Galatians 5 Verses 16 to 26 Walk by the Spirit March 17, 2024
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· 1 view· To understand that even when we come to Christ, the struggle is not over.
Notes
Transcript
Galatians 5 Verses 16 to 26 Walk by the Spirit March 17, 2024
Lesson 11 in A Cry for Freedom
Class Presentation Notes AAAAA
Background Scriptures:
· Romans 6:12-14 (NKJV)
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but
under grace.
Main Idea:
· The Christians life is a battleground, not a playground.
Study Aim:
· To understand that even when we come to Christ, the struggle is not over.
Create Interest:
· Walking in the Spirit is so exciting. The way the Lord will lead you on any given day, the opportunities that will open before you to do something significant, the insights He’ll give to you as you’re reading the Scriptures, the joy of just looking at a sunset and realizing you know the Creator of such beauty—will be overwhelming to you. Too many believers miss all of that because, caught up in wrestling with sin, they live in a perpetual “sin-drome.”[1]
Lesson in Historical Context:
· Love is the guard of Christian freedom. The Holy Spirit is its guide. These principles accomplish what the law could never do. It withheld liberty, and yet did not give purity. The Spirit of love and of sonship bestows both, establishing a happy, ordered freedom, the liberty of the sons of God.
· From the first of these two factors of Christian ethics the Apostle passes in ver. 16 to the second. He conducts us from the consequence to the cause, from the human aspect of Spiritual freedom to the Divine. Love, he has said, fulfils all laws in one. It casts out evil from the heart; it stays the injurious hand and tongue; and makes it impossible for liberty to give the rein to any wanton or selfish impulse. But the law of love is not a natural, automatic impulse. It is a Divine inspiration. “Love is of God.” It is the characteristic “fruit of the Spirit” of adoption (ver. 22), implanted and nourished from above. When I bid you “by love serve each other,” the Apostle says, I do not expect you to keep this law of yourselves, by force of native goodness: I know how contrary it is to your Galaticnature; “but I say, walk in the Spirit,” and this will be an easy yoke; to “fulfil the desire of the flesh” will then be for you a thing impossible.
· The word Spirit(πνεύματι) is written indefinitely; but the Galatians knew well what Spirit the Apostle meant. It is “the Spirit” of whom he has spoken so often in this letter, the Holy Spirit of God, who had entered their hearts when they first believed in Christ and taught them to call God Father. He gave them their freedom: He will teach them how to use it. The absence of the definite article in Pneuma does not destroy its personal force, but allows it at the same time a broad, qualitative import, corresponding to that of the opposed “desire of the flesh.” The walk governed “by the Spirit” is a Spiritualwalk. “The Spirit” is not the path “in” which one walks; rather He supplies the motive principle, the directing influence of the new life.* Ver. 16 is interpreted by vv. 18 and 25. To “walk in the Spirit” is to be “led by the Spirit”; it is so to “live in the Spirit” that one habitually “moves” (marches: ver. 25) under His direction.[2] Let’s see how Paul develops his thoughts for us😊.
Bible Study:
Galatians 5:16 (NASB)
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
· Paul directs his readers to live by the Spirit. The Greek word translated “live” (peripateite) is literally “walk.”
o Peripateō became particularly associated with “walking and talking” or “walking and teaching.” This happened to such an extent that Peripatetics were recognized as a unique philosophical group.
§ Specifically, the Peripatetics were associated with Aristotle, who used to deliver his lectures (“walkings,” he called them) as he walked. The metaphoric sense, “to live, to conduct one’s life,” did not truly become common until the Septuagint.[3]
o Paul uses this word elsewhere when speaking of living the new life in Christ (Rom. 6:4), a life that is conducted by means of the Spirit
§ Romans 6:4 (NKJV)
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
§ Romans 8:4 (NKJV)
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
o The word suggests continuance, progress, and daily attention. Paul commands his readers to avoid gratifying the desires of sinful nature by means not of law observance but of living by the Spirit.
