A. A final appeal to walk in the liberty of Jesus.
1. (1) A summary statement: in light of all that Paul has said previously, he now challenges the Galatians to walk in the truth he has presented.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which
Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
a. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free: The fact is that Jesus has made us free. If we live in bondage to a legal relationship with God, it isn’t because God wills it. God pleads with us to take His strength and walk in that freedom, and to not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
i. Significantly, it is Christ who has made us free. We don’t make ourselves free. Freedom is a gift of Jesus, given to us and received by faith. When we struggle to free ourselves, we just become more entangled with a yoke of bondange.
ii. Paul also makes it emphatic: the liberty. Today, people live in the headlong pursuit of “freedom,” which they think of as doing whatever they want to do, and never denying any desire. This is a kind of liberty, a false liberty; but it is not the liberty. The liberty is our freedom from the tyranny of having to earn our own way to God, the freedom from sin and guilt and condemnation, freedom from the penalty and the power and eventually freedom from the presence of sin.
b. Stand fast means that it takes effort to stay in this place of liberty. Someone who is legally made free in Jesus can still live in bondage; they can be deceived into placing themselves back into slavery.
i. The great evangelist D. L. Moody illustrated this point by quoting an old former slave woman in the South following the Civil War. Being a former slave, she was confused about her status and asked: Now is I free, or been I not? When I go to my old master he says I ain’t free, and when I go to my own people they say I is, and I don’t know whether I’m free or not. Some people told me that Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but master says he didn’t; he didn’t have any right to. Many Christians are confused on the same point. Jesus Christ has given them an “Emancipation Proclamation,” but their “old master” tells them they are still slaves to a legal relationship with God. They live in bondage because their “old master” has deceived them.
c. The phrase yoke of bondage reminds us of what Peter said in Acts 15:10 about those who would bring the Gentiles under the law: Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? The Jews themselves were not able to justify themselves before God by the law, so they shouldn’t put that heavy, burdensome yoke on the Gentiles!
i. Certain Jewish teachers of that day spoke of the Law of Moses as a yoke, but they used the term in a favorable light. Paul sees a legal relationship as a yoke, but it is a yoke of bondage. It is related to slavery, not liberty. This yoke of bondage does nothing but entangle us. We try hard to pull God’s plow, but the yoke of bondage leaves us tangled, restricted, and frustrated.
ii. It certainly was bondage. Jewish teachers counted up 613 commandments to keep in the Law of Moses. “Even to remember them all was a burden, and to keep them bordered on the impossible. Small wonder that Paul referred to subjecting oneself to them all as entering into slavery.” (Morris)
iii. “Like oxen that toil in the yoke all day, and in the evening are turned out to graze along the dusty road, and at last are marked for slaughter when they can no longer draw the burden, so those who seek to be justified by the Law are ‘entangled with the yoke of bondage,’ and when they have grown old and broken-down in the service of the Law they have earned for their perpetual reward God’s wrath and everlasting torment.” (Luther)
2. (2-4) The danger of embracing the law as a way to walk with God.
Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become
circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man
who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become
estranged from Christ, you who attempt to
be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
a. If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing: When we embrace the law as our rule of walking with God, we must let go of Jesus. He is no longer our righteousness, we attempt to earn it ourselves. For the Galatians in this context, to receive circumcision – the ritual that testified that a Gentile was coming under the law – meant that he no longer trusted in Jesus as His righteousness, but trusted in himself instead. So Paul could say, Christ will profit you nothing.
i. The legalists among the Galatians wanted them to think that they could have both Jesus and a law-relationship with God. Paul tells them that this is not an option open to them - the system of grace and the system of law are incompatible. “Whoever wants to have a half-Christ loses the whole.” (Calvin)
ii. “Circumcision is the seal of the law. He who willingly and deliberately undergoes circumcision, enters upon a compact to fulfill the law. To fulfill it therefore he is bound, and he cannot plead the grace of Christ; for he has entered on another mode of justification.” (Lightfoot)
iii. Alford quotes Chrysostom: “He that allowed himself to be circumcised did it as fearing the law, and he that this feared, distrusted the power of grace, and he that distrusts gains nothing from that which he distrusts.”
