Imperishable Inheritance

After urging the Galatian Christians to not live as though they were under the Mosaic stipulations, Paul then warns them of using their liberty as a license for an immoral life. He furthers his discourse on the supremacy of life in the Spirit then life under the Mosaic Law. The Spirit brought us into true freedom, and living life in the Spirit actually helps the Christian fulfill the Law!

"For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (vs. 13)

We have talked back in chapter 3 about Paul's reference to calling so I need not repeat it here.¹ Paul wants to remind them that they were called (saved) into freedom and not slavery, but Paul has a warning for them: "do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh." Paul is warning the Galatian Christians to not use their Christian liberty as an excuse for perpetual sin. This is reminiscent of Paul's rhetorical question in Rom 6:1-2: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"

This is a good warning for all of us. We do continue to sin as Christians (1 John 1:8), but our gradual process of sanctification should drive us away from sin. We should express a contrite heart over sin and continually seek repentance. The "flesh" talked about isn't to be understood as our epidermis and everything under it--it refers to our corrupt, sinful nature. There is nothing inherently evil with our flesh; the problem is with our sinful souls. We must be careful not to become Gnostic Christians. They thought that the flesh was so evil that Jesus didn't have a bodily form. The Bible tells us not only that the eternal Word became flesh, but that in the end of days we will be raised bodily to exist in a body forever as Jesus currently is (1 Cor 15; Rev 20).

Paul then makes an amazing statement: "through love serve one another." Without the appositive Paul is saying to use your freedom to serve another through love. There is an implicit statement is that we are not to be a slave to Law or use our freedom as an excuse to sin--but we are to become a slave to love and serve one another! F.F. Bruce extrapolates for us:

"The call to freedom, then, is a call to oneness in Christ and to loving service within the believing community. The liberty of the gospel is not to be exercised in isolated independence. The Christian does not emulate the self-sufficiency of the Stoic...his sufficiency is in Christ, and he is involved in the interdependent and loving fellowship of the people of Christ."²

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. (vs. 14-15)

Back in verse 3 of this chapter Paul says that "every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law," and here Paul is saying that through love alone the Law is fulfilled! Paul quotes from Lev 19:18, in the Pentateuch, to illustrate that it has always been this way. Jesus says that this command, along with loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, is what "depend[s] the whole Law and the Prophets" (Mat 22:40). Loving and serving others at the command of Jesus (the "Law of Christ") actually fulfills all of the Law and Prophets!³

Paul's reference to quarrelling appears to mean that the teaching that the Galatians had received from the Judaizers had brought in dissention and threatened to break their community. They were close to "consuming" one another with their quarrels.

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." (vs. 16-17)

To "walk by the Spirit" is to submit to the Spirit's leading and authority in all areas of our life. Paul says that if we walk by the Spirit our sinful, "fleshly" desires will not be carried out. The Spirit is the only agent that can prevent us from sinning.

Paul then sets up a dichotomy between the "flesh" (sinful nature) and the Spirit. Our sinful natures have desires that are completely antithetical to those of the Spirit. The sinful nature wants to indulge itself against the authority of God, but the Spirit helps us in submission and sanctification. The Spirit wants us to be more like Jesus--that is, holy; and the sinful nature wants to go the other direction. The Spirit is also there "so that you may not do the things that you please." The things that I please to do often are not of God and sinful. Paul makes a reference to this in Romans 7:15: "For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate."

"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." (vs. 18)

This is Paul's amazing declaration against the "antinomian" charges that the Judaizers were sure to give. Paul's statement earlier in the work is that the Mosaic Law was confined to Israel's history before Christ (3:24-26), and we now live in the age of the Spirit (5:18). Paul makes mention of this contrast as well in his second letter to the church of Corinth where he compares the Old Covenant (law/letter) to the New Covenant (grace/Spirit):

"Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor 3:5-6)

Paul's teaching that the Mosaic Law drove Israel to Christ (3:24-26) is now illustrating the newer, greater source of sanctification (leading to and becoming more like Christ), and that is the Holy Spirit. If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the Mosaic Law to lead us to Christ for the Spirit is far greater (John 16:7). There are two successive "ages" in the mind of Paul: one of Law and one of Spirit (before and after the Messiah).

