The Fruit of the Spirit Is Love

 
He begins with love — that which is of God and flows directly from God, and which is the knowledge of God’s character more than any other thing. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal. 5:22-2322But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22‑23)). Such is the effect produced by God’s love — “meekness.” There he gets down to what would more particularly deal with one another. And then he speaks of temperance, because that supposes the bridle put upon the evil nature — the self-control which the Holy Spirit works in the soul for the Lord’s sake, as evidently being set in this world to be an epistle of Christ, so that we should not give a false character to Him whose name we bear. But all these are the fruits of the Spirit, and he adds, “Against such there is no law.” The law never produced these. So the law will never condemn those who walk in these things, as he says to the Roman saints, speaking of governors and rulers, “Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; for he is the minister of God to thee for good” (Rom. 13:33For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: (Romans 13:3)). So here, “Against such there is no law.” If you are producing these fruits of the Spirit, there is no condemnation against them. On the contrary, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
Bible Treasury, Vol. 4