iv. “This is but one rite, but it carries with it the inference that the person accepting it has by that acceptance pledged himself to keep all the other provisions of the law.” (Morris)
v. How tragic! Jesus, dying on the cross, pouring out His blood, His life, His soul, His agony, His love for us – and it will profit you nothing! Two men died with Jesus; for the one who put his trust in Jesus, it was eternal life. For the one who trusted in himself, it profited him nothing.
vi. This point was so important to Paul that he musters all the strength he can of a personal appeal: he begins with Indeed I, Paul. When he continues on and writes I testify, Paul remembers his former training as a lawyer - and is deadly serious. “Tongue cannot express, nor heart conceive what a terrible thing it is to make Christ worthless.” (Luther)
b. Every man who becomes circumcised . . . is a debtor to keep the whole law: When we embrace the law as our rule of walking with God, we must embrace the whole law. We become debtors to keep the whole law, and that is a heavy debt!
i. Again, the legalists among the Galatians wanted them to think they could observe some aspects of the law without coming under the entire law. But when we choose to walk by law, we must walk by the whole law.
ii. Why must we keep the whole law? Because if we come to God on the basis of our own law keeping, then our law-keeping must be perfect. No amount of obedience makes up for one act of disobedience; if you are pulled over for speeding, it will do not good to protest that you are a faithful husband, a good taxpayer, and have obeyed the speed limit many times. All that is irrelevant. You have still broken the speeding law and are guilty under it.
iii. Does this mean that the mere act of being circumcised means that someone is under a legal relationship with God, and must keep the whole law for salvation? No; Paul is speaking to the Gentile Christians among the Galatians, who were being drawn to circumcision as adults, as evidence that they had come under the Law of Moses as the “first step” to salvation. We will later see that Paul doesn’t care one way or another about circumcision (Galatians 5:6). What he detests is the theology of circumcision as presented by the legalists.
c. You have fallen from grace: When we embrace the law as our rule of walking with God, we depart from Jesus and His grace. We are then estranged from Christ, separated from Him and His saving grace.
i. The danger of falling from grace is real, but it is often misunderstood. Most people think of “falling away” in terms of immoral conduct, but we are not saved by our conduct. However, we are saved by our continuing reliance by faith on the grace of God. Someone may fall from grace and be damned without ever falling into grossly immoral conduct.
ii. Boice on you have fallen from grace: “The phrase does not mean that if a Christian sins, he falls from grace and thereby loses his salvation. There is a sense in which to sin is to fall into grace, if one is repentant. But to fall from grace, as seen by this context, is to fall into legalism . . . Or to put it another way, to choose legalism is to relinquish grace as the principle by which one desires to be related to God.”
iii. Literally, Paul writes, “you have fallen out of grace,” which is not the same as the colloquial English phrase “you have fallen from grace.”
iv. “To fall from grace means to lose the atonement, the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness, liberty, and life which Jesus has merited for us by His death and resurrection. To lose the grace of God means to gain the wrath and judgment of God, death, the bondage of the devil, and everlasting condemnation.” (Luther)
3. (5-6) The answer of faith to the legalist.
For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for
the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
a. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith: Those walking in the Spirit wait for righteousness by faith; they are not trying to earn it by performing good works. No one is a legalist through the Spirit.
i. Wuest on eagerly wait: “The word speaks of an attitude of intense yearning and an eager waiting for something. Here it refers to the believer’s intense desire for and eager expectation of a practical righteousness which will be constantly produced in his life by the Holy Spirit as he yields himself to Him.”
b. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love: Those walking in the Spirit know that being circumcised or uncircumcised means nothing. What matters is faith working through love, both of which were conspicuously absent in the legalists.
i. Each aspect of this verse is precious. It sets us in a place: in Christ Jesus. Morris on in Christ: “Paul never defines what the expression means, but it clearly points to the closest of unities.”
