"So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (also translated as 'flesh')."
I remember reading in Gordon Fee's "God's Empower Presence" that understanding Paul means understanding the issue of Spirit/flesh anti-thesis in his letters. For Paul, two ages are set at odds against each other one the age of the Spirit and the other the age of the flesh. The age of the Spirit is the age that was ushered in at Jesus' resurrection and sealed by the coming of the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost. This is the age promised in the prophets when God himself would rescue his people and establish his kingdom that would never end. Sin and death would have no power in this age. This age is set in opposition to the age of the flesh which is the old Adamic age marked by the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. This age is marked by death, disease, famine and sin.
Here again in this passage we see the two set at odds. Paul is admonishing the wayward Galatians to "live by the Spirit" and not "gratify" the flesh. Can you see the tension that Paul has in view? The Galatians are troubled by men who have sought to divert them from his Gospel that declares salvation in Christ alone. These men would have them add Jewish works of the Law, (eg., circumcision, dietary laws), to faith in Christ. Paul sees these as belonging to the age of the flesh when they are to live out their present circumstances as those who have already entered into the new age; the age of the Spirit. Their failure is tantamount to living as though Christ's sacrifice has had no bearing on them which is simply not the case. Here as in other places in his letters, Paul wants his hearers to live out the reality of their conversion and not as though nothing has really happened to them. Paul is commanding them as he commands us to live today in accord with the reality of God's grace as it has found you. He wants them to grow up and open their eyes to what has been given to them.
You see here also that the Gospel is external to us. It comes from without and not from within. We are called by God and respond but it is God who initiates. Paul is not telling them to simply conjure more faith to resist the false teachers. No, he wants them to reference the reality of God's prior activity in their lives. It is as if he is saying, "God has graciously given you the keys to the Kingdom. You have been forgiven in Christ and are citizens of the New Jerusalem. Given that reality, stop living like it isn't true! Stop living as though Christ hasn't died for you."
What about us? Are we living today as though we still belong to the age of the flesh? Are we still dabbling in sinful practices that will never have a place in the new age? The question I have for you is why? If you have professed Christ as savior and embarked on the path of faith, why have you given into the seductive but futile patterns of a fallen age? Ask yourself, what things will live on in the new age? Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, self-control? Yes, of course but what of tawdry sex, rude speech, unfaithfulness, unkindness, duplicitous living, lying, cheating, murder, hatred and on and on? Paul says walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the flesh. Pattern your life after the life of the future and you won't capitulate to a pattern of living that is way past its shelf-life. Compare and contrast the two ages and see for yourself which is preferable. The one marked by the Spirit of God or the one marked by sorrow, misery and death.
Here again in this passage we see the two set at odds. Paul is admonishing the wayward Galatians to "live by the Spirit" and not "gratify" the flesh. Can you see the tension that Paul has in view? The Galatians are troubled by men who have sought to divert them from his Gospel that declares salvation in Christ alone. These men would have them add Jewish works of the Law, (eg., circumcision, dietary laws), to faith in Christ. Paul sees these as belonging to the age of the flesh when they are to live out their present circumstances as those who have already entered into the new age; the age of the Spirit. Their failure is tantamount to living as though Christ's sacrifice has had no bearing on them which is simply not the case. Here as in other places in his letters, Paul wants his hearers to live out the reality of their conversion and not as though nothing has really happened to them. Paul is commanding them as he commands us to live today in accord with the reality of God's grace as it has found you. He wants them to grow up and open their eyes to what has been given to them.
You see here also that the Gospel is external to us. It comes from without and not from within. We are called by God and respond but it is God who initiates. Paul is not telling them to simply conjure more faith to resist the false teachers. No, he wants them to reference the reality of God's prior activity in their lives. It is as if he is saying, "God has graciously given you the keys to the Kingdom. You have been forgiven in Christ and are citizens of the New Jerusalem. Given that reality, stop living like it isn't true! Stop living as though Christ hasn't died for you."
What about us? Are we living today as though we still belong to the age of the flesh? Are we still dabbling in sinful practices that will never have a place in the new age? The question I have for you is why? If you have professed Christ as savior and embarked on the path of faith, why have you given into the seductive but futile patterns of a fallen age? Ask yourself, what things will live on in the new age? Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, self-control? Yes, of course but what of tawdry sex, rude speech, unfaithfulness, unkindness, duplicitous living, lying, cheating, murder, hatred and on and on? Paul says walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the flesh. Pattern your life after the life of the future and you won't capitulate to a pattern of living that is way past its shelf-life. Compare and contrast the two ages and see for yourself which is preferable. The one marked by the Spirit of God or the one marked by sorrow, misery and death.
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