Light Brings Salt
Volume 3, Issue 04 January 23, 2005
Dedicated to the Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
The Holy Spirit in the Daily Life
Part 2
Since it is not
enough simply to do the right thing, or live a moral life, since the unbeliever
can and will often do what is right and live a moral life. The believer then 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 Judaizers in Galatia or does it flow from the result of being motivated
by the Word illuminated by the Holy Spirit who is empowering the life.
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 question
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 has made
the provision to liberate 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. Actually
have an a fortiori argument 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, that is to love in the same manner that Jesus loved.
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 covenant relationship with God not a cause of it. However,
they were unable to live up to the Law by means of human ability alone. They needed to live out and apply the truth
they knew.
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 I 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 empowers the life and 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 maturation] 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 pattern 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). Because we're raised up
to walk in this newness of life, this mandates a responsibility on the
part of the believer to count as true,
as fact the reality of the provision of our identification with Christ.
As it says in Rom.
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 of
living the Christian life laid out by Paul logically necessitates an
instrumental understanding of Spirit.
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 commanded
here 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 (ouv mh.), 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
activities.
The believer at any
moment either depends on the divine provision of the Holy Spirit, or his own
innate ability that has its ultimate source in the sin nature. Remember that the area of strength of the sin
nature produces human good.
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!