ii. In that place, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything – neither one matters at all. You aren’t better if you are circumcised or uncircumcised. You aren’t worse if you circumcised or uncircumcised. The only harm is trusting is something that is completely irrelevant!
iii. This verse also tells us what does matter in this place: faith working through love. You have faith? Wonderful; but it must be faith working through love. If your faith doesn’t work, it isn’t real faith. If it doesn’t work through love, it isn’t real faith. But your love alone isn’t enough; your love must also have faith; an abiding trust in who Jesus is and what He did for us.
iv. Faith must work through love. Herod had faith that John the Baptist was a true prophet, but there was no faith working through love, and he had John the Baptist murdered. Real faith, saving faith, will work through love.
4. (7-12) A final confrontation.
You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying
the truth? This persuasion does not come
from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 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. And I, brethren, if I
still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense
of the cross has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut
themselves off!
a. You ran well: Paul remembers their good start in the faith, but he also knows that it isn’t enough to start well - they are still in danger of falling from grace.
b. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Paul knows that the false teaching comes from a person (who hindered you); but it didn’t come from Jesus (This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you).
i. At the root of it all, the Galatians were leaving Jesus to pursue the false and empty teachings of man, in this case legalism.
ii. Lightfoot on hindered: “A metaphor derived from military operations. The word signifies ‘to break up a road’ . . . so as to render it impassable, and is therefore the opposite of . . . ‘to clear a way.’” The Galatians were doing well until someone broke up the road they ran on!
c. A little leaven leavens the whole lump: The warning is driven home - the corrupting influence of legalism and other doctrines that diminish Jesus are like leaven in a lump of dough. A little bit soon corrupts the whole lump.
i. In the Jewish way of thinking, leaven almost always stood for evil influence. Paul is saying that the legalistic commitment they have right now may be small, but it is so dangerous that it can corrupt everything.
d. I have confidence in you: Wanting to leave the confrontation on a positive note, Paul expresses his confidence in the Galatians (which is really a confidence in the Lord who is able to keep them). Yet, Paul is equally confident that judgment awaits those who lead them astray and away from Jesus (he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is).
i. Remember Jesus’ solemn warning against those who would lead one of these little ones astray (Matthew 18:6-7). The judgment is sure, whoever he is. “It does not matter who he is; he may be highly acclaimed in the community where he teaches, but if he is perverting the gospel he is a guilty person and his rank and reputation will not shield him.” (Morris)
e. If I still preach circumcision: Paul makes it clear that he no longer preaches the necessity of circumcision. The fact that he is persecuted by the legalists is evidence enough of this. Instead, Paul proudly bears the offense of the cross.
i. How could anyone accuse Paul of preaching circumcision? Probably because he asked Timothy to be circumcised (Acts 16:1-3). But Paul didn’t have Timothy circumcised so Timothy could be saved or “more saved.” He did it so Timothy could more freely evangelize among unsaved Jewish people.
ii. Legalism can’t handle the offense of the cross. The whole point of Jesus dying on the cross was to say, “You can’t save yourself. I must die in your place or you have absolutely no hope at all.” When we trust in legalism, we believe that we can, at least in part, save ourselves. This takes away the offense of the cross, which should always offend the nature of fallen man. In this sense, the offense of the cross is really the glory of the cross, and legalism takes it away.
f. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off! Finally, Paul wishes that those who demanded circumcision among the Gentiles would go all the way themselves, and amputate their genitalia altogether, not merely their foreskins.
i. Sacred castration was known to citizens of the ancient world; it was frequently practiced by pagan priests in the cults in the region of Galatia. Paul’s idea here is something like this: “If cutting will make you righteous, why don’t you do like the pagan priests, go all the way and castrate yourself?” Morris rightly observes, “This was a dreadful thing to wish, but then the teaching was a dreadful thing to inflict on young Christians.”
ii. “This word was habitually used to describe the practice of mutilation which was so prevalent in the Phrygian worship of Cybele. The Galatians were necessarily familiar with it, and it can hardly bear any other sense.” (Rendall)
iii. In writing this, Paul also wished that these legalists would be cut off from the congregation of the Lord as required by Deuteronomy 23:1: He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the Lord.