· The Greek for “sinful nature” is literally “flesh” (sarx). As Paul invests this term with all that is against the Spirit, the translation “sinful nature” largely hits the mark.
· The word “desires” is singular in the Greek, expressing the sense that existence in the flesh is an existence characterized by desire.
o Philosophical and religious thinkers in the ancient world understood that desire was intrinsic to human nature and that it was a trap from which it was necessary to be freed.
o Desire means one makes one’s happiness or peace hostage to achieving or receiving what one desires, whether it be money, position, or another person.
· In distinction from Greco-Roman philosophical and Jewish approaches to the problem of desire, Paul understands that freedom from enslavement to desire comes through living by the Spirit.
o Life “in Christ” involves the will of the believer: a conscious and continual turning away from that which is opposed to the Spirit.
o Even after faith in Christ believers must combat the desire to be self-serving, to live for their own comfort rather than to open themselves to the expansive love required of and available to those in Christ.[4]
Galatians 5:17 (NKJV)
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
· Just as Isaac and Ishmael were unable to get along, so the Spirit and the flesh (the old nature) are at war with each other. By “the flesh,” of course, Paul does not mean “the body.”
o The human body is not sinful; it is neutral.
§ If the Holy Spirit controls the body, then we walk in the Spirit.
§ If the flesh controls the body, then we walk in the lusts (desires) of the flesh.
📷 The Spirit and the flesh have different appetites, and this is what creates the conflict.
· Our old nature is like the pig and the raven, always looking for something unclean on which to feed. Our new nature is like the sheep and the dove, yearning for that which is clean and holy.
o No wonder a struggle goes on within the life of the believer! The unsaved man knows nothing of this battle because he does not have the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9).
· Note that the Christian cannot simply willto overcome the flesh: “These two are opposed to each other, so that you cannot do anything you please” It is this very problem that Paul discusses in Romans: Listen to what Paul says😊.
o “I do not know what I am doing. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do … For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Rom. 7:15, 19, niv).
§ Paul is not denying that there is victory. He is simply pointing out that we cannot win this victory in our own strength and by our own will.[5] Discuss!
Galatians 5:18 (NKJV)
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
· In summary, Paul emphasized that a godly life is not lived under the rules of the Law but is a life led by the Spirit. It was important for the Galatians to know: Read the following to the class and call for questions.
o As justification is not possible by works
o Sanctification cannot be achieved by human effort.
§ This of course does not mean that a Christian is totally passive in either case for the response of faith is necessary—Faith in Christ to save and in the Holy Spirit to sanctify.[6]
Galatians 5:19-21 (NKJV)
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
· For Paul it was essential that Christian freedom should not mean freedom to indulge the lower side of human nature, but freedom to walk in the life of the Spirit. He gives us a catalogue of evil things. Every word he uses has a picture behind it and I encourage you to understand each.
Thought to Soak on before sharing the definitions of the lengthy list
· We read the bible and often get glassy-eyed on lists of things. Here we are told a very important list of things that are evident we should not do…I think we should understand what they are! Yes, it makes the notes long.
· Adultery;The word used is porneia, the general word for illicit sexual intercourse. It includes adultery, although in some places it is distinguished from it (Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21). It is akin to the word porne, the word for a harlot, and often signifies liaison with a prostitute. The word is also used to signify sexual activities within degrees prohibited by God’s Word or frowned on by society, as, for instance, the man whom Paul told the Corinthian church to excommunicate because he was committing incest with his father’s wife (1 Cor. 5:1). The word was commonly used for all kinds of sexual misbehavior.
o In the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s day, casual and promiscuous sex was as common as it is today. People thought nothing of it. At Corinth, in particular, immorality was so widely practiced that (like Sodom in the Old Testament) the name of the city became a synonym for vice.[7]
· Fornication; it has been said, and said truly, that the one completely new virtue Christianity brought into the world was chastity. Christianity came into a world where sexual immorality was not only condoned but was regarded as essential to the ordinary working of life.
· Impurity/uncleanness; the word that Paul uses (akatharsia) is interesting. It can be used for the pus of an unclean wound, for a tree that has never been pruned, for material which has never been sifted. Impurity, then, is that which makes a man unfit to come before God, the soiling of life with the things which separate us from him.
