Freedom To Walk By The Spirit

Galatians 5:1

¹For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Lately I've been reading Galatians, and I've really been focusing and praying about the last two chapters in specific. The whole book is characterized by Paul stressing the importance of faith and denouncing legalistic beliefs, and the fifth chapter in particular I feel like is the main message of his letter. Christ has set us free, yet we still submit ourselves to a yoke of slavery. Why?

Christ's death set us free from the law, but we still submit ourselves to the law and not the Spirit. The Galatians were preaching circumcision and today we aren't necessarily preaching the law, but we aren't as a church characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. When we submit ourselves to the law we fall away from grace and Christ (Gal. 5:4).

We do not receive justification from the law, but from the Spirit and faith working through love (Gal. 5:6). As sons and heirs of God we belong to Christ and we have crucified the flesh and its desires, but still our lives and the church do not look radically different. The works of the flesh are more evident than the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:19-23

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness,self-control; against such things there is no law.

The works of the flesh do not receive the kingdom they receive death. They are subject to the law, but if we live and walk by the Spirit we will bear the fruit and we will not be under the law. I don't want to scare people into living differently, but the wrath of God will be poured out on those whose lives are marked the works of the flesh. Yesterday I read through Revelation, and it's a beautiful book. Its tragic and frightening, but it so full of worship and a reverent fear of God. A fear of God that our culture lacks. I think it's impossible to read through Revelation and read the prayers of the angels and elders and not come to that realization. I also think it's impossible to read through Revelation and not bow down and worship are glorious God. Anyways the point I want to stress and the same point Paul is stressing is that we are set free to live by the Spirit.

Not only are we called to walk by the Spirit as followers of Christ, but we are called to be in this together. Paul states that legalism doesn't count for anything, but only faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). And the first two verses of chapter six call us to admonish our brothers and sisters and bear one another's burden. We are all the body and the bride of Christ. I think what grieves me the most when I look at the church and how we interact is that we aren't characterized as a body that loves one another, serves one another, and bears one another's burdens. Instead most of us seem to be focused on ourselves. And yes we have to bear our own loads, but at the same time we are the body and we should be helping each other to sow to the Spirit and to reap eternal life.

But again I want to make it clear just as Paul does that this isn't meant to be legalistic.

Galatians 6:15

¹⁵For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

The only thing that matters is becoming a new creation. Being transformed into the image of Christ, and this is done through the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). That is why it so important to lean on the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit, and to live by the Spirit. No matter how hard we work we cannot do this on our own. It is the Spirit that reveals God to us, and it is through seeing and savoring the glory of God that we are transformed. Christ died on the cross, so that we could have this freedom so that we could have the Spirit to reveal God to us. But instead we submit ourselves back to a yoke of slavery and death. We can only bear the fruit of the Spirit if we walk by the Spirit and continually seek the face of the Lord. And it is important to remember that the fruit of the Spirit is singular. If we are walking by the Spirit all of those characteristics will be seen not just a few.

So my prayer for us as the body of Christ, the bride of Christ is that we will walk daily with the Spirit. That we will deny ourselves and daily and submit our lives to the will of God. That the Spirit will continue to reveal the transforming glory of God to us. That we will be a church body marked by the fruit of the spirit and not the works of the flesh. That the Lord will draw us near to him with his grace and that we will not receive it in vain.