In order to walk in the Spirit, we must first live by the Spirit.
Read: Galatians
Have you ever struggled to understand the relationship between faith and good works? You’re not alone. In fact, it is a problem that has plagued believers since the beginning of time.
This is the issue at the core of Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia. Certain individuals, claiming to be Jewish followers of Jesus, were telling the Gentile believers that they needed to keep the Old Testament Law in order to maintain their salvation. In other words, they were arguing that our salvation is provided through Christ’s righteousness, but it is only secured through our own righteousness.
Paul was astounded by this, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? … Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh” (Galatians 3:1-3)? How could the early Christians be so easily deceived? Probably by the same means by which we are confused when it comes to the relationship between faith and works.
Paul has a special vocabulary in his letter to the Galatians in order to discuss this issue. He talks about living and dying, freedom and slavery, the Spirit and the flesh. At the heart of his message is a call to live by faith and walk by the Spirit.
Dead and Walking
Before we can talk about living and walking, we must first consider dying. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we were all formerly dead in our tresspasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-ff). This was the life in which we once walked. We were led by the passions of the flesh and we stood condemned under the wrath of God.
Before his encounter with Christ, Paul was a power hungry Pharisee seeking status among his peers. He was zealous for the system of laws that gave him a sense of pride. He was self-righteous (Galatians 1:13-14).
Once God revealed Christ to Paul, his life was forever changed. This is demonstrated in Paul’s testimony of his transformation, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
Although Paul was already dead in his tresspasses and sins, he describes the need for his old nature to be put to death as well, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live” (Galatians 2:20a). He has died to his old life in order to become a new creation. His former life no longer has any holds or restraints on Him.
Paul was crucified with Christ, but it was not as if Paul was doing anything to assist Christ’s work. Paul was adamant that this was a work of Christ alone on the cross. Perhaps Paul would say that the only thing that any of us contributes to our salvation is the sin that needs saving.
Living in the Spirit
Galatians 2:20 continues, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” We who were once dead in our tresspasses and sins have been made alive in Christ. Just as we were crucified with Christ on the cross, so our life is secured through Jesus’ resurrection. This new life comes with freedom from the bondage of sin and from the slavery to the works of the flesh. We can rest in the assurance that we are safe and that we are secure in the work of Christ. We are in Him, and He is in us.
Since our old nature is dead, we must understand that there is nothing that our former life has left to offer us in this new life. So why would anyone turn back to that manner of living? That is Paul’s question, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more” (Galatians 4:8-9)?
Paul, therefore, instructs us, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). Now that we have been given life in Christ, we must live it, we must stand firm without returning to our former way of living.
Furthermore, we should not put a burden on others so that they should live under the former yoke of slavery. We should not measure each other based on our own righteousness because it is not our righteousness that is saving us. If we are to love our brothers as ourselves, then we must live and demonstrate this freedom that Christ has afforded us through His work on the cross.
Walking in the Spirit
Throughout all of Paul’s writings, there is inevitably a section dedicated to how we should walk. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is also where many people get off track.
Someone asked me recently how people with such good intentions could read the Bible and walk away feeling self-righteous and legalistic towards others. The answer is that they are trying to apply the points of application without understanding the preceding principles. In order to walk in the Spirit, we must first live by the Spirit. Unless we understand what it truly means to be made alive in Christ, then nothing we do in the flesh will matter because it will not have been done in faith.
The final sentence in Galatians 2:20 says, “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Paul states that even though we have been crucified with Christ, we still live in the flesh, but with a major difference, Christ is living in us. This sounds like a complicated balance. How do we maintain the remaining elements of the flesh in constant tension with the life of faith in Christ. Paul’s doctrine shows us how living in Christ naturally motivates us to walk in the Spirit.
When we consider the love of Christ, it transforms our manner of thinking. It renews our mind. We are no longer tethered to the desires of the flesh, in order to please ourselves. Christ’s saving work, properly understood, results in a life of faith. We surrender our life to Christ because we trust Him.
Living in Christ and walking in the Spirit organically produces the fruit of the Spirit in us (Galatians 5:22-23). We will love others because God first loved us. We will rejoice in every circumstance when we consider the life we have been given in Christ. We will make peace with our enemies when we are at peace with God.
It is only when we start to think that the fruit is a byproduct of our own effort that we get out of step. As soon as we start to measure the fruit in terms of our own righteousness, we are walking in the flesh and returning to our former manner of living.
Keep in Step with the Spirit
So how then, do we maintain a fruitful life? How do we keep in step with the Spirit?
We must first remember that we were formerly dead in our tresspasses and sins. We have been crucified with Christ. Our old nature is dead. There is nothing that our former life has to offer us now that we are alive in Christ. Therefore, we must guard against any temptations to go back to that former way of living. We must actively put to death any passions and desires to walk in the flesh (Galatians 5:24).
Second, we must stand firm in our new life in Christ. This means that we have to be vigilant against any threat that would compromise our understanding of the gospel. Like Paul, we must contend for the faith and confront the notion that our own self-righteousness carries any merit in God’s eyes.
We also need to be aware of our own tendencies to be led by our flesh and not by Christ, “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). If the Apostle Peter (Cephas) could stumble in this area (Galatians 2:11), we should not be deceived in thinking we are something when we are nothing (Galatians 6:3).
The life that we currently live in the flesh must be sustained by faith. That is the only way to live. Every step we take needs to be guided by a trust in God in obedience to how He has commanded us to walk. This requires that we believe what God has said and done. We cannot be led by our own arrogance in thinking our righteousness is sufficient enough for God, but we cannot allow our hearts to be turned to the works of the law based on a sense of guilt and shame either. We must live by faith that God has forgiven us and welcomes us into His presence.
Finally, we must keep in step with the Spirit by maintaining our walk. We must continually remind ourselves of the matchless love of Christ that motivates us to walk in the Spirit. We should never assume the gospel, but preach it to ourselves lest we forget by which grace we have been saved.
That is why we need each other. We must, as it says, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). There are no mavericks in the Christian life. We are called to be in community, to minister to others and to be ministered to by others. We need each other. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).