Institute for Biblical Research: BBR 14 (2004)

Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1 (2005) 1-38

The Old Testament Background of

Paul's Reference to "the Fruit of

the Spirit" in Galatians 5:22

G. K. BEALE

WHEATON COLLEGE GRADUATE SCHOOL

"The fruit of the Spirit" in Gal 5:22 and its manifestations appear to be a

general allusion to Isaiah's promise that the Spirit would bring about

abundant fertility in the coming new age. Uppermost in mind are Isaiah's

repeated prophecies (especially chap. 32 and, above all, 57) that in the new

creation the Spirit would he the bearer of plentiful fruitfulness, which Isa-

iah often interprets to be godly attributes such as righteousness, patience,

peace, joy, holiness, and trust in the Lord, traits either identical or quite

similar to those in Gal 5:22-23. Paul's rhetorical effect and thematic em-

phasis are increased by the readers' being able to situate themselves as

those who are part of the dawning eschatological promises made to Israel,

and hence they are true Israelites who play a significant role in this cosmic

redemptive-historical drama. If they are really part of this drama, then they

will pay heed to Paul's exhortations.

Key Words: fruit, Spirit, inaugurated eschatology, new creation, Isaiah 32

and 57, Galatians 5, Septuagint

In Gal 5:22 Paul refers to "the fruit of the Spirit" and then enumerates

several examples of these fruits (e.g., "love, joy, peace, patience," etc.)

in vv. 22b-23. Though past commentators have not seen any OT or

Jewish background for this famous reference, recently some have

proposed such a background. G. W. Hansen has proposed that Isaiah

and a few other OT passages form the background. In adducing a ref-

erence to Isa 32:15-17 and Joel 2:28-32, Hansen says, "the promise of

the Spirit and the promise of moral fruitfulness in God's people are

Author's note: I am grateful to my students Todd Wilson, Ben Gladd, and Chris Bee-

tham for their reading of this manuscript and for helpful suggestions. I am also grate-

ful for the comments received as a result of reading earlier drafts of this paper at the

"Pauline Epistles" section of SIM. (2001 annual meeting) and at the "NT Section" of the

Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical Studies (2004 annual meeting).

2 Bulletin far Biblical Research 15.1

connected in the Old Testament," and the reference in Gal 5:22 "is

probably drawn from the imagery of the Old Testament."¹ Also briefly,

and almost identically, J. M. G. Barclay has made the same claim,

though with a little more emphasis on Isaiah 32.² In addition, J. D. G.

Dunn has suggested with respect to Gal 5:22 that, "if Paul intended to

invoke the imagery of fruit-bearing Israel (classically Isa. V.1-7), his

point would be that the fruit for which God looked in Israel was being

produced (only) by those (Galatian Gentiles included) who walked by

the Spirit."³ S. C. Keesmaat locates the background more generally in

the covenant blessings of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (e.g., Lev 26:4;

Deut 7:12-17), as well as the promises of restoration in the prophets,

wherein fruitfulness for Israel is foreseen.⁴ Most recently, Moises Silva

has proposed that Paul's "reference to the fruit of the Spirit (especially

peace) in Gal 5:22 appears to derive from Isa 32:14-15."⁵

Beyond these five brief comments, standard commentaries on Ga-

latians and other related literature, as far as 1 have surveyed, have not

proposed an OT background for "the fruit of the Spirit" (e.g., cf. Betz,

Matera, etc.). Nevertheless, the recent proposals that have been ad-

duced have been made only in a mere "passing" manner, and there has

been no attempt to substantiate the suggestions. Indeed, as they stand,

the proposals remain in the realm of speculation. For example, each of

the OT passages proposed as background either mention only the

"Spirit" and does not actually include an explicit reference to "fruit"

(in the LXX [icaprrOg] or MT),⁶ or references to both the "Spirit" and

"fruit" are missing (e.g., in Isa 5:1-7, though, as in Isaiah 32, the con-

cept of "fruit" is connoted).⁷

1. Galatians (InterVarsity Press NT Commentary; Downers Grove: InterVarsity

Press, 1994), 178.

2. Obeying the Truth: A Study of Paul's Ethics in Galatians (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,

1988), 121. In addition, he cites Isa 5:1-7, 27:2-6, and 37:30-32 in more distant connec-

tion, along with a number of other OT passages outside of Isaiah that he "presumes"

formed collective imagery with which "Paul was familiar."

3. The Epistle to the Galatians (NTC; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1993), 308. See

also a similarly brief proposal in my "Eschatological Conception of New Testament

Theology," in "The Reader Must Understand": Eschatology in the Bible and Theology (ed.

K. E. Brower and M. W. Elliott; Leicester: Apollo [Inter-Varsity Press], 1997), 31, ad-

ducing Isa 11:1-5; 32:13-18; 44:2-4; 61:3, 11; 65:17-22.

4. Keesmaat, Paul and His Story (JSNTSup 181; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,

1999), 207-8; for the hope in the prophets, she cites primarily Isa 27:6; Jer 38[31]:12;

Ezek 17:23; 34:27; 36:8; Amos 9:14; Zech 8:12. With respect to the Deuteronomy back-

ground, see also C. M. Pate, The Reverse of the Curse (WUNT 2/114; Tübingen: Mohr

Siebeck, 2000), 229-30.

5. "Galatians and Philippians," in A Commentary on the Use of the Old Testament in

the New Testament (ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson; Grand Rapids: Baker, forthcoming).

6. The concept of "fruit" does occur in the Isaiah 32 passage.

7. Though MS 91 of the Isa 5:7 LXX includes a variant reading of "I expected it [the

'plant' of Israel] to make fruit [καρπός] instead of "1 expected it [the 'plant' of Israel]

to make judgment."

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 3

The purpose of this article is to explore whether or not the "intu-

ition" of these recent commentators is correct, though other passages

in Isaiah than those already proposed will be primarily adduced and

analyzed to consider this point. In particular, we will contend that

"the fruit of the Spirit" in Gal 5:22 and its manifestations appear to be

a general allusion to Isaiah's promise that the Spirit would bring about

abundant fertility in the coming new age. We will argue that upper-

most in mind are Isaiah's repeated prophecies (chap. 32 and especially

57) that in the new creation the Spirit would be the bearer of plentiful

fruitfulness, which Isaiah often interprets to be godly attributes such

as righteousness, patience, peace, joy, holiness, and trust in the Lord,

traits either identical or quite similar to those in Gal 5:22-23.

A strategy throughout this essay will be to adduce several lines of

evidence in favor of the proposal that parts of Isaiah stand behind Paul's

well-known "fruit of the Spirit" passage. Some of the evidence will be

stronger than others, but when all of the relevant material is viewed as

a whole, the less convincing material should become more significant

than when seen by itself. Thus, some arguments in favor of this OT

background may not stand on their own but are intended to take on

more persuasive power when viewed in light of the other angles of rea-

soning. Therefore, the contention will be that the overall weight of the

cumulative arguments points to the plausibility or probability of Isa-

iah's being the OT backdrop for best understanding Gal 5:22.

THE ISAIANIC ESCHATOLOGICAL NEW CREATION BACKGROUND

OF "THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT" IN GALATIANS 5:22-23

First, we look at the OT background and then the relevant Jewish

material.

The Old Testament Background, Especially in the Septuagint

We begin with a passage mentioned by Hansen, Barclay, and Silva,

which, we think, is merely "the tip of the iceberg": Isa 32:15-18 says,

15Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,

And the wilderness becomes a fertile field

And the fertile field is considered as a forest.

16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.

17And the task of righteousness will be peace,

And the work of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

18 Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation.

And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places.

