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Rightly Dividing
the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)
Established
November 2008 Published Weekly on Friday
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men (and women) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:3-4)
Galatians (5:16-18)
(Lesson 19)
Greetings, and
welcome to HBS.
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not
turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love
serve one another. For the whole Law is
fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS
YOURSELF.” But if you bite and devour
one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another (Galatians 5:
13-15).
These verses marked
the start of a new discussion for Paul.
Verses 1-12 dealt with the perversion of legalism. Galatians 5:13-15 deal with the perversion of
Antinomianism; the belief that Christians are not bound by established moral
laws.
Before we proceed
we must have an understanding of what Paul meant by “the flesh.” Paul often used
this term in his writings to denote the corrupt effects of man: For I
know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the
willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not (Romans 7:18).
For you (Galatians) were called to freedom – freedom from Jewish rites and rituals,
a.k.a. “religious traditions (Galatians 3:28, 4:9, 21-31); you’re not bound to
the Mosaic Law, so stop listening to the Judaizers.
“Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the
flesh,” since
they were called to freedom, the
Galatians were not to use their liberty in
Christ Jesus for an occasion to sin.
They were not to live their lives without restraint, as though there
were no laws governing their behavior.
Paul means to say it is freedom from
the servitude of sin, and religious rites and ceremonies, not freedom from the
necessary restraints of virtue and common sense.
It was necessary
for Paul to caution new Believers because there was a strong tendency in all
converts from paganism to “backslide” or relapse again into their former
lifestyle. Decadence abounded among the gentile nations and wherever sinful
addictions once occurred there existed the danger of returning to these same
old sinful patterns again: Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a
fool who repeats his folly (Proverbs 26:11).
But through love serve one another. Paul said they were called to freedom… so through love be servants of one another (5:13). Clearly, love
is a verb and this love God speaks
of for one another is not optional. “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”
is a command. Put differently, Believers
are called in their freedom to desire and seek another’s highest good with the same zeal that they
seek their own. As I mentioned last
week, if you’re still wondering “Who is my neighbor?” See Jesus’ parable The Good Samaritan (Luke
10:25-37).
********
Please
open your Bible at Galatians 5:16.
Our
Apostle Paul tells the Galatians (and us) how to overcome the flesh by the Spirit.
Galatians 5
16: But I say, walk
by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Here
Paul contrasts the Spirit of God and
the flesh. The struggle
is made clear in the following verse:
17: 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 (Romans 8:4).
In
verse 16 Paul said the Galatians are to “walk
by the Spirit” – this is a present command; in other words Paul could have
said, “Continue to walk by the
Spirit.” Meaning, their walk is continuous; it’s part of their
“daily routine” beginning as soon as their feet hit the floor the morning. But since their life in Christ Jesus began
with the Spirit (Galatians 3:3, 4:6,
29), the only way it can continue is by the power of the Holy Spirit.
If
you’ve attended church services, then at some point in time you’ve heard
someone on Sunday morning say, “Walk by
the Spirit,” “Allow the Holy Spirit
to lead you,” or “Let the Spirit
guide you.” But if you’re like me
you’ve left the building a bit unsure of what that meant and puzzled as to how
to apply that biblical phrase to your life.
How does a Believer, “plug into the power of the Spirit?”
Every
true Believer is saved not by what they do for God (their works) but they are
saved unto good works or for service to others: For by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result
of works, so that no one may boast. For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for (what) good works, which God
prepared beforehand so that we would (do what - continually) walk in them (Ephesians
2:8-10).
You
see, Paul said true Believers “have died
to sin and are one with Christ” (Romans 6:1-3).
Therefore we have
been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might (do what) walk in newness of life (Romans
6:4).
Paul
never uses the phrase, “Born again.” He
uses the expressions “walk in
newness of life,” and “He
predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” though.
As
God’ adopted children, walking in newness
of life, should true Believers continue
walking in the sinful patterns of
their old life? Should they act as
though their salvation cost God nothing?
To quote our Apostle Paul, “May
it never be!”
Walk in newness of
life speaks
of our sanctification as Believers. In
the New Testament the word sanctify is the verb of the word for “holy;” “to
make holy” and promotes the idea something is holy or is “set apart” from
common usage; it is the idea of becoming like Christ, and He is the epitome of
Holiness.
The
Bible mentions sanctification in three ways and it is important that you
understand these phases as: initial,
progressive, and ultimate sanctification or you can use the terms: past,
present, and future they are interchangeable.
1:
Initial sanctification begins the
moment you believe; it is the moment Believers can count themselves “dead to sin but alive to God” (Romans
6:11).
Acts
20:32 – “And now I commend you to God
and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the
inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
1
Corinthians 6:11 – Such were some of
you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified (imputed
with the righteousness of Jesus Christ) in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
2:
Progressive sanctification increases
as we mature in our faith or our walk with the Lord and requires a lifetime to complete. It has been said, our responsibility as
Believers in Christ Jesus is to grow more and more in sanctification, becoming
more and more like Jesus, just as we previously grew more and more in sin.
