Light Brings Salt
Volume 2, Issue 2 January 11, 2004
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
Walking and the Spiritual Life
If you think back to our recent study
of Eph. 5:18 and the exhortation there as we noted of being filled by the Holy
Spirit with Christ, have you really thought through what this means related to
living the Christian life in the wider sense?
In Galatians 5:16-25 the Apostle Paul
explains the significance of the Holy Spirit in the believer's spiritual
advance in life. With perhaps the exception of Romans chapter eight, no other
chapter of Scripture is as significant in explaining this link. That is between Christ, the Holy Spirit, and
the life of the believer! How it all
fits together.
In the development of his argument to
the Galatians, Paul first establishes the nature of the Gospel in chapters one
and two by making clear that justification is by faith alone in Christ alone.
One result of justification by faith is the immediate indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.
In Galatians 3:2 he asks a penetrating
question: This is the only thing I
want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law,
or by hearing with faith? The
expected answer is the hearing with faith (cf., Galatians 2:16b; Romans
This obedience to the Law included both
the moral law and the ceremonial law. Paul counters by teaching that observance
of moral and ceremonial precepts can never provide any sinner with the quality
of righteousness necessary for justification before God (Gal. 3:10-12, 21; 2 Cor.
The Epistle to the Galatians, the first
of Paul's letters, centers the attention of the reader on two dominant themes:
(1) the justification of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ apart from legal
works, and (2) the ministry of the Holy Spirit as the indwelling energizer of
the spiritual life in Christ." All
this so that we could realize the freedom that is ours in Christ!
Paul then shifts his subject from
justification to sanctification with another very pointed rhetorical
question: Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being
perfected by the flesh (Gal. 3:3)?
He establishes two important contrasts,
two antitheses: begun/ perfected and Spirit/ flesh.
The next place these concepts are
addressed is in Galatians 5:16-25, where Paul explains the dynamic of how the
Spirit is instrumental
in the believer's life resulting in growth and advancement in the
spiritual life. What is that growth
in? Word -> Christ!
The first phrase, having begun by the Spirit, reminds them of the mechanics of
salvation: a new life in Christ created through regeneration by God the Holy
Spirit which occurred at the instant of faith alone in Christ alone. At the
time of Paul's writing to them, the Holy Spirit had already regenerated these
Galatians. No one is able to regenerate himself, only God can do this (John
For this reason salvation is by means
of faith, not because of faith. When an
individual exhales faith alone in Christ alone, the Holy Spirit instantly
regenerates him and simultaneously imputes God's perfect righteousness to the
new creation in Christ. This new life in
Christ is eternal in nature in contrast to the first birth.
This imputed righteousness is the cause
of salvation. At that same instant, God the Father looks upon the believer's
possession of imputed perfect righteousness and declares him justified. [very quick after faith in Christ] Thus the logical conclusion is that
ceremonial and moral acts are inconsequential to justification. The believer
has received a new life from the Holy Spirit, a life that the Spirit must then
nourish and develop. Rem: That faith is
the means, not the cause of salvation.
Just as human morality, law performance
living, is inconsequential to salvation, Paul will argue that ethical
obedience, law performance living is neither the means nor the cause of spiritual growth and living, though moral living within the will of God is
an effect or consequence of spiritual
growth. Not a means but a result of!
The contrast being perfected (Galatians
3:3) is an unfortunate translation for the Greek verb, epiteleo
(epiteleo) This word is
an intensification of the verb found in Galatians 5:16, teleiow, describing the result of walking by the Spirit. [you will not
carry out the desires of the flesh]
Epiteleo means, "to
perform," "to establish," "to finish," or "to
bring to completion."
The Galatian
believers began their Christian life through a work of the Holy Spirit, but
they were now attempting to grow and advance spiritually, to live the Christian
life through
dependence on their own ability and works, not in dependence on the Word and
the Spirit.
The passive voice of the verb indicates
the believer does not bring himself to maturity, but, by walking by the Spirit, that is, being responsive to the Word heard, applying
it, the result is there will be growth
in Christ. [must
be in fellowship]
Moral though the Galatians efforts
might have been, such attempts were illegitimate.
