by Ray Warfel, Jr.<\/p>\n
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law<\/em>” (Galatians 5:22-23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Have you seen the warning labels on some products and thought, “Who needs to be told that?” I don’t have any, so I can’t check, but I would guess that after the Tide Pod situations a few years ago, there is a warning label clearly saying, “Do not eat.” You know they put those on their products; every warning label is there because somebody did what it warns against. Why do we have so many laws and rules? Because people are out here doing wild things, but you know nobody needs a law saying love, joy, peace, and so on are good things.<\/p>\n
In this letter, Paul shows that Christians are not justified or made holy by perfect adherence to the law. He even says Jesus set us free so we can enjoy freedom. Now, that does not exactly mean that you are at liberty to do whatever you want. I often use a bird or fish as an illustration. A caged bird is set free, and it is most free when flying overhead. Free as a bird, right? Or a fish swimming freely in the ponds, or lakes, or even the wide ocean. But a fish who flops up on land wouldn’t be free even if that was right where he wanted to go. Or a bird deciding to leave its flock and join a school of fish.<\/p>\n
Sometimes within church groups we focus careful attention on the line between right and wrong. Drunkenness is condemned in Scripture, so we spend time discussing how many drinks constitute drunkenness; some think it is just one. The Bible encourages modesty, so we discuss where the line is-how high on the bottom end, how low on the top end. Do you think this fixation on the line- how close to the line can we get- betrays a law-and-works-based mindset?<\/p>\n
The Bible absolutely does give us moral boundaries. Drunkenness is wrong; sexual immorality is wrong; modesty matters; self-control matters. So, asking where Scripture draws a boundary isn’t inherently legalistic. But when the boundary becomes the goal, something has gone wrong. A person asking: “How much can I drink without technically being drunk?” is asking a different question from: “What kind of life produces sobriety, self-control, and love for other people?” Likewise, “How short can my clothes be?” is different from: “How can I carry myself in a way that reflects Christ and honors other people?” The first questions are boundary questions. The second questions are character questions.<\/p>\n
The question isn’t always, “Is this allowed?” Maybe a better question is, “Is this helping me become the person God is making me?”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Ray Warfel, Jr. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). Have you seen the warning labels on some products and thought, “Who needs to be told that?” I don’t have any, so I can’t check, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1656,1242],"class_list":["post-97570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-boundaries","tag-character"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32120,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-say-rest-in-peace-in-regard-to-a-known-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":97570,"position":0},"title":"Is it right to say “Rest in Peace” in regard to a known sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to ask a question regarding a statement left by many of my friends, as well as my Christian brothers and sisters in Christ. The statement is \"Rest in Peace\" to Whitney Houston. I know according to the Bible that no one is in Heaven yet. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28513,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-non-christians-be-nice-people-without-the-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":97570,"position":1},"title":"How can non-Christians be nice people without the Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am studying the fruits of the Spirit.\u00a0 In fact, I am scheduled to give a talk on it this Sunday.\u00a0 I'm confused about something.\u00a0 We all know people who are not Christians and are nice people.\u00a0 Not the nasty, evil person that Paul talks about before going into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69714,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/without-respect-of-persons\/","url_meta":{"origin":97570,"position":2},"title":"Without Respect of Persons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kyle Pope via Biblical Insights, Vol. 14, No. 9, September 2014 James 2:1 declares, \"My brethren,\u00a0do not hold the faith of our Lord\u00a0Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality\" (NKJV). The King James Version and the American Standard Version use the phrase \"with respect of persons\" rather than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12686,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-are-not-supposed-to-judge-and-you-did\/","url_meta":{"origin":97570,"position":3},"title":"You are not supposed to judge and you did","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to \"Can a girl get pregnant before her first period?\" I really want to say that by reading this, you can no more tell if this is the person who may have sinned or someone who is uneducated and has a child who has been sinned against.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50968,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/now-that-i-became-a-christian-will-he-come-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":97570,"position":4},"title":"Now that I became a Christian, will he come back?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a lot of questions. My former boyfriend lived in sin for four years. I was not saved yet, but he was. He called it off because he could no longer live in sin, and he has to get right in his heart and mind and with God.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15186,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-not-make-waves-because-of-the-sin-in-the-church-im-attending-because-im-only-here-for-a-short-while\/","url_meta":{"origin":97570,"position":5},"title":"Should I not make waves because of the sin in the church I’m attending because I’m only here for a short while?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have yet to talk to my problems with the head guy. I have figured I should talk to the pastor and the elder first because the Bible dictates this. 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