4 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

In contrast to the land's unfruitful condition (Isa 32:10-14), in the com-

ing restoration, the Spirit will come upon Israel and create abundant

Fertility (v. 15). However, this fertility appears to go beyond mere ma-

terial abundance and includes spiritual fecundity: not only will the

Spirit create literal plants, crops, and trees in the field but also the

spirit will produce spiritual fruits in the fields: "justice will dwell in

the wilderness, and righteousness will abide in the fertile field" (v. 16).

The "task" and "work" (which is presumably viewed as being per-

Formed by God's Spirits in the "fertile field"; cf. v. 16) resulting in "righ-

teousness" will also produce "peace," "quietness," and confidence"

(v. 17). Thus, the traits mentioned in vv. 17-18 appear to be additional

by-products of the Spirit's cultivating work. Both the Septuagint and

MT make these essential points.

Likewise, other texts in the Septuagintal version of Isaiah make

the same connection and sometimes exhibit an even closer or more

explicit link between the eschatological pouring out of the Spirit and

the figurative fruits of godly characteristics. The closest such parallel

is Isa 57:15-19, which appears to be a development of 32:15-18, es-

pecially in the LXX:

Isaiah 32 (LXX)

Isaiah 57 (LXX)

32:15 ἕως ἄν ἐπέλθῃ ἐφ ̓ ὑμᾶς

Πνεῦμα ἀφ ̓ ὑψηλοῦ

Until the Spirit from on high

Should come upon you.

57:15-16 ὁ ὕψιστος ὁ ἐν ὕψηλοῖς τὸν

Αἰῶνα ἅγιος ἐν ἁγίοις ὄνομα αὐτῷ κύριος ὕψισ-

τος ἐν ἁγίος ̓ναπαυόμενος ... πνεῦμα γὰρ

παρ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἐξελεύσεται, καὶ πνοὴν πᾶσαν ἐγὼ

ἐποίησα

the most high who dwells in the heights for

eternity, Holy in the holies is his name, the

Lord Most High who rests in the holies...

for the Spirit will come forth from me, and I

[will] have created all breath (see below for

translation of the final ἐποίησα

That the LXX of Isa 57:16 probably has the divine Spirit in mind, not

he human spirit or a vague divine influence, is suggested not only by

8. The combined Hebrew words for "task" (מעשׂה) and "work" (עבודה) occur only

elsewhere in Isaiah at 28:21, where God is the subject of the activity (see also 2 Chr

31:21 for the combination). The two words sometimes describe agricultural work in

the OT (e.g., cf. עבודה in Ps 104:14); of particular significance in this respect, especially

for the imagery of Isa 32:16-18, is the use of מעשׂה in Isa 60:21: "Then all your people

will be righteous; they will possess the land forever, the branch of My planting, the

work of My hands." Here the righteousness of Israel is called "the branch," which is

the result of God's spiritual work of cultivation (i.e., "the branch" resulting from "My

planting," on which see likewise Isa 61:3b).

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 5

early Jewish and patristic exegetical tradition and the different lan-

guage used by the Septuagintal version,⁹ but also by the following

similarities to Isa 32:15-17. These would be the only two passages in

Isaiah that affirm that during Israel's future restoration God's "Spirit

(mvet4ta) will come" to enrich the nation, though there are a few other

passages in the book that mention the "Spirit" in this more general

connection (the anarthrous πνεῦμα in Isa 57:16 does not imply a ref-

erence to human spirit, since it is also anarthrous in 32:15, which ac-

tually is another common feature of both texts¹⁰). Furthermore, these

are the only passages in the OT where the Spirit comes from on "high"

(ὑψηλός)¹¹ and results in the creation of figurative or spiritual fruits in

God's people. In Isaiah 32, "righteousness," "peace," and "confidence"

are produced (32:17), while "patience" and "peace" occur among the

people in Isaiah 57 (57:15, 19 of LXX). The two passages even mention

"peace" twice to describe the new spiritually fertile con.ditions.12 In

addition, both texts imply that "joy" will also be a characteristic of the

restored nation by underscoring that "joy" will be lacking for those in

an unrestored condition (cf. εὐφροσύνη in lsa 32:13 and χαίρειν in

57:21). A further link between the two Isaiah passages lies in the com-

mon idea of end-time "rest." isa 32:18 affirms that restored Israel "will

inhabit a city of peace . . . and they will rest [ἀναπαύσονται] with.

wealth," while Isa 57:19-20 says that, in contrast to the "peace" of

9. See the excursus at the end of the article for all of these points.

10. Indeed, when God's Spirit is referred to, the LXX translator sometimes uses

the article (about 8x) and sometimes does not (about 7x); strikingly, the human spirit

is usually accompanied by an article (19:3; 26:9; 33:11; 38:12), though once is without

it (42:5).

11. Isa 63:14 also points to itvci4iu in 57:16 being the divine Spirit: at Israel's first

exodus, "the Spirit came down from the Lord [κατέβη πνεῦμα παρὰ κυρίου] and guided

them," wording strikingly close to 57:16b (πνεῦμα...παρ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἐξελεύσεται; note also

MT and Aquila have "1 will guide him" in 57:18 following the descent of the "Spirit"

in v. 16). Isa 63:14 is part of a plea that God act again as he did in the first exodus in

a coming end-time restoration, which reaches partial climax with "turn from heaven

and look from your holy house" (63:15) and "if you would open heaven ... at your

presence the nations will be troubled" (64:1-3; MT reads, "Ο that you would rend the

heavens and come down"; Tana Debe Eliyyahu, ER p. 156 adduces Isa 64:1.ff. to

support the notion that just as Israel's experiences in exile were like those in

Egyptian bondage, so would their "redemption" be sure to come, as it did at the Ex-

odus). Similarly, Isa 30:27-28 (LXX) interprets the MT's apparent reference to God's

"breath" (רוּחַ) to be God's Spirit, since it also interprets the MT's reference to "lips" and

"tongue" as God's "word": "and his Spirit, as rushing water in a valley, will come [ἤξει]

as far as the neck, and be divided, to confound the nations for vain error." The MT of

Isa 30:27 also says God "conies from a remote place" (i.e., high heavens).

12. The MT also has שׁלם in 57:18, which, even though in the Piel, may well in-

clude a nuance of "peace," which it can carry in the Qal, Hiphil, and Hophal forms (on

which, see EIALOT 1533-36), thus intensifying and anticipating the double reference

to the noun form "peace" (שׁלם) in 57:19.

6 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

God's restored people given to them by the God who "rests" in the

heavenly temple (v. 15), "the unrighteous ... will not be able to rest"

(ἀναπαύσασθαι).

These links suggest that Isa 32:15ff. and 57:15-19 were literarily

connected by the hand of the LXX translator himself, which is further

pointed to by evidence that Isa 57:16 also is intentionally connected

by the same translator (or subsequent reviser) to another, earlier Isa-

iah passage not far from chap. 32 (in 28:28),¹³ a methodological ob-

servation that can be made in other instances in the book.¹⁴

Though the word "fruit" does not appear in I.sa 32:15-18, the con-

cept does (though more clearly in the MT and Targum).¹⁵ On the other

hand, Isa 57:15-19 explicitly mentions "fruit" (v. 19) in the MT (נוב)

and, especially, in various significant versions of the LXX (καρπός).

The Relation of the Septuagintal Background,

Especially Isaiah 57, to Galatians 5:22

This last point about "fruit" in Isaiah 57 merits elaboration. While the

eclectic text of J. Ziegler's Göttingen Septuagint does not include καρ-

πός, omitting the concluding clause of v. 18b of the MT ("and to his

mourners") and the introductory phrase of v. 19a ("creating the fruit

of the lips"), his apparatus reveals that the versions of Aquila, Sym-

machus, and Theodotion include the omitted. segments of the MT, in-

cluding reference to "fruit" (καρπός). Aquila and Symmachus read

"and I gave to him true comfort [and] for his mourners, (I am the one)

creating fruit [{και}τοις πενθουσιν αυτου, κτιζων καρπος]: peace upon

peace to them that are far off and to them that are near." Theodotion,

on the other hand, has essentially the same wording as the MT (the

Greek rendering of which in v. 19a is "the one creating the fruit [καρ-

πός] of the lips: peace upon peace" (so also V /I' [MSS of the. Lucianic

subgroup]-86c-233 544 Tht).

