Galatians 5
Galatians 5:1-26
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
16 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.
19 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.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 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.
Since what we have in Christ has nothing to do with spiritual rituals or fulfilling specific demands of the flesh, those things can only be distractions, detractions, and a significant detriment to a stance that can only be in freedom from them all. That stance, however, will be one that is only in the Spirit. Where we are walking and the trajectory of its path will be clearly apparent by the fruit it produces. Liberty in Christ cannot produce acts of wickedness and ungodliness. The freedom we have doesn’t disaffect choices to follow unrighteousness. Being a slave to sin isn’t faithfulness to the removal of the law. It is the denial of any Spirit direction and simply prideful persistence in bondage to what we’ve been freed from. Every step taken in the Spirit is one that leads to the goodness of God demonstrated in a liberated life, while the smallest suggestion otherwise has a wide-spread impact upon so many more than just the suggestor.
Living habitually and walking in the Spirit is what enables us to not go after the things of the flesh. It is only in and by the spirit that this is accomplished, which means we need to make a conscious decision every moment to abide in the spirit to disable the flesh and it’s ways.