Spirit Vs. Flesh, Part 4

Greetings.

As we continue Paul's discussion of the Spirit vs. the flesh, we will be wrapping up chapter 5.  Here are verses 24-26: 

24 But those who are in Jesus, the Christ, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  25 If we live by the Spirit, we should therefore, keep in step with the Spirit.  26 Let us make sure that we don’t become conceited, provoking and envying one another. 

In verse 24, Paul says: “But those who are in Jesus, the Christ, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Those who are in Christ no longer live according to the flesh.  The flesh has been crucified with Christ, and the Holy Spirit takes its  place. 

Paul has talked about this idea before.  Think about Gal. 2:20.   “I have been crucified with Christ.  I no longer live, but now Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself up for me.”  This concept has been a consistent part of Paul’s message.  The old self, the flesh, it is now gone.  God’s Spirit resides in us now.  Our life is in Him, and we are his temples. He enables us to live differently.  What we failed to do under our own power, He has given us the ability to do, and the passions and desires of the flesh no longer have the same effect on us.  

Paul says that we have crucified the flesh with its desires, but we all know that the temptations of the flesh still come.  The important thing to remember here is that these desires no longer rule over us.  

Going back to verse 16: Paul has told us to ‘walk in the Spirit/’ and now in verse 25 he tells us that since we live by the Spirit, we should "keep in step with the Spirit."  We have all of Paul’s comparison of the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit sandwiched between two statements about walking with the Holy Spirit. We choose to walk according to the Spirit or to live according to the flesh.  The flesh will continue to seek those things that satisfy it, while the Spirit offers self-control. 

These statements about walking in the Spirit should give the Galatians guidance. As they are striving to be obedient to the Law, the should ask whether what they are doing is really in step with what the Spirit is doing. He does add a conditional statement in verse 25.  “If we live by the Spirit.”  In other words, if you are going to live by the Law, then go live by the Law, but if you are going to live by the Holy Spirit, quit trying to keep in step with the Law. 

Moo sums up the discussion of the Holy Spirit really well.  (Moo, 371.) I am going to turn his lengthy summation into bullet points:

• The Spirit:
• Transforms the hearts of God’s people. (3:14)
• Produces in us the character traits that please Him (5:22-23a)
• Provides the power to inaugurate the Christian life. (3:3)
• And bring it to completion. (5:5) 
• Leads and guides believers (5:18)
• So, we really should walk by the Spirit. 

We close chapter 5 with a statement about behavior that is not consistent with walking with the Spirit.  “Let us make sure that we don’t become conceited, provoking and envying one another.”  Conceit, envy, provoking others,  those are really works of the flesh, as they damage the community of believers.  They are not in line with the Spirit, or His fruits, (love, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, humility, goodness)  I speculate that Paul added this in here because this was going on among them.  It is certainly a reasonable assumption that the false teachers that had been influencing them were guilty of these things. 

For the Galatians and for us, Keeping in step with the Spirit is a better way to live.