In our Lenten sermon series this year, we have looked at the list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in chapter 5 of Galatians. And we have investigated the original Greek words Paul used for these fruits, to clarify their meaning as best we can. These fruits are opposed by the world and the flesh, Paul says, but at least for now, there is no law against them. Tonight we finish up, by looking at the fruits of faithfulness and self-control...
In February of 1945, three of the five most powerful people in the world gathered at the then-Soviet resort town of Yalta on the Black Sea. American President Roosevelt, Soviet Chairman and General Secretary Stalin, and British Prime Minister Churchill held what became known as the Yalta conference, to discuss how best to proceed in the second world war against Fuhrer Hitler and Emperor Hirohito, and to start the process of thinking about the day after the war was inevitably concluded in their favour. It's an understatement to say that these three powerful leaders had vastly different national interests. Would they be able to trust each other ENOUGH to coordinate and cooperate in the final invasions of Germany and Japan? What would happen to Soviet prisoners of war liberated by Western forces, and what would happen to Western POW's liberated by Soviet forces? And when the crunch came, would each leader fulfil the commitments they made? For just one example, Roosevelt desperately wanted assurances that Stalin would declare war against Japan, which he then did on August 8, 1945, and that was a factor leading to Japan's surrender on August 10 (although nuclear explosions on August 6 in Hiroshima and August 9 in Nagasaki probably helped). Churchill was quoted at the time, saying, “Poor Neville Chamberlain believed he could trust Hitler. He was wrong. But I don’t think I’m wrong about Stalin.” The Yalta Conference was a great example of being able to place trust, but based on how much vodka was reportedly consumed, probably not a great example of self-control...
Almost every time I see the Greek word that Paul used for the seventh fruit of the Spirit - “pistis” - we translate it as “faith” or in this case, “faithfulness.” And this is unfortunate, because for us, the word faith has morphed from describing “trust in God,” to the concept of intellectually holding a set of beliefs. And it's even more unfortunate that in THIS case, “pistis” was translated as “faithfulNESS,” because that implies not that we are able to place our trust in GOD, but that others can safely place their trust in US. The concept of “trustworthy” is more strongly associated with a related Greek word “pistos.” Paul, in using “pistis,” is saying that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is that we are able to build a deeper trust in God, which MAY result in us being more trustworthy, but not directly. Jesus, in our gospel reading, uses the word “pistis” as compared to the size of a mustard seed, which works much better as the size of your level of trust, rather than the size of your set of beliefs.
Now the word we have translated as “self-control” is much more straight-forward – it is “egkrateia,” and it describes mastery over the self. It is used by Paul in First Corinthians in the context of athletes training for competition, and it refers to never letting pain or sensation or emotion deter one from the actions that one must take.
So what does the world and the flesh make of trust and self-control these days? Self-control is now useful ONLY for athletes training for competition, or maybe entrepreneurs on their grind – for the rest of us, if it feels good, do it – yolo, ya know! In our society, addiction, the opposite of self-mastery, runs rampant, and in many cases, addiction is completely excused or even encouraged. Being responsible for one's own self is no longer a moral virtue, it's seen as a cultural trait linked to whiteness and colonization, like punctuality and grammar. Consumerism and indulgence are the dominant replacements for self-control in OUR society, when we're not busy with drunkenness and carousing.
And being trusting is only virtuous if the OBJECT of your trust has the approval of society. Trusting the government? – that's good and right and proper. Trusting God? – that's extreme and fanatical and detrimental. Trusting your feelings? - that's called actualizing your true self and we're starting to teach it to our preschoolers. Trusting your reasoning? - that's called denying science, and ignoring the experts. And based on the polarizing impact of social media, trusting your fellow citizen is becoming harder and harder, and if that's not the goal, it is at least an unintended consequence, to drop the overall level of trust in our society.