Flesh and Spirit: A Meditation on Galatians 5

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,

and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,

and the Spirit against the flesh:

and these are contrary the one to the other:

so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,

wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders,

drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell

you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they

which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Let us not be desirous of vain glory,

provoking one another, envying one another.

This distinction between flesh and spirit, which St. Paul addresses here in Galatians, can be a tricky business.  Gnostics both ancient and recent have fallen into the error that a person’s flesh is evil and his spirit good—so that they press forward in a life myopically focused on internal  or spiritual things to the neglect of the physical world.  Legalists both ancient and recent have fallen into the error of thinking that a person is primarily a summation of her actions, myopically focused on the works of people to the exclusion of their deeper spiritual reality.  St. Paul is not trying to turn his readers into checklist Legalists nor antinomian Gnostics.  On the contrary, by the Holy Spirit working through him, he is trying to teach the Christians in Galatia what it means to live in Christ.

The term “walk” used by St. Paul here is a common euphemism for living.  While the letter itself is a coherent whole, this particular section begins with the distinction of walking or living in the spirit versus walking or living in the flesh.  The listener can easily discern from St. Paul that he has a choice of two paths—one that is of the flesh and marked by its evil fruit, and another that is of the spirit and marked by its good fruit.  Living or walking according to the flesh is a death sentence before God, as all evil is eventually consigned to hell.  Living or walking according to His Spirit is life and salvation, both in this world and the next.  The trouble for the honest reader of St. Paul’s very direct language here is not in understanding the difference between good and evil, life and death, heaven and hell; the trouble, rather, is in keeping straight just how one ends up on either side of that ledger.

To re-read the entire letter (a 20 minute exercise, which will immeasurably bless anyone who does so) will remind him that St. Paul’s primary objective in writing to the Christians of Galatia is the doctrine of Justification or Salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.  Some have noted, and I would agree, that while Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome is often seen as his theological magnum opus, his letter to the Christians at Galatia is an excellent summary of the same fundamental doctrines, driving home the crucial points of the Christians faith with great clarity and precision.  He makes it clear that anyone who thinks they can save themselves by their works of the Law is condemned, cut off from Christ, and fallen from grace, since no one can keep the Law perfectly enough to be saved by it.  The Law, holy and good and proceeding from the very mouth of God, is a bludgeon and a curb to our sinful and fallen flesh, a mirror which shows us the depths of our depravity before God’s immaculate righteousness, and a guide to the Christian as to the works of love and mercy which God values above all humanly contrived piety.  St. Paul, as a previous Pharisee and vigorous student of the Law, knows that the Law cannot save anyone, because that is not the purpose of the Law.  The only salvation which comes to a fallen humanity, is the grace of God through Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again for the justification of sinners.  This Gospel of grace—the Vicarious Atonement—is alone what saves mankind.  And because such grace can only be a gift, it can only be received by faith in that same Jesus and His saving promise of redemption through His Gospel.  St. Paul calls the Christians at Galatia to hold on to the Gospel of grace by faith, receiving the forgiveness of their sins, eternal life, and salvation thereby.  In so doing, he does not remove from them the good of God’s Law, but reminds them that they are not under the Law to be saved by it—rather they are under grace.

However, the divine truth which permeates both the Law and the Gospel cannot be removed from one another, anymore than God Himself can be divided.  The Law reveals what is holy, while the Gospel reveals the grace of God to forgive sinners.  Living, or walking, according to the sinful and fallen flesh, pursuing its dark desires and gratifying its perverse lusts, will fall under the condemnation of the Law.  To the person who chooses to live unrepentantly and unfaithfully according to their lusts and passions, comes the frightening curse:  that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  Such commitment to this way of living declares before heaven and earth that there is no faith in such a person to abide in the Word of the Lord, nor to abide in His goodness, mercy, love, or grace.  The one who chooses to live according to his sinful flesh, chooses to remain at war with God, rejecting both Him and His saving Word.  For such a one there is no hope, because the only Word of God to Him will be the Law which he rejected, and which will judge him rightly to eternal perdition.

The life of the spirit, however, is different.  It is not a human contrivance, nor is it propped up on the efforts of man.  For the person born from above by Water and the Holy Spirit, they have a new spiritual life which can, by God’s grace, hear God’s Word, love Him, believe Him, trust Him, and abide in Him by faith.  This living in the spirit is not simply an introversion of living in one’s own thoughts and feelings, but a present reality that the Christian is grafted into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, indwelt by His Spirit working through His Word.  The Christian therefore lives by this grace through faith in Christ alone, where the Holy Spirit gives life to the Christian’s spirit, and both live together in the harmony of Christ’s saving Word.  In such a life, the Law loses its terror because it is no longer seen as a way of salvation; rather it is the means by which our loving Savior brings us to repentance for our daily sins and the sinful nature we know still courses through our fleshly veins.  Enlivened by His Gospel of grace and clinging to it by faith, the Christian is now led by Christ’s Spirit to live in accordance with His Law of love for both God and neighbor.  Such a life of faith holds the blessed promise of eternal salvation for Christ’s sake, making the Christian an adopted child of God and heir with Christ to His Kingdom.

The trouble with this text, therefore, isn’t the text—it’s us.  We still live as a unity of flesh and spirit, but even as born again Christians, we struggle against the sin which still clings to our fallen flesh.  We still have thoughts, words, and deeds—things we do, and things we leave undone—which the Law rightly condemns.  And yet we have a new life, a new and resurrected spirit (which anticipates our future resurrected bodies,) which by the power of the Holy Spirit strives to love God and abide in His Word.  What are we to do, who find ourselves constantly at war within our very persons, our fallen flesh resisting the Spirit of the Living God, until we finally are laid low in the grave?  We are to live in faith and repentance before Christ and His Word, which is the only way we walk in His Spirit.  In such blunt and direct language as St. Paul uses under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there is never any comfort in sin, never any reassurance that evil is winked at or ignored.  But there is every consolation, every hope, and every comfort to the repentant sinner who clings by faith to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.

Where do you find yourself today?  If you are walking in your sinful flesh to satisfy its lusts, hear the stern and terrifying warning God speaks to you today—repent!  If you are walking according to the Law, and thinking that by it you will be justified, hear the shattering warning God speaks to you by His Word—repent!  If you find yourself broken and contrite over your sin, knowing your own destitution before a holy and almighty God, hear His tender and loving Word of Gospel for you—turn from your sins, trust in Jesus to save you by His grace won for you through His Cross, and live in His Spirit, forever forgiven and free.  Hear the Word of the Lord wherever it meets you this day, that you may repent, believe, and live in Him forever.  Amen.