Commentary on "The Fruit of the Spirit is Peace"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 6: Thursday, January 21, 2010

 

Overview

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matt. 5:23-24 ESV)

Today’s lesson is concerned with the relationship we have with our spiritual brothers and sisters who are fellow members of the Body of Christ also known as the Church.

 

Observations

At first glance the council in today’s lesson is good, but we should take a deeper look by examining the peace that God intends to be manifested within the Church, the true Body of Christ by centering our attention on First Corinthians Chapter Three.

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? (I Cor. 3:1-3 ESV)

We see ‘jealousy and strife’ in the Corinthian Church, the very topic of today’s lesson.

For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos, "are you not being merely human? (I Cor. 3:4 ESV)

When we study verses 4-10, we learn that this strife was caused because the members are focusing their loyalties on personalities other than Jesus Christ.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (I Cor. 3:11 ESV)

Members of the Church, the Body of Christ, must center their loyalty on Jesus Christ who is the foundation of their faith. In verses 11-15 we learn the importance of doing this. How we build upon Jesus Christ will be tested in fire and we could suffer severe loss, even though we will still be saved, having passed through the fire.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. (I Cor. 3:16-17 ESV)

Notice that when these last two verses are read in context, they have nothing to do with a ‘health message’. Division and strife take root because we take our attention off of Jesus Christ and look to personalities other than the foundation of our faith. This is what pollutes the Church, the Body of Christ.

Since the topic of what does pollute the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ, can become an important factor of maintaining peace, we need to examine this more completely:

And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit." But Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us." And he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone." (Matt. 15:11-20 ESV)

Food that goes into a person cannot defile. The evil that comes out of the mouth from the heart is what defiles a person. For someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, this is what would pollute the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus declares that those who teach otherwise, the Pharisees in this passage, are blind people leading the blind into a pit.

 

Summary

1. Since Paul addressed his letter to true Christians living in a very wicked city, an obvious question that needs to be addressed in your life is: Is Jesus Christ the complete and only foundation for your faith?
2. All true born again members of the Body of Christ are encouraged and commanded to be at peace with the whole true Body of Christ. When we speak of the Church, the Body of Christ, we are not talking about any certain denomination or any other institution of human design.
3. Anyone who brings strife and unrest into the Church pollutes the Body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind the teaching found in Matt. 15:11-20 and be warned of the curse leveled by Jesus upon the Pharisees of his day concerning a false health message.

 

GO TO DAY 7

 

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