What does the Bible say about Christian character?

If we look at what characterizes a Christian according to God, we find in the New Testament a thousand things presented as to this by the Holy Ghost. A few of these may be profitably pointed out, chiefly from the words of the Lord Himself, and from Paul's writings. He confesses Christ before men, loves his enemies, has his loins girded and his light burning, waiting for his Lord; and while watching for Him to come, occupies himself diligently with His interests, trades with the talents committed to him on His Lord's account, submits to His action through the word in cleansing his feet, and seeks to wash those of his fellow-disciples; has the commandments of Christ, and keepeth them, and His word also, rejoicing, because he loves Him with an unselfish love, that He is gone to the Father. He knows the Father and God, and loves because he knows; and loving Him that begat, loves those who are begotten of Him. He ought to walk as Christ walked, and, if need be, ought to lay down his life for the brethren. He is filled with the Spirit, is led of the Spirit, minds the things of the Spirit, walks in the Spirit, lives in the Spirit, sows to the Spirit, and brings forth the fruit of the Spirit.

Nothing corruptible is worthy of honour on its own account, and things highly esteemed of men are, if we will hear Christ's words, abomination often in the sight of God.6 The works of men's hands are vanity, and so also are their mental conceptions; but men are themselves to be honoured for their Maker's sake, and for a like reason, in a more especial sense, those in present power or authority.7 Above all, behaviour on the part of any who name the name of Christ, that savours of the true dignity of their calling, as children of the Highest, should be a cause of joyful and thankful admiration always. External consistency or mere religious mannerism is, on the other hand, a thing rather to be abhorred; but the habit of such as, in simplicity and godly sincerity, have their conversation in the world by the grace of God; who are modest and of lowly mind, yet standing in their lowliness immeasurably above the loftiest natural pretensions — full of the serious gravity of truth, while their hearts are flooded with both joy and peace by the power of the Holy Ghost, and meekness, righteousness, and kindness shine in all their ways — in a word, that rarest of spectacles beneath the heavens, true Christian character, should never fail to win from God's saints both an emulative and admiring regard.

Here we have unfolded before our eyes some of the glories of true, practical, vital Christianity, in striking contrast with all the barren and dreary forms of carnal and worldly religiousness. Christian life does not consist in the observance of certain rules, commandments or traditions of men. It is a divine reality. It is Christ in the heart, and Christ reproduced in the daily life, by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is the new man, formed on the model of Christ Himself, and displaying itself in all the most minute details of our daily history, in the family, in the business, in all our intercourse with our fellow men, in our temper, spirit, style, deportment, all. It is not a matter of mere profession, or of dogma, or of opinion, or of sentiment; it is an unmistakable, living reality. It is the kingdom of God, set up in the heart, asserting its blessed sway over the whole moral being, and shedding its genial influence upon the entire sphere in which we are called to move, from day to day. It is the Christian walking in the blessed footsteps of Him who went about doing good; meeting, so far as in him lies, every form of human need; living not for himself but for others; finding his delight in serving and giving; ready to soothe and sympathise wherever he finds a crushed spirit or a bereaved and desolate heart.

What then is the spiritual significance of fruit? May we not say that fruit is the expression of Christ in the believer? We read in Galatians 5:22-23, that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control." What is this however, but a beautiful description of Christ as He passed through this world in humiliation? Hence if such fruit is seen in believers, it will result in the reproduction of Christ in His people. Christ personally has gone from this scene, but it is God's intention that Christ characteristically should still be seen in those that are Christ's. Christ in Person has gone to the Father's house, Christ in character is continued in His people on earth.

(Vv. 21-23.) If walking in the Spirit, we shall not only be preserved from "the works of the flesh," but we shall bring forth "the fruit of the Spirit." The flesh has its "works," but produces no fruit for God. The Spirit produces both good works and fruit; though, in this passage, the Apostle speaks not of works, but of the beautiful Christian character from which all true work will flow. We are not all gifted, or called to be teachers and preachers, or to undertake great works. But "the fruit of the Spirit" is possible to all from the youngest to the oldest saint, and sets forth the essential condition for all true service.

"Love," "joy" and "peace" set forth the inward experience of the soul: "long-suffering" and "kindness," the attitude of soul towards others: "goodness" and "fidelity," the qualities that should actuate us in our dealings with others: "meekness" and "self-control," the qualities that would lead us to consider patiently others, in contrast to the self-assertiveness of the flesh.

