(5:16–18)
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. ( 5:16–18 )
Just as Jesus Christ is the primary Person behind justification, the Holy Spirit is the primary Person behind sanctification. A believer can no more sanctify himself than he could have saved himself in the first place. He cannot live the Christian life by his own resources any more than he could have saved himself by his own resources.
In its most profound yet simple definition, the faithful Christian life is a life lived under the direction and by the power of the Spirit. That is the theme of Galatians 5:16–26 , in which Paul tells believers to “ walk by the Spirit ” (vv. 16 , 25 ) and to be “ led by the Spirit ” ( [v.] 18 ). The opening paragraph (vv. 16–18 ) of this section introduces the passage by setting forth the command and the conflict of the Spirit-led life.
1. The Command
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. ( 5:16 )
a. The contrasting themes of the book of Galatians are law and grace, which Paul repeatedly shows are incompatible, either as means of salvation or of sanctification.
b. A person cannot come to God by means of law-keeping nor can he sustain living for God by keeping the law, not even the God-given law of Moses in which the Old Covenant centered. Because no man can perfectly obey it, the law has never been, and was never intended to be, a means of salvation.
i. It was given by God to reveal God’s holy standards and to make men despair of their own failing human efforts at pleasing Him, thus driving them to Jesus Christ, who alone by grace can make them acceptable to the Father.
ii. Through the law, “ the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe ” ( Gal. 3:22 ). The law was never meant to be a savior, but only a tutor to lead men to the Savior ( v. 24 ).
iii. The believer has no use for the law as a means of salvation, because through Christ he has already been saved and adopted into God’s heavenly household as a son ( Gal. 3:26 ).
iv. Nor does he need the governmental system of law to guide him in his new life, because he has Christ’s own Spirit as his permanent, indwelling Guide. In fact, the more a believer attempts to force himself to live by rules and regulations, no matter how lofty they may be, the more he stifles the work of the Holy Spirit.
v. Although Bible study, prayer, worship, witnessing, and certain behavior standards are commanded of believers and are essential to faithful Christian living, spirituality cannot be measured by how often or how intensely we are involved in such things. To use them as measures of spirituality is to become entrapped in legalism, whose only significance is in the outward, the visible, the humanly measurable.
vi. To live solely by a set of laws is to live by the flesh in self-righteousness and hypocrisy and to suppress the Spirit, who alone is able inwardly to produce works of true righteousness. Holiness comes only from the Holy Spirit.
vii. Holy living does not come from our performance for God but from His performance through us by His own Spirit. Holy living is “ to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man ” as we are “ filled with the Spirit ” ( Eph. 3:16 ; 5:18 ).
c. All a believer absolutely needs to live a holy life according to the will of God is the Holy Spirit, who is given to him the moment he believes ( Rom. 8:9 ).
i. Even the newest, most untaught Christian is indwelt by God’s own resident Teacher and Strengthener. Although the Spirit uses Scripture to assist believers to grow in truth and holiness, He Himself is the supreme source of those virtues ( [cf.] Col. 3:16 ).
ii. Only pride or ignorance could lead a believer to live by an outward list of rules and commands in his own limited and sinful power when he can live by the perfect and fully sufficient inner power of the Holy Spirit.
iii. Yet that is what many believers in the Galatian churches were trying to do, and what many believers since that time have also endeavored to do.
d. The fact that peripateō (walk) is used here in the present tense indicates that Paul is speaking of continuous, regular action, in other words, a habitual way of life. And the fact that the verb is also in the imperative mood indicates he is not giving believers an option but a command.
i. Among other things, walking implies progress, going from where one is to where he ought to be.
ii. As a believer submits to the Spirit’s control, he moves forward in his spiritual life. Step by step the Spirit moves him from where he is toward where God wants him to be.
iii. So while it is the Spirit who is the source of all holy living, it is the believer who is commanded to walk.
iv. This is the apparent paradox of the divine and human that is seen in salvation ( John 6:35–40 ), in Scripture inspiration ( cf. 1 John 1:1–3 with 2 Pet. 1:19–21 ), in eternal security ( cf. Rom. 8:31–39 with Col. 1:21–23 ), and even in ministry ( Col. 1:28–29 ).
e. In emphasizing the central work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life, some Christians have lost the tension between the human and the divine and have taught the idea suggested in such popular expressions as “ Let go and let God ” and “ the surrendered life. ”
i. Rightly used, such expressions can be helpful. If they are understood to mean letting go of one’s own resources and self-will and surrendering to God’s truth and power, the idea is scriptural.
ii. But if, as is often the case, they are used to teach the idea that Christian living is little more than passive submission and yieldedness to God, they are contrary to all the militant terms and commands for great effort and commitment that pervade the New Testament (see, e.g., 1 Cor. 9:24–27 ; Heb. 12:1–3 ).
iii. If human will and actions did not play a direct and aggressive part in the Christian life, the New Testament would contain only this one instruction for believers: walk by the Spirit.