· Wantonness/lewdness; this word (aselgeia) is translated licentiousness in the RSV Version (Mark 7:22; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 4:19; 1 Peter 4:3; Jude 4; Romans 13:13 and 2 Peter 2:18). It has been defined as “readiness for any pleasure.” The man who practices it has been said to know no restraint, but to do whatever caprice and wanton insolence may suggest. Josephus ascribed it to Jezebel when she built a temple to Baal in Jerusalem. The idea is that of a man who is so far gone in desire that he has ceased to care what people say or think.
· Idolatry; this means the worship of gods which the hands of men have made. It is the sin in which material things have taken the place of God.
· Witchcraft/sorcery; this literally means the use of drugs. It can mean the beneficent use of drugs by a doctor; but it can also mean poisoning, and it came to be very specially connected with the use of drugs for sorcery, of which the ancient world was full.
· Enmity; the idea is that of the man who is characteristically hostile to his fellow men; it is the precise opposite of the Christian virtue of love for the brethren and for all men.
· Strife; originally this word had mainly to do with the rivalry for prizes. It can even be used in a good sense in that connection, but much more commonly it means the rivalry which has found its outcome in quarrelling and wrangling.
· Jealousy; this word (zēlos from which our word zeal comes) was originally a good word. It meant emulation, the desire to attain nobility when we see it. But it degenerated; came to mean the desire to have what someone else has, wrong desire for what is not for us.
· Uncontrolled temper: the word Paul uses means bursts of temper. It describes not an anger which lasts, but anger which flames out and then dies.
· Self-seeking: this word has a very illuminating history. It is eritheia and originally meant the work of a hired laborer (erithos). So, it came to mean work done for pay. It went on to mean canvassing for political or public office, and it describes the man who wants office, not from any motives of service, but for what he can get out of it.
· Dissension; literally the word means standing apart. After one of his great victories Nelson attributed it to the fact that he had the happiness of commanding a band of brothers. Dissensiondescribes a society in which the very opposite is the case, where the members fly apart instead of coming together.
· Heresies; The word used is hairesis, and it is used of the Sadducees (Acts 5:17) and the Pharisees (Acts 15:5). This is the word that the orator Tertullus used in his tirade against the apostle Paul and what he called “the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5). Originally, the word was not necessarily a bad word. Heresy is a division that is thoroughly established and organized around false teaching. Heresies are a work of the flesh. They abound in religion because of the total Spiritual blindness of the unregenerate man (1 Cor. 2:14). Indeed, the more outrageous the error, the more people seem to be disposed to believe it. The following are is a very brief idea of some heresies.
o Mormonsbelieve that a dissolute character named Joseph Smith found some plates written in Egyptian hieroglyphics that he was able to translate—with the aid of some magic glasses—into the Book of Mormon,which was composed in imitation King James English style. They believe that God has a body, and that Jesus was a polygamist. They believe the lie of the Devil: “Ye shall be as gods.”
o Christian Scientists pin their faith in the metaphysical meanders of Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy, who, despite the fact that she buried three husbands and eventually died herself, proclaimed death to be an error of the mortal mind and pain to be an illusion.
o Jehovah’s Witnesses mock at the Trinity; believe that Jesus was Michael the archangel; deny the biblical doctrine of hell; deny the literal, bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus; believe that He returned in 1914, claim that only 144,000 people can be born again; and make general mayhem of Bible prophecy.
§ In the early church, heresies raised their heads, but the brand of teaching that the Judaizers propagated in Galatia was almost as bad.[8]
o The tragedy of life is that people who hold different views very often finish up by disliking, not each others’ views, but each other. It should be possible to differ with a person and yet remain friends. Discuss.
