The War We All Fight

Paul has spent the this letter defending the doctrine of sola fide

A component of justification by faith is the doctrine of “Christian liberty”

Christian liberty is the idea that, thanks to Christ, we have the freedom to act in anyway we choose

It’s not that all actions are appropriate, but that Christ has removed the eternal consequences of our actions

In other words, even if we sin, we are still saved from the death that sin causes

The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “a liberty of action, especially when excessive; disregard of law or propriety; abuse of freedom.”

Liberty is best equated with freedom

There are two main threat to our liberty

Legalism and license

As Paul has been addressing over to this point in Galatians, legalism can steal our liberty

Legalism, the idea that we are still bound by the law or some form of law

Now he changes his focus to that of license, the idea that we have a license to live a life of sin

This idea is every bit as incorrect and dangerous as that idea that we are still under the law

Walk By the Spirit

v16-18

Paul now sets up the opposing forces

We are constantly involved in a battle between the flesh and the Spirit

The great news is, Paul tells us exactly how to win in this battle

To win the battle, we must walk by the Spirit

But what does that mean?

In the Greek, the word for walk has the idea of follow or imitate

What we are to do is to allow the Spirit to lead us and we are to follow

This is one time when we have a command paired with a promise

Walk by the Spirit is a command

Not gratify the desires of the flesh is a promise

Here Paul uses the word flesh to refer to our broken sinfulness

The desires of the flesh are all the sinful things we desire

it’s not that our spirit desires them, but our flesh does

This is because the desires of the flesh and the Spirit are in conflict

This conflict is intentional, to keep you from sinning

Paul also includes a reminder that we are not under the law

Lusts of the Flesh

V19-21

Sin is evident

We know, and people in the world know, that sin is wrong

A perfect example of this is abortion; everyone knows it’s wrong, they just make excuses

Paul’s list

Instead of exploring the list item by item, there are patterns we can see

First, we se the pleasure items: Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, orgies, drunkenness

Then we see spiritual sins: idolatry and sorcery

Last we see the pride items: enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy

These have similarities to the description of the forbidden fruit found in Genesis 3.

We see in vers 6 that the fruit was good for food (pleasure) and to make one wise (pride)

Fruit of the Spirit

v22-24

In contrast to the lusts of the flesh, Paul now discusses the fruit of the Spirit

These fruit are personal characteristics that the Spirit gives to all believers

They are to be markers of the Spirit filled life

Often it’s not a matter of “Do i have this fruit?” but “To what degree is this fruit evident in my life?”

The process of sanctification is different in everyones life, but it will be present

I often refer to our sanctification as a yoyo, sometimes we are up, sometimes we are down, but we are always on the string

Paul’s reference to the fruit of the Spirit reminds me of Jesus instructing the disciples that you can tell a tree by the fruit it bears

These fruit, while not primarily to indicate to us that someone is a believer, are a sign of someones spiritual maturity

If we are consistently living a life that is marked by the lusts of the flesh over the fruit of the Spirit, we must ask the question “are we walking in the Spirit of the flesh?”

Live by the Spirit

V25-26