Bible Study Notes - Live by the Spirit - Galatians 5:16 to 6:26

Bible Study Notes 

Live by the Spirit – Galatians 5:16 to 6:26

Introduction

Last week, we studied Paul’s forceful yet eloquent argument against the Judaizers.  He destroys their insistence upon circumcision as a requirement for admittance to life in Christ.  He painstakingly discredits their notion that the law must be upheld in order to justify one’s self before God.  That belief belies the saving power of the atonement of Christ.  Today, Paul elaborates on the liberty of Christ.  The Holy Spirit sustains the freedom to which Christ calls each believer.  Whereas the law failed to motivate people to obtain righteousness through its lengthy requirements, the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers the believer in conquering the desires of the flesh.  The fruit of the Holy Spirit enables the believer to successfully relate to God and fellow brothers and sisters.  Paul says that the nine fruit of the Spirit are so dynamic that there is no law adequate to replace.  When they are utilized, righteousness clearly results.

Paul encourages the Galatians that life in Christ cannot be merely supported with rhetorical references to liberty.  Again, Christ does not demolish the law; He redefines and fulfills it.  Since the letter of the law does not bind the believer, then he must adhere to its spirit.  That does not mean living solely in accordance with the individual’s interpretation of the law based upon his newfound freedom in Christ.  Rather, Paul details the necessities of liberty in order for the believer to live holy before the Lord.  He lists nine fruit of the Spirit: faith, gentleness, goodness, joy, kindness, love, patience, peace and self-control.  Abiding by those attributes makes knowledge of the law meaningless.  Yet, in order for the believer to be free in Christ, he must strive to relate to God and others by integrating these characteristics into his life.  Christ calls us to a freedom whereby we live according to the dictates of our identity as believers rather than the letter of the law.

Although we are not bound by the rules, regulations and rituals, we still fight with the sinful nature.  The flesh wars against the spirit.  Instincts run riot.  The residual effects of our selfish ambitions and physical impulses inhibit our ability to live as free persons in Christ.  We remain imprisoned to our flesh.  In essence, we have traded one type of bondage for another.  While we are not slaves to the law, we become slaves to ourselves by satisfying our passions and instincts.  We easily live toward our “lower” selves.  Lest the Judaizers be correct in their contention that the law is necessary for holy living, Paul describes the challenges for free believers.  The standard of righteous behavior exceeds those of the letter of the law.  In order to win the battle of flesh versus spirit, the liberated believer must adhere to internal, spiritual code of behavior; “against such things there is no law.”

Lesson Setting

The Roman Empire was known for its freedoms.  In fact, some historians argue that the unparalleled licentiousness of the times partially but significantly contributed to the fall of the empire.  Certainly, unchecked liberty will result in chaos.  Each person will become an authority in his or her own eyes.  There will be total disregard for the rights and liberties of others.  Based upon very subjective and personal interpretations, I will exercise my freedom to the potential harm of others.  Moreover, I will not consider them in my decisions provided that their choices do not conflict with mine.  The church at Galatia faced these social, political and religious challenges.  How were these new converts who were no longer subject to the minute details of the law live in harmony with each other?  How would they interpret the spirit of the law in a mutually beneficial way?

Given the surrounding civil freedoms, which fueled a certain degree of permissive immorality, the Judaizers may have won over believers who feared that the excesses of the larger society would permeate the church.  Paul must guard against “throwing out the baby with the bath water.”  In his resolve that Christ has freed believers from the law, Paul cannot denounce the principles for holy living that the law contains.  Like Christ, Paul is not canceling the law.  On the contrary, Paul explains its values to the Galatians. 

To avoid the accusation that he is furthering the wanton extremes of Roman society, Paul clarifies freedom in Christ for the church.  Believers have not been called to a liberty of self-indulgence.  Otherwise, they would not be any different from the average Roman citizen.  Instead, Paul contrasts the slavery of sinful nature with its concomitant lusts and practices with the freedom of the spiritual nature and its accompanying values and concerns.  Sensing that the Judaizers, the heralds of tradition and ritual, were prepared to condemn for creating confusion in the church, Paul educates the Galatians on the responsibilities and expectation of their freedom in Christ.

Exposition

I.  A Conflict in Desires (Galatians 5:16-17)

The liberty, which Christ gives, is not devoid of its tests.  How does one live appropriately within the freedom to which Jesus calls us?  Because the flesh and the spirit constantly battle for control over us, believers must decide how they will use their liberty.  They have to set priorities.  Will their freedom become a license to satisfy every physical desire that had previously gone unfulfilled?  Or, will they utilize their liberty to honor and glorify God in Christ?  Even as the purpose of Christianity is the latter, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believers is crucial in order to accomplish this aim.  Paul dutifully tells the Galatians that they need the Holy Spirit in order to win this war against the flesh.

Life in the Spirit empowers the believer to resist the temptation of gratifying the impulses of the sinful nature.  The Spirit and the sinful nature resemble light and darkness.  They cannot coexist peaceably.  Where one is present, the other is absent.  The intensity of this conflict may prevent believers from being true to God and rightly relating themselves to Him.  As a consequence, Paul urges them to live according to the Spirit.

II.  Spirit versus Law (Galatians 5:18)

The greatest reward for those who choose the Spirit over the sinful nature is emancipation from the law.  Being led by the Spirit supercedes the law.  One does not need written letters to guide one’s behavior.  The Spirit will guard the minds, hearts and souls of believers.  Thus, your doing will arise from your being.  It is a matter of character and choices.  The minuscule rules of the law are no longer necessary for those who are grounded in the Spirit.

