The next  in the list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23) is meekness or gentleness. What is the quality of meekness or gentleness? Certainly in the biblical sense it is not weakness, nor is it self-debasing or a belittling of oneself.

Jesus showed true gentleness both in the midst of conflict and in the midst of popularity. His healings and miracles often brought the crowds to a high pitch of enthusiasm. But He refused to let them make Him the kind of king they wanted. He reminded them of the passage in Isaiah 42:1–4, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”

Jesus knew who He was, but He was gentle and humble — quite a contrast to the lying teachers who today exalt themselves by noisy demonstrations and who too often begin to think of themselves as above the requirements of holiness and justice.

Jesus’ awareness of His power enabled Him to be gentle to those in need. The broken reed He would not crush but would fully restore. The flickering wick of a lamp He would not put out but would cause it to burn brightly again. His gentleness works. It brings forth righteousness, and it will bring forth justice in the earth, He gently takes the sinner and makes him whole.

May we cultivate that fruit of the Spirit which gives all the glory to God and shows a gentleness that is powerful and demonstrates the high, holy, faithful love of God!

The fruit of the Spirit is goodness. What do you think of when you hear the word goodness, or the phrases a good sermon or a good job? It refers to something that meets a certain standard, someone’s expectations. It fulfills the goal of the job. The sermon does what sermons are suppose to do — change lives. The meaning of goodness often depends on the context. A good book is different for different people and purposes. A good book for scholarly research is quite different from a good book for bedtime reading; and what is good recreation for one person may not be for the next.

What do you mean when you say you had a good experience? Each person may mean something different, but I believe there is one principle in common — the idea that there was some kind of benefit to us. A good deed benefits someone in some way. It is an act of kindness.

Thus, from our common usage of the idea of goodness I see three aspects that all derive from the first. Goodness, or the idea of being good, means that the thing fulfills its purpose or the expectations for it. In the ultimate context of God’s expectations, goodness includes the second aspect of morality, and that is defined by God. The third aspect is that in most situations the purpose or expectation involves some form of benefit.

These three aspects are just what is found in a study of goodness in the Scriptures. By looking at the usage of this word in the circles of context of the fruit of the Spirit passage beginning Galatians 5:22, we can see these principles expressed. The circles of context from the far to the near are: the Greek culture, the Hebrew background of the Old Testament, the rest of the New Testament, the rest of Paul’s writings, and then Galatians itself.

The Greek word for goodness in Galatians 5:22 is agathosune. Besides being used in this passage, it occurs about a dozen times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament from around 200 BC, called the Septuagint. There are no references to it in existing secular Greek literature from ancient times. Should we make anything out of this? The biblical writers simply added the Greek equivalent of the “ness” ending to the word good. But the idea of goodness was not new to the culture. We may not use the word teachableness, but that does not mean we do not have the concept in our culture. However, secular Greek writers did not know the depths of God’s definition of moral goodness.

The fruit of the Spirit must continually be cultivated. We do not produce them once for all time. We need to sow to the Spirit continually so goodness will be expressed in our lives instead of the old selfish qualities. If I meditate on envy, jealousy, lusts, worries, or fears I am going to reap from them some very selfish evil fruit in my behavior and relationships. I may explode all over someone and cause great harm rather than good. But when I sow to the Spirit by meditating on God’s qualities through the Word, I will bear good fruit of kind, generous, beneficial acts toward others. I will help others experience God’s forgiving, restoring love in Christ through faith. I will also live a morally pure life according to God’s holiness. Bearing goodness means God can depend on me to be honest, repent of my sins, and turn away from evil. We need to continually seek to express this goodness in our responses and actions toward others.

In conclusion, think of your favorite apple. What do you expect it to be like when you bite into it? What are the qualities of a good apple? Now, think about what you are like when someone bites into you. Do they receive goodness from you? Remember, only God in you is good.