22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Love, joy, peace, as we have seen, represent the life of the Spirit in its deepest secrets, pertaining to, and flowing from our relationship with God, and from our communion with Him. The next triad of graces give us the horizontal reference - the life of the Spirit in its manifestation towards men. In Christ, and through grace, we are set free - to love, and that love, filled with joy and peace as it is, will express itself in longsuffering, gentleness and goodness. It is when the first triad of graces is established, in the terms in which we have described them, that right attitudes to others is possible. And here again, the twofold emphasis applies: on the one hand God has planted these graces in our renewed hearts, as holy seed, in the new life that is ours; on the other hand, the challenge comes to us to live them out, and express them in our lives. The important thing for us to realise is that these are positive qualities, not negative, and signs of the new order. This needs to be said, in an age when such qualities are at a discount, and regarded as evidences of weakness. Rightly understood, however, they are neither negative nor weak. This world is a world antagonistic to Christian standards of any kind, and consequently no one who seeks in earnest to live in accordance with these standards may expect to find it an easy matter. There will be much to put up with, and he must learn not to be discouraged by many difficulties and rebuffs. This is the meaning of longsuffering. It is forbearance towards men whose conduct is calculated to provoke anger. It is not too much to say that Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15:58, 'Be ye steadfast, unmovable...' gives a true indication of the characteristic that produces the grace of longsuffering - it is to be unchanging in our attitude, to refuse to allow ourselves to be moved from our position, or to allow others' attitudes to us to dictate our attitude to them. To live always, and in spite of everything, by the royal law of love.