While looking at the Fruit of the Spirit as listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23, a thought came to me inspired by what I read in the work of Rabbi Moses Maimonides. He told that Onkelos, a Roman Prince who left the royal palace in Rome for Jerusalem, and there converted to Judaism, was contemplating Exodus 33:23 where God responded to Moses’ request that he be able to see Him said, “I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.” Onkelos concluded that there are higher things of such superiority that their true nature cannot be perceived by man’s intellect. In looking at the Fruit of the Spirit I asked myself: is there any painter or artist in the world that can paint a portrait of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as fruit? What form would they take? What would they look like? I concluded, like Onkelos, God has made some things so superior to our knowledge that we cannot perceive them without using the objects we already possess in our understanding. For instance, to paint a picture of love, an artist may show a mother holding her infant in her arms, looking down at him or her with tender eyes and a look of sweet serenity on her face. But that’s not the essence of love, only the evidence. The same goes for joy, peace, etc. That’s because all these fruit are abstract terms that can only be turned into concrete understanding through action. Thus Moses, who wanted to see God face to face, had to settle for something that would display an attribute of God, but not God Himself. But oh what joy to read in 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, we are God’s children now. But it has not yet been shown to us what we are going to be. We know that when He comes again, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He [really] is.” – Dr. Robert R Seyda