27: The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life

We might think of Galatians 5 as a tutorial on the Holy Spirit in the Christian life:

^{Galatians 5:4} You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope…

Paul has taught us that we are declared righteous in Christ, justified by faith (Galatians 2:16,24; Romans 3:28; 4:5; 5:1; 8:1). We are in right standing before God, legally declared righteous, but we are not yet experientially righteous in our hearts, not sinless and rightness-filled. But we are going to be (Hebrews 12:14, and 12:23), and it is through the Holy Spirit that we are able to eagerly await that future perfection by faith, because He is the one working holiness in us right now and our being sealed by Him in Christ is the guarantee of this future redemption (Ephesians 1:13,14).

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

There is a part of us (the “flesh”) that does not, despite our being converted and justified by faith, want to comply with the Law of God. We want to be a law to ourselves and serve our own selfish interests. But the Holy Spirit in us is in conflict with this fleshliness of ours and He will “lead” us into greater and greater righteousness or holiness. We are not under the thumb of the Law because the Spirit is enabling us to keep the Law of God. We are, therefore, to “walk” by the Spirit, that is, depend upon Him for enablement to keep God’s Law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and 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.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

If we resist the Spirit and act out of our fleshliness habitually, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. We are not true believers, because the conflict between flesh and Spirit is consistently won by the Holy Spirit in believers. The Holy Spirit will produce a beautiful fruit in us, the fruit of His character, which is primarily love, joy and peace, which are also expressed in forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The Law does not contradict these but is embodied in them. In Christ our fleshliness has been crucified, put to death, and we have come to live by the Spirit. Consequently, we must act to keep in step with the Spirit’s leading into holiness.

^{Galatians 2:19} “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.