Galatians 5:16-26 Living by the Spirit

Brandon Goodin Elder

 

Review

“For freedom Christ has set us free”. Paul has addressed the Galatians with this point. Their conscience has been set free from the guilt of their sin through the cross of Christ. They were set free to pursue righteousness. In fact, they had the “hope of righteousness”. They had the certain expectation that God had made them righteous and that He was certain to continue that work through Christ. They had been set free from death through Christ’s resurrection. They had been set free from the devil because he was no longer able to wield sin and death against them. Returning to dead works to make themselves presentable to God was to return to an unbearable slavery. Even if those works had the appearance of things which God required of His people in past times. It was not the law that had set them free. The One to whom the law testified of had come. Christ is the one who set them free. The same is true for us. We are free from sin, death, and the devil through Christ. “The question now is how are these things possible? And the answer is, by the Holy Spirit. He alone can keep us truly free.”[1]

 

Walk by the Spirit – Galatians 5:16

In verse 13-14 Paul tells the Galatians to “not use [their] freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” He further makes it clear that “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Paul makes it clear that it is only when they “walk by the Spirit” that these things are possible. To walk by the Spirit will be to move in the opposite direction of “gratify[ing] the desires of the flesh”. The flesh being our old rebellious sinful nature which is passing. This same idea is expressed in Romans 8:4 where the believer is identified as those who have the “righteous requirement of the law […] fulfilled in them” and those who “walk […] according to the Spirit”. It is also important to take note that Paul has communicated before that what is started by the Spirit must continue by the Spirit (Gal. 3:2-3). If we are going to be people who are law abiding citizens of Christ we must walk by the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gave us a new nature in the beginning and it is Holy Spirit that will continue His work in our sanctification.

 

Internal War – Galatians 5:17

Paul provides a description to the Galatians of the internal conflict that every Christian is subject to. It is not just a moral conflict like any man may experience. It is an internal spiritual conflict where the Spirit of God wars against the flesh. Since the Christian walks by the Spirit they too are at war against the flesh. It is a civil war. The new man warring against the old man. This isn’t a foreign enemy. This is the believer’s sinful nature. It is the believer who desires the sin and the righteousness simultaneously. No wonder why we “eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness”. There remains in us that which wars against the God we now love.

 

Led by the Spirit – Galatians 5:18

This internal war is evidence of being led by the Spirit. The fact that a Christian is aware of this conflict should be an encouragement and a comfort. The faithful are reminded they are not under the curse of the law. The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. As William Perkins says, “The privilege then is that God does not impute the defects of obedience to such as truly believe and repent, but He accepts their imperfect obedience as perfect and absolute. […] And the consideration of God’s merciful acceptation must stir us up to an earnest care and conscience of good duties.”

 

Works of the Flesh - Galatians 5:19-21

Here Paul provides a non-exhaustive list of sins (“and things like these”).