Galatians 5:25 - THE Walker

"If we are living by [the] Spirit, by [the] Spirit also may we be following."

-The Spirit of God is He Who gives us life (John 6.63), Who makes us alive spiritually to begin with.  Born of the Spirit - that is the second birth (John 3.5-8).  He blows into our lives, this invisible Rushing Wind from heaven, and breathes into our souls the new breath of eternal life.  But He comes as more than merely an eternal-life-Giver - as stupendous as that is in and of itself.  He is sent by our Savior to be our ever-present Helper, our Comforter, our Guide, our Teacher (John 14.16-17, 14.26-27, 15.26, 16.13).  He comes to give us power for living lives which are radically out-of-this-world, supernatural, overflowing with abundance, uncontainable, fruit out the wazoo.  It is the very life of the risen Christ unleashed in and through us on an unsuspecting world - to our families, our neighbors, our city, the nations.

-This then, God’s Holy Spirit, is not only the means by which we receive eternal life, He is the means by which we live out this life, by which we walk.  We don’t physically walk as much in the modern world, but walking, in Paul’s day, and even today in many parts of the undeveloped world, has always been the most fundamental means of transportation.  It is how we get around, how we live our lives, most of us unless somehow physically prevented from doing so.  If I am going to do something, anything productive, it will very likely involve me getting up out of whatever comfy chair or bed I am in and using my feet to move my body to whatever place the doing will take place.  Walking means living and doing, and whatever it is that I may be doing, I want to be doing that by the Spirit.  He is my Walker.  He is THE Walker.  I need Him.  I am trusting in Him to provide not only wisdom and guidance for the what, but also the necessary strength for the how.  And also to bring the increase.  Because apart from Him, I am spiritually powerless.  Impotent.  There is nothing I can do, not one thing.  No not one.  On my own I am confined to a spiritual wheelchair.  The Spirit is the One Who enables me to put one spiritual foot in front of the other.  I am following His lead.  I am doing nothing, going nowhere fast apart from Him.  It would be foolish to even attempt to do so.  Ask Him what to do.  Ask Him for wisdom.  Listen for an answer.  Ask Him to demonstrate His power as you get up out of that wheelchair and step out and trust Him for the ability to do whatever you do - so that in all things God's breathtaking goodness will be front and center.  Doing what God wants in the power which God richly supplies will always result in fruit out the wazoo.  Like these Galatians before us, we all need to be constantly reminded of this.

Galatians 5:24 - Mostly dead

"But the [ones] of Christ [Jesus] the flesh they did crucify with the passions and the desires."

-Here’s the thing.  For someone who has trusted in Christ, the flesh is dead.  All these things which are wrong, which are contrary to what the Lord wants, which smack of self, the excesses and overindulgences and the things where God is left out - dead.  Nailed to the same cross on which my sins were paid for in full.  My new reality is that Christ lives in me, and I am dead, crucified in Him (Galatians 2.20).  In other words, there should in fact be no struggle.  Dead things do not put up a fight.  Because they’re dead.

-It is fair to ask, however, how is it that Paul just talked about a struggle, about the flesh setting its desire against the Spirit, about the deeds of the flesh?  What can it do, how can it do any of this, if it’s dead?  Some commentators point out that crucifixion as a means of execution was by no means instantaneous.  The victim usually hung there, struggling and hanging on to life for quite some time.  Using this imagery, it becomes obvious that the flesh thus nailed to the cross may still have some life left in it but it is rendered completely powerless.  It's only mostly dead.  It is dying, to be sure.  Rather incapacitated.  Which then suggests that - if I am in Christ - it would be ludicrous for me to allow my flesh to exert any influence whatsoever over the things that I want and the choices I make.  Those ungodly, selfish passions and desires have been crucified right along with it.  Walking by the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, I can walk right past that gibbet of crucified flesh and say yes to whatever and all that the Lord wants.

Galatians 5:22-23 - An apple a day...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control.  Against the [things] of such there is not a law."