iv. Every other command would be superfluous. That is essentially the theology of what is often called quietism, of which the old Quakers were the best-known advocates. The Keswick tradition, the preaching of the famous evangelist Charles Finney, and Hannah Whitall Smith’s The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life also reflect a strong quietistic orientation. Passive surrender to God is taught to the almost total exclusion of human volition and action.
f. The power for Christian living is entirely from the Holy Spirit, just as the power of salvation is entirely in Jesus Christ.
i. But both in the justifying work of Christ and in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, man’s will is active and commitment is called for.
ii. The Christian is not to sit on the sidelines, as it were, and simply watch the Holy Spirit do battle for him.
iii. He is called to consider himself
1. “ to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, ”
2. to refuse to let “ sin reign in [his] mortal body, ”
3. to resist presenting “ the members of [his] body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, ” and rather to present them “ as instruments of righteousness to God ” ( Rom. 6:11–13 ).
4. “ Let us not lose heart in doing good, ” Paul says later in this letter, “ for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith ” ( Gal. 6:9–10 ).
iv. The believer who is led by the Holy Spirit must be willing to go where the Spirit guides him and do what the Spirit leads him to do. To claim surrender to the Holy Spirit but not be personally involved in God’s work is to call Jesus, “ Lord, Lord, ” and not do what He says ( Luke 6:46 ).
v. Though most often referring to an evil lust, the word epithurnia can refer to a strong, compelling desire of any sort, good or evil.
1. Jesus used the word to express His intent to eat the Passover meal with His disciples ( Luke 22:15 ), and
2. Paul used it to express his longing “ to depart and be with Christ, for that is much better ” ( Phil. 1:23 ).
3. In this verse it is employed in relation to the evil will of the flesh bent on damnation. In verse 17 the term is used both in relation to the evil will of the flesh and in relation to the holy will of the Spirit.
vi. To walk by the Spirit and thereby not carry out the desire of the flesh articulates the same principle as to “ put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts ” ( Rom. 13:14 ).
1. To walk by the Spirit is to “ behave properly as in the day, ” whereas to carry out the desire of the flesh involves such things as “ carousing, … drunkenness, … sexual promiscuity and sensuality, … strife and jealousy ” ( v. 13 ).
2. The two behaviors are mutually exclusive, so that at all times in our Christian lives we are either walking by the Spirit or are functioning in fleshly desire, but never both at the same time.
vii. The life walked by the Spirit is the Christlike life, the saturation of a believer’s thoughts with the truth, love, and glory of His Lord and the desire to be like Him in every way.
1. It is to live in continual consciousness of His presence and will, letting “ the word of Christ richly dwell within you ” ( Col. 3:16 ).
2. Life walked by the Spirit is life patterned after the teaching and example of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a life whose constant, overriding desire is to “ be found in Him, not having a righteousness of [its] own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith ” and the desire to “ know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings ” ( Phil. 3:9–10 ).
3. Surely, it is no different from being “ filled with the Spirit ” ( Eph. 5:18 ), a phrase referring to the controlling power exerted by the Spirit on a willing Christian.
2. The Conflict
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. ( 5:17–18 )
a. Along with many others in the New Testament, these two verses make it obvious that walking by the Spirit is not simply a matter of passive surrender.
b. The Spirit-led life is a life of conflict, because it is in constant combat with the old ways of the flesh that continue to tempt and seduce the believer. The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
c. It should be noted that the flesh is the term Paul often uses to describe what remains of the “ old man ” after a person is saved. It refers to unredeemed humanness, the part of a believer that awaits future redemption at the time of his glorification ( Rom. 8:23 ). Until then he has a redeemed self ( cf. Gal. 2:20 ) living in an unredeemed humanness, and that creates great conflict.
d. Paul himself, like every other believer, faced that constant struggle with the flesh, as he confesses in his letter to the Romans.
a. For I know that nothing good dwell-s in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. … I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. ( Rom. 7:18–19 , 21–23 )
e. This specific usage of sarx (flesh) is set among several other usages in the New Testament. The term occasionally refers to the physical body, in particular to the muscle, skin, and other tissues that cover the skeleton, as well as to general humanness.
a. It was in that sense that Jesus used the word when He told His disciples after His resurrection, “ See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have ” ( Luke 24:39 ) and when He said, “ The flesh is weak ” ( Matt. 26:41 ).
b. Sarx is also used to comprehensively describe the state of the unsaved, those who are “ in the flesh ” and thus totally under the control of sinful passions ( Rom. 7:5 ). As such, “ flesh ” is generally used in a figurative, theological sense, referring to man’s fallen nature, his unredeemed self.
f. In the present text and others, flesh also relates to the moral and spiritual weakness and helplessness of human nature still clinging to redeemed souls, such as that mentioned by Paul in Romans 7 and quoted above ( cf. Rom. 6:19 ).
a. The flesh of Christians is their propensity to sin, their fallen humanness that awaits redemption, in which the new and holy creation dwell-s ( cf. Gal. 2:20 ; 2 Cor. 5:17 ).