III.  Flesh Leads to Destruction (Galatians 5:19-21

Ultimately, the sinful nature will yield spiritual destruction and physical death.  Paul paints a rather colorful portrait of the sinful nature.  At a glance, these activities may appeal to our base desires.  We may long for the drama and excitement of these acts.  Eventually, they would rob of us of all self-esteem we possess.  Moreover, they will steal our spiritual heritage as children of God.  The final result will be physical, spiritual and eternal death.  Paul starkly declares “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

IV.  Life beyond Flesh and Law (Galatians 6:22-26)

Those who do good things live beyond the passions of the flesh and the requirements of the law.  Also, they discard envy and conceit as they seek freely love others because of the indwelling Spirit.  In 5:22, Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  The possession of these attributes surpasses a set of legal statues. Anyone abiding by the fruit of the Spirit would easily fulfill the letter and spirit of the law.  Moreover, such a person would have conquered any personal struggles of lust, sin, and licentiousness.  Living in accordance with the Spirit means that believers successfully follow the commands of the two greatest laws.  Love God with your entire mind, heart, soul and strength.  Love your neighbor like yourself.  The fruit of the Spirit being operative in your life means that you fulfill the essence of law because of who you are as a liberated believer.  You do not accomplish good deeds in the hope of proving that you are a good person.  Christ calls us to a freedom in which we abandon self-justification in addition to personal satisfaction.  Like Abraham, the father of faith, we should be able to rightly relate to God without a written code.  He lived 400 years before the law yet he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  With the fruit of the Spirit, we find righteousness with God because of these characteristics rather than rules and rituals.  As it relates to the fruit, Paul says, “Against such things there is no law.”  He means that there is not a legal code sufficient to encompass the good that will emerge from the fruit of the Spirit in the believer’s life.

Furthermore, belief in Christ and sustenance of the Holy Spirit effectively crucifies the sinful nature of believers.  We no longer war with ourselves.  We irreversibly decide to follow Christ.  That resolve means that we “keep in step with the Spirit” endeavoring each day to live so that God is pleased.  With our fellow believers, we do not become conceited nor do we provoke or envy each other.  Any righteousness that we obtain should be used encourage each other.  We must resist the temptation to compare or judge.

V.  Help and Love Each Other (Galatians 6:1-5)

The freedom of the Spirit removes the need to judge others or ourselves.  Believers should follow the Spirit to avoid pride and self-deception.  Instead, believers should utilize the liberty of Christ to openly love and support each other on the pilgrimage of faith.  In these verses, Paul suggests that those who are indeed spiritual should help restore any that are sinful in the church.  He, however, encourages the spiritually minded to be pragmatic in their attempts lest they jeopardize themselves as they try to do good.  Nevertheless, the fruit of the Spirit allows believers to love each other by shouldering mutual burdens.  Sharing this love which is fundamentally opposed to self-seeking fulfills the law of Christ.  His liberty calls us to an unequivocal love of God and our neighbors.  On that premise, the Law and the Prophets were founded. 

In 6:3, Paul cautions against grandiosity.  Believers must rest content to be one in the family of believers.  We cease to seek superlative descriptions of our actions and characters.  Otherwise, we deceive ourselves because we live for praise and adoration rather than for the glory and honor of God.  We are not any different from those in the world that hotly pursues such selfish aims.  In contrast, believers must engage the spiritual process of self-analysis.  Each individual must examine his motives and deeds to attest whether they are consistent with the fruit of the Spirit.  If they are, then he may glorify God without judging his fellow believers.  If not, then the Holy Spirit will help him in correcting the problem.  As each person pursues spiritual progress rather then perfection, comparison and judgment are eliminated.

VI.  Reaping and Sowing (Galatians 6:7-9)

These verses contain the providential, biblical and universal principle of reciprocity.  Utilizing an agricultural metaphor, Paul assures the Galatians that a person reaps what he sows.  Planting seeds of corn will yield a harvest of fresh ears.  Likewise, sowing seeds of sinful deeds will produce the previously mentioned physical, spiritual and eternal death.  Similarly, in sowing to the Spirit, believers will ultimately reap the harvest of eternal life. 

This principle of sowing and reaping should be the most significant enticement for believers to lead good lives and do kind deeds.  Persistence accomplishes goals.  Therefore, believers must persevere in living for the Spirit.  If they do not faint, they will reap an unimaginable harvest.

Lesson Overview

The very mention of the word, slavery, conjures up images of brutality, oppression, injustice, punishment and death.  With the distance of 136 years since the ending of the “peculiar institution” in the U.S., we can barely appreciate what it means to live without any control or choices as it relates to your person.  Do we fully comprehend what it means for a person to have been a piece of property?  The bondage of chattel slavery depicts the personal enslavement of people who live to gratify the sinful nature.  Instincts and passions become master and lord over our beings.  Just as the colossal casualties of 610,000 plus people was necessary to emancipate the slaves of the American South, the total destruction of the sinful nature must occur to win this internal warfare.  As the fruit of the Spirit replace the sinful nature, believers are liberated to experience the unspeakable joy of knowing life in Christ.

The Main Thought Explained

In this pivotal verse, Paul exhorts the Galatians to live as genuinely free people.  Now that they have forsaken the yoke of the law, they should not replace it with a bondage to sinful desires.  Be truly and eternally free!  That type of liberty only comes when a believer lives according to the Spirit.  An emancipated person who is really a freed spirit should not need a written code to live.  His internal core should direct him toward the joy of life, which is sharing God’s love with all persons whom he encounters.  When you crucify the desires of the flesh, then you can live in the Spirit and know the blessings of liberty.