-The fruit of the Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit.  Fruit is sweet.  And fruit is food (if you remember, fruit at one point was half of God's plan A for survival - Genesis 1.29).  So here we’re talking about sweet spiritual food, heaven-sent, born by God the Spirit Himself.  The analogy was used by Jesus actually, describing the life of a fruit-bearing branch which is enabled to do just that by establishing and maintaining a vital connection to the vine, or the trunk (Who happens to be Jesus).  And as such, the branch naturally and freely produces this sweet food while the connection remains healthy.

-This sweet food not only tastes good, it's good FOR you.  It has health benefits (an apple a day...!).  And who benefits in this case?  Who gets to partake?  Look at these fruits - they are all qualities which are primarily directed outwards, towards others.  It is all about how we relate to other people, to one another - in sweet ways which feed and nourish our souls.  The fruit of God's Spirit in my life nourishes you, just as yours nourishes me...

-Love: an enduring commitment to freely pursue good on behalf of another/others

-oy: a deep abiding awareness/experience of goodness (of God) (It’s All. Really. Really good.)

-Peace: a soul at rest (in the Lord) and free from concern or worry

-Patience: willing and able to wait, to graciously endure delays and difficulties

-Kindness: compassionate, generous and useful in relating to others and meeting their needs

-Goodness: dedicated to and in pursuit of what is beautiful, excellent and right

-Faithfulness: true to your word, your commitments, your relationships

-Gentleness: the happy mean between apathy and unbridled passion; mild, restrained, but not weak or unfeeling

-Self-control: self-rule; inner-strength of will; the ability to say when, no, or yes when necessary

-Remember, Paul began this section talking about the flesh, about the struggle between what the flesh wants and what the Spirit wants, about giving in to things we shouldn’t and about not doing the things we should.  When we are under control of the Spirit of God, when He fills us He enables us to rise up and out of the muck and mire of slavish devotion to the flesh.  We are free and able to say no to fleshy desires which are unhealthy or ungodly, that which would be selfish and unloving in relation to others.  We are empowered to say yes to the hard and the difficult things which we know we should do but which our flesh is loathe to do.

-Not all of these qualities are explicitly or exclusively outward.  There is definitely an extent to which the Spirit’s inexpressible joy and incomprehensible peace benefits me as the branch.  If I have God’s heaven-sent joy and peace, deep down in my soul, truly is that not enough, is that not all I could ask for, regardless of the circumstance?  Also beneficial is self-control, as I am enabled to avoid all kinds of unhealthy excesses, as well as being able to wade into that which while healthy and good and right may be tinged with unpleasantness.  Nevertheless, these are qualities which while they are not entirely interpersonal still reveal and show off the character of Christ and bless those who come in contact with them as they are expressed through my life.

-Let us not forget as well that in scientific terms fruit is defined as a seed-bearing structure.  That which classifies it as fruit is the presence of a seed (or seeds).  And think about it - what is the purpose of a seed?  Propagation.  Not only is fruit sweet food, but it is endowed by its Creator with the fundamental means to multiply.  It is designed for multiplication!  The sweet food of love and joy and peace and patience which the Spirit of God produces in our life contains within it seeds which are meant to spring up to eternal life in the lives of others, bringing forth everlasting love and joy and peace in their lives as well!  It is the means by which the heavenly Vinedresser propagates the species, by which He populates heaven.  And let us not forget that fruit-BEARING is a sign of a healthy fruit tree/branch.  There is every expectation that each tree planted by the Master Gardener Himself will bear fruit, nourishing, propagating fruit.