Romans
6:6-7, 11-14 - "We know that our
old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to
nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from
sin. So you also must consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
bodies, to make you obey their passions.
Do not present your members to sin
as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who
have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments
for [weapons of] righteousness. For sin
will have no dominion over you. (ESV)
2
Corinthians 3:18 – But we all, with
unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the
Spirit.
But
here’s the thing, although we’re saved it’s impossible for us to be fully like
Christ because “old Adam” is alive and well within each one of us. Spiritual warfare is real and is going on all
around us, inwardly and outwardly, (Ephesian 6:11-18).
Our
Apostle Paul stated to the Believers in Philippi that “he had not reached perfection, but he pressed on to attain everything
Christ Jesus desired for him” (Philippians 3:12).
3: Therefore the ultimate sanctification of our bodies is never completed in this
life. It’s completed when Believers die,
when their spirits go to be with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). Our souls are instantly translated to heaven
with “the spirits of the righteous (people) made
perfect (Hebrews 12:23). Once there
our souls are fully sanctified in the presence of God since nothing unclean can ever stand before Him
(Revelation 21:27).
For
the dead in Christ Jesus and those who are alive when the Lord comes for His
Church at the Rapture, sanctification of their bodies takes place when they
meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Philippians
3:20-21 – For our citizenship is in
heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
who will (do what) transform the
body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the
exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
1
Corinthians 15:49b – When Christ returns for His Church, every true Believer
will be transformed; they will: bear the image of the heavenly (1
Corinthians 15:50-53).
Paul
is saying the Holy Spirit is the primary agent of our sanctification (1
Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2), and He is the one who
produces the fruit of sanctification
in Believers (Galatians 5:22-23).
Our
role in sanctification is both passive and active. Passively, we are to trust God to sanctify
us: presenting
our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 6:3,
12:1), and yielding to the Holy Spirit:
“It is God’s will that you be
sanctified” (1 Thessalonians 4:3) and God gets what He wants!
Actively,
we are responsible to choose what is right and this is where the “rubber meets
the road,” as they say, let’s not be lazy, careless Christians. “Each of you should learn to control his own
body in a way that is holy and honorable” (1 Thessalonians 4:4). Paul’s saying, do away with “the misdeeds of the body” (Romans
6:13), “striving for holiness”
(Hebrews 12:14), “fleeing immorality”
(1 Corinthians 6:18), etc.
The
Spirit of God does His mighty work in us and through us only by the hearing of
faith. We are sanctified by faith
alone. The way to walk by the Spirit to not fulfill the desires of the flesh is to know the promises of
God and trust them.
“I have been
crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me, and delivered Himself
up for me” (Galatians
2:20).
Here
Paul said he lives “day by day,” casting his cares on Jesus Christ and is borne
along by the Spirit of God. And he does
this by faith. Paul was under constant attack by Satan,
and when he entered a town or city to preach God’s message of salvation, he was
usually assaulted by ignorant men, “stirred up” by angry Jews who were
determined to destroy Paul and his ministry.
How did he face such trials? Paul
remembered and trusted in the Word of God, and his soul and spirit were fed and encouraged by it.
Let the word of
Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one
another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thanksgiving in
your hearts to God (Colossians
3:16).
When
you are discouraged or tempted, remember the Scriptures as our Apostle did “Let the word of Christ dwell richly within
you.” The word dwell in Koine Greek is Enoikeo
(en-oy-keh’-o), Verb, Strong’s Greek #1774 and means: to live
in, to be at home. Paul calls upon
each Believer to let God’s Word dwell in
you and influence you (for good); to take up residence; to be at home in your heart. So God’s Word may comfort you too in your time of need.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all
our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any
affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours
in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ (2 Corinthians
1:3-5).
To
walk by the Spirit implies we are
maintaining an ongoing relationship with God.
We are exercising those spiritual disciplines that keep our eyes and our
hearts focused on the Lord, which in turn keeps our feet away from sin.
Paul
goes on to say, “you will not carry out
the desire of the flesh.” This is
actually a promise, but the fulfillment of the promise depends on obeying the
command – walk by the spirit. Believers are not only called to be saved, but called
to Christlikeness (Romans 8:28-29; Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 1:4). The contrast between “flesh” and “spirit” is
common in Paul’s writings (Romans 8:1-11).
He uses the word “flesh” in two senses:
the physical body and mankind’s fallen, sinful, Adamic nature. Here it is used as man’s fallen, sinful,
Adamic nature, #2.
Verse
17:
Galatians 5
17: 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.
For the flesh sets
its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh – this contrasts the
two ways of life which Paul writes about in Romans 8:1-11. Paul presented the two ways of being
saved: 1) by human effort; and 2) by
God’s free offer of grace through Jesus Christ.
