Truth 03 · 2 of 3

Becoming what you are

Walking in the Spirit, and the fruit it grows

Read these first

Galatians 5:16-25 · NRSVue

¹⁶Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

I Peter 1:15-16 · NRSVue

¹⁵Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct, ¹⁶for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Titus 2:11-12 · NRSVue

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, ¹²training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,

A few words on what they mean

Sanctification is immediate, and it is also ongoing. You were set apart once. You are being made like Christ every day. Both are true, and the Holy Spirit inside you is how the second one happens.

Read Galatians 5 before you read anything else about holiness. Paul lists the works of the flesh and then the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Fruit is not manufactured. It grows, because of what is planted. "Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh." Holiness starts on the inside. A person can keep every outward standard and still be full of bitterness, and God is after the whole of you.

Peter says: "as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct." All of it. Hebrews says to pursue "the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (12:14). That is not a threat. It is a description of the road.

And it is grace, not law, that gets you down it. "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly." The same grace that saved you is what makes you holy. Present your body as a living sacrifice. Do not be conformed to this age. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2). You are not earning anything. You are becoming, on the outside, what he has already made you on the inside.

Sit with this

Which fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 do you most need God to grow in you right now? Ask him for it by name.

Verse to memorise · NRSVue

Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct, for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

I Peter 1:15-16

Say it until you can say it without looking.