· Envy; this word (phthonos), is a mean word. Euripides called it “the greatest of all diseases among men.” The essence of it is that it does not describe the Spirit which desires, nobly or ignobly, to have what someone else has; it describes the Spirit which grudges the fact that the other person has these things at all. It does not so much want the things for itself; it merely wants to take them from the other. The Stoics defined it as “grief at someone else’s good.” Basil called it “grief at your neighbor’s good fortune.” It is the quality, not so much of the jealous, but rather of the embittered mind.
· Drunkenness; in the ancient world this was not a common vice. The Greeks drank more wine than they did milk; even children drank wine. But they drank it in the proportion of three parts of water to two of wine. Greek and Christian alike would have condemned drunkenness as a thing which turned a man into a beast.
· Carousing/revelries ; A komos was a band of friends who accompanied a victor of the games after his victory. They danced and laughed and sang his praises. It also described the bands of the devotees of Bacchus, god of wine. It describes what in regency England would have been called a rout. It means unrestrained revelry, enjoyment that has degenerated into license.
o When we get to the root meaning of these words, we see that life has not changed so very much in the last 2000 years.[9] Discussion is in order here
Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
These nine qualities divide into three groups.
· Qualities which are Godward are set forth: love, joy, peace;
· Qualities that are seen in relation to others: longsuffering, gentleness, goodness;
· Qualities relating to oneself: faith, meekness, temperance.
o Little wonder Paul concludes, “Against such there is no law”. On the contrary these qualities fulfil the Law. Law was given to restrain man’s evil nature, to suppress it, even to condemn it. But there is no condemnation of a life given over to producing the fruit of the Spirit. Let us now consider such fruit in detail. Hang on …this is long
Note: The idea of understanding these qualities is just as important as what we should not do……Take a moment, stretch, and press on😊.
· Love (agapē) is the word that is used for God’s love to others (John 3:16), the love that has been shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5). It suggests that we should love others as God loves them. This is very challenging, for the love of God is resolute/unwavering, flowing out to mankind no matter what they say about Him, or how they act against Him. This should be our attitude.
o “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt 5:44)? To act like this shows this love to be of the mind and will, as well as of the heart. It demands determination for it is contrary to nature. Let us listen again to the words of the Lord Jesus, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another” (John 13:35).
· Joy (chara) is ours because of our knowledge of and fellowship with God (Rom 5:11) and is associated with the presence of the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17; 1 Thess 1:6). Because of this link with divine Persons, it can be enjoyed at all times and is not dependent on our circumstances. It is a deep contentment and delight in the ways of God, and its possession enables us to welcome different forms of trials (or testing) in life (James 1:2).
· Peace (eirēnē) is not the peace with God we have as justified, but the peace of God in our hearts. It is that peace, tranquility or contentment which is enjoyed by those who live in harmony with the will of God. The Lord spoke of giving to His disciples “my peace” and “my joy” (John 14:27; 15:11).
· Longsuffering (makrothumia), translated by some “patience”, with regard to people. It is used of God in 1 Pet 3:20. It is self-restraint in the face of provocation; tolerance when others annoy, oppose and sorely try us. We do not lose our temper or seek to retaliate but, turning away from all thoughts of anger and revenge, seek to act toward them in patient forbearance as God did toward us.
· Gentleness (chrēstotēs) is mostly translated “kindness”. It is used of God in Titus 3:4 and of the yoke of Christ in Matt 11:30, where it is translated “easy” of a yoke which does not chafe. We should be marked by a gentle kindness as we go through life, with a compassion for others. Such qualities are sadly missing in a godless world.
· Goodness (agathōsunē) is similar in meaning to the previous word. Paul alone used agathōsunē in the New Testament. “Goodness” is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 (cf. Ephesians 5:9, a “fruit of the light,” NIV). It is a quality properly belonging to believers (Romans 15:14), but it comes from a relationship with God (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:11). It may also imply generosity.[10]
o Trench illustrated it by Christ cleansing the temple (Matt 21:12–13). Lightfoot suggests agathosune is a kindly activity for the benefit of others.
o So here is a goodness which is beneficial always to others, but to be so, must on occasions be firm when rebuke and correction are necessary for lasting benefit.
