Righteousness, the Fruit of the Spirit

Before Jesus went back from earth to heaven He promised to send the Comforter—the Holy Spirit—to abide with His people for ever, as His representative. Since it was by the anointing of the Spirit that He accomplished all His work here on earth (See Isaiah 61:1-3), it is evident that the presence of the Spirit is the same as the presence of the Lord. The Spirit continues the same instruction, counsel, and works of love that came from Christ.

In promising the Comforter, Jesus said, “And when He is come, He will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:8. “By law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3.20. But “the law is spiritual.” Romans 7.14. It is the nature of the Spirit, for the righteousness of the law is the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore there is no conviction of sin in any soul on earth that is not the working of the Spirit of God.

But while the Spirit convicts of sin it is always a Comforter. It is as a Comforter that it convicts. Few people stop to think of that. Remember that nowhere is it said that the Spirit condemns for sin. There is a difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction is the revealing of sin. But it depends on the person’s course after he has been convinced of sin, whether or not he will be condemned. For “this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19. The mere pointing out to a person that he is a sinner is not condemnation; the condemnation comes from holding to the sin after it is made known. 

Let the mind grasp the thought that the same Spirit that convinces of sin also convinces of righteousness. It is always a Comforter. The Spirit does not lay aside one office while it performs another. It does not leave aside the revealing of righteousness when it convinces of sin, nor does it cease to be a convincer of sin when it reveals righteousness. It does both at the same time, and herein is the comfort to all those who will take it. It convinces of sin because it convinces of righteousness. But let us consider this matter a little, and then meditate upon it. 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God—the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. Therefore the righteousness revealed by it is the righteousness of God. Now it is only by looking at righteousness that we can know sin and its sinfulness. The law, by which is the knowledge of sin, is not sin, but is the expression of God’s righteousness. A man may look at sin, and if he has never seen anything else he will think it is all right. Even one who knows the right, may lose the knowledge of it by looking at sin, so great is the deceitfulness of sin. So the Spirit must reveal the righteousness of God in His law before the sinner can know sin as sin. The apostle says, “I had not known sin but by the law.” Romans 7:7. So it is as the revealer of the perfect righteousness of God that the Spirit convinces of sin. 

It is evident; therefore, that the closer one comes to God, thus getting a more perfect view of Him, the greater will be his sense of his own imperfections. He gets this knowledge of sin, not by studying