can never perform well enough to gain the Infinite love that is from the only Infinite Source - God. 

⁴To earn infinite love was never the intent or purpose of the law. The law is the owner's manual on how to live to our maximum capacity (how to best flourish) by and out of love for God. This is why Christ told us "If you love me you will obey my commandments" and that all the commands hang on loving God and our neighbor i.e. are about love and loving others not seeking to gain love. The heart's reason (motivation) for living the right way - i.e. as we are designed to - is love, not seeking to win the love of others - i.e. living by the Spirit, not under the law.

⁵Something that apparently, we are all easily inclined to do, hence an entire letter by Paul to the Galatians is included in the Bible for everyone's instruction and benefit throughout the ages.

⁶Desiring love (and approval) is legitimate. We are designed for love (for God who is love). Trying to gain it through our performance is our problem, not our desire for it.