The upshot of these variants especially in Aquila and Symma-

chus, as well as Theodotion and its allies together with the mainline

13. See I. L. Seeligmann, The Septuagint Version of Isaiah (Mededelingen en Verhan-

delingen 9; Leiden: Brill, 1948), 70-71, who argues that the phrase οὐ γὰρ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα

ἐγὼ ὑμῖν ὀργισθήσομαι in Isa 28:28 was influenced by the wording of 57:16 (οὐκ εἰς τὸν

αἰῶνα ἐκδικήσω ὑμᾶς οὐδε διὰ παντὸς ὀργισθήσομαι ὑμῖν); note also the similarity of
παρά κυρίου σαβαωθ ἐχῆλθεν in 28:29 with παρ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἐξελεύσεται in 57:16 (the verb in

28:29 probably has a prophetic perfect sense with a future notion, since it translates an im-

perfect Hebrew form and the context supports a future sense). He argues similarly

with respect to Isa 57:11 in relation to 51:12.

14. Ibid., 71.

15. Significantly though, Jas 3:18 likely makes allusion to Isa 32:17 and in doing so

explicitly mentions "fruit" ("and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those

making peace").

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 7

LXX text, is that we have a passage in the early Septuagintal textual

tradition of Isaiah in which God prophesies that he will send his Spirit

(πνεῦμα) (57:16b, LXX)¹⁶ to produce spiritual fruit (καρπός) in the

godly, which in the immediate context is directly construed to be the

fruit of "peace" (εἰρήνη [2x] v. 19), and the by-products of "patience"

(μακροθυμία, v. 15)¹⁷ and "joy" (χαίρειν in 57:21) among his restored

people.¹⁸ Others perhaps have not noticed the possibility of this back-

ground because of not focusing on the potential significance of the

variant LXX traditions in this passage and not perceiving that this is

one of the most highly charged eschatological "Spirit" passages in all

of the Septuagint of Isaiah, as we have labored to argue above (which

is expanded in the appended excursus).

The Septuagintal reading of "fruit" in Isaiah 57 probably existed

before and during Paul's time,19 and, together with the words sur-

rounding it, may now be seen as, at least, part of the likely quarry

16. See the appended excursus for fuller discussion of the variants in Isa 57:18-19

and especially for extended discussion that πνεύμα in v. 16 is to be identified as God's

Spirit as a part of eschatological restoration blessing and anticipates the concept of

"fruit" in v. 19.

17. In this respect note the somewhat parallel language of 57:15b (ὀλιγοψύξοις δι-

δοὺς μακροθυμίαν) and 57:18b (ἔδωκα αὐτῷ παράκλησιν), the latter of which appears to

be a conceptual development of the former and which directly precedes the phrase

"creating fruit" in Aquila and Symmachus and "creating the fruit of the lips" in those

LXX MSS lining up with the MT.

18. It is certainly possible that all of these elements were not merely represented

in early Septuagintal tradition but actually occurred in a "mixed text" no longer ex-

tant, on the possibility of which, see M. Silva, "Old Testament in Paul," in Dictionary

of Paul and His Letters (ed. G. F. Hawthorne, R. P. Martin, and D. G. Reid; Downers

Grove: InterVarsity, 1993), 633, who gives as an example Isa 10:22-23 in Rom 9:27-28,

which combines unique readings from Codex A and Codex B. It is just as possible that

here Paul is combining two LXX traditions. For the same phenomenon, see Justin Mar-

tyr with respect to Dan 7:9-14, where he combines the old LXX and Theodotion (on

which consult H. B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek [Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1902)1,421-22).

19. See my "Old Testament Background of Rev 3.14," NT'S 42 (1996): 139-40, for dis-

cussion of the following: (1) that LXX Isaiah was translated before the first Christian cen-

tury; (2) the various second-century A.D. dates of the translations of Aquila, Theodotion,

and Symmachus, as well as the notion that they are all revisions of prior Greek transla-

tions that predate the NT (especially Theodotion probably revised on the basis of a proto-

Theodotion dating from the first century B.C.); (3) these three revisions also show varying

degrees of acquaintance with prior Jewish exegetical traditions. See further N. F. Marcos,

The Septuagint in Context (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 21-152 (passim), especially for discussion

of D. Barthelemy's groundbreaking theory about the dependence of the "Three" (though

especially Aquila) upon prior Greek revisions, which is broadly accepted, though there

is debate about aspects of it. Marcos likewise further discusses debates revolving around

the use of prior Jewish exegetical tradition by Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus (on

the preceding issues, see also K. H. Jobes and M. Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint [Grand

Rapids: Baker, 20001,37-42,171-73). The upshot of all of this is that these versions of the

LXX probably often witness pre-Christian Greek readings.

8 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

from which he drew some of the crucial terms to compose his famous

"fruits of the Spirit" passage in Gal 5:22-23: "the fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, patience ... (ὁ δὲ καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἀγάπη

χαρὰ εἰρήνη, μακροθυμία . . .). Isaiah 27²⁰ and 32 may also be in Paul's

peripheral vision. Therefore, if the influence of Isaiah 32 has been felt

on Paul in Gal 5:22, as some have briefly proposed, how much more

that of Isa 57:16-19.

Indeed, the only two places in the entire scriptural tradition of

the OT and NT where the combination of the above five words occurs

is in Isa 57:15-19 and Gal 5:22. Enhancing this is the observation that

"God sending forth the Spirit" is also close at hand in Galatians (Gal

4:6) and uniquely similar (even in comparison to Luke 1:35; 24:49;

and Acts 1:8) in all of the NT to Isa 57:16's "the Spirit will go forth

from me."²¹

Thus, the viability of this passage's influence on Paul consists in

the fact (1) that we know he read and was quite familiar with both

the MT and the LXX of Isaiah (especially Isaiah 40-66), (2) that he ac-

tually quotes from the LXX of Isa 57:19 in Eph 2:17²² and cites Isa 54:1

(LXX) in Gal 4:27, (3) that the combined wording of Gal 5:22 is

uniquely common only to Paul and Isaiah 57, and (4) similarly the

concept of "spiritual fruit" occurs in these two passages, as well as

often in other Isaianic passages, where reference to God's Spirit also

occurs, which confirms the Isaianic connection, as we will see below.

And even if the Septuagintal reading "fruit" in Isa 57:18 postdates

the first century, which is highly unlikely, it shows that the Hebrew

of Isa 57:18 had the potential to be interpretively rendered into Greek

in such a manner.

That this is not merely a formal parallel but a material one is also

borne out by focusing further on the observation that the notion of

the Spirit creating fruit that is nonphysical but spiritual in character is

a unique idea to Isaiah in all of the OT and to Galatians 5 in the NT.

When this common notion is then seen to be in an eschatological con-

text in both Isaiah and Galatians,23 the concept becomes even more

unique. In particular, both passages are closely linked to contexts that

20. On which, see the appended excursus.

21. Though we will see below that Isa 48:16 is more centrally alluded to in Gal 4:6.

See also is ἐξαποστελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμά σου in Ps 103:30, though this refers to God's creation

of all life, including animals and fish.

22. The likelihood of Paul's reference to the standard LXX tradition in Eph 2:17 is

pointed to by two observations: (1) Paul omits the introductory "creating the fruit of

lips" in the MT and (2) refers to "the ones far" and "the ones near," in line with the plu-

rals of the LXX, in contrast to the MT's singular "the far and near." Even if one were

not to hold to Pauline authorship of Ephesians, it stands in early Pauline tradition.

