But I say, Walk in [the] Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfil flesh's lust.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and these things are opposed one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire;
Two powers live inside one believer, and each is set against the other. Much hangs on the last clause: one reading leaves the believer helpless, the other puts the Spirit in charge.
Before God gives the Spirit, nothing in a person resists the flesh. One writer sees the same order in Israel's journey out of Egypt:
God had given the gushing water through the struck rock, a picture of the Spirit. Right after that, Amalek — a picture of the flesh — appears... So it is not until we receive the Holy Spirit as believers that this conflict begins. In our unconverted days the flesh reigned supreme, and its power in our lives was unchallenged.
Some people insist their old nature is dead and gone. One story shows what is still there:
There was a man who insisted that his flesh was dead, and he had no more passionate desires. Someone threw a cup of water in his face, and at once he lost his temper, and became very angry. His flesh was not dead, but was only waiting for a chance to show itself... Let us not forget that the flesh is still here, as this chapter in Galatians shows. It is passionately opposed to the Spirit, to stop us walking by the Spirit. And the Spirit is opposed to the flesh, to stop the Christian walking according to the flesh.
Older English versions end the verse with "so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Commentators reject that wording. The ESV has "to keep you from doing the things you want to do," which is closer to what they argue for:
Taken as it stands, it would teach that both the Spirit and the flesh are equally powerless. Or rather, it would mean that the result of their fight against each other is that the believer can do nothing at all... The words should be rendered, "that you should not do those things which you desire." This at once clears away the difficulty... The flesh will always be evil, and cannot be made better, improved, or changed. The Spirit, thank God, is holy. So the two can never be in agreement.
Misread, the verse becomes an excuse:
Galatians 5:16 clearly teaches that if we walk in the Spirit, we shall have sure and constant victory over the flesh. So it would be a very serious mistake to quote Galatians 5:17 as a reason for a low, fleshly walk. Its teaching is designed to produce the direct opposite.
Romans 7 also describes an inner fight. But the two passages end in opposite places. The difference is who opposes the flesh:
In Romans 7 it is the flesh against the inward man, instructed and enlightened by the law. In Galatians 5 it is the flesh against the Spirit, and the position is completely reversed. The renewed mind, directed and urged forward by the law, is no match for the flesh; but the flesh is no match for the Spirit.
The last clause states a purpose, not a defeat:
When our flesh stirs us up to desire its old things, the Spirit of God does not remain passive in us, but causes conflict within... He holds the believer back from doing the things the flesh likes, and moves him to do the things God loves. He does this by acting on the new man.
Commentators differ on whether the fight ever stops. One writer holds that the verse states the fixed opposition of the two, and not a daily battle:
Galatians 5 states the fact of the two opposing principles — flesh and Spirit — set against each other. This is not necessarily conflict. When we walk in the Spirit we are above the influence of the flesh, and do not carry out its desires.
- Two natures. A believer has two natures at once, and they can never agree. The flesh stays what it always was.
- New war. The conflict only starts when God gives the Spirit. Before that, the flesh met no opposition at all.
- One word. Read it as "should not," not "cannot." The clause names the Spirit's purpose in blocking the flesh, not the believer's helplessness.
- Two outcomes. Under law the renewed mind loses (Romans 7). Under the Spirit the flesh loses — same fight, opposite result.
- One walk. The verse is not an excuse for a poor life. It is the reason to walk in the Spirit, where the flesh's desires go unmet.
but if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under law.
Paul has just set the flesh and the Spirit against each other inside the believer. Here he draws the conclusion: who leads you settles what you are under. So if the law is not the rule for daily living, what is?
Commentators point out that Paul's wording rules out what many assume — that keeping the law is how a Christian becomes holy.
What we find here is that the Spirit of truth is the power of holiness — it is the Spirit of God who enables a Christian to walk rightly, not the law. That is the point he brings them to, and so he concludes the matter: "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." The point is plain. Suppose being under the law were the means of Christian holiness. Then it would have said, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are under the law," and not, "you are not under the law."
The phrase "led by the Spirit" looks back to earlier chapters, where the law minds a child like a tutor. One guide has replaced another.
The expression "led by the Spirit" carries us back to the earlier passage, Galatians 3:2 — 4:7. Formerly the law took our hand and led us about as a schoolmaster or tutor. Now that redemption is accomplished, we are sons of full age. The Spirit of God's Son is sent into our hearts, saying, Abba, Father. The Spirit now lives in us and does the work the outward law once did — only He does it far more fully. We cannot be under the leadership of both at the same time.
Other writers press the point from what the law was given for.
We do not need two guides at one time. It is characteristic of the believer that he is led by the Spirit; to such a person the law has nothing to say. So it makes no sense to place believers under law in any shape. Those who do so understand neither what they say nor what they are talking about. The law was not made for the righteous but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane (1 Tim. 1:7-10).
So where does the Spirit lead? Toward one Person — and by love, not by demands.
The Spirit has come to take of the things of Christ and show them to us. He fills our thoughts with Christ, the One who died for us and lives for us. The Spirit will not lead us under a law that makes demands we cannot meet. He leads us under the influence of a love that surpasses knowledge, a love the new nature delights to answer.
That direction rules out a common mistake — turning "walk by the Spirit" into another set of rules to master.
Some believers do not understand that all goodness and truth is in God alone. They suppose that to "walk in the Spirit" is a requirement like the rules of the law. So they fast, punish themselves, go through severe self-discipline, labouring to reach such an experience. But such attainment is impossible. Instead God asks for the patience of faith and quiet rest in His presence — no labour, no pressing or forcing. The Spirit of God never leads us to set up legal standards as guides.
Law and Spirit also mark out two positions. To put a believer back under law would move him backwards.
The Spirit will always lead us to behold the glory of the Lord, and to be changed into the same glory. The Spirit gives liberty, not bondage. Which is your portion — the liberty of the sons of God, or the bondage of the servant, the slave? And sons do not stop being sons and become slaves again.
Does dropping the law as the rule of daily life lower the standard? Commentators answer that it raises it.
May I then break the law? Certainly not. Denying that the law is the Christian's rule of walk is far from weakening holiness. The Christian is to walk by the entire Word of God, taught so as to show Christ — the One the whole Bible unfolds from cover to cover. The law kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6). The Holy Spirit brings in a deeper character of holiness than was asked for in the Ten Commandments.
One writer records the everyday effect of getting this wrong.
As a young man said to me the other night, "I have been trying for twenty-five years to keep the law, as I was told I must, and I have only got worse. I have resolved and prayed each morning, and by night felt so bad that I was almost in despair."
- Guide — The verse turns on who leads. The law once took the believer's hand like a tutor. Now the Spirit does that work from within, and no one can be under both at once.
- Direction — The Spirit leads in one direction: to Christ. He shows the things of Christ and works by a love the new nature delights to answer, not by demands that cannot be met.
- Status — Being led marks out sons, not slaves. The Spirit gives liberty, and sons do not revert to bondage.
- Standard — Dropping law as the rule of walk does not lower holiness. The Spirit brings in a deeper holiness than the Ten Commandments asked, measured by the whole Word and by Christ.
- Test — If law-keeping produced holiness, Paul would have written the opposite conclusion. Twenty-five years of trying, and getting worse, is the evidence in daily life.