Light Brings Salt
Volume 2, Issue 3 January 18,
2004
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
Walking and
the Spiritual Life
Part 2
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?
We concluded last
week that a supernatural means is necessary to produce the virtues and Christ-like
character that is unique to the Christian life.
Paul gives us the answers to this necessity when he
commands us to walk by means of the Spirit and all that flows along with that
command.
In Galatians
The highest of the
virtues is love. Paul reminds the
Galatians of this standard in Galatians 5:13-15. The new freedom they have in Christ is not
self-serving. Just the opposite is true. Freedom
in Christ is freedom from the bondage of sin (Romans
The Lord liberates each
believer from the self-serving orientation of the sin nature so that we are now
free to love as Christ loves.
Notice that when he stresses love,
Paul quotes not from Jesus'
statement in the upper room (John
Paul's point is to
show that under the Old Testament, believers never fulfilled the command as
stated in Leviticus. An a
fortiori argument is implied, I believe.
An a fortiori argument is a logical argument that reasons from an
accepted greater truth to conclude the veracity of a lesser truth.
The point is that
if no one on the basis of the Law (human morality, law performance living
alone) could apply the lesser mandate of loving others as themselves, then no
one on the basis of human morality can apply the superior mandate of John
13:34-35.
In the dispensation
of the Mosaic Law, saved Jews had a spiritual life based on simple adherence to
the ethical and ceremonial precepts of the law. It was a result of a relationship with God not a cause of it. However, they were unable to live up to the
Law by means of human ability alone.
We should notice
the differences between the commands in Leviticus 19:18 and John 13:34-35. In
the Leviticus passage, First, the object of love is the neighbor whom Jesus
defined in the parable of the Good Samaritan as any other human being
regardless of spiritual status. Second, the standard, expressed by the
comparative particle "as" (hos), is the individual, as yourself (Gal.
Jesus radically
transformed this command. In John 13:34-35 when He states: A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you
are My disciples, if you have love for one
another.
No longer is the
object others but one another, i.e., believers. And the standard by which the love is measured is no longer as
you love yourselves, but as 1 have loved
you. This love that Jesus is
talking about here is the unique calling card of the advancing believer, who is
growing in the Word and applying it.
Human effort cannot
generate this love; only by God the Holy Spirit working in and empowering the
life of the believer can this love be produced.
Must ask ?? How can the
believer love in this way? How is this
accomplished? Paul answers that
question in his mandate to the Galatians, walk
by the Spirit (Gal.
Some general observations
need to be made regarding Galatians 5:16-5:25.
First, this passage should be considered as one unit, whose purpose is to
demonstrate how the believer can produce this love. This explains the priority
of love among the fruit of the Spirit.
Second, the apostle makes four parallel statements that help clarify the
subject: walk by the Spirit (Gal.
Third, it is when the Christian maintains the condition of walking by the
Spirit that the Holy Spirit produces the character transformation in the
believer.
The conclusion
expresses the answer to Galatians 3:3: Are you so foolish? Having begun in [by]
the Spirit, are you now being perfected [brought to maturity] in [by] the
flesh, the sin nature?
The apostle
concludes in
The Holy Spirit verses the Flesh
The grammatical
construction of Galatians 5:16 is crucial to understanding the dynamics of
spiritual growth.
The present active
imperative of "walk" (peripateo) stresses an habitual action that should characterize our life as
believer's, that is our goals, attitudes and actions in life.
Walking by the
Spirit should be the ongoing, habitual lifestyle of each believer. The nature
of the verb itself, to walk, even in its metaphorical use, "to conduct
oneself, or pattern of life" indicates action on the part of the subject.
The activeness of
the subject is further demonstrated by the parallel verb, "to be led" in
Gal. 5:18 which likewise
necessitates the act of following, as do the verbs "living" and
"walking in step with" (5:25).
All require active daily choices
by each of us.
The nature of these
active verbs anticipates a noun of means or manner. That is, it give us a link as to how, in
what manner this all takes place. Paul uses the anarthrous dative of
"Spirit" (pneuma) to supply this expectation.
The Christian life
is not a passive waiting for growth that somehow automatically happens.
The believer must constantly decide to walk by the Spirit
or to walk by faith.
The action
described here is not like the believer's status "in Christ," which is passive emphasizing our position in
Christ and the reality of our having been united with Christ at salvation in His death, burial and resurrection with
the result we're raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4).
The use of the
dative of "Spirit" pneu,mati in context further
supports the idea of means, or instrument. I mentioned earlier that Galatians
If we were to take
this as a passive meaning such as, in the sphere of the Spirit and not means or
instrument it would open the door wide to a quasi mystical "let go and let
God" approach as if by simply being in the Spirit, growth will
automatically occur divorced from the active volition of the believer.
Paul continuously hammers home to us that as believers that we live our
post-salvation life through the means, or by dependence on the Holy Spirit. Walking by the Spirit!
In Galatians
chapter 5, believers are led by means of the Holy Spirit (
The process laid
out by Paul logically necessitates an instrumental understanding. The context
of the passage is clearly describing the mechanics of production in the Christian life. How we are to live the Christian
life.
The result is the
transformation of the believer's character into the character of Christ. This
result is described by the manifold fruit of Galatians 5:22-23. Also as we saw in Eph.
The believer is to
walk by means of the Holy Spirit. That this is not automatic is emphasized in
the remainder of the verse. And you
will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
The implications of
the syntax in this clause are absolutely profound. The verb is in the aorist passive subjunctive and is negated
by a double negative (ou me), the strongest form of denial
possible in the Greek. What is Paul saying so emphatically here? What's his point?
When the believer
walks by means of the Spirit, it is impossible for him to bring to completion,
or fulfillment, the lusts of the flesh. Fulfilling the lust of the flesh and
walking by means of the Spirit are mutually exclusive alternatives.
The believer at any
moment either depends on the divine provision in the Holy Spirit, or his own
innate ability that has its ultimate source in the sin nature.
So what do we have
here? Stan Toussaint has an interesting
observation on the context. "In Galatians
The next question
we should ask: How, then, can a believer who is walking by the Spirit sin? He
must first stop walking by the Spirit.
We will examine this question more fully next week!