23. Note in the broader context of Galatians reference to "delivering us out of this

present evil age" (1:4), "the fullness of the time came" (4:4), and "new creation" (6:15).

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 9

have to do with new creation. In fact, the LXX phrase in Isa 57:15-16

explicitly expresses this new-creation theme: God will come down

from his heavenly abode and be "the one giving life to the crushed of

heart . . . for my Spirit will go forth from me, and I have created all

breath." The Spirit is the agent by which God creates new life in Isa-

iah 57.²⁴

This idea of end-time new creation in Isa 57:15-16 is not anoma-

lous within the book but is a natural part of a broader theme of new

creation woven throughout Isaiah 40-66, the most explicit texts being

Isa 43:18-19,65:17, and 66:22. Isa 43:18-20 is but part of a series of per-

icopae in the so-called Book of Consolation (Isaiah 40-55) that explains

the restoration of exiled Israel as a new creation or at least integrally

associates the two concepts of restoration and creation (Isa 40:28-31;

41:17-20; 42:5-9; 44:21-23; 44:24-28; 45:1-8; 45:9-13; 45:18-20; 49:8-13;

51:1-3; 51:9-11; 51:12-16; 54:1-10 [cf. v. 5]; 55:6-13).²⁵ Isa 60:15-22,

65:17-25, and 66:19-24 continue the same thematic emphasis. It should

24. The last clause in the LXX of Ιsa 57:16 ("and I have created all breath") is pos-

sibly a reference to the old-creation reality of God creating all human life (as seen be-

low in the excursus in the Testament of Moses) but is better viewed as related to the

conditions of the new creation in which all human life would be created by God (ac-

cordingly, the use of the aorist tense could well be a "prophetic perfect" way of fore-

telling that God will create all life in the coming new creation, in line with the same

repeated use of the aorists only two verses away in 57:18 [e.g., ἰσάμην αὐτὸν], which

is immediately interpreted by a future tense in v. 19 [ἰάσομαι αὐτούς]). Or, alterna-

tively, the LXX could be rendered, "the Spirit will come forth from me, even to all

breath I have made," or "the Spirit will come forth from me, and [it will come forth to]

all breath I have made" (though this translation might be more natural if "breath"

were in the dative and not the accusative. Nevertheless, the accusative could be a so-

called "terminal accusative" in which "after verbs of motion [e.g., verbs of 'coming']

the accusative may be used without a preposition to express the goal" or destination,

on which see generally H. W. Smyth, Greek Grammar [Cambridge: Harvard University

Press, 1984], 358). Accordingly, "all breath" would represent the destination toward

which the movement of God's Spirit is directed. Along these lines, the Targum of v. 16b

interpretively paraphrases with "for I am about to restore the spirits of the dead and

the breathing beings I have made" (interestingly here, as in our above proposal, the

Targum sees the first verb of v. 16b doing double duty and being implied in the second

clause). Perhaps, even the phrase "I have created all breath" (πνοὴν πᾶσαν ἐγὼ ἐποίησα)

in v. 16b is further developed in v. 18h, "the one who creates fruit" (Symmachus and

Aquila) or "the one who creates the fruit of the lips" (κτιζων καρποσ χειλων, so LXX fol-

lowing MT). This would identify even more closely the coming new creation (of vv. 15-

16) with God's creation of fruit (v. 18) as a part of the new cosmos. Likewise, the LXX

of v. 15h, as we saw above, also predicts a coming new creation: "giving life to the heart

of the crushed," which is emphasized by the Hebrew text of v. 15b: God will descend

from his heavenly temple "in order to make alive the spirit of the lowly and to make

alive the spirit of the crushed."

25. See C. Stuhlmueller, Creative Redemption in Deutero-Ιsaiah (AnBib 43; Rome:

Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1970), 66-98,109-61,193-208; W. J. Dumbrell, The End of the

Beginning (Homebrush West, Australia: Lancer, 1985), 97-100.

10 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

not be surprising that the latter-day work of the Spirit is part of an in-

troduction to two of these pericopae (Isa 42:1; 44:3), which, in fact,

continues an earlier theme of new creation by the Spirit in Isa 26:18—

19 and 32:15-18 (and possibly 30:23-28, on which see n. 11 above).

God's act of new creation as restoration is also described outside of

chap. 43 as his "redempticin" of Israel (e.g., 44:1-8; 44:24-45:7; 54:1-

10)²⁶ and as a new Exodus (cf. 40:3-11; 41:17-20; 44:24-28; 51:1-13; 52:7—

10; ee also 43:16-21).27 Some of the specific links between the "Spirit"

and "fruit" in Isaiah, which are part of the new-creation theme, likely

reflect the same original link at the first creation, where the "Spirit"

(πνεύμα, Gen 1:2) was the agent of the creation, including trees bearing

fruit" (καρπός, Gen 1:11,12,29).

Turning to the NT, we should note that the account of the coming

of the Spirit in Acts 1-2 combines Isa 32:15 (alluded to in Acts 1:8) and

Isa 7:19 (Acts 2:39, "the promise is for you and your children and for

all who are far off"). Thus, the linkage seen above between chaps. 32

and 57 within Isaiah (LXX) itself was apparently recognized, at least

partly, in the Lukan narration of the Spirit's coming at Pentecost.

Likewise, Ephesians quotes Isa 57:19 in direct connection to an expla-

nation of the work of the eschatological Spirit (2:17-22), which is a

development there of "the Holy Spirit of promise" from 1:13, itself

deriving most probably from the undoubted early Pentecost tradition

about Christ "receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit," which he then

poured out on believers (Acts 2:33). Strikingly, Gal 3:14 is even closer

to Acts 2:33 than Eph 1:13: "in order that we might receive the prom-

ise of the Spirit" (ἵνα τ\νη ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος λάβωμεν; cf. Acts

2:33, τήν τε ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου λαβὼν.

Thus, another link to the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost occurs

in Galatians. This theme is picked up again in Gal 4:6 ("God has sent

forth the Spirit” = gartixyntkcy o Or.Oc rcyci4ia), which is the closest

parallel in the NT to Isa 32:15 ("until the Spirit from on high should

come upon you" = ἕως ἄν ἐπέλθῃ ἐφ ̓ ὑμᾶς πνεῦμα ἐφ ̓ ὑψηλοῦ) and, as

we have seen, especially 57:16 (= "the Spirit will come forth from me"

= πνεῦμα γὰρ παρ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἐχελεύσεται).²⁸ Also striking in this regard in

comparison to Gal 4:4, 6 (ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν... ἐξαπέστειλεν

ὁ θεὸς τὸ πνεῦμα) is Isa 48:16, though overlooked by virtually all corn-

26. Stuhlmueller, Creative Redemption, 112-34, 196-208.

27. Ibid., 66-73, 82-94; Dumbrell, End of the Beginning, 15-18, 97.

28. In fact, Gal 4:6 is the only NT passage where the verb ἐξαπέστέλλω appears to-

gether with πνεῦμα. Actually Ps 10311041:30 (ἐξαποστελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμὰ σου) is closer ver-

bally to Gal 4:6 than Isaiah 57, though the former concerns God's preservation of the old

creation and only the latter deals with new creation; thus, Paul's reference in Gal 4:6 is

more probably an allusion to the Pentecost event, perhaps with Isa 57:16b echoed, since

we have already seen that it was uniquely similar in all of the OT to the Psalm text.

