How do we keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25)?

"But the ones of Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with the emotions and passionate cravings." "The ones of Jesus Christ," remind us of Galatians 3:29: "But if you (are) of Christ, then you are Abraham's seed." We noticed that the expression "of Christ," meant more than "belonging to Christ." It has also the meaning of being a part of Christ, members of Christ, not merely the property of Christ. So here, "those of Jesus Christ" would be those who are His members, those who are truly part of Himself. These have crucified the flesh, as we have already seen in Romans 6, with the emotions and the passionate cravings. Now, as we walk by the Spirit, the Spirit keeps the flesh in this place of death; but if we walk carelessly, and do our own will, and listen to the flesh, then the works of the flesh will be manifest in our lives. The Christian does not have to die. Christ died for us, and we hold ourselves for dead, having died with Him, as though we ourselves had died upon the cross, since it was for us He suffered. Now I have this new life, and I do not acknowledge the flesh as "I" at all, but as sin which dwells in me, which I hold to be crucified. We may realize this moment by moment. God says we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Faith thankfully believes what God says, and so holds the flesh, the old man to be dead, as we have seen in Romans 6. If the Christian is faithful, then by the Holy Spirit he applies the cross in a practical way to the flesh, so that it may not act (2 Cor. 4:10-12).

If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also keep in step. We live by the Spirit. We walk by the Spirit. We are led by the Spirit, and by the Spirit we keep in step. The word means to walk in a line, as a line of soldiers. If each soldier went his own way, and only walked when he chose, there would be no line at all. But the soldiers are under authority, and obedience to that authority produces the line of soldiers and all must keep in step. The Holy Spirit has authority over us; if we hear and heed Him, then we will walk in line — we will keep step.

"Let us not become vainglorious, challenging (or provoking) one another, envying one another." We usually call vainglory, conceit. The law makes us more vainglorious or conceited than we were before, instead of destroying our vainglory, because the law makes me think of myself. As we have seen, if we use the law in the right way it is most useful, for when I think of myself, and see how bad I am — when I see how far short of the righteous demands of the law I come — then the law helps to compel me to own myself a lost sinner. But the law, as we have seen, never can produce righteousness.

By walking in the Spirit, as Galatians 5:16 bids us. We learn from Ephesians 1:13, that He is given to us when we believe the Gospel of our salvation. He marks us off as belonging to God. But also we are to walk in Him; that is, He is to be in a practical way the Source and Energy of our life and activities. Walking is the first and earliest activity of mankind, hence it becomes a figurative expression for our activities. Our thoughts, speech and actions are to be under the Spirit's control. Then we shall not be fulfilling the desires of the flesh, as otherwise we should. This is what Galatians 5:17 says. The Spirit of God wields a power that is superior to the downward drag of the flesh; and we experience it, if we walk in Him.

So they (and we) are told, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (v.16). This is turning thoroughly from self-interest, self-exaltation, self-sufficiency and all that is of self, to fix the eye upon Christ, the Object with whom the Spirit of God would engage each of us. This does not involve fleshly determination, but a genuine turning from ourselves, to place all value on what God is and what God has done. The Spirit of God dwells in every believer (Rom.8:9). Therefore we are simply required to submit to His leading and power, and the flesh will have no occasion to work. It is really a most simple truth, but one of great difficulty for Christians to lay hold of because of our natural pride that delights in taking credit for well-doing, instead of giving all credit to God. Indeed, even when there is a recognition that the Spirit of God only can produce fruit for God, there is too often the conception that this is mixed with some inherent good in ourselves, The resulting conflict is seen in Romans 7 - "I" against "I", the flesh determined to put itself down, while actually this means opposition to the Holy Spirit's work.

But there is a way in which the Christian may walk through this world, with the enemies on every side, and be in perfect safety. There is a way in which the flesh has no power whatever against the Christian. And what is that way? "Walk by the Spirit, and you shall not at all give effect to the passionate cravings of the flesh." That is our secret, "walk by the Spirit." God has given the Holy Spirit to dwell in each believer, and He does dwell in us, though often we forget Him, or grieve Him (Eph. 4:30), or disregard Him; but He does dwell in you, dear Christian reader, and He is ready to give you power for your walk. Heed His least prompting, obey Him instantly as He brings to your mind the Word of God; so we "walk by the Spirit." In verse 18 we will read of being "led by the Spirit." That is true; He knows the path we are to walk, and He is a faithful, trusty Guide. If we will but let Him lead us, then we will truly "walk by the Spirit," and we will not at all fulfill the passionate cravings of the flesh. How strong the flesh is! What passionate cravings it has! But there is One who is mightier than the flesh, who dwells within each one of us, and all His mighty power is ready to lead us, and to let us walk by the Spirit, so that there is no need for us to give effect at all to these passionate cravings of the flesh. In the Greek it is a double negative; that makes it very strong, "not at all" do we need to heed the flesh.

Now we find there are two dwelling within us who are utterly opposed to each other. The flesh is passionately opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit is passionately opposed to the flesh; so I find that within me there is a war going on, more bitter, more determined, and lasting longer than any war on earth. The flesh is always wanting to have its own way, and do its own will; the Holy Spirit who dwells in me is always opposed to my flesh. If I listen to the flesh, and yield my members to it, then the flesh quickly makes itself manifest in me; but if I walk by the Spirit, and let the Spirit lead me, then I will not at all listen to the passionate cravings of the flesh.