Thus, there are two ways of living one’s life: 1) human effort, i.e. works (which is
affected by man’s fall from grace); and 2) God’s free power in the Spirit of
God. The Judaizers were asserting human
effort in both salvation and sanctification, but our Apostle Paul asserted
God’s supernatural provision in both.
For these are in
opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please - Paul wants the
Galatians (and us) to understand that struggle
is a normal part of the Believer’s life.
Now, I think it goes without saying people don’t want to hear the word struggle linked with their day-to-day
life. They don’t want “ripples” on their
tranquil pond at home, at work, or elsewhere.
They expect the Christian life to
be guaranteed free of problems. They want
a formula to follow, and as long as they follow that plan, they expect things
to work out right. But Paul said the
conflict between our flesh and Spirit is inevitable and it’s
continual.
Thus,
with the same mouth we offer prayers of thanksgiving and praise, we also curse
and condemn one another and at times yell at God when things don’t go as
planned. We love and we also hate. We serve others, when we feel the need, but
we also steal and we lie. We read the
Bible, occasionally, and then we turn right around and watch a filthy movie we
know the Lord would not view along with us, and we listen to music that
promotes casual sex, drugs, and demeans women, things God would not approve of. The individual sings beautifully in the choir
on Sunday morning and then on Monday afternoon meets with a woman who is not their
spouse for a tryst. And so on it
goes…
The
Quietists were mystics of the late 17th century who believed a
one-time surrender to God would initiate a passive union with God. The Quakers were influenced by the Quietists.
Even the evangelical Bible conferences
at Keswick, England were quietistic in emphasis. Hannah Whitall Smith's The Christian's
Secret to a Happy Life (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1952) and the
sermons of Charles Finney both promote the idea that a Christian needs to do
very little but rely on the Spirit. Quietists
believe that walking in the Spirit
does not require any effort on our part, and when there is effort, we hinder the holiness that God wants to
accomplish. The concept of surrender in
quietism is vital to living a virtuous holy life. Some folks believe that when one completely
surrenders, he receives a second work of grace so that the sin nature becomes
eradicated, and the Christian
supposedly never sins again.
However,
Galatians 5:17 clearly states no one escapes the conflict of the two
natures. No one can avoid the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. Every Believer will experience both the
outward pressure and the inward turmoil.
Years
ago there was a missionary who was moved by God to share the Gospel with a
group of Native-Americans on a reservation that was nearby. The missionary prayed and over the course of
time the Lord opened a door for him to befriend the Chief of the tribe. As the two men got to know one another, the
missionary was able to share his faith in Jesus Christ. The missionary had prayed for the Chief for
months, and the day came when his prayers were answered, and the Chief believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. The
missionary and the Chief became fast friends. They spent a lot of time in prayer together
and they studied the basics of the faith day after day. The Chief was hungry to learn more and more. His hunger was the springboard for how quickly
he grew in his understanding of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Several
years later, the missionary had been led by God to go to other mission fields
and share the gospel. Even though he was
no longer working daily on the reservation with the Chief, he prayed for his
friend often and stopped by to see him whenever he was on furlough. On one of his visits, the missionary and the
Chief were talking when the missionary asked, "How are you doing? What has the Lord been doing in your life
and the life of your people?" The
Chief told his friend about those who were coming to know Christ, and how God
had been faithful, when he stopped in mid-sentence. He said, "I have seen the Lord work in
marvelous ways among our people, but I have to be honest with you it is like
there is a war going on in me. It is
like there is a good dog and a bad dog that are living in my heart, and they
are always at war with one another." The missionary knew what the Chief
was talking about, because he was describing his own life. The missionary reached out, grabbed the hand
of his friend, and asked, "Which dog
is winning?" The Chief said,
"The one that I feed the most."
Verse
18:
Galatians 5
18: But if you are
led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Clearly,
Paul’s discussion has been about the conflict between the Spirit and the flesh,
but he’s also written about legalism vs God’s grace. With verse 18, you could make the case Paul
is talking about the flesh being
legalism – the urge within an individual that says, “I’ve got this; I can do
this myself.” That’s what this verse is
saying. He’s contrasting the Spirit with the Law, using Law and
flesh as synonyms in this passage.
"If you are
led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." - Paul is saying the Holy
Spirit leads every Believer (5:24-26). The question is will we follow His
leading and walk after the Spirit
(5:16) or will we walk after the flesh? The Holy Spirit leads us to obey the moral
will of God. He does this primarily by
helping us understand Scripture; the only place where the will of God has been revealed.
We
might have expected Paul to write since we are led by the Spirit we are not
"under the flesh," but instead we read "under the law." His point was that the Believer cannot
overcome the desires of the flesh by remaining under the law. The Judaizers were advocating submission to
the law as the way to overcome the flesh, but Paul advocated submission to will
of God and the power of the Spirit.
To
live by the flesh is depending upon
the resources and abilities of the physical body, or humanness (Matthew
26:41). To live by the Spirit is depending upon the resources and abilities of the Spirit, whom God gives by grace through faith (Romans 8:4-5).
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
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