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 11

mentators (albeit see Scott's ambiguous reference below). Isa 48:16

refers to God's two primary agents, who will carry out Israel's future

restoration, which is set in a second Exodus context (cf. 48:10-11, 20-

21): "the Lord has sent me [the messianic servant] and his Spirit" (κύ-

ριος ἀπέσταλκέν με καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ) who both become the

means of the Lord's "redemption" (compare ῥύομαι in 48:17 with Gal

4:5's ἐξαγοράζω). Nowhere else in the OT is there such a reference to

God "sending" both his messianic agent and the Spirit to accomplish

his redemption except Isa 48:16-17. This is most likely, therefore, an

allusion also to Isa 48:16,3u with perhaps an echo of the "sending of the

Spirit" language of Isaiah 32 and 57, which is plausible since Paul's

mind weaves in and out of Isaiah, especially chaps. 40-60, throughout

Galatians.³¹

The fulfillment motif of the Spirit's advent from 4:6 continues

only a few verses later at 4:23-29: "the son [born] by the free woman

through the promise"; "children of promise;" "[born] according to

the Spirit." These three phrases lead up to and conclude a quotation

from Isa 54:1 (Gal 4:27), the longest OT quotation in the book (it may

even be that the notion of Christians as "sons" [υἱοὶ] in Gal 3:7, 26; 4:6,

7, 22, 30 derives from Isa 54:1 and 13, where Israel is called "children"

and "sons," respectively).

In chap. 5, Paul identifies the Galatian believers with this prom-

ised Spirit: if they have truly received the Spirit (3:14; 4:6, 29), then

they will act on the basis of the Spirit (5:5, 16-18). Perhaps not sur-

prisingly, C. H. Cosgrove has suggested that 5:5 ("for we through the

Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness") alludes to

29. It is grammatically possible that this could be translated "the Lord and his

Spirit sent me," since to πνεῦμα could be accusative or nominative, though the phrase

is most naturally taken as accusative because of word order with τὸ πνεῦμα following

κύριος ἀπέσταλκέν με.

30. See also Isa 61:1, "the Spirit of the 1,ord God is upon me ... he has scot me to

bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners,"

recalling also that Gal -1:3 refers to the Galatians as formerly having been "held in

bondage."

31. See J. M. Scott, Adoption as Sons of God: An Exegetical Investigation into the Back-

ground of ΤΥΙΘΕΣΙΑ in the Pauline Corpus (WONT 2/48; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck,

1992), 167-71, 179; after discussing previous proposals for the background of the dual

"sending of the Son and the Spirit" here (esp. cf. Wis 9:10, 17), he proposes that the

"sending of Moses" at the Exodus is the main background (supplemented by a 2 Sam

7:14 Jewish tradition), however, that background never includes the "sending of the

Spirit," except in an indirect way, where the notion of "sonship" is combined with the

coming of the Spirit (bib. 1:23; 1: bid. 24:3), but the language of "sending" does not oc-

cur in these texts. In the midst of this argument, in a footnote, he merely says "Cf. also

the sending (ἀποστέλλειν) of the prophet and the Spirit in Isa 48:16 in the context of

Exodus typology," which appears to imply that he sees the possibility of its being a

supplemental influence.

12 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

Isa 32:15-17: "where eschatological righteousness appears, there the

eschatological Spirit is to be found (Isa 32:15-17; Gal 5:5)." ³² In sup-

port of this suggestion, it is not coincidental that the combination of

the "Spirit" (πνεῦμα) with "righteousness" (δικαιοσύνη) in an eschat-

ological context occurs only in the book of Isaiah (Isa 11:4-5 [?]; 32:15-

17; 42:1, 5-6; 61:1-333) and Jewish traditions alluding to Isaiah 11

(Pss. Sol. 17:37[42]; 18:8[7]; Testament of Judah 24, the first two alluding

to Isa 11:2, 4 and the last to 11:1-2ff.), so that, even if Isaiah 32 were

not specifically in mind, at the least, the broader background of Isa-

iah's expectation likely is.

Indeed, Paul's language of being "led by the Spirit" (Gal 5:18) is

paralleled in the Greek OT (ἄγω + πνεῦμα), except in Isa 63:11-15.34

The Isaiah passage rehearses what God did at the Exodus as a back-

ground from which to plea that he would do the same thing again in

a new, second Exodus from exile in Babylon:

Then he remembered the ancient days, saying, where is he that

brought up from the sea the shepherd of the sheep? Where is he that

put his Holy Spirit in them? Who led [ἀγαωὼν] Moses with his right

hand, the arm of his glory? He forced the water to separate before

him to make himself an everlasting name. He led [ἤγαγεν] them

through the deep, as a horse through the wilderness, and they

fainted not, and as cattle through a plain: the Spirit came down from

the Lord, and guided them; in this manner you led [ἤγαγες] your

people to make yourself a glorious name. Turn from heaven, and

look from your holy habitation and from your glory: where is your

zeal and your strength [to deliver us from exile'?

The prophet petitions that the Spirit that led both Moses and Israel

out of the first exile in Egypt be sent again to lead Israel out of exile

in Babylon.35 It would not appear to be mere happenstance that Isa

57:16-18 is the only other OT passage that uses the similar language

32. The Cross and the Spirit (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1988), 61.

33. The connection with the Spirit in 61:1 is made even more directly in Ms 534 of

the LXX, which has "planting of the Spirit filvciliaTod" instead of "planting of the

Lord" in v. 3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.... So they will be called oaks

of righteousness, the planting of the Spirit." The word irvi;i4ia in Isa 11:4 appears to be

an anthropomorphism ("breath"), though the Spirit may be in the background because

of vv. 1-2.

34. However, the prophet Ezekiel says of himself that "the Spirit took me up and

led me" (Ezek 8:3; 11:1, 24), referring to the introduction of divine revelation to the

prophet.

35. Accordingly, Midr. Deut. Rab. 9:9 portrays God saying to Moses, "in this world

you have led My children, in the [messianic] time to come also, I will have you lead

them," which then adduces Isa 63:11 in support. See also Neh 9:19-20, where also God's

"Spirit" (n/61m) and God's "guiding" (66nyl;co) occur in association in describing Israel

in the wilderness after the first Exodus.

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 13

of the "Spirit coming down from God" in connection with his "lead-

ing" Israel and actually applies it to the coming time of restoration

(though the verb in v. 18 is not ἄγω but the synonym καθοδηγέω

["guide"] and is attested only in Aquila's version,³⁶ which attempts to

represent more accurately the MT's "and I will lead him" [וְאַנְחֵהוּ]).³⁷

Paul appears to draw from, at least, Isa 63:11-15 in affirming that Isa-

iah's petition for God's eschatological "leading of his people by the

Spirit" has begun to be answered with the coming of the Spirit to believers

in the new age³⁸ (Paul also alludes to Isa 63:10 ["they .. . grieved his

Holy Spirit"] in Eph 4:30: "do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God"; see

also Isa 63:11 in Heb 13:20). They are no longer in the old age, which

is variously termed "this present evil age" (1:4) or the age "under

law" (Gal 3:23; 4:4, 21) and "under the elements of the [old] world"

(4:3). Rather, their reception of the Spirit has launched them into a

new world, "a new creation" (6:15), where they "are led by the Spirit"

and consequently are no longer bound to the age "under the law"

(Gal 5:18) characterized by "circumcision," which is no longer in

force (6:15).³⁹ The Galatians are those who have begun to participate

36. Ps 142:10 (LXX) is the next closest parallel (τὸ πνεῦμά σου τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁδηγήσει

με ἐν γῇ εὐθείᾳ) but does not use Ciyui and is not found in an eschatological restoration

context like that of Isaiah 57 and 63, being applied only to David's life. Nevertheless,

see W. N. Wilder, Echoes of the Exodus Narrative in the Context and Background of Galatians

5:18 (Studies in Biblical Literature 23; New York: Peter Lang, 2001), passim, who has

made a cogent case that, while the influence of Isa 63:11-14 upon Gal 5:18 "should not

be overlooked" (p. 1.38), Ps 142:10 is the OT passage through which "the exodus back-

ground of Gal 5:18 is largely mediated" (p. 182). Both Isaiah 63 and Psalm 142 con-

tribute important background for Gal 5:18.