In the Christian's life we should be able to read Christ, as well as the Jewish law could be read on the tables of stone; for on the heart of the Christian the Holy Ghost has engraved Christ, just as the finger of God engraved the Ten Commandments. "Ye are the epistle of Christ, written," Paul says, "not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." From God's point of view, as shown to us in His word, the Christian is he in whom we see Christ represented to the world. As a general thing the character and the tendency of a man's life show themselves; so that we know, speaking from an earthly point of view, a man's character from his life. The world judges pretty fairly whether or not Christ is the aim and object of a man's life, whether we are living Christ or not. Of course we may fail; but if Christ is produced to the view, not only in the profession but in the main of a man's life, that is a Christian; and the world generally is not very far wrong in this respect. If I am going eastward, it is clear to all around that I am not going westward. I may be travelling far more slowly than I ought, or may trip in the way; but still it is clear in which direction I am going.

These varied qualities, set forth in a just order, were all of them requisite for the Christian character. The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the bondman above his lord. The Christian follows Christ and is His witness in the ways of every day. "Ye are our epistle," says Paul to the Corinthian saints when recalled to obedience, "written in our hearts, known and read of all men, being manifested that ye are Christ's epistle ministered by us, written not with ink but Spirit of a living God, not on stone tables but on the heart's fleshy tables." The new divine nature does not imitate outward points of moral propriety, but beholds Christ objectively, which with delight in His perfection works inwardly. Hence it participates in every thing that pleases God, and is particularly vigilant where an awakened conscience has felt and judged special failure. So we read here "These things being in you." Divine life works energetically in every right direction.

This is a marked contrast with what has gone before. This is our new state, of course, in connection with the new nature, but under the control now of the Holy Spirit. There are not fruits, plural, there is onefruit, but it is a nine-fold fruit. It is wonderful to consider this fruit of the Spirit in its nine aspects. We have three categories. Love, joy and peace, in the first category; then longsuffering, kindness and goodness, in the second; and finally faithfulness, (or gentleness or fidelity) and meekness (a quality which controls the thought) and self-control, in the last. These three categories together are the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit. This is what God would like to see in our lives, individually and collectively. Paul says, almost in irony, “Against such things there is no law.”Here the question comes, “Do we cultivate this fruit?”Well, how can we do this? We have to learn many lessons with regard to the flesh. In the flesh there is no good (that is confirmed in many Scriptures in the New Testament) and God has condemned it. The positive point in verse 24 is that this fruit bearing is done by faith. In the power of the Holy Spirit we cultivate these qualities, we overcome, as we have mentioned earlier. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall in no way fulfill fleshly lusts”(verse 16). This is how to live victoriously. These points connected with the walk in the Spirit are really to help us to live lives of spiritual victory, to be overcomers. In this kind of atmosphere the fruit of the Spirit will be produced in us, and this is in the context of love, as we saw earlier (John would say, ‘first love’). All this goes together with practicing radical self-judgment, on an ongoing basis.

There is not really any difficulty in distinguishing the fruits of the Spirit and the fruits of the flesh: the apostle names them, those, at least, which are characteristic of their respective actions. Of the sad fruits of the flesh, he positively declares that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God: but the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, etc.; against such there is no law; God cannot condemn the fruit of His own Spirit. Remark, that the first of these fruits are love, joy, peace. The Spirit will surely produce those practical fruits which manifest the life of Christ in the sight of men, but the inward fruits, the fruits Godward, come first, the condition of soul needful for producing the others. Many converted persons seek for the practical fruits in order to assure themselves that they are born of the Spirit and accepted of God. But peace, love, joy are the firstfruits of the presence of the Spirit; the others follow. In order to know what is in the heart of God, we need to see the fruit of His heart, the gift of Jesus.

This leads to a very practical injunction. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot (should not) do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5:16-17). Led by the Spirit you will not do the things which the flesh will try to make you do. This verse is often read to mean that a Christian cannot help sinning, whereas the very reverse is what is taught. The Spirit's power is greater than that of the flesh. What a happy thing for the Christian to walk in the Holy Ghost, superior to the claims and lusts of the flesh, and delivered from the law, which is the next result of the Spirit's leading. "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (ver. 18). Then follows a list of the works of the flesh, which the law failed to keep in order, and in contrast therewith, that which is the fruit of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (vers. 22, 23). The old man was kept in order by no law, and the new man needs no law to keep him in order, he is by nature an orderly being, and produces suited fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is what may he called a compound fruit. It has many features, all beautifully intermingled and entwined. All were seen perfectly in Christ, and should be seen in us. The Spirit of God alone can produce this fruit, but He does produce it, in contrast to the law, which never could, or can. The law could not produce love, though it could condemn you for not loving your neighbour as yourself It could not give you an object. It could not deliver from the flesh, nor could it deliver from the judgment that it demanded. The Spirit delivers from everything and fills the heart with Christ.