13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Life by the Spirit
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Dig Deeper
The first year that I went out to Oklahoma Wesleyan University, I went to be part of the basketball team. A few weeks before we had our first official practice, we began what was going to be three weeks of conditioning, a brutal stretch of running and weight lifting intended to get us physically and mentally ready for practice. After two weeks, the coach informed us that we had three days off over the weekend to get away from campus and enjoy ourselves. Just as we were looking forward to our freedom, he informed us that he expected that we would continue our intense training on our own over the weekend. He then gave us a list of things that we should and shouldn’t do over the weekend. He made it clear that it was not as though are status on the team would be determined by whether or not we followed the list, but whether we followed the list would prove whether we were really on this team in our heart or not. In other words, he wasn’t going to ask us whether we followed the plan, but he would know based on our performance on Monday and the days following. The list he gave us wasn’t a checklist to keep us on or kick us off the team. It was a description of what the weekend of the guys who were truly committed to the team would look like. That would only become clear if we had the freedom to not follow it. He wasn’t as concerned with finding out who followed it as he was with us discovering for ourselves what kind of players we were. Interestingly, I knew of several guys that didn’t follow the regimen, and nearly everyone of them quit the team before we got to our first game. The freedom and the list were warnings so that we could look to see what kind of people we were.
This is basically what Paul is doing here. He is entailing the difference between those who are living in Christ and those who are not. The lists of the acts of the flesh (the NIV translates it "sinful nature") and the fruit of the Spirit are not a checklist of "do this and you’re in" or "do these and you’re out." They are all about the Christians in Galatia, and all Christians, being able to judge what kind of people they are. Just like the guys on our team, though, they could only truly examine themselves if they had the freedom that comes from Christ. Then they could look at their behavior and see whether they were people of faith or unbelief.
Freedom is part and parcel of the life in Christ, we have the freedom to choose to be driven by the Spirit or out flesh (the realm of our natures continues in disobedience to the will of God), a choice that those still in complete slavery to sin and the flesh do not have. The person who is not in Christ cannot live a life according to the will of God. Paul warns his brothers in Galatia to remember that they were called to freedom and should not abuse that by indulging in the flesh and focusing on themselves. Rather the goal of freedom in Christ is to serve one another in love. You want to know what kind of person you are, says Paul, whether you are truly in Christ or not, take a look at your life. What do you see? Do you see someone who constantly is animated by the flesh and self-indulgent or do you see someone who follows the example of the Messiah by loving and serving others (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45)?
If they really want to keep the law, then the entire law is summed up in one command, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Of course Paul knows that Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God, and the love for neighbors came in at number two (Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27), but the only way for one to examine whether they are really living out the greatest commandment, to see whether they are in the Spirit or not, is to examine themselves by their love for others (John 13:35). As it is, all of the infighting and arguing that has gone on surrounding the issue of circumcision and other matters are a dangerous warning that their loyalties seem to be siding more with their own flesh than with the desires of the Spirit. They need to watch out or the church will quickly find themselves devouring one another to the point that they are no longer a church of believers in Christ. That’s Paul’s point; if one is animated by and driven according to the flesh it is solid evidence that they are not walking according to the Spirit and that’s a clear warning sign that someone is not remaining in Christ as He said they must do (John 15:4-6).
People often misunderstand what Paul is saying in this section. It is not about where you are going, whether it be heaven or hell, although that will ultimately come into play. It is not a list of do’s and don’ts where if you get it wrong the hammer will come down on you. No, it’s not so much about where you are going, it’s about where you stand. Paul talks of the works (acts in the NIV) of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit as signs to point to where you truly stand, whether in Christ or in the flesh. Do you put your faith in the life of Christ or the works of the flesh? It should not be missed, the difference that Paul makes between works and fruit. Works are something we do externally that do not last. Fruit is not something that we cannot produce on our own. It comes from surrendering to the Spirit and allowing him to produce the fruit in our lives, and it lasts for eternity.
In the end, it comes down to what kind of substance people are. There will be a time when the presence of God, which is a consuming fire for those in the present age (Deut. 4:24; Ps. 97:3;; Gen. 19:23-24; Ex. 19:18-22; Lev. 10:1-2; Num. 11:1-3; 26:9-10; Deut. 4:33; 5:26; 9:3; 1 Ki. 18:36-39; 2 Ki. 1:10-15; Ex. 3:2; 13:21; 14:19-20; Ps. 78:14; Ex. 24:15-18; Num. 9:15-16; 2 Ki. 2:11; 6:17; Is. 6:6; Ezek. 1:5-6; Dan. 3:19-27; 7:9-11; Acts 2:1-3; Ex. 35:3; Lev. 9:23-24; 2 Chron. 7:1-3). The Bible depicts things that are profane being burned up by God while things that God has deemed holy as being purified and protected by His consuming fire. The prophets spoke of a time when God’s presence would fill the earth and would either consume or purify everything based on it’s substance (Is. 4:4-5; 33:14-22; 66:15-18, 22-24; Jer. 23:29; Zech. 2:3-5; 13:7-9; Mal. 3:2-4, 2 Pet. 3:3-13; Ps. 102:25-26; see also 1 Cor. 3:10-15). Paul wants the Galatians to examine themselves and see if they are people exhibiting the signs of people of the age to come or not, people that will be able to withstand the holy presence of the living God.
Those who are in Christ, have died to self, and made a commitment to live according to the animating power of the Holy Spirit rather than the flesh. When one is living is Christ and exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, there is no law that is needed. Paul makes an important judgment that he wants the Galatians to recall. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Paul has already said that he is convinced in the Lord that they will remember who they are in Christ, now he confirms his belief in them. The issue is not that he thinks that they have walked out of their life in Christ, although that is a danger if they choose to keep walking according to the flesh. The issue is that they stop all of this infighting, arguing, and clinging to the flesh and keep in step with the Spirit. The law could never produce fruit only demand works. If they, and we, want to be people of the age to come, then we need the power of the Spirit to produce true fruit in our lives.
Devotional Thought
When is the last time that you truly examined yourself according to the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh? When is the last time you asked someone close to you about which ones they see evident in your life?
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