There are those who tell us that the flesh in them is dead, or is "burned out," and will never act again. No, dear reader, the flesh is very much alive, as we will soon see, if we do not heed the Holy Spirit within us. 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 immediately he lost his temper, and became very angry. His flesh was not dead, but was only waiting for an opportunity to manifest itself. Though the flesh is not dead, and will be with us as long as we are down on this earth, yet we may thank God that He has provided a way in which it may be kept in the place of death. So in Romans 6 we read, "Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with (Him), that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin. For he that has died is justified from sin… So also ye, reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to obey its lusts. Neither yield your members instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God." Rom. 6:6-13, J.N.D. Trans. But the only way I can put this into practical effect in my life, is by walking by the Spirit, letting the Spirit lead me, yielding myself and my members to God, to lead me, and use me as He pleases. So I live to God, not to the flesh.

The foundation principle of a holy walk is next set forth. "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts" (ver. 24). It is not said that we should do so, as is so commonly supposed, but that we have done so. Faith judges with God; it treats flesh as dead, and gives no quarter in consequence to any of its desires. Many do not understand this. They are aware of the existence within them of the evil principle, and are earnestly endeavouring to cope with it, in order to render it nugatory. But such find they have undertaken an impossible task, and are at times disposed to sit down in despair. The truth is, God has dealt with the flesh in the cross of Christ. It is proper christian knowledge to say "knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [annulled] that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:6). Thus faith accepts in simplicity what God has done, and then victory comes.

The apostle continues, "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" (vers. 25, 26). Every believer lives in the Spirit, He being the source of the new life that he has received; to walk in the Spirit is to accept practically His gracious leadership and control in all the details of life down here. From this the Galatians had slipped, through the pernicious teaching to which they had listened: hence the apostle's grave warning and rebuke in the words which conclude the chapter.

After Paul has spoken about the walk in the Spirit, or in the power of the Spirit, or according to the Spirit, in fellowship with the Spirit, which has to do with our daily practice, the way we behave, we come to walking by the Spirit. This implies walking together, in step with each other, we walk together as in an army, in ranks, having our eyes focused on the Lord Jesus. This is how we keep rank, by so doing we do not cause any trouble to the one before or after us or beside us. In connection with this kind of walking there are seven admonitions. It is not only that we are individually responsible how we walk in the Spirit (as in verses 16 to 24), but now the point is that we walk together.

“Let us not become vain-glorious, provoking one another, envying one another.” (5:26)

Strengthened by the Holy Spirit, living by Him, walking by Him, led by Him, taught by Him from the Word of God, the Bible, let us each one by Him seek to walk in line, to keep step, to walk in the footsteps of Christ (1 Peter 2:21). If we keep step, we are likely also to "keep rank" (1 Chron. 12:33).

Let us remember: We walk by the Spirit. 5:16 We are led by the Spirit. 5:18. We live by the Spirit. 5:25. We keep step by the Spirit. 5:25.

Verse 25. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." This "if" suggests no doubt, for they who answer to the call of God are quickened by His word, and live both in and by the Spirit. If otherwise, we are dead still in our natural selves. The apostle's exhortation is here, as always, grounded on a state assumed. None but Christians can be justly invited to a Christian walk, since a man's behaviour is, or ought to be, a proof of what he is. According to the confidence which the apostle has in his erring brethren through the Lord, he treats them as really in the faith, and exhorts them accordingly as partners of his own confidence and rejoicing in Christ Jesus. Let us keep, he says, the order (stoichomen) of the Spirit, if we live in Him We once walked in a path of our own, when alienated in our ignorance from the life of God; let our ways now be according to the light in which we live. The true character of a spiritual walk may be estimated by the reproach of the same apostle to the Corinthians. They walked as men. We must have new and higher motives, and be sustained by a mightier power than our own free will, if we are to keep blamelessly the way of God. We walk as we are led. If we forget that we are not our own but Christ's, we shall of course be led by the deceiver in the ways of sin. If we keep in memory what we have heard, we shall, in the newness of the Spirit, care only to please Him who has redeemed us for Himself.

Verse 16. "I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." He touches here the root of their disease. They had felt the exceeding difficulty of satisfying their own conscience in their daily walk. Hence all the mischief. A love of goodness, misdirected, had led them into unsuspected evil and disaster. But the question which their later guides had falsely answered was one which truth could not disown, and to meet it with a right solution is the apostle's present aim. To walk, he says, in the Spirit is the sole condition of a practical exemption from the lust of the flesh. But walking in the Spirit is possible to those only who abide in Christ, and who reckon consequently both their old nature and the law, which was its ineffectual bridle, among the former things which faith no longer sees before it in its race (Phil. 3:13). It is as if he said: Engage your hearts' affections with the Lord, and regulate your liberated and purged consciences by the sayings of His lips, and you will need no other safeguard from the paths of the destroyer (Ps. 17:4). Christ's words, which are spirit and life, are strength also for their own fulfilment to the heart of faith. Prohibitive legal injunctions give no power against the evils they denounce. "Touch not, taste not, handle not" are rules for sinners, not for saints (Col. 2:20-23). The law of the Spirit is liberty, and has its fountain in the heart wherein Christ dwells. What He did both perfectly and naturally, when He pleased the Father, the generation of God's children are in their measure empowered to do, by yielding themselves to the will of Him who works His own good pleasure in His saints (Phil. 2:13; Heb. 13:21). The promise here delivered, if conditional, is also without limit; though, as we shall see presently, perfection, in its subjective meaning, is a hope only while these bodies of humiliation are unchanged. Paul could say much in his own name, though to the praise of the glory of His grace who kept him; but , he could not say that he had attained, or was already perfect. So he ran and battled to the end (Cor. 4:4; Phil. 3:12).

A. — Assuredly: to question it would be antinomianism, or systematic unholiness. We are called to walk in the Spirit by the faith of Christ, in confidence of His care, in habitual self-judgment, and in obedience of the word.