-And Paul says there is NO LAW against these qualities.  Unlike the list of sinful (i.e. prohibited by law) fleshy deeds, these traits are not only NOT prohibited in any way in Scripture, they are acceptable to the n-th degree (and are pretty much commanded/expected, to be sure).  There is no limit, no limitation to them whatsoever.  Not the tiniest need to moderate them or temper them in the least.  In fact, when viewed at the Source, they are always limitless.  Boundless.  Unfettered in any way, infinite and overflowing both in their quantity and in their duration.  Think about it - God’s love - everlasting, and of infinite supply.  His joy - both unending and uncontainable.  Peace - untold and unsurpassed.  Each of these qualities we find in the Lord ad infinitum, Who as He reproduces His life in us WILL manifest them in and through us in increasingly greater and enduring ways.  Or would, if we would only let Him.  Therein lies the only thing which otherwise limits and ‘prohibits’ this fruit of God’s Spirit - not any law, but rather our heart, our own unwillingness and lack of surrender.  Next verse...

Galatians 5:21 - INcluded?

"...envyings, intoxications, carousings and the[things] like these, which I am forewarning you [all], just as I did forewarn you, that the [ones] practicing these [the] kingdom of God will not inherit."

-Two more social sins here (we considered envying with verse 20).  These are not directed against others.  Rather they are committed in concert WITH others.  These are the sins of excess, of looking for fulfillment and satisfaction and comfort and joy in something other than God.  Paul specifically mentions intoxications - drunken binges, and carousings - which many commentators suggest refers to the kind of drunken orgies associated at that time with the worship of Bacchus, the so-called god of wine.  But Paul also makes it clear that his list is not exhaustive.  There are countless ways which fleshy man has devised to find comfort and joy in something (anything!) other than his Creator.  We give our hearts and give over control to so many other things - not only to alcohol or sex, but things like money or drugs or pasttimes or causes or relationships or stuff... The list is endless.  The flesh, again aided and abetted by the world and the devil, never tires of trying to find something to put in God’s place, and this to an extreme.  Extreme excess APART from God - and that is really the heart of the problem.  Excessive exclusion of the Lord.  There is nothing necessarily wrong with excess in and of itself.  Scripture tells us to excel still more, to do what we do heartily and making every effort at it.  But these things must not become the end in and of themselves, pursued apart from the Lord.  Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we can and should to do everything to the glory of God, in it and through it celebrating and spreading the knowledge of His breathtaking goodness.  He is in it, He is part of it, He is the end of it.  It has been said that "things go better with Coke", but they for sure always go better with the Lord, when He is in the mix, INcluded.  Because He is better.  Truly.

-The world, and the flesh, does not roll like that, however.  It excludes the Lord rather than includes Him.  It does not honor Him as God, it instead worships and serves and excessively gives itself to that which is created, and generally finds God wanting and casts Him out of mind.  Rather boring, more of a cosmic killjoy.  Rigid.  Primitive.  Old school.  Rather unintoxicating.  Irrelevant.  Out of sight and out of touch.  Far more satisfying instead to find pleasure in a bottle or a bed with a real live flesh and blood person.  Or pick some other arena or venue where fulfillment (albeit fleeting and phony) can be found in the company of familiar flesh.  These do not stand to inherit any part of heaven, nor are they interested, quite frankly.  The inexpressible joys of God’s breathtaking goodness are lost on them.  And to that end, shame on the INheritors of the kingdom, the people of God (self included) who have made Him so seemingly irrelevant, boring and lifeless (look up synonyms for "mundane", which can mean either uninteresting or earthly).  Innocuous.  Our INtentions are good, we don't intend to exclude the Lord per se (which is the primary disinheritor according to Paul here), we don't set out to dilute the potency of His presence.  We surely aspire to include Him, to honor Him in all our ways, unlike the flesh-steeped world.  But sadly our worship and conduct is rather more akin to sucking on so many lemons than drinking deep life-changing draughts from a bursting, overflowing fire hydrant of Living Water.  Shame on us.  Shame on me.  Things should not be this way.  But there is another way - the way of the Spirit...!  Heavenly INtoxication (remember, the early church was actually accused of being drunk).  Read on!

Galatians 5:20 - On flying solo, and the real intolerance...

"...idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, dissensions, divisions..."