Morality or law performance living is never sufficient to control and deal with
the sin nature. [Paul in Rom 7:15f points that out] Spiritual growth and the advance in the spiritual life only comes by dependence on or fellowship
with the Holy Spirit. Must not be
grieved or quenched.
Any and all activity accomplished not
in dependence on the Holy Spirit, that activity, the human good derives
from the flesh. Paul wants the Galatians to understand that everything in life
derives from either one or the other, Spirit or flesh. We need to remember that having began by faith we must also walk by
faith Col. 2:6.
The main point of Paul's rhetorical
question here, however, has to do with the incongruity of beginning one's
Christian life on one basis ("with the Spirit") and then shifting
somewhere in living life to another basis ("by human effort/works"
from the area of strength of the sin nature).
What Paul wants these believers
to see is that the Christian life is one that starts, is maintained, and comes
to culmination only through dependence on the ministry of God's Spirit and His Word.
Paul clearly emphasizes the antithesis
between the production of the Spirit and the work of the flesh, the sin
nature. Paul clearly uses
"flesh" (sarx) with an
ethical dimension beginning in Galatians 3:3.
Referring to the sin nature.
A Christian can clearly live an
ethical, [Mosaic] moral law abiding life, yet the results are at best human
good from the sin nature. Isaiah
emphasized that it is our righteous deeds (human good) not our unrighteous deeds that are
like a filthy garment from God's viewpoint (Isaiah 64:6). [as does Paul in
Titus 3:5]
Failure to take into account the reality
that the sin nature can produce
morality (human good)
has led to much confusion and distortion in teaching about the
spiritual life.
Have you ever wondered how it is that many unbelievers you know are very nice people who
often live very strong moral lives. Better often than many believers?
In
Romans chapter six, Paul makes it
clear that everything the unbeliever does comes from the sin nature. The
unbeliever is born enslaved to this sin nature. It is only after salvation that
the believer is able to make a choice not to live enslaved to the sin nature.
Therefore, all that the unbeliever does
good, bad, moral, and immoral-proceeds out from a
fallen sinful nature. Paul in
The contrast between flesh and Spirit
is not the only contrast in Galatians, or in Romans. The juxtaposition of these
categories demonstrates the unique characteristics of the spiritual life of the
Church Age believer:
Law
- Grace;
Works - Faith;
Slavery - Freedom;
Flesh -
Spirit.
A life that emphasizes Law and works
(i.e., simple human morality, as the means to spiritual growth) is in fact
slavery to the sin nature. Paul reminds
the Galatians that since they did not receive their new life because of
obedience to ceremonial or moral law, the growth of their new life in Christ is
also not because they observed ceremonial or moral law.
Both our spiritual life and growth in that
life, the apostle bases on the vastly superior ministry of the Holy Spirit.
This does not exclude morality, but recognizes that morality is not
automatically synonymous with spiritual growth.
If it were, then the Galatians would have demonstrated spiritual advance
by their own legalistic attempts.
Instead, the result was calamitous. As
the apostle Paul had discovered in his own life, an emphasis on legal obedience
and morality generates arrogance, covetousness, and numerous other mental and
emotional sins.
These sins then culminate in overt
sins. Morality alone is never sufficient
to control the lust of the sin nature because that same fallen nature produces
the human morality.
Only obedience to the precepts of Scripture, applying its
truths in dependence on God the Holy
Spirit has value for spiritual growth.
The argument Paul uses (in
1) Everything the unbeliever does
derives from his position in bondage to the sin nature and proceeds from the
sin nature (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 6:6, 17, 18; Titus 3:5);
2) The unbeliever can live a moral,
ethical life; therefore,
3) Simple human morality can be the
product of the sin nature.
Conclusion: A supernatural means is necessary to produce the virtues and
Christ-like character unique to the Christian life.
Since it is not enough simply to do the
right thing, or live a moral life, the believer must have some gauge or
criterion to determine whether his morality derives from the production of the
flesh, does it flow from the sin nature as did the Galatians' morality.
Since moral reformation can be
self-induced through an act of the will, how can the believer discern the
difference between morality and spiritual growth?
Paul answers this through the command
to walk by means of the Spirit which we will examine next time.