Galatians 5

In Galatians 5, Paul spoke of the same thing he spoke of in Romans 7: being under the law and not in Christ. He starts the context in Galatians 5 by saying, “Christ is become of no effect to you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace.” (vs. 4). This was the position of many in the Galatian church and it is in this context that Paul is speaking. He is not speaking of normal Christian life.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would. (Gal 5:17).

This is the key phrase; so that you cannot do the things that you would. They were not able to resist sin. This is not speaking about eating an extra piece of cake. Paul said they were yielding to sin and then he listed the sins, or works of the flesh. This is not normal Christian life.

I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. (Gal 1:6).

The Galatian condition gave them a particular problem. They had given themselves over to the law and had therefore fallen from grace. They were walking in the flesh (self-dependence) and therefore they had a battle with sin. It is only by the grace of Jesus Christ that we can live in the Spirit. “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfil the desires of the flesh.” (Gal 5:16). This means walk in the grace of Jesus Christ and not in the law.

In Gal 5:17, Paul is not speaking of normal Christian life, but the life into which the Galatians had fallen, being bewitched by false teaching (Gal 3:1). When people hold up Gal 5:17 as normal Christian life, they put others into bondage. We have been set free from sin in Jesus Christ. We have also been set free from sin consciousness – from all feelings of guilt – to walk in the comfort and joy of the Lord.

There is not a struggle between our spirit and our flesh. Paul is speaking here about law and grace. These are contrary one to another. We cannot walk in law and in grace. All through Paul’s epistles he makes this same point, over and over again. The law is not of faith. Ishmael cannot dwell with Isaac, the seed of promise. They are contrary world views.

The works of the flesh are the works of those who live under the law and are in bondage to it. The law is the power of sin. The fruit of the Spirit are the works of the faith of Jesus Christ who lives within us. In the mind of man there is a struggle between law and grace. In all of Paul’s epistles he wrote to address this. Law is self, self-made, self-righteousness, self-help. Grace is Christ-centred and is life. It is the anointing that breaks the yoke. “Shouts of grace grace unto it.” (Zech 4:7).

Teaching that there is a struggle between the body and spirit of man, or between their old and new natures, brings others into bondage to sin, which is exactly what Christ came to set us free from. It goes against all of Paul’s doctrine. People go on thinking that they have to fight a battle that Christ has won. They go on thinking that they are not yet set free, but that they must struggle slowly and be “saved” slowly.

We must depend on the grace of God and on His life within, or sin will reign once again, because without Christ there is no life. So we stand on guard against sin, but this does not mean that we struggle against a sin nature. We must abide in the vine (Jesus), which means remain in the gospel of Christ. “Abiding” is not some kind of spiritual exercise. It is remaining in the faith. Abide means to stay.

It is amazing how much we have read Paul, without reading Paul. We do not read the words as he meant them in his theology in his epistles. We read Paul without following his arguments and then we apply different meanings to the words that he used. What is the point of reading the Bible if we do it this way?