Section Three:

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

We come now to Scriptures that have to do with the fruit of the spirit, which WD seems to equate with the gift of the Holy Spirit — it is to him “the Spirit... in... its ethical (moral) working”.37 Of this he writes: “The gift (the giving) of the Spirit has many facets, which have nothing to do with visible miraculous signs as can be seen plainly from the following remarkable passages of Scripture... The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5: 22-23).³⁸ Again he comments: “Tongues... was the least of all the gifts in the Christian life, not to be compared to those of faith, hope and love. ‘Tongues’ pale into insignificance before those everlasting gifts from God.”³⁹ Finally, “May the Lord empower us with the Spirit, to melt hardness, subdue selfishness and quicken service; may our hearts be continually filled with God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness; and may he grant us self-control.”⁴⁰

From all this it is evident that WD sees the fruit of the Spirit as gifts that are given by God in response to prayer. Progress in the development of the Christian character comes by simply submitting oneself to the influence of the Spirit, as WD has written elsewhere — “We do not require determination in the overcoming of our sins, but so Romans 8 declares, the resignation of self to the operation of the Spirit.”⁴¹

What is the Fruit of the Spirit?

“The spirit of Christ”, the “new man”, the “new creature”, “Christ in you” — or whatever Scriptural term we use to describe that which is conceived and developed by the word and brought forth at baptism — like all babies needs to be fed and nurtured if it is to survive. So the Apostle writes to those who had been “born again”:

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2: 2).

The object of it all — the new birth and the feeding on the milk of the word — is that the believers, as God’s special people, “should shew forth the praises [i.e. virtues, AVm] of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2: 9).

These virtues are elsewhere referred to as “the fruit of the spirit”:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5: 22-23).

Perusal of this 5th chapter of Galatians shows that Paul is using “spirit” as the antithesis of “flesh”:

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5: 16-17).

In the letter to the Romans he makes the same point when he says:

“The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do... I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7: 19, 22-23).

This is the situation that results when a person has been born again. Before he was born again sin reigned supreme, but with the creation of the new man — with the bringing into existence of the Spirit of Christ — sin’s dominion is challenged and the believer is exhorted to henceforth:

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6: 12-13).

The virtues described as “the fruit of the Spirit” are not gifts of the Spirit; they are the results of a faithful walk in the truth. This is the oft repeated testimony of Scripture:

“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15: 14).

“[God] will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Romans 2: 6-10).

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13: 14).

“But ye have not so learned Christ If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4: 20-24).

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children, And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5: 1-2). “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 12-14).

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do. and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4: 8-9).

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3: 5-10).

“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4: 1-2). “But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6: 11-12).

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2: 11-13).

“Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1: 22).

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2 Peter 1: 5-10).

We have quoted at length on this point to show that there is an overwhelming emphasis on the need for the individual to allow his mind to be renewed by the Word, to live as he has learned Christ, to put on the new man, to patiently continue in well doing, and to exert himself in denying the flesh and diligently cultivating the divine character by obeying the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles. There is nothing in these Scriptures that remotely suggests that if we are pliable enough God will touch our hearts by His Spirit and give us an infusion of those virtues that are described as the fruit of the Spirit.

The call to the Christian is the call to follow Jesus who “though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5: 8) and those who would be with him in the age to come, have to learn the lesson that “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14: 22). Characters have to be built. God has graciously given us the means (the necessary instruction in His Word and the supreme example and sacrifice of His Son); He has provided us with the motive to succeed (to glorify His name now and to be pleasing to the Lord at his return); and He provides us with the circumstances in our lives where our faith can be tried and we can (albeit so often falteringly) put into practice the things that we learn from the Scriptures. But without our response there will be no building of character; no fruit of the Spirit.

Faith, hope, brotherly kindness, patience, forbearance, love — all these things are the believer’s response to the grace of God; they are not gifts of the Spirit. Of course where we fail “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1: 9). But there must be always the pressing toward the mark (Philippians 3: 14). This is the teaching of Scripture and it has always been Christadelphian teaching.