iv. With such a dramatic conclusion to this point, Paul has made one thing clear: legalism is no little thing. It takes away our liberty and puts us into bondage. It makes Jesus and His work of no profit to us. It puts us under obligation to the whole law. It violates the work of the Spirit of God. It makes us focus on things that are irrelevant. It keeps us from running the race Jesus set before us. It isn’t from Jesus. A little bit will infect an entire church. Those who promote it will face certain judgment, no matter who they are. Legalism tries to take away some of the glory of the cross. In light of how serious all this is, it’s no wonder that Paul says he wishes they would even cut themselves off!
v. “‘Circumcision’ stands for a religion of human achievement, of what man can do by his own good works; ‘Christ’ stands for a religion of divine achievement, of what God has done through the finished work of Christ. ‘Circumcision’ means law, works, and bondage; ‘Christ’ means grace, faith and freedom. Every man must choose . . . And behind our choice lurks our motive. It is when we are bent on flattering ourselves and others that we choose circumcision. Before the cross we have to humble ourselves.” (Stott)
B. How to live in the liberty of Jesus.
1. (13-15) Using liberty to love each other
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. For all the
law is fulfilled in one word, even in
this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour
one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
a. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty: Paul has made the point over and over again – the Christian life is a life of liberty. Jesus came to set the captives free, not to keep them in bondage or put them in bondage all over again. It’s worth asking if people see us as people of freedom and liberty. Often, Christians are seen as people more bound up and hung up than anyone else is.
i. “He is not saying that a certain measure of liberty was grudgingly accorded believers. He is saying that freedom is of the essence of being Christian; it is the fundamental basis of all Christian living.” (Morris)
b. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh: The great fear of the legalist is that liberty will always be used as an opportunity for the flesh. The idea is that people will just go out and sin as they please, then say to a spineless God, “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” and then go on doing whatever they want again. Paul recognizes the danger of this attitude, so he warns against it here.
i. First, Paul writes to brethren. These are those who are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26). These are those who were baptized into Christ and have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27).
ii. These ones have been called to liberty. As Paul put it earlier in the chapter, they have been made free by Jesus Christ, now they are called to stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free (Galatians 5:1). They have been set free; now the question is, “How will they use their liberty?”
iii. Do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh: Clearly, we can choose to use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. That option – that danger – is open to us. We can take the glorious freedom Jesus has given us, spin it, and use it as a way to please ourselves at the expense of others. Because the context focuses on the way we treat one another, Paul has in mind using our freedom in a way that tramples on the toes of others.
iv. Rendall on opportunity: “This term was applied in military language to a base of operations, and generally to any starting-point for action.” We are tempted to use our liberty in Jesus as a “base of operations” for selfish sin.
v. It is easy to think liberty is “the right to sin,” or “the privilege to do whatever evil my heart wants to do.” Instead, this liberty is the Spirit-given desire and ability to do what we should do before God.
c. But through love serve one another: This is the antidote for using liberty as an occasion for the flesh. The flesh expects others to conform to us, and doesn’t care much about others. But when we through love serve one another, we conquer the flesh. It isn’t through an obsessive, contemplative attitude of navel-gazing that we overcome the flesh, but by getting out and serving others.
i. This is exactly the pattern set by Jesus. He had more liberty than anyone who ever walked this earth did. Yet He used His liberty to through love serve one another.
ii. In the original Greek, Paul is even more specific. He says, through the love serve one another. What love? Specifically, the love of Jesus Christ. “Paul uses the article: it is ‘the love’ of which he writes, the distinctive Christian love.” (Morris)
d. For all the law is fulfilled: This attitude of service towards one another fulfills the great commandment (You shall love your neighbor as yourself), and it keeps us from destroying ourselves through strife (beware lest you be consumed by one another!). It’s as if Paul addresses the legalists again, and says: “You want to keep the law? Here you have it! Love your neighbor as yourself and you have fulfilled the law in one word.”
