Only gospel freedom can produce inward change, said D.A. Carson during a chapel service at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Nov. 13. Preaching from Galatians 5:16-26, Carson emphasized how the fruit of the Spirit represents the outworking of regeneration, which not only restrains sinfulness but changes the heart.

“Gospel freedom does not merely keep us from sin, it generates goodness,” he said. “It transforms us in such a way that the law cannot condemn us.”

Carson, a noted biblical scholar and research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, opened his message by highlighting two equally legitimate aspects of biblical faith: it cannot be earned by works, and yet it cannot be proven without them. He suggested that Galatians 5 provides a way to integrate these two streams.