· Faith (pistis) means “faithfulness”, “fidelity”, “loyalty”, “trustworthiness”, “reliability”.This quality would make us reliable as those taking character from God (1 Cor 1:9) and Christ (Rev 1:5). Hogg and Vine, however, suggest it expresses “trustfulness, the habit of mind which does not doubt that God is working all things together for good and those who love Him … that seeks to realize the truth of the apostle’s word concerning love that it ‘believeth all things’. Conversely, suspicion of God … is a work of the flesh, and so is suspicion of those around us; it darkens and embitters the soul, hinders efficiency in service and makes fellowship impossible”.
· Meekness (praütēs) is a quality claimed by the Lord Jesus. It is often translated “gentleness”. It would seem to be the opposite of self-assertiveness, arrogance and violence and descriptive of one who is gentle and mild. But it is not weakness. I
o If the Lord was meek, then it was the result of submission to the will of God and of a consciousness of inward power.
§ This would suggest that meekness is strength under control.
📷 Moses was the meekest man upon the earth, but in the context (Num 12) he was a man who allowed God to vindicate him.
📷 A meek man is one who accepts the will of God without resentment, who can afford to be gentle and mild because of inward strength, and who is under the perfect control of God. Praütēs is associated with lowliness (Matt 11:29) and wisdom (James 3:13).
· Temperance (enkratēia) is usually rendered “self control”. Temperance today means self-control in relation to drink, whereas here it is self-control in all things. It is used in 1 Cor 7:9 of control of sexual desire and in 1 Cor 9:25 of an athlete’s discipline of his body.
o It indicates the mastery over every desire, impulse, appetite and longing.
o It enables a person to walk through this world completely in control of himself, so that he triumphs when others around him are falling.
§ This quality produced by the Spirit spells victory.
Let’s press on before you go to sleep😊 Or take a break, stretch and read on😊
· Paul now says, “Against such there is no law”.How could there be, seeing they are produced by the Spirit of God? Law, given to restrain and condemn, finds nothing in these excellent qualities to demand such action.
o On the contrary these virtues fulfil the Law and give pleasure to the Law-giver.
§ They found perfect expression in the life of the Lord Jesus and should be manifest in the life of every Christian.
📷 What transformation will be seen as with exercised hearts we seek to produce such fruit.[11]
· If Paul is famous for his contrast of ‘flesh’ and ‘Spirit’, he is also famous for the key words he uses that go with them both. He speaks of the works of the ‘flesh’, but the fruit of the ‘Spirit’.
· Paul says “fruit” not “fruits.” This probably points to the fact that all of these collectively make up Christlikeness. As we abide in Christ, all of “the fruits” of the Spirit get produced. That is not to say that each one is as strong in us as the others, but simply that the Spirit is shaping us in every way into Christlikeness. Additionally, the fruit of the Spirit as a whole is basically a character sketch of Christ. What is the Spirit doing in us? He is conforming us into the image of Jesus, the One who perfectly embodied love and every other virtue mentioned.[12]
……………………………………………………………………………
· Underneath the two lists—the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit—there lies Paul’s whole vision of what happens to someone when they come, through faith by grace into the community of the Messiah’speople. (Notice how, in verse 24, he speaks of Christians as ‘those who belong to the Messiah’; and how he assumes, as he/she does in 4:4–7, that all such people are indwelt by the Spirit.) There are various stages to be observed, which he condenses here.
o People start off in the condition he calls ‘flesh’. They are born into human families, with ethnic and territorial identities. They discover within themselves all kinds of desires, which, if allowed full rein, will produce the ‘works’ listed in verses 19–21.
§ A glance back at this list will reveal that a society in which most people behave in such a way is unlikely to be a happy or thriving place.
§ What is more, when God finally establishes his kingdom, people like that will have no place in it; it would be very surprising if they did.
· That’s not the sort of place, and state of affairs, that God wishes ultimately to create.
o But then, through the announcement of the gospel of Jesus, God’s Spirit goes to work, and people are renewed.
§ The first sign of that renewal, and hence the true badge of their belonging, is their faith in Jesus as the risen Lord.