i. What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? This simple idea has been twisted into the idea of setting self-love as the foundation for a healthy human personality. Instead the idea is that as we naturally take care of ourselves, we should also take care of others.
ii. “The primary meaning is not that we must properly love ourselves before we can love others . . . but that we are to love our neighbor with the same spontaneity and alacrity [speed] with which we love ourselves.” (Fung)
iii. “If you want to know how you ought to love your neighbor, ask yourself how much you love yourself. If you were to get into trouble or danger, you would be glad to have the love and help of all men. You do not need any book of instructions to teach you how to love your neighbor. All you have to do is to look into your own heart, and it will tell you how you ought to love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luther)
iv. Calvin on the love of others and the love of ourselves: “The two affections are opposite and contradictory; for the love of ourselves begets a neglect and contempt of others.”
v. A wonderful test of our spiritual state is simply how we treat other people. No matter what spiritual image or status we may have, God deeply cares about how we treat others. We want to make the measure how much we pray, how much of the Bible we know, how many things we “don’t do.” But the measure is how we treat our brothers and sisters in Jesus. As Luther said, “Whenever you are angry with your brother for any cause, repress your violent emotions through the Spirit. Bear with his weakness and love him. He does not cease to be your neighbor or brother because he offended you. On the contrary, he now more than ever before requires your loving attention.” No wonder Trapp writes, “Neither can any one love his neighbour as himself, but he that loves God above all.”
e. Bite and devour one another sounds like a pack of wild animals! That’s how the church can act when it is using its “liberty” as a platform to promote their own selfishness. If you want to see some fireworks, put two selfish people together. Selfish people will eventually be consumed by one another.
i. “The loveless life is a life lived on the level of animals, with a concern only for oneself, no matter what the cost to other people.” (Morris)
2. (16-18) Using liberty to walk in holy living.
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you
are not under the law.
a. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh: Simply put, if we walk in the Spirit (instead of trying to live by the law), we naturally shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Again, the fear of the legalist - that walking in the Spirit gives license to sin, and that only legalism can keep us holy - is just plain wrong.
i. Walk is a common picture of traveling the “road of life” and making progress upon it. How are you progressing in life? Also, many people have a distinct walk, and can be identified by the way they walk. So, how do you walk? What can others tell by your walk? It should be a walk in the Spirit.
ii. What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? First, it means that the Holy Spirit lives in you. Second, it means to be open and sensitive to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Third, it means to pattern your life after the influence of the Holy Spirit.
iii. How does the Holy Spirit influence our life? First, He reveals His will to us through the message of the Bible. Second, He influences us through others who walk in the Spirit. Third, He influences us through an inner direction that we become more sensitive to, and respond to better, as we mature in Jesus.
iv. How can you tell if someone walks in the Spirit? They look a lot like Jesus! Jesus told us that the mission of the Holy Spirit would be to promote and speak of Him (John 14:16-17, 14:26, 15:26, 16:13-15). When someone walks in the Spirit, they listen to what the Holy Spirit says as He guides us in the path and nature of Jesus.
v. “Life by the Spirit is neither legalism nor license - nor a middle way between them. It is a life of faith and love that is above all of these false ways.” (Boice)
b. And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh: There is no way anyone can fulfill the lust of the flesh as they walk in the Spirit. The two simply don’t go together. The Holy Spirit doesn’t move in us to gratify our fallen desires and passions, but to teach us about Jesus and to guide us in the path of Jesus. This is the key to righteous living – walking in the Spirit, not living under the domination of the law.
i. What is the lust of the flesh? “I do not deny that the lust of the flesh includes carnal lust. But it takes in more. It takes in all the corrupt desires with which believers are more or less infected, as pride, hatred, covetousness, impatience.” (Luther)
c. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: Walking in the Spirit is the key, but it doesn’t always come easily. Often, it is a battle. There is a battle going on inside the Christian, and the battle is between the flesh and the Spirit. As Paul writes, these are contrary to one another – they don’t get along at all! When the flesh is winning the inside battle, you do not do the things that you wish. You don’t live the way you want to; you live under the flesh instead of under the Spirit.