The teaching set out by WD is a trivialising of the true Christian calling. It is founded on false premises. Firstly, that man is unable to understand spiritual truths and respond to his Creator unless he is first acted upon directly by the Holy Spirit⁴²— this is one of the foundations of evangelical protestant theology. Secondly, that once a man has been influenced by the Spirit to understand and believe the gospel, he is unable to live the Christian life unless the Holy Spirit continues to work with him enabling him to live the Christian life.⁴³ These two fundamentals of evangelical theology permeate WD’s treatise. They are denied throughout the Scriptures and should be vigorously opposed.

Nowhere is the folly of evangelical theology better illustrated than in the record about Abraham. Consider the sequence of events:

1. God made great and precious promises to Abraham.

2. The record says that “Abraham believed [i.e. exercised faith in] God” (Galatians 3: 6; Romans 4: 3; Genesis 15: 6).

3. Because Abraham showed faith, God counted him righteous (Genesis 15: 6; Galatians 3: 6; Romans 4: 3, 9, 18-22).

There is not the slightest hint anywhere in the record that Abraham was incapable of showing faith until God had acted on him by the Spirit. Abraham believed of his own volition, and because of his ready belief God graciously counted him righteous.

4. Further, Abraham then manifested the reality of his faith by setting out in obedience to God to the unknown destination. There is again not the slightest hint that God enabled Abraham to be obedient by acting on his heart by the Spirit.

How foolish to think that God made promises to the patriarch; then by His Spirit He enabled him to believe the promises; and then because Abraham had believed, He declared him righteous; and then God acted on his heart to move him to obey; and during his long pilgrimage as a stranger in the land influenced him by the Spirit to show faith, patience, and endurance. To argue thus is to reduce the dealings of the Almighty with Abraham to a charade. Abraham is the pattern for all who accept the gospel that was preached to him (Galatians 3: 8). Like Abraham they are required of their own volition to believe and respond. God does not do for them what He expects them to do for themselves.

There is one other serious implication of the views set out by WD in his booklet. The distorted, unscriptural, teaching of what amounts to salvation by infusion of Holy Spirit minimises the importance of the Scriptures. It is granted that WD accepts that the Scriptures have a part to play in the process of salvation. But his emphasis on the work of the Spirit, of necessity leads to him losing sight of the central, necessary role of the Scriptures as “the power of God unto salvation”.

Ministering spirits

Finally in this section, it is necessary to emphasise that the Scriptures place great emphasis on the fact that as we seek to respond in faith and obedience to the will of God set out in His Word, our lives are looked over by the angels of whom the apostle writes:

“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1: 14).

The varied circumstances of our life that are so necessary for the development of our characters as we seek to follow the Lord Jesus, are provided by the angels. There is no doubt, as WD says, that Jesus is now superior to the angels “as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Hebrews 1: 4). However, the apostle’s desire to convey to the Hebrews the superiority of the resurrected Jesus over the angels has nothing to do with their “elaborate system of angelology,”⁴⁴ and everything to do with the fact that the New Covenant arrangement established by Jesus is superior to the Old Covenant that was established by angels. Peter writes, “[Jesus] is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him” (1 Peter 3: 22). The angels whose work is to control the movements of men and nations as the purpose of God moves forwards, are now under the jurisdiction of the Son of God. It is one of the privileges of our calling that we have become associated with “an innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12: 22). The work the angels do is not inferior to the work of Jesus. The work they do is the work of Jesus and no aspect of their work is dearer to the heart of the Lord than the way in which the angels “minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.” Jesus warned, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18: 10) — what a consolation!

The importance of the work of angels and their involvement in the lives of saints is indicated by the way in which Paul charged Timothy, “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality” (1 Timothy 5: 21).

This work of angels on behalf of the saints is mentioned throughout the Bible. The words of Jacob at the end of his life, as he blesses the sons of Joseph and looks back on all the tribulations of his pilgrimage, are wonderful:

“God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads...” (Genesis 48: 15-16).

That is the experience of all the faithful who have the assurance:

“The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Psalms 34: 7).

This is not to give them an easy passage through life; but to look over them in all their ways and bring them through all the evils of their pilgrimage, including death itself, to the blessings of the Kingdom.

From the way in which WD dismisses the activity of the angels who do the bidding of the Lord Jesus, it is clear that he does not appreciate the significance of their work.