Choose to Walk in the Spirit
Galatians 5:16-25 “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. ... (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.”
We have seen in a previous section that our spirits can only walk in righteousness while our flesh can only walk in sin. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that our spirits and our flesh are completely against each other. The reason for that is because the spirit has the nature of God while the flesh has the nature of the devil. In this passage Paul admonishes the saint to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh, and so clearly the saint has the ability to choose how they will walk. The believer who chooses to walk in the spirit will walk in righteousness and free from sin, while the believer who chooses to walk in the flesh will walk in sin and “free” from righteousness. The believer who chooses to walk in the flesh remains righteous in their spirits however, for as we have already discussed, their spirits cannot sin. Nevertheless even though their spirits remain unaffected by the sin of their flesh there is still a consequence for their actions, which we will discuss in a later section. In this passage Paul goes on to say that because the flesh is against the spirit, the believer is hindered from obeying God’s laws. But then he reveals to us that those who exercise their faith in the finished work of the cross are able to crucify the flesh and thus walk in the spirit.
1 Peter 4:1-2 “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, (2) that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter teaches us that the flesh is against the will of God, for the only desire of the flesh is to commit sin. And so we see that both the apostles Peter and Paul clearly teach us that to live in the flesh is to live in sin. Just as clearly, the apostle Peter admonishes the saints to refrain, as a matter of choice, from walking in the flesh and to rather walk in the will of God. As we have already seen, to walk in the spirit is to walk in the will of God, and so Peter is essentially saying the same thing that Paul says, for both apostles encourage the saints to walk in the spirit and the will of God, and to refrain from walking in the flesh. And so we have clearly seen in this section, that as an act of our will we decide whether we will walk in the spirit or in the flesh.
Michael E.B. Maher
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