i. The fact of this battle should wake us up. If you don’t know you are in a battle, you will always lose. Also, the fact of the battle teaches us that effort is required to walk in the Spirit. God doesn’t just knock us over the head with it; we have to seek it, and block out the things that hinder walking in the Spirit.
ii. What is the flesh in the way Paul uses it here? He doesn’t mean our flesh and blood bodies. Precisely speaking, our flesh isn’t even that fallen nature, the “old man” that we inherited from Adam, because the old man was crucified with Jesus, and is now dead and gone (Romans 6:6). Instead, as Paul uses it here, the flesh is our the inner man that exists apart from the “old man” or the “new man,” and which is trained in rebellion by the old nature, the world, and the devil.
iii. Even though the old man was crucified with Christ, and is dead and gone (Romans 6:6), his influence lives on through the flesh - and he will battle against us until we experience God’s final antidote to the flesh: a resurrection body.
iv. Boice on flesh, and sarx, the Greek word translated flesh: “When Paul speaks of sarx he means all that man is and is capable of as a sinful human being apart from the unmerited intervention of God’s Spirit in his life . . . It came to mean man as a fallen being whose desires even at best originate from sin and are stained by it. Thus sarx came to mean all the evil that man is and is capable of apart from the intervention of God’s grace in his life.”
v. How do we fight against the flesh? First, we have to be able to say “No” to the flesh and its sinful desires. Second, we have to be able to starve the flesh from bad influences. Third, we have to strengthen ourselves in the Spirit of God, and follow His influence.
vi. “When the flesh begins to cut up the only remedy is to take the sword of the Spirit, the word of salvation, and fight against the flesh. If you set the Word out of sight, you are helpless against the flesh. I know this to be a fact. I have been assailed by many violent passions, but as soon as I took hold of some Scripture passage, my temptations left me. Without the Word I could not have helped myself against the flesh.” (Luther)
d. It’s as if we are a computer, and we have two hard drives in us. One is programmed according to the Spirit, and the other is programmed according to the flesh. In any given situation, it’s up to us to decide which “drive” we will access. The resources of the Spirit are there. The resources of the flesh are there – but which will you access?
i. Some want to take the “drive” of their flesh and make it as efficient as possible. God never meant your system to run that way. He wants you to run off the “drive” of the Spirit of God.
ii. In this illustration, the law is like an error message that keeps popping up on your flesh “drive.” It doesn’t fix the drive, and it sometimes makes the system crash – but it does tell you something is wrong, and it points you in the right direction. Instead, the Spirit “drive” has programming on it that will make your flesh drive better – and one day, when we get to heaven, God will replace that “flesh” drive with a resurrection upgrade.
e. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law: The antidote to the flesh is not found in the law, but in the Spirit - and if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. You don’t need to be, because you fulfill the will of God through the inner influence of the Holy Spirit, instead of the outer influence of the law of God.
i. This effectively “writes” the law of God on our hearts, inside of us. This is the great work of the New Covenant, promised in the Old Testament: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jeremiah 31:33)
ii. The inner influence is far more effective than the outer influence. “The mistake that is made so often is that the Mosaic law is substituted for the restraint of the Holy Spirit, and with disastrous results . . . A policeman on the street corner is a far more efficient deterrent of law-breaking than any number of city ordinances placarded for public notice.” (Wuest)
3. (19-21a) Examples of the works of the flesh that walking in the Spirit helps us to overcome.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which
are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.
a. Now the works of the flesh are evident: Paul has just written about the battle between the flesh and the Spirit in every believer. Though it is an interior, invisible battle, the results are outwardly evident. It’s almost as if Paul apologizes for having to make this list, because the works of the flesh are evident. Yet, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he knows it is important to be specific, because we must know specifically how we walk in the flesh. We can’t see the flesh, but we can see what it does.
i. Lists of good and bad behavior would be a familiar form to many of Paul’s readers. “In many writings in antiquity there are lists of virtues or vices or both, and such lists are found in the Old Testament, and elsewhere in the New.” (Morris)
ii. Some have sought to organize this list in four categories: sensual sins, religious sins, interpersonal sins, and social sins. We shouldn’t regard this as an exhaustive list, but it adequately gives the idea of what the person who walks in the flesh does.
iii. “It you will read the chapter, you will notice
that the apostle has used no less than seventeen words, I might almost say
eighteen, to describe the works of the flesh.