Deeds of the Flesh	Fruits of the Spirit
Immorality Impurity Sensuality Idolatry Sorcery Enmity Strife Jealousy Anger Disputes Dissensions Factions Envying Drunkenness Carousing "Things like these"	Love Joy Peace Patience Kindness Goodness Faithfulness Gentleness Self-Control

"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (vs. 19-21)

Paul then begins a contrast between the identifiable works of the "flesh" and the Spirit. He says "the deeds of the flesh are evident" and begins to list them. While I won't exposit every deed, it is clear that he makes mention of sexual impurity, coveting, excess, and divisions as over-arching categories of deeds. He says that those "who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God." He is not saying that if you ever commit one of these deeds you will not inherit the Kingdom; he is however saying that those who live in this state habitually prove that they are not of the Spirit and will not inherit the Kingdom (Mat 7:16-20; cf. 1 John 2:18-20).

The Kingdom of God is an immense topic, and one that would involve a whole other study. In brief, it is defined as by George Eldon Ladd:

"The Kingdom is primarily the dynamic reign or kingly rule of God, and, derivatively, the sphere in which the rule is experienced."⁴

So Paul is stating that those who live in habitual sin will never enter the Kingdom which is, in essence, the presence of God. Christians enter into Kingdom citizenship after salvation, but the Kingdom will not be consummated until the Gospel reaches all the nations in fulfilling God's promise to Abraham (Mat 24:14; Gen 12:1-3).

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (vs. 22-23)

Paul then contrasts the "fruits of the Spirit." If we think of fruit we are confronted with the idea of something that grows slowly but steadily and eventually ripens. The Christian is not expected to master all of these right awa--or even in our life on earth--but we are expected to grow in these and thereby model the character of Jesus.⁵

He says that there is no law against the fruits of the Spirit. The statement is that the Law doesn't prohibit or create these fruits. The Law does not convict a person who lives in the Spirit producing His fruits.

"Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (vs. 24)

If we truly belong to Christ than we have "crucified" or put to death the sinful desires that reign within us. To crucify is a slow, painful process to die as Jesus endured on our behalf. To kill the passions and desires of the flesh it is indeed a slow and painful process. Paul explains both sides of sanctification: killing off of the old self, and the awakening of the new self (regenerated nature).⁶

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. (vs. 25-26)

Here Paul is saying that if you are living in the Spirit than walk by the Spirit. This invokes images of taking orders, and the Christian is to indeed take orders at the Spirit's leading. It's not enough (or truly even possible) to "live by the Spirit" but not "walk by the Spirit." The former necessitates the latter.

Paul's admonition at the end of this thought is to not be boastful, challenge, or envy another all of which come from pride and not of the Spirit. The opposite of these we are to emulate through the Spirit: humility, graciousness, and contentment.

Questions for Application

• Does the concept of being free from the Law to be a slave to others make sense? Do you exemplify this characteristic?
• When tempted, do you make a conscious effort to remember the Spirit's leading to avoid carrying out the sinful desire(s)?
• Do you find yourself practicing more of the deeds of the flesh or the fruits of the Spirit?
• Do you "walk by the Spirit?"

1. For those that weren't at that study, the calling in this verse and back in 1:6 (cf. 1:15) refers to God's work in election. We are "called" or "elected" by God unto salvation (cf. John 6:44; Rom 8:29, 9:22-24; 1 Pet 1:2). [Back]
2. F.F. Bruce (pg. 241 [Back]
3. Douglas Moo comments on this passage (and Rom 13:8) in Five Views on Law and Gospel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), pgs. 359-60:
   

   "[T]he texts suggest that Paul does, indeed, see love as in some sense displacing the commandments of the Mosaic law...If love for others ‘sums up' the commandments, the implication is that the one who truly loves will have no need of these commandments...'Fulfilling' the law, on the other hand, denotes that complete satisfaction of the law's demands that comes only through Christians' identification with Christ...and their submission to that commandment that Christ put at the heart of his new covenant teaching: love (Gal. 5:14; Rom. 13:8, 10)."

   [Back]

4. Quoted in Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), pg. 863. [Back]
5. To exposit each characteristic would take more space than would be profitable in this medium. For an in-depth look I suggest F.F. Bruce's commentary (pgs. 251-5). [Back]
6. Ryken, pg. 239. [Back]