Walk by the Spirit

Walking with Jesus: Everyday Faith

Read slowly: Galatians 5:16–25

Confessing sin brings us back to the grace of Jesus. We also need to understand how that grace changes the desires and decisions from which our conduct grows. Paul answers by directing believers to the Holy Spirit, the one who gives and sustains their new life.

To walk by the Spirit is to live under his direction and power. The picture involves the continuing course of a life. We learn to recognize the desires that oppose him and to cultivate the conduct that expresses his work within us.

The conflict reaches our desires

Galatians 5:16–18

Paul describes a conflict between the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit. Here, “flesh” names human life governed by sin, with its resistance to God and its self-serving aims. The Holy Spirit directs us toward the will and character of God.

As we saw in Romans, this use of flesh should not be confused with the physical body itself. Elisabeth Johnson explains that Paul's concern reaches the whole person under sin's influence.¹ Envy, rivalry, and a determination to dominate can govern the mind and speech as readily as sinful desire can misuse bodily appetites. Our bodies are part of the life God calls us to offer in faithful service.

The conflict explains why a desire can feel strong without deserving our obedience. We need to examine what the desire seeks and where acting on it would lead. A feeling of urgency or sincerity cannot by itself establish that the Spirit is directing us.

Paul also says that those led by the Spirit are not under the law. In the letter, he has opposed making observance of the Mosaic law the basis of acceptance with God. Believers depend on Christ and receive life through the Spirit. That freedom carries a definite moral direction: the love through which they serve one another.

The works of the flesh damage life with God and others

Galatians 5:19–21

Paul's list includes sexual immorality, idolatry, drunkenness, and other destructive conduct. It also names jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, divisions, and envy. We need the whole list. Familiar or socially acceptable sins can injure a community as surely as the sins we readily condemn.

He gives a serious warning that those who practice such things will not inherit God's kingdom. A settled life given over to sin contradicts the life Christ gives. We cannot claim grace as permission to preserve the very conduct from which God calls us to turn.

The warning is a reason for honest repentance. When envy directs our response to another person's success, or anger becomes our usual means of control, we need to name the pattern and seek God's help to oppose it. The Spirit's work includes a change in what we welcome, excuse, and repeatedly choose.

The Spirit produces a recognizable character

Galatians 5:22–23

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These qualities describe what his presence produces in a person. They belong together as a life increasingly responsive to God.

Fruit makes an inward source visible. Patience can be seen in the way we remain present with someone who needs time. Faithfulness appears in a promise kept when keeping it becomes inconvenient. Self-control gives desires their proper place instead of letting the strongest impulse command the whole person.

Matthew Henry notes the relational character of this fruit: the Spirit's work changes how believers live with one another.² Growth is therefore more than our own sense of spiritual progress. It becomes a kindness another person receives, a conflict approached with gentleness, or an act of goodness that asks for no recognition.

Our steps are to follow the life we have received

Galatians 5:24–25

Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The language describes a decisive break with sin's right to rule. Belonging to Jesus establishes a new allegiance, even while the conflict Paul has described continues.

Because the Spirit gives us life, we are to keep in step with him. Dependence and obedience belong together. We seek his help, receive the truth of Scripture, turn away from conduct he condemns, and act on the good he makes known. The next step may be small, but its direction matters.

Words of Wisdom

The Spirit who gives life also shapes its direction. Examine desires by the character and conduct they produce. As you depend on him and obey his word, the life of Christ becomes visible in the patience, faithfulness, self-control, and love that others receive from you.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, teach me to recognize the desires that resist your work. Help me turn from the sins I have learned to excuse. Form your fruit in my life, and give me willingness and strength to follow your direction in the choices before me. Amen.

Sources Consulted