37. After the reference to "guiding," Aquila continues with "I have given to him

comfort and for the ones desiring [και τοις ποθεινοις] him (I am) creating fruit [καρπός]

(the latter of which is an alternative reading in Aquila,and Symmachus). The mention

of "the ones desiring him" may be continued only four verses later with reference to

those "who desire [ἐπιθυμοῦσιν] to know my [God's] ways," and who "desire [ἐπιθυ-

μοῦσιν] to draw near to God" (58:2) in contrast to those who selfishly "find your [own]

desires [θελήματα] (58:3). This would appear to have further affinity with Gal 5:16-17,

where ἐπιθυμέω and its noun form refer to "desires" of the "flesh" in contrast to "de-

sires" of the "Spirit." Indeed, such a connection between the coming of God's Spirit in

Isa 57:16 and Gal 5:19 was made as early as Tertullian (on which, see below, p. 34).

38. Other passages use prefixed forms of 6i-yo) to predict that God will again "lead"

his people as he did at the Exodus (ler 38:8-9; Ezek 20:10, 14, 22, 34; likewise Ezek

34:13).

39. Almost identically, Rom 8:14 says, "all who are being led by the Spirit of God,

these are sons of God," where also the Spirit is inextricably linked to "life" (Rom 8:11,

13 and Gal 5:25), to enmity with the "flesh" (Rom 8:4-13 and Gal 5:16-19), and to being

a mark of sonship (Rom 8:14-23 and Gal 4:5-7). The mention of "firstfruits [ἀπαρχή] of

the Spirit" in Rom 8:23 may bring the Romans passage even closer to Gal 5:18-22 (note

that in the LXX ἀπαρχή is used in parallelism or synonymously with καρπὸς: Deut 26:2;

Neh 10:38; Pss. Sol. 15:3. About Rom 8:18-27, N. T. Wright, Christian Origins and the Ques-

tion of God, vol. 1: The New Testament and the People of God (London: SPCK / Minneapolis:

14 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies of new Exodus and new cre-

ation which is probably one reason Paul calls them "the Israel of

God" in 6:16.⁴⁰

In this respect, Paul's statement only two verses earlier than Gal

5:18 that the readers were to "walk by the Spirit" may even be an echo

of the Hebrew text of Isa 63:13 ("God led them"), which uses a form

of the Hebrew word "walk" (Hiphil of ltrt), as does also Isa 48:17 ("the

Lord ... who leads you in the way you will walk," Qal of tPri), both of

which, we have already seen, describe the "walking" as an effect of

the "Spirit" (see Isa 48:16). These are the only places in the OT where

this combination occurs in a prophetic context about the restoration of

Israel, except Ezek 36:27, which we shall discuss below.41

These observations are supported by other studies, which have

contended that Paul's "story" of the Galatians follows "the same nar-

rative flow of the Exodus," though transformed into a new Exodus.42

More particularly, Todd A. Wilson has attempted to plot their narra-

tive location throughout the epistle as being in the "wilderness,"

where the Galatians are in danger of rebellion and apostasy.43 Gal

5:13-26 is among the segments he points out in this connection,

where he sees communal infighting (5:15, 19-21, 26) and exclusion

from entering the kingdom of God (5:21b = the promised land)."

Worth considering, he says, is whether Paul's juxtaposition with "the

fruit of the Spirit" (5:22-23) also reflects the Exodus wilderness back-

ground and the promised inheritance, especially as redeveloped by

the new Exodus prophecies of Isaiah, as well as the restoration de-

pictions in Hosea and Joel.45

These connections to Isaiah (esp. 32, 48, 54, 57, and 63) and the

Pentecost tradition outside and especially within Galatians compose

a plausible context rendering it reasonable that Gal 5:22 would allude

Fortress, 1992), 406-7, says, with remarkable agreement with our approach to Gal 5:18,

"the Exodus of Israel was a model for the death and resurrection of Jesus, and both of

these events point forward to a greater exodus to come, when the whole cosmos will

be liberated from its Egypt, its present state of futility" (on which, see further S. C.

Keesmaat, "Exodus and the Intertextual Transformation of Tradition in Romans 8.14—

30," JSNT 54 [1994]: 29-56). Strikingly, Heb 13:20 applies Isa 63:11 (LXX) as a descrip-

tion of Christ's resurrection.

40. On which see my "Peace and Mercy upon the Israel of God: The Old Testa-

ment Background of Galatians 6,16b," Bib 80 (1999), 204-23.

41. The next closest contexts where the same combination occurs are Neh 9:19-20

(an Exodus context), Ezek 3:14 (the Spirit empowering Ezekiel in his prophetic min-

istry), and Ps 143:10 (the Spirit leading King David).

42. Keesmaat, Paul and His Story, 170.

43. Wilson, "Wilderness Apostasy and Paul's Portrayal of the Crisis in Galatians,"

NTS 50 (2004): 550-71.

44. Ibid., 16-21.

45. Ibid., 21.

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 15

to the Isaianic promise of the Spirit, especially since the preceding

Isaiah 54 quotation is repeatedly linked to the Spirit. Our proposal

that Gal 5:22 alludes specifically to Isa 57:15-.19, and perhaps echoes

Isaiah 32, should not be surprising, since both Isa 32:15 and 57:19 are

alluded to elsewhere (in Acts 1:8 and 2:39, respectively), the latter, as

observed above, quoted in full in Eph 2:17, also in conjunction with

the promised Spirit. All of the above connections between Isaiah 57

and Galatians are perhaps the best explanation of why lrenaeus and

Tertullian combined Isa 57:16 with Gal 4:4-6 and 5:18-19 (on which,

see the excursus).

Additional Old Testament Background to Galatians 5:22

In addition to Isaiah 32 and, especially, 57, other texts in the Hebrew of

Isaiah make the same connection between the latter-day advent of the

Spirit and the fruits of godly characteristics and may have been in-

cluded in Paul's peripheral Isaianic vision in Gal 5:22. Isa 11:1-5 proph-

esies that a "branch from his [Jesse's] roots will bear fruit [יִפְרֶה]. And the

Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom ... [seven

fruits of the Spirit are mentioned in the following phrases, including

'righteousness' and 'faithfulnessi."46 This is the closest contextual link

between "fruit" and the "Spirit" in the OT, though "fruit" does not

occur in the Greek version, and even in the Hebrew the word is the

verbal form ("to bear fruit"). Furthermore, it refers to the coming es-

chatological leader of Israel and not to the people in general, though

what was true of Israel's king was often applicable to the people by

virtue of corporate representation (and we will see below that early

Judaism explicitly understood Isa 11:1-2 in this dual manner).

There is also the similar link between the Spirit and its produc-

tion of fertility or fruits in the following Isaiah passages: Isa 44:3-4:

"I will pour out my Spirit on your seed ... and they will spring up

like grass among the waters like poplars by streams of water"; 61:1,

3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. ... So they will be called

oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord," 47 though as in 11:1-

2 the Spirit is applied to Israel's end-time leader (see also 61:11, and

probably also lsa 4:2-4 for further relevant passages).

Elsewhere in Isaiah the coming new creation is said to be charac-

terized by abundant fruit in Israel, which is often explicitly inter-

preted to be various godly attributes among redeemed Israelites,

though the Spirit is not mentioned in these passages (with the possible

46. The eschatological fruitfulness depicted in Joel 2:21-27 is also inextricably

linked to the pouring out of the Spirit in 2:28-32 [=3:1-5, MT]: the latter is probably

an interpretation of the former, though limitations of space prohibit further analysis.

47. As observed above, MS 534 of the 1.XX has "planting of the Spirit" [πνευματος]

instead of "planting of the Lord," drawing out explicitly the link with the Spirit in v. 1.