§ But their membership in the Messiah’s people involves them in a movement through death to new life (this is spelled out more fully in 2:19–20).
§ What is left behind in this death, this co-crucifixion with the Messiah, is precisely the life in which ‘the flesh’ determines who one is and how one behaves.
o Instead, they begin to ‘bear fruit’. The nine qualities Paul lists in verses 22–23 are not things which, if we try hard enough, we could simply do without help, without the Spirit. If you suspect that someone who is being kind to you is having to try very hard to do it, the kindness itself loses its flavor.
§ The point of all of them is that when the Spirit is at work they will begin to happen; new motivations will appear.
Thoughts to Soak on:
· The balance this produces is as vital for the church today as it ever was. Often, today, when people emphasize the need for love, patience, gentleness and the like, this goes with an attitude to truth and the gospel which says that we shouldn’t stress the things we disagree on.
· Equally, when people are passionate for the truth of the gospel, as Paul was, they often allow that zeal to betray them into the kind of anger and even malice that are listed under ‘the works of the flesh’.
· Often the blend of truth and love which Paul so often urged (see, e.g., Ephesians 4:15) seems elusive in church life.
o Paul’s own answer to the problem would be short and clear: we need to learn to line up more effectively with the Spirit.[13]
Galatians 5:24-25 (NKJV)
24 And those who areChrist's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
· Vs. 24-25: These verses serve as a dual conclusion to Paul’s two catalogs of vices and virtues. If the Christian life is a continuous tug-of-war between the flesh and the Spirit, are not believers consigned to a Spiritually meager existence of perpetual defeat and minimal growth? No!
o In these verses Paul asserted the sufficiency of the Spirit to deal with the flesh by pointing the way to Christian victory.
o That way is the path of sanctification Paul described here in terms of the dual process of degradation, daily dying to the flesh, and continuous growth in grace through the new life of the Spirit.
· Many commentators interpret these verses in terms of Paul’s earlier testimony of having been crucified with Christ and made alive through faith (2:20). The language in these two passages is strikingly similar, but there is a noticeable difference in meaning. In Gal 2:20 the verb is passive,“I have been crucified with Christ.” This refers to a past act, a fait accompli, something done to the Christian and for the Christian by someone else.
o We have been crucified with Christ in that he died in our place on the cross and on the basis of which we are declared righteous by God through faith.
o In Gal. 5:24, however, the passive voice has given way to an active construction. Crucifixion of the flesh is described here not as something done to us but rather something done by us.
§ Believers themselves are the agents of this crucifixion.
§ Paul was here describing the process of mortification, the daily putting to death of the flesh through the disciplines of prayer, fasting, repentance, and self-control. Discuss
· Vs. 24: This verse tells us that there is no shortcut to Spiritual victory in the life of the Christian. No second blessing, or rededication, or spiritual quick fix can take the place of consistent, obedient, vigilant renunciation of the world and mortification of the flesh.
o The very first and the last two of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses point to the significance of this fact for us:
§ 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Matt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
§ 94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their head, through penalties, death, and hell.
§ 95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace (Acts 14:22).[14]
· Vs. 25: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit: We can better understand what Paul wrote here if we understand that the ancient Greek words for walk are different in Galatians 5:16 and 5:25.
o The first (peripateo) is the normal word for walking, used there as a picture of the “walk of life.” The second (stoicheo) means “to walk in line with” or “to be in line with.” Paul here is saying, “Keep in step with the Spirit.”
§ The idea is, “The Spirit has given you life. Now let Him direct your steps.” Or, as the Revised English Bible has it, “If the Spirit is the source of our life, let the Spirit also direct its course.”
§ “The verb stoicheo means ‘to be in line with, stand beside a person or a thing, hold to, agree with, follow’. The present imperative indicates that this is to be the habitual practice.” (Morris)[15]
Galatians 5:26 (NKJV)
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
· Vs. 26: Part of relating to others in the Spirit involves knowing what not to do. Galatians 5:26 transitions us from Paul’s sharp contrast between the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in 5:19–23, moving to the effects of both lifestyles on our interactions with others.
o Paul exhorts his readers to avoid boasting, challenging, and envying (5:26). This underscores the reality that fleshly living is always self-centered, self-focused, and self-satisfying.
o In contrast, living by the Spirit places the emphasis on others.
