The Battle Within • Galatians 5:16-18

Review & Overview

1. Previous Study’s Review

Remember there are 3 sections: Preservation, Explanation, Application

In Ch. 1 & 2 we looked at The Preservation of the Gospel.

In that section we looked at several ways how Paul preserved the Gospel of Grace or how he defended the Gospel of Grace.

Chs. 3 & 4 deals with The Explanation of the Gospel of Grace

In Ch. 3 was saw Paul offer 4 arguments regarding the Gospel of Grace.

In Ch. 4 Paul uses Logic & Emotion to explain the Gospel of Grace.

Ch 5

Holding the Freedom of Christ

Hindering the Freedom of Christ

Harnessing the Freedom of Christ

2. Current Study’s Overview

And that brings us to Vs. 16-18 where Paul continues to talk about the Freedom of Christ and the application of the Gospel of Grace.

This where Paul get’s practical and shows us how to apply the gospel of grace to our lives. Read…

The Title of Today’s Message Is: The Battle Within

Because as you saw in our quick reading of today’s scripture, the churches in Galatia were dealing with a lot of conflicts and arguments because of some false teachings that had crept in.

They were fighting and tearing each other apart, and Paul was really concerned about it.

So, he offers them—and us—a solution straight from God: "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

We're going to dive into what it means to walk in the Spirit and how doing so can help us overcome our inner struggles.

Over the next couple of weeks we’re gonna talk about the ongoing battle between our human desires and what God wants for us.

And most importantly, we'll see how the Holy Spirit guides us, strengthens us, and leads us to victory.

If your taking notes we want to look at three “c’s” Regarding the walking in the Spirit.

1. The Council Vs. 16

2. The Conflict Vs. 17

3 The Conquest Vs. 18

1. The Council: Walk To Win Vs. 16

Notice, Paul starts off by saying, ‘I say then’. In other words, ‘here is my council to you’.

Paul is signaling that he is about to make a very important point.

Paul is about to lay out a principle that guides everything he’s going to say up until chapter 6, verse 10.

Now, for a bit of context look at Vs. 15…

Remember, the churches are fighting with each other because of the false teachings.

And after worrying about how the Galatian churches are destroying themselves through constant fighting, Paul introduces God's solution to their big problem.

Paul starts by addressing the struggle every Christian faces with a command: "Walk in the Spirit,"

and notice, if you walk in the Spirit God promises us something: "You will not fulfill the desires of the flesh".

And he had already alluded to this, back in verse 13:

Galatians 5:13 “13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Even though Paul will not mention the word ”freedom" or ‘liberty’ again after Vs. 13, he’s not going to forget about it.

Because this freedom we have in Christ is always under attack—it can be messed up by strict rule-following (legalism) or by ignoring rules altogether (hedonism).

True Christian freedom avoids these extremes by living a life of love. Which is the main fruit of the Spirit: Love.

Application: In our context, we might not face the same pressures as the Galatians, but we can fall into similar traps…

Either leaning towards legalism, imposing rigid rules that stifle grace, or veering towards license, abusing our freedom in Christ.

Walking in the Spirit keeps us balanced, living out our freedom responsibly.

QUESTION: How do believers find the strength to live this victorious life?

Many people today suggest lots of solutions:

having a charming personality,

using natural talents,

getting advanced theological education,

attending special seminars on deep Christian living,

engaging in social activism,

spiritual counseling, and more.

But Paul's answer is simple: the Holy Spirit. Walk in the Spirit.

Only God's Spirit, who freed us from sin and gave us new life, can keep us truly free as we walk with Him and experience His power to make us holy.

Here in chapter 5, Paul uses four different ways to describe living a life guided by the Spirit:

"walk in the Spirit" (verse 16),

"be led by the Spirit" (verse 18),

"live by the Spirit" (verse 25a),

and "keep in step with the Spirit" (verse 25b) - The grammar is different.

Galatians 5:25 ESV

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

All of these suggest an active relationship filled with interaction, direction, and purpose.

The verb "walk" is in the present tense, meaning it's something we do continually.

Paul had reminded the Galatians earlier (3:1–3) about how they received the Holy Spirit when they first heard about Christ.

Galatians 3:1–3 NKJV

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Now, he's encouraging them to keep moving forward on that path.

If they keep walking with the Spirit, they won't get tripped up by those pushing strict laws (the Judaizers), or even their own tendencies to ignore rules, or the harmful arguments happening in their churches.

In Greek, "walk" can also mean following someone around or heading in a specific direction.

For example, Aristotle's students were called "Peripatetics" because they followed him around as he taught.

For Paul, walking in the Spirit or being led by the Spirit means going where the Spirit goes, listening to His voice, understanding His will, and following His guidance.

Application: And We should examine our own lives. Are we relying on our strength, wisdom, or traditions, or are we depending on the Holy Spirit?

The victory over the flesh doesn't come from self-improvement strategies but from surrendering to the Spirit's work within us.

