The Spiritual Walk (Galatians 5:16-26)

 

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, English Standard Version)

 

Last time we were in Galatians, we got the exhortation from Paul to stand firm and live out our freedom in Christ.  If you’re like me, you might be saying, “OK Paul, how do I live out the freedom I have in Christ?”  That’s what this next section in the book of Galatians (5:16-26) addresses.  The theme of this section is summed up in 5:16 (quoted above), and the details are outlined in 5:17-26.  In this section, Paul gives us the prescription (v. 5:16); he describes the battle within (vv. 5:17-18); he lists the evidences of walking in the flesh (vv. 5:19-21); the evidences of walking in the Spirit (vv. 5:22-24); and he concludes his discussion in vv. 5:25-26.

 

1. The Prescription: Walk in the Spirit (“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”).  So how do we experience the victory of living out our freedom in Christ?  We do so by walking in the Spirit.  I’ve said this before; “walking” is a common NT picture of the Christian life.  Walking gives us the idea of steady progress over time, which is exactly what sanctification (the process of becoming more holy) is all about.  We may not be where we want to be in our Christian life, but by God’s grace, we’re not where we started!  Notice we are to walk “by the Spirit.”  This phrase means we are to walk (or live) according to the Spirit (“Spirit” here refers to the Holy Spirit).  The Holy Spirit, who dwells within each believer (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19), is our guide to holy living (see John 14:26 and John 16:13 for two great examples of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our lives).  Paul is basically saying we need to listen to the Spirit’s promptings.  If we listen to the Spirit’s promptings, we will not gratify our fleshly desires.  Walking by the Spirit is mutually exclusive with walking by the flesh—you cannot do both at the same time.

 

2. The Battle Within (“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law”).  This notion of the mutual exclusivity between the flesh and the Spirit is expressed very succinctly in these next two verses.  Notice that it is the desires of the flesh (i.e., our sinful nature) that are against the desires of the Spirit.  What are these desires?  They are desires that reside within you and within me.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  Before Christ, we had no inclination to obey God, to please God, or to know God more.  Since coming to Christ, we now have a desire to obey God, to please God, to know him more.  So what about the “old creation?”  Paul says the old creation is gone.  So why is there this battle within me between the flesh and the Spirit?  The battle exists because the new man still dwells in an unredeemed body (cf. Romans 7:14-25 to read Paul’s struggles with the flesh).

 

This battle that is being waged within you is so fierce that you are often unable to do what you want to do.  Just about every decision you face each day is an opportunity to fulfill the desires of the flesh or the desires of the Spirit.  Now this might seem hopeless, but Paul throws in this ray of light in v. 18.  By following the promptings of the Spirit, we are free from the law and its demands.  Why?  Because walking in the Spirit fulfills the law (cf. Romans 8:3-4).

 

3. The Evidences of Walking in the Flesh (“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”).  OK, how do I know if I’m walking in the flesh?  If it’s wrong to do so, I want to know when I’m doing it so I can stop.  Before I answer that question, I want to take a moment to stress that these are evidences, or fruits, of walking in the flesh.  In other words, I do these things because I’m walking in the flesh, not the other way around.  This list that Paul gives is representative (not exhaustive) of the fruits of the flesh.  If you’re walking according to the flesh and fulfilling its desires, these are the characteristics your life will manifest.  If you’re completely honest, you will find yourself in this list a couple of times because we all fall in many ways (cf. James 3:1).  I’m not going to cover the list in detail except to say that the one thing these fruits of the flesh have in common is self-gratification.  A life with this fruit to show is the life that places self on the throne at the expense of God and others.

 

4. The Evidences of Walking in the Spirit (“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”).  The good news is the NT never gives a list of bad behaviors to avoid without also giving a list of good behaviors to perform.  In contrast to the “works of the flesh” listed above, Paul gives us a list of Spiritual fruit.  Again, this is the result of a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit.  If you’re walking according to the Spirit, then these characteristics will be manifest in your life.  As in the previous list, notice that the one thing these qualities have in common is that they’re evident in a life that has placed God on the throne and focuses on pleasing God and others rather than self.  Before moving on, I want to comment on two things from this passage.  First is the last part of v. 23 (“against such things there is no law”).  There is no law for the person who walks by the Spirit.  What this means is the person whose life is guided by the Spirit needs no external law to regulate behavior.  Isn’t that great!  Second, in v. 24, Paul says believers in Christ “have crucified the flesh.”  This is similar to v. 2:20 and Romans 13:14—the believer follows Christ now, not his fleshly passions.

 

5. Paul’s Conclusion (“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another”).  Paul concludes with an exhortation:  If you are living by the Spirit (i.e., if you’ve been made alive by the Spirit), then walk by the Spirit.  A modern paraphrase would be:  “Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk.”

 

Application Time.  We live out our freedom in Christ by walking according to the Spirit, but how do we walk according to the Spirit?  Sorry to report that there are no shortcuts here.  Remember what we said earlier about the Christian life being a walk?  Steady progress over time.  It takes time:  Time in prayer, time in God’s word, time in Christian fellowship.  Here is a good verse to key on, Colossians 3:16:  “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  When you let the word of Christ dwell in you, it transforms your thinking so that obeying what it says becomes easier over time.  There is no substitute for practicing the spiritual disciplines.

 

Bottom Line.  I close with this passage from the book of Colossians:  “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).

 

Have a blessed day!

 

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