16 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

exception of Isa 27:5-8, which does include reference to God's πνεύ-

μα⁴⁸): Isa 27:5b-6 ("Let him make peace with me, Let him make peace

with me. In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom

and sprout; and they will fill the whole world with fruit"); 37:30-32

("sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the surviving

remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and

bear frui [וְעָשָׂה פְרִי] upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a rem-

nant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts

shall perform this"); 45:8 ("Drip down, 0 heavens, from above, and let

the clouds pour down righteousness; let the earth open up and salva-

tion bear fruit, and righteousness spring up with it. I, the Lord, have

created it"); 51:3 ("Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort

all her waste places. And her wilderness he will make like Eden, and

her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found

in her, thanksgiving and sound of a melody"); 60:21 ("Then all your

people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever, the branch

of my planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified"; on

which, see in. Sanh. 10:1 in allusion to the same text).49

This additional OT material from Isaiah provides evidence en-

hancing the proposal that Paul's "fruit of the Spirit" formulation was

derived from Isaiah. If this material was included in the apostle's

purview, then he may have made a collective allusion to Isaiah 57 and

32 together with Isa 11:1-5 and 44:2-4, because both the "Spirit" and

"fruit" (or the equivalent terms) also occur in these passages.5° On

the other hand, if these other passages were not in mind, then they

may have provided unmentioned or unconscious stimulus for Paul to

be attracted to Isaiah 57 and 32.

The Jewish Background

Qumran alludes to some of the above Isaianic texts and applies them

to the DSS community conceived of as eschatological Israel, bearing

48. See further the discussion of the LXX of Isaiah 27 in the excursus, where God's

πνεῦμα is mentioned in the midst of that passage (27:8).

49. Like Isaiah, Hos 14:5-8 portrays Israel's end-time spiritual vitality in terms of

agricultural fruitfulness. For similar imagery, see also Isa 55:10-13 in comparison with

56:3; likewise note 58:11; 65:8, 17-22; Jer 1:9-12.

50. Of course other OT passages outside Isaiah refer to Israel metaphorically as a

tree or vine bearing fruit (or not doing so), but none mentions the Spirit (e.g., Ps 80:8-

18; Jer. 2:21; 8:13; 11:16; 12:10; 24:8-10; Ezek 15:1-8; 17:1-10; 19:10-14; Hos 10:1; Mic 7:1—

4; the majority of which do not even contain K up 76 g in the LXX); likewise end-time

prophecies of Israel's fruitfulness occur elsewhere outside Isaiah, but, again, not in

connection with the Spirit (Jer 31:27-28; 32:41; Ezek 17:22-24; Hos 14:5-8; Joel 2:18-25

[though literal fruit is in mind]; Amos 9:13-15). It is possible but very difficult to dem-

onstrate that these references, in addition to the Isaiah ones, could be faintly in mind

(as suggested by Barclay, Obeying the Truth, 121).

BEALE; The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 17

the fruits of God's Spirit (1QS 4:3-11; 8:1-5; 1QH 8:1-13; cf. also 1QH

6:15-19).⁵¹ Particularly striking is 1QS 4:3-11, which sets out a con-

trast between the "Spirit of light's" works in the "sons of light" and

the "spirit of darkness's" works in the "sons of perversity" (on which,

see cols. 3-4). Among many good works (18 or more), the following

overlap with Gal 5:22: "goodness," "faith," and "peace ... fruitfulness

... and eternal joy." Those who do these works are described as "all

who walk by [or "in" (preposition n)] this [Spirit];' a parallel to Gal

5:25 ("If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit"). Among

a number of evil works, the following are mentioned by 1QS, which

are comparable with the "deeds of the flesh" in Gal 5:19-21: "idols of

defilement," "cupidity," "abominable deeds committed in the spirit

of lust." Apparently unnoticed heretofore, this Qumran text is a par-

tial allusion to Isa 11:1-5 (see the chart of textual comparisons on the

following page—p. 18).

Similar to Gal 5:22-23 and to 1QS4, though without mention of

the "Spirit," in 1QS 8:1-5 "the Council of the Community" is said "to

practise truth, righteousness, justice, loving charity, and modesty .

to guard the faith ... with a ... contrite spirit," and, in this respect,

"shall be established in truth as an everlasting planting." This passage

also alludes to another Isaiah prophecy of Israel's figurative fecun-

dity (the last phrase, "everlasting planting," is an allusion to Isa 60:21:

"They will possess the land forever, the branch of his planting";⁵² cf. also

Isa 61:3). Along the same lines, 1QH 6:15-19 (= 14:15-19) also utilizes

the identical Isaiah 11 and 60 allusions as above: "And Thou hast sent

out a sprouting as a flower that shall bloom forever, that the Shoot [al-

lusion to Isa 11:1⁵³] may grow into the branches of the eternal planting

[allusion to Isa 61:3⁵⁴].... And all the rivers of Eden [shall water] its

[bou]ghs.... In its brilliant flames all the son[s of darkness] shall be

consumed." Likewise, 1QH 8:5-13 (= 16:5-13) contains the same two

Isaiah allusions in depicting virtually the same botanical imagery of

eschatological Israel as God's "Shoot," "everlasting planting," and

"fruitful planting ... for the glorious Eden and shall bear fr[uit for

ever]." The last two Hymn Scroll texts have also included the new

feature of the Qumran community being a verdant end-time "Eden."

Testament of Judah 24 is quite striking in relation to both Isaiah 11

and Gal 5:22 in its use of "Spirit" together with botanical images and.

a listing of spiritual characteristics:

51. The English references to 1QS and 1QH are to the edition of A. Dupont-

Sommer, The Essene Writings from Qumran (Oxford: Blackwell, 1961).

52. Dupont-Sommer, ibid., 91, has observed the allusion to Isaiah lying behind the

phrase in 1QS 8.

53. So, e.g., ibid., 219.

54. So, e.g., ibid., 367; cf. likewise Isa 60:21.

18 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

Isaiah 11:2	1QS 4:3-4
רוּחַ חָכְמָה וּבִינה...וּגְבוּרָה רוּחַ דַּעַת ("a spirit of wisdom and understand- ing...and might, a spirit of knowl- edge." Cf. also 11:4 "he will judge rightly for the meek [ ]" and 11:5: "and faithfulness [ ] the belt About his waist." Also, the Spirit will Cause him to "judge in righteousness" ( וְשָׁפַט בְּצֶדֶק ), v. 4; likewise he will not "judge" (יִשְׁפּוֹט ) in a worldly manner (v. 3) and he will adjudicate in "righ- teousness" ( צֶדֶק , 5a).	רוּחַ עֲנָנָה...וּבִינָה וְחָכְמַת גְּבוּרָה מַאֲמֶנֶת... וְרוּחַ דַּעַת ("a spirit of meekness ... and under- standing and wisdom, might with faithfulness, and wisdom, might with faithfulness...and a spirit of knowl- ledge"). Also, the Spirit's work is "to level Before him the ways of true righteous- ness [צֶדֶק ], and to set fear in his heart of the judgments [ בְמִשְׁפְטֵי] of God" (4:2b-3a).
Isaiah 11:1b-2a	1QS 4:6-7b
"And a branch from his roots will bear fruit [וְנֵצֶר מִשָּׁרָשָׁיו יִפְרֶה ]. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him."	"These are the counsels of the Spirit. ...And as for the visitations of all who walk by [or "in"] this (Spirit), it con- Sists of healing... and fruits from the seed (וּפְרוֹת זֶרַע )"a Note that Eph 1:17 (δώῃ ὑμῖν πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ ) also applies the messianic fruits To the people of God.

a. There is ambiguity about whether רוּחַ in cols. 3 and 4 refers to the divine

Spirit" or to the renewed human "spirit." Some translations prefer only the latter ren-

dering for all occurrences there, while others see that the divine "Spirit" is in mind as

the force influencing the renewed human "spirit," which is the case in Isa 11:1-5. The

latter view of cols. 3-4 is probable in the light of expressions (among others) such as

רוח קדושה in 3:7 and 4:21, which is best rendered "Holy Spirit" or "Spirit of holiness"

rather than "spirit of holiness" (following, e.g., Dupont-Sommer, ibid., 77, 81; and J. H.