2. The Conflict: War Within Vs. 17

2.1 The Conflict Involves Two Contenders Vs. 17a

The conflict between the Spirit and the flesh begins the moment a believer walks in the Spirit. The two are fundamentally opposed, waging war against each other.

In this verse, Paul highlights the intense moral struggle and conflict that everyone faces—a battle between our human nature ("the flesh") and God's Spirit.

This conflict isn't just out there in the world; it's happening within each believer.

Paul has talked about this conflict before earlier in the letter. In Galatians 3:3…

Galatians 3:3 NKJV

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

he questions how the Galatians, who started their spiritual journey with the Holy Spirit, how could they think they could reach perfection through human efforts like following religious laws.

And then he talks about this conflict again in Galatians 4:29…

Galatians 4:29 NKJV

29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.

Here he makes a contrast between the births of Ishmael and Isaac: Ishmael represents human effort ("the flesh"), while Isaac represents God's promise ("the Spirit").

Now here in Galatians 5:17, Paul describes the flesh and the Spirit as two forces at war within us.

When he says "flesh," he's not just talking about our physical bodies.

I think Paul means our entire human nature—our minds, wills, emotions, and bodies—especially when we rely on ourselves instead of God.

As scholar R. Jewett puts it, "the flesh" is anything we trust in besides God.

And Paul describes this war within is in Romans 7:7–25. Turn their with me…

Romans 7:15–20 “15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

Application: We, too, experience this frustration—the desire to do good yet stumbling along the way.

Recognizing this battle is a step toward victory. It reminds us of our need for God's grace daily.

2.2 The Conflict Involves a Stalling of Desires Vs. 17b

The inner battle causes frustration because the flesh hinders us from consistently doing what is spiritually desired, slowing or stalling progress.

In other words, even though we want to do what's right, our human nature the flesh can hold us back.

And what’s interesting is that the grammar indicates that this is something we will be struggling with as long as we're alive, we can't escape this spiritual struggle.

There's no special technique or blessing that lifts us above this battle.

Even Jerome, an early church leader who moved to the desert to escape temptation, found that he couldn't escape his own desires. He confessed:

O how often I imagined that I was in the midst of the pleasures of Rome when I was stationed in the desert, in that solitary wasteland which is so burned up by the heat of the sun that it provides a dreadful habitation for the monks! I, who because of the fear of hell had condemned myself to such a hell and who had nothing but scorpions and wild animals for company, often thought that I was dancing in a chorus with girls. My face was pale from fasting, but my mind burned with passionate desires within my freezing body; and the fires of sex seethed, even though the flesh had already died in me as a man.

Application Point: Isolation, will power, or even strict discipline alone cannot overcome the flesh.

Only the Holy Spirit can empower us to subdue our sinful nature.

so can’t become complacent or think that we are immune to temptation.

The fight between the flesh and the Spirit is intense and unending—and it’s not just about sexual temptations, but all sorts of challenges.

One big danger is becoming complacent—thinking we're immune to temptation.

But Paul's warning here applies to all of us. No one is so strong that they don't need to pay attention, and no one is so weak that they can't overcome their human nature through the power of the Spirit.

As the scholar Betz says, “In the battle between the forces of flesh and Spirit there is no stalemate, but the Spirit takes the lead, overwhelms, and thus defeats evil.”

3. The Conquest: Win Without Limit Vs. 18

Before listing what he calls the "works of the flesh," Paul repeats something important that also highlights the main issue he's been tackling in this letter.

He says, "if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."

Basically, Paul is still focused on those Judaizers these false teachers—the people pushing the old Jewish laws

And he wants to make sure no one thinks his upcoming list of what to do and what not to do is just a softer version of strict legalism.

Because living by the Spirit is totally at odds with living under the law.

This doesn't mean that OT laws are canceled or that the Ten Commandments are outdated.

Instead, Christians are now empowered to truly fulfill the law's real purpose because they've been freed from the law by having the Spirit.

Paul expresses the same idea in…

Romans 8:3–4 NKJV

3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The Mosaic Law was given to guide God's people and reveal sin, but it was also a tutor leading to Christ (Galatians 3:24).

With Christ's fulfillment of the law, believers are called to live by the Spirit.Paul echoes this idea in…

Romans 6:14 NKJV

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Application: Living under grace doesn't grant us a license to sin; instead, it calls us to a higher standard empowered by the Spirit.

We are to produce the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, and so on—as evidence of our transformed lives.

And to wrap this up: We all know the struggle inside us is real, but so is the victory God promises.

Walking with the Spirit isn't just something we're told to do—it's how we find the strength to do it.

We're not left to fight on our own or rely on our own abilities. The Holy Spirit is our guide, our strength, and our victory.

So here's the takeaway: Let's make it a daily habit to walk with the Spirit.

Let's pay attention to where He's leading us and be willing to let Him work in our lives.

When we do this, we'll not only overcome our own selfish desires but also show Christ to a world that desperately needs His love and grace.

ENDING…