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Walking in the Spirit: The Path to True Freedom

Bible Passage: Galatians 5:16-26

Summary: Life in the Spirit (5:16–26) — The fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:19–23), contrasted with the works of the flesh. Gal 4:1-7 tells us we are no longer under a tutor but granted “adult son” status - free from the law. As adult sons we are led by the Spirit.

1. Depend on the Spirit

Galatians 5:16–18 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

The Conflict Between Spirit and Flesh

The Spirit, God’s presence and activity in human life, is the only match for the “flesh.” Believers are pulled by two contrary forces; dragged downward by the flesh and drawn upward by the Spirit. These two powers will never agree. It’s important to note: the Spirit never brings the soul into bondage; where the Spirit works, holiness becomes a delight and God’s service becomes a continual joy. The flesh leads to guilt, loss of fellowship, and the danger of discipline.

What is “Walking in the Spirit?”

Walking in the Spirit means ordering your daily life according to the Holy Spirit’s guidance rather than your own impulses or external rules. It involves consciously choosing by faith to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide in thought, word, and deed.

Understanding the concept

Walking in the Spirit is not mystical or ethereal, but rather submitting to the mind and will of the Spirit of God; being Spirit-filled. The Spirit doesn’t override your will or decision-making; instead, you voluntarily submit each choice, large and small, to His direction. Those who walk in the Spirit will show forth daily and moment-by-moment fruit.

How to practice it?

Three concrete approaches can guide us:

Saturate yourself with Scripture. Be filled with the Word of God so that the Word of Christ dwells in you richly (Col 3:16), and that word becomes the control factor used by the Spirit of God to lead you (John14:23). Being filled (walking) with the Spirit is the same as allowing the word of Christ (the Bible) to richly dwell in us (2 Ti 1:14).

Yield your decisions to the Spirit. All walking in the Spirit is just yielding your decisions to the Spirit of God as you go. Simply saying, “Holy Spirit here’s another decision, I want to just go the way You want me”. With a life controlled by the Word, experience, and wisdom we can be confident of the results.

Recognize the fruit as evidence (Gal 5:22-23). Don’t be a fruit inspector but let God show you some wondrous results. You can know that you are walking in the Spirit if your lives are showing forth the fruit of the Spirit which is super-natural: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We are not to strive to produce these, they are the result of walking in the Spirit.

The outcome of a Spirit-filled life is freedom from fleshly desires and the fulfillment of God’s royal law through love rather than external compliance.

2. Deliverance from Darkness

Galatians 5:19–21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

The Works of the Flesh - A Vice List

Paul mentions four classes of sins: sins of lust, idolatry and witchcraft, sins of temper, and sins of appetite. Paul outlined the works of the flesh not to suggest the Galatians were guilty of all these sins but to show the inevitable consequences of living in the flesh.

Liberation that comes from being led by the Spirit, which offers freedom from the law and its burdensome demands. This section contrasts the works of the flesh with the freedom found in a Spirit-led life.

Scholars have presented a number of interpretations of this vice list passage. These views include the following: (a) believers who commit these sins will lose their salvation, (b) people who commit these sins show they were not saved in the first place, (c) believers who commit these sins lose fellowship with the Lord, (d) believers who commit these sins will miss the millennial kingdom, though they will have eternal life, and (e) believers who commit these sins will lose rewards in heaven.

3. Develop the Fruit

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

The Fruit of the Spirit

Paul contrasted the fruit of the Spirit with the works of the flesh: where the flesh produced immorality, the Spirit produced genuine love; where the flesh produced idolatry, the Spirit produced faith; where the flesh produced strife and hatred, the Spirit produced gentleness and goodness.

These are qualities the law cannot produce in our lives.

The Greatest is LOVE (1 Cor 13:13).

You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.

Why did you spill the coffee?

"Because someone bumped into me!!!"

Wrong answer.

You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.

Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It's easy to fake it, until you get rattled.

So we have to ask ourselves... “what's in my cup?"

When life gets tough, what spills over?

Joy, gratitude, peace and humility?

Anger, bitterness, victim mentality and quitting-tendencies?

Life provides the cup, YOU choose how to fill it.

Today let's work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation, resilience, positivity; and kindness, gentleness and love for others. 🤗 Anonymous Source

Galatians 5:16 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

4. Defeat the Flesh

Galatians 5:24 “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Crucifixion of the Flesh

Believers who belong to Christ have put to death the desires and passions of the flesh through identification with Christ’s crucifixion. see Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” The just live by faith, Hab 2:4…

What does it mean to crucify your flesh?

“Crucifying the flesh” describes a fundamental reorientation of your allegiance and identity. Through the Holy Spirit’s work, you’ve been positionally identified with Christ in His death and resurrection; this happened at conversion and is the foundation for everything that follows.

The meaning further involves understanding what “flesh” actually represents. The flesh is the carnal part of man, the old sin nature if you will. Our old man feels emptiness and tries to fill it through its own resources; the “I” that attempts to satisfy itself with anything but God’s grace. Crucifying the flesh describes the decisive break with your old life that took place at conversion positionally. Like crucifixion itself, which was a gradual death, the flesh is nailed to the cross at conversion and dies a slow death throughout your Christian life, that is experiential sanctification or discipleship.

How you do it involves three interconnected practices:

First, reckon it true. Consider yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:11–14). This isn’t a private pep rally, it’s faith in what Christ accomplished. Victory over the flesh’s passions and desires has been provided by Christ’s death, freedom from the power of sin. Faith must continually lay hold of this truth or you’ll be tempted to secure victory through self-effort.

Second, walk by the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit means you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal 5:16–17). Like a farmer who can’t make a tree produce fruit but creates conditions for growth through watering and pruning, you cultivate spiritual fruit through God’s Word, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. The “just”, those who have been judicially declared righteous in Christ at salvation, shall live, walk in the Spirit, by faith.

Third, starve the old desires. Purposely avoid feeding the old fleshly nature and instead practice new behaviors driven by the Spirit. Put to death immoral practices; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (Col 3:5). Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts (Rom 13:14). Abide in the grace that teaches the believer to say no to unrighteousness (Tit 2:11-12).

One crucial insight - Many believers fail to live in the freedom that comes from believing the flesh has no authority over them; no matter how strong the desire to sin feels, the flesh can only entice, never command. Emotions are wonderful servants, but terrible masters.

5. Display True Unity

Galatians 5:25–26 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Living Together in the Spirit

The Spirit produces the life of Christ in His Body, the church, which becomes manifest in many visible ways.

Individually, He produces distinctive virtues in each believer; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These transcend cultural boundaries, such as when believers demonstrate faith, love, and grace by loving their enemies, minister to the lost, and encourage the discouraged. The Spirit supplies inner strength, freedom, and a new attitude toward life characterized by enthusiasm, peace, joy, and hope. Assurance and adoption lead to a confidence that doesn’t look for what I get out of ministering to the poor but is extravagant and Godlike.

Corporately, The Spirit-filled church reflects the character of God in the community with true unity and fellowship around the Word of God. When the church is filled with the Spirit, it becomes a powerful worshiping community that finds meaning in the Spirit’s control, resulting in thanksgiving, mutual edification through singing, and believers giving of themselves gladly. Lastly, spiritual power and witness; the church’s work involves ministering the Spirit’s message and multiplying (Mt 28:19-20). As the Spirit calls, instructs, guides, empowers, and strengthens. The real work of the church depends upon the filling of the Spirit, not organizational machinery or human effort alone.