Human language is always rich in bad words, because the human heart is
full of the manifold evils which these words denote.” (Spurgeon)
iv. “Lest Paul be accused of taking an unduly pessimistic view of life, it is well to remember that pagan moralists were, if anything, more severe in their stricture. The one difference was that pagan moralists regarded these things with horror, as contrary to man’s true nature; Paul regarded them as the ‘natural’ results.” (Cole)
b. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lewdness are all sensual sins, relating to sex. We are often appalled at the sexual immorality of our day, but we should remember that the times Paul wrote in were as bad if not worse. “There is ample evidence to show that the sexual life of the Greco-Roman world at the time of the New Testament was sheer chaos. Such evidence has come not from Christian writers but from pagans who were disgusted with the unspeakable sexual immorality.” (Fung)
i. Adultery is violating the marriage covenant by sexual immorality. This word isn’t included in the list of many ancient manuscripts, so many translations (such as the NIV) don’t include it. But that doesn’t mean that God gives a free pass on adultery, because even if Paul didn’t write the word in this list, it is included under the next word, “fornication.” In any regard, adultery is often excused by those who practice it, but God doesn’t listen to the ways we often seek to justify extra-marital sex. Some say, “My partner doesn’t understand me.” Some say, “But we are in love.” Some say, “God led us to be with each other.” But God doesn’t hear it. Adultery is sin, and those guilty of it should confess their sin and repent of it instead of excusing it. The Holy Spirit never led anyone into adultery.
ii. Fornication is the Greek word porneia, and it speaks of sexual immorality in a broad sense. Pornia started out meaning “the use of a prostitute,” but by Paul’s day it was “used for a wide variety of sexual sin.” (Morris) Therefore, fornication covers “Illicit connection between single or unmarried persons; yet often signifying adultery also.” (Clarke) Webster’s dictionary defines fornication as “Voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other.” Sex before and outside of marriage – which Paul calls here fornication – “was so widespread that it was apparently accepted as a normal part of life . . . Paul cannot accept any such view of the practice; he sees it as totally wrong.” (Morris) The Holy Spirit never led anyone into fornication.
iii. Because adultery and fornication are understood in relation to marriage, it’s also important to understand what marriage is. Some today don’t want to get a legal marriage, and say, “We’ll just be married before God. That’s all that is important.” Say what you will about that arrangement, but it isn’t marriage. Webster’s Dictionary (1828) defines marriage as: “The act of uniting a man and a woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. Marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall part them.” Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (1993) uses this definition: “The social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc.” Some will answer, “What if we were on a desert island and there was no one there to marry us and no court to record it?” The answer is simple: When you are on a desert island, God will allow it. But not here where there are people to marry you and courts to record it. Whenever a couple is afraid to follow through with a proper, legal marriage, it shows they don’t fully trust each other or don’t fully trust God – yet they want the benefits of marriage without the commitment of marriage. The Apostle Paul and the Bible has a word for that: fornication.
iv. Uncleanness is another broad word, referring to sexual impropriety in general. It should be thought of as the opposite of purity. If it isn’t pure before God, then it is uncleanness. Many today excuse themselves by saying, “Well, we did this and this and this, but we didn’t go all the way.” Others say, “My pornography habit isn’t wrong, because I’m not actually committing sexual sin with another person.” But the word for uncleanness here is general enough to let us know that all of these things are works of the flesh. Uncleanness also covers impure speech, or suggestive speaking filled with double meanings. The Holy Spirit never led anyone into uncleanness.
v. Lewdness (sometimes translated licentiousness) has the idea of “ready to sin at any time.” It speaks of someone who flaunts their immorality, throwing off all restraint and having no sense of shame,