Charlesworth et al. [ed.], Dead Sea Scrolls: Rule of the Community [Philadelphia: Ameri-

can Interfaith Institute, 1996], 13, 21, though other translations such as Martinez pre

fer the lower-case human reference throughout).

Upon the Messiah "the heavens will be opened ... to pour out the

Spirit ... and he will pour the Spirit of grace on you [Israel].... This

is the shoot of God ... and from your root will arise the Shoot, and

through it will arise the rod of righteousness."

The passage clearly alludes to Isa 11:1-2ff. and applies what will be

true of Israel's coming king to Israel itself. In addition, the king is to

be characterized with "righteousness," "peace," and "gentleness,"

which are directly linked to the Spirit's coming on him, the latter two

traits also found in Gal 5:22-23. Finally, this Spirit-led king will be

"the fountain of life of all humanity," who "will be resurrected to

life" (though the latter phrase is applied only to the patriarchs in

BEALE: The OT Background of "the Fruit of the Spirit" 19

25:1). The link between the Spirit and resurrection life is also made in

Gal 5:25, which we will argue below is conceptually a development

of "the fruit of the Spirit" notion in Gal 5:22.

Though again without reference to the "Spirit," as in some of the

Qumran texts, Pss. Sol. 14:1-5 (first cent. B.C.) likewise combines al-

lusions from Eden and Isaiah 60 and 65: '''The Lord's paradise, the

trees of life, are his devout ones. Their planting is firmly rooted for-

ever; they shall not be uprooted as long as the heavens shall last, for

Israel is the portion and inheritance of God" (Isa 60:21; 65:22b [LXX]:

"for as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people"; see

also 61:3). The new-creation text of LXX Isa 65:22 itself (see 65:17-21)

alludes to "the tree of life" from Genesis 2-3 (so virtually identical is

Tg. Isa. 65:22).⁵⁵

All of these texts from Qumran and early Judaism attest a pen-

chant to describe eschatological Israel as spiritually fruitful,⁵⁶ often in

connection to the dynamic work of God's Spirit that has reinstituted

the primordial conditions of fertility, occasionally even referring ex-

plicitly to Eden.⁵⁷ Sometimes botanical images from Isaiah are actually

55. In connection to this, Tg. Neof. Gen 3:23b-24 asserts: "If he [Adam] had observed

the precept of the Law and fulfilled 'its commandment he would live and endure for-

ever like the tree of life.... For the Law is a tree of life for everyone who toils in it and

keeps the commandments: he lives and endures like the tree of life in the world to come.

The Law is good for all who labor in it in this world like the fruit of the tree of life." Also

in mind in the LXX and Targum may be Prov 11:30: "the fruit of the righteous is a tree

of life," itself an allusion to Genesis 2-3.

56. Likewise see early Judaism for the metaphorical use with respect to Israel, its

leaders or their good works (JO. 16:26; 1 En. 93:5-8, 4 Ezra 5:23-24; 9:31-32; 2 Bar. 32:1;

following Barclay, Obeying the Truth, 121).

57. See later Judaism: Midr. Num. Rob. 13:12: two of the six things taken from Adam

because of his sin "which are to be restored through ... the Messiah" are "the fruit of

the earth" and "the fruit of the tree" (the others are his lustre, his immortal life, his stat-

ure, and the luminaries). So identically Midr. Gen. Rob. 12:6. The Christian Odes Sol.

11:1-2 (ca. A.D. 100) has Christ saying, "My heart was pruned and its flower appeared

... and it produced fruits for the Lord. For the Most High circumcised me by his Holy

Spirit" (likewise 11:12). Christ then speaks of God's people who also are fruitful: "And

he took me to his Paradise ... (I contemplated blooming and fruit-bearing trees....

Their branches were flourishing and their fruits were shining; their roots (were) from

an immortal land .) blessed, 0 Lord, are they who are planted in your land, and who

have a place in your Paradise; and who grow in the growth of your trees" (11:16-19).

In Odes Sol. 14:7-8 and 16:2-5, the "Spirit" also is closely associated with spiritual

"fruits," so that the former may be the implied source of the latter. Irenaeus, Against

Heresies 5.10.1, links Gal 5:6-22 (see Against Heresies 5.11.1) with the renewed condition

of Eden: "men, if they ... receive the Spirit of God, and bring forth the fruit [καρπο-

φοροίαν] thereof, shall be spiritual [πνεύματικοί], as being planted in the Paradise of

God." Likewise Origen (De Oratione 25.3, 9-10) says twice: "let us bear the fruits of the

Spirit in order that the Lord should walk about among us in a spiritual paradise." See

also The Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan 40.1 (Minor Tractates of the Talmud): "Fou

things a man does, and he enjoys their fruits in this world while the stock is laid up for

20 Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1

employed in the depictions. Several of these passages refer to various

virtues that are directly connected to or are expressions of the "fruit"

image, while the other texts imply this. Thus, though they do not ap-

pear to be interdependent, both Paul in Gal 5:22 and some of these

Jewish texts are on parallel tracks in describing, through the language

of Isaiah, their respective communities as bearing "fruit" produced by

God's "Spirit." That contemporary Jewish exegesis could do this makes

more plausible the notion that Paul was capable of doing it.

THE SPIRIT IN GALATIANS 5:22-25 AS THE ESCHATOLOGICAL.

LIFE-GIVER IN THE NEW CREATION

There are yet further hints of a fecund new creation in Gal 5:22-25,

especially when seen against an lsaianic background. Gal 5:22, 25

says, after mention of "the fruit of the Spirit," that "fruitful" people

who "live by the Spirit" will "walk by the Spirit." The "living" in v. 25

is best understood as "resurrection living." This appears to reflect an

end-time role of the Spirit in raising the dead, which is also reflected

elsewhere in Galatians, as well as generally elsewhere in Paul and in

the OT. Not surprisingly, in addition to the well-known Ezek 37:3—

14,⁵⁸ the only other place in the OT where resurrection life (with the

terminology of ζάω/ζωή) is linked. to the eschatological work of the

Spirit (πνεῦμα) is Isaiah 57. Specifically, 57:15b of the LXX renders the

vIT ("to make alive the heart of the crushed") fairly straightfor-

wardly: "giving life to the crushed [broken] of heart" (διδοὺς ζωὴν

τοῖς συντετριμμένοις τὴν καρδίαν; the notion of resurrection is empha-

ized in the MT [and significant LXX MSS witness in line with the

MT⁵⁹], since even the preceding clause has "to make alive the spirit

him in the world to come [among which are] ...acts of lovingkindness, establishing

peace." Approximatley 35x καρπός in the four Gospels refers to godly characteristics

among Jesus' followers. Never, however, is it directly related to the Spirit. Once καρπός
serves as an analogy for Christ's resurrection (John 12:24). Five times outside Gal 5:2

Paul uses καρπός to refer to godly characteristics among true Christians but never in

connection to the Spirit.

58. It is not impossible that the preceding segment of Ezek 36:25-30 could also be

echoed, since the passage prophesies, "I will give you a new heart and ... put my Spirit

in you, and you will walk [πορεύομαι = הלך] in my ordinances," in contrast to walking

after "idols" (εἴδωλον) and in "uncleanness" [ἀκαθαρσία] characterized by Israel's

former "fleshly" (σάρξ) existence; God will also "multiply fruit [καρπός]

Bulletin for Biblical Research (BBR) 2005.1