-Next we have people living into a spiritual identity but doing so outside of God’s design, which is intended to be an intimate, open, and forever relationship with Him, the God Who made us (Jeremiah 1.5, 31.3).  He knows us, and He is the God with Whom we have to do.  But the flesh likes to fly solo, constantly coming up with ever-cascading forms of religious devotion which are actually devoid of the one true God.  Put other things in His place: that’s what the flesh - aided and abetted again by the world and the devil - pursues with undying diligence.  On the one hand we have the flesh worshipping false gods (who are no gods at all, but rather manmade statues of metal and stone and wood, not to mention the innumerable other things which the flesh will ‘worship’ and give first place in its heart above and in place of the One Who truly deserves to be there), and on the other we have the flesh actually consorting with fallen angels, attempting to contact and channel other-worldly (demonic) powers thru both religious means as well as thru incantations and potions (the Greek word here is pharmakeia, which gives us our English word, ‘pharmacy’).

-Next on the list of things the flesh is wont to do is a list of eight social sins (including envyings in the following verse).  There is another set of two others in the next verse, but this first set encompasses those things which create division and exacerbate brokenness between people.  So here, first we see vertical brokenness (in our relationship with God), followed by brokenness on the horizontal level (which is precisely the biblical pattern).  So once we begin putting self (what we want) before the Lord (and what He wants), we see self intrude in other broken ways as we relate to those around us.  Hiding and hurling, distrust and disrespect - it's straight out of Genesis 3.  We have jealousy and envy, discord, disagreements, arguments, outbursts of anger, factions, hatred.  Invariably, when the flesh is allowed to have its way, that is something we’re sure to see: broken relationships.  Wounding and woundedness.  Irreconciliation.  Relationships of pain and hurting.  This is the real intolerance - men and women of flesh unable to even tolerate each other, allowing not only wounds and slights but even differences and petty disagreements to fester and come between them, pulling and keeping them apart.  It is the manifest inability to accept or endure (much less love) someone unpleasant or unlikable or to peacefully coexist with someone with whom I do not necessarily agree.  But things should not be this way.  We were not ever meant for this.  And sadly, we have built up such a tolerance for this intolerance that we don’t know any different.  But there is One Who came to rebuild the divide, and to heal the brokenness...

Galatians 5:19 - God's precious gifts of life, food, relationship, pleasure... and a thermometer

"But evident is the works of the flesh, which is sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness..."

-Plain as the nose on your face in the light of day, Paul now proceeds to unpack some of the things which reveal that a person is being led not by the Spirit but rather by the flesh.  We would certainly expect to find these things manifest in the lives of unbelievers, but sadly we find these works also manifesting in the lives (and even assemblies) of (professing) Christ-followers, struggling souls who may have trusted in Him for salvation but who are living in an unsurrended state when it comes to following Him on a daily basis.  Such that the Spirit of Christ is rather quenched in their lives, shut down from doing what He do.

-First on the list of fleshy works is a group of words which pertain to how we use (or misuse, in this case) God’s gift of sex.  He has richly given us all things to enjoy (1Timothy 6.7), and yet we must understand that there is glorious design and purpose behind all of God’s good gifts to man.  The gift of sex is perhaps that gift which is most often abused and twisted in so many broken ways (understandably so, as the experience of pleasure therein is incomparably intense) - altho sex was not the first of the gifts to be misappropriated (we see the first woman and man misusing the gift of food, as well as that gift of intimate connection with the Creator, and then the second son abusing the gift of life itself).  But with sex, behind the ecstasy there is indeed glorious purpose and design.  God gave man the gift of sex not only as the means for carrying out His plan to fruitfully multiply and fill the earth, but also as a key component of what would become the primary building block of society and of strong community - the family.  Sex is given as that which strengthens the lifelong bond of oneness and trust between one man and one woman, an indescribable experience of intimacy and mutual pleasuring.  But it does not in and of itself produce the requisite trust and give-and-take and communication found in an enduring healthy marriage, but rather becomes an indicator of it.  It is a thermometer more than a thermostat.  It doesn’t turn up the heat as much as it tells how hot things are (or aren’t).