· To “become boastful” means “to boast where there is nothing to boast about.” Such a warning would fit well with the Galatians’ background of legalism.
o Legalism always puffs us up and tears down others as it flaunts a person’s own accomplishments by his or her own power.
o The boastful forget that they have been shown grace.
· Paul also warns the Galatians to avoid “challenging(provoking) one another.” This verb (prokaleō ) means to “call forth” a person in a challenge or to “provoke” a person to anger.
o It paints the picture of someone with a competitive Spirit, a person who can’t let things lie. This individual is quick to jump into any disagreement, always ready to pick a fight, and eager to challenge every authority.
o This is a person who has to be right and must have the last word.
§ Provokers fail to show grace toward others.
· Finally, Paul warns about “envying one another,” a sin rooted in feelings of inferiority and insecurity.
o In such a case, possessions, abilities, and accomplishments take center stage.
§ “Keeping up with the Joneses” becomes a way of life, resulting in failure to rest contentedly in our secure and exalted position in Jesus Christ.
§ Those who are envious fail to demonstrate grace deep within themselves by being content with who they are and what they have. It’s a miserable way to live![16]
Desperately Dependent
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
(Galatians5:25)
Progressive sanctification is not a partnership with the Spirit in the sense that we each—the believer and the Holy Spirit—do our respective tasks. Rather, we work as He enables us to work. His work lies behind all our work and makes our work possible.
The Holy Spirit can and does work within us apart from any conscious response on our part. We see this in the initial act of sanctification when He creates within us a new heart and a new disposition toward God and His will. He’s not dependent on us to do this.
But we’re dependent on Him to do our work; we cannot do anything apart from Him. In the process of sanctification there are certain things only the Spirit can do, and certain things He has given us to do. For example, only He can create in our hearts the desire to obey God, but He does not obey for us. We must do that, but we can do so only as He enables us.
So we must depend on the Spirit to do within us what only He can do. And we must equally depend on Him to enable us to do what He has given us to do. Whether His work or our work, we’re dependent on Him.
We aren’t just dependent on Him; we’re desperately dependent. Because we so often equate Christlike character with ordinary morality, we fail to realize how impossible it is for us to attain any degree of conformity to Christ by ourselves. But if we take seriously the many Christlike character traits we’re to put on, we see how impossible it is to grow in Christlikeness apart from the sanctifying influence and power of the Spirit.[17]
[1]Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 1206.
[2]George G. Findlay, “The Epistle to the Galatians,” in The Expositor’s Bible: Luke to Galatians, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, vol. 5, Expositor’s Bible (Hartford, CT: S.S. Scranton Co., 1903), 896–897.
[3]Thoralf Gilbrant, “Περιπατέω,” The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary, The Complete Biblical Library (WORDsearch, 1991).
[4]L. Ann Jervis, Galatians, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book, 2011), 142–143.
[5]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 718.
[6]Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 607.
[7]John Phillips, Exploring Galatians: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publishers; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ga 5:19.
[8]John Phillips, Exploring Galatians: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publishers; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ga 5:20b–21a.
[9]William Barclay, ed., The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1976), 46–49.
[10]Thoralf Gilbrant, “Ἀγαθωσύνη,” The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary, The Complete Biblical Library (WORDsearch, 1991).
[11]Jack Hunter, “Galatians,” in Galatians to Ephesians, ed. T. Wilson and K. Stapley, What the Bible Teaches (John Ritchie Ltd., 2000), 87–89.
[12]David Platt and Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 115.
[13]Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 74.
[14]Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 405–406.
[15]David Guzik, Galatians, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Ga 5:24–26.
[16]Charles R. Swindoll, Galatians, Ephesians, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2015), 134.
[17]Jerry Bridges, Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey, ed. Thomas Womack (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2008), 221.