-Now what invariably happens with this gift when the flesh is in charge is rather more selfish, self-serving, sex and sexuality operating outside of God’s design.  So Paul here mentions three areas where that happens, describing not only any sexual activity outside of a marriage between one man and one woman, but also various forms of sexual expression which encourage and accentuate the experience of sex outside of God’s design - impurity and uncleanness in our words and actions as well as in our thought life, even a flaunting of an erotic lifestyle in ways both immodest and increasingly brazen.  And there is no doubt that the world apart from God has this going on in spades.  Premarital sex, extramarital sex - there is no need to list all the ways in which the world pursues sexual pleasure and expression outside of the covenant of marriage.  What we see in the world - again, plain as the light of day - is the reinforcing of an identity which is sexual (physical/animal) as opposed to spiritual.  Quite the opposite of how God has designed people (and has redesigned His people) to live.

Galatians 5:18 - Dancing with the Star

"But if by [the] Spirit you [all] are being led, you [all] are not under law."

-Life in the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, keeping in step with Him, this glorious dance where we let Him lead, is the life we were always meant to live.  True soul freedom, this - freedom from the harsh requirements of the law, no longer under compulsion to observe every last jot and tittle in order to try and gain entry in to the halls of heaven, freedom to blossom into every splendid facet of who I was designed to be.  It is a taste of glory indeed, but it is not for everyone.  Clearly, because Paul inserts a big hairy if.  IF you are being led.  There are preconditions, and it is quite possible that someone (and there are many someones) is NOT being led by the Spirit.

-Indeed, some lead, others follow.  In our day it is possible to ‘follow’ someone on social media, i.e. to pay attention to them, to what they SAY.  It is also possible to follow by acting in accordance with something or someone, as in a set of instructions.  Or you could follow their example - paying attention to what they DO.  But there is much more here.  Ours is a relationship, and we’re going somewhere.  Following the Spirit of Christ means we are not only paying attention to Him, to what He says and does, we are not merely observing His set of instructions - we are in a relationship with Him which is headed somewhere, such that we are going where He is going.  But in this case, following is more fully orbed, in that it also means deference.  There is humility, a lowering of oneself.  Submission.  You let go of the reins and let someone else do the driving.  No, we’re not talking about a chauffeur, where you recline in the back seat and set your engagement on autopilot.  No, we are still engaged.  And the truth is that most of us would greatly prefer NOT to leave the driving of this car to someone else.  We not only want to know where we’re heading, we want to be in the drivers seat.  We want the remote control to our lives.  We want to be master of our own domain, in charge, calling the shots.  But being led by the Spirit of Christ means that He is calling the shots.  We let go, and let Him.

-It is better compared to a partner dance, where one partner leads, and the other follows.  Interestingly, dance instructors will tell you that the first thing you need is connection - a connection to your partner.  Obviously this divine dance begins with a vital connection thru faith with the Spirit of Christ.  And then, as you begin to dance, the one who leads is the one who can SEE WHERE THEY ARE GOING.  Clearly, this would suggest that the omniscient, all-knowing, infinitely-wise Holy Spirit is far better suited to lead.  Learning to follow is not easy - it requires much practice, to the point where when you are following correctly, you won’t take a step until your partner TELLS YOU TO.  In fact, dance instructors will say that in dancing, the follower does nothing unless the leader gives the signal.  And if he gives a signal which seems wrong, you forget what you were expecting to do and follow the new signal instead.  It takes skill for the follower to read the signals given by the lead and react to them with split-second precision.  Admittedly it is hard to surrender so much power to someone else.  But this is how you follow.  And this is Who we follow.  If this were "Dancing With The Stars", He is both the Pro AND the Star.  The world frankly wants (and needs) to see Him.  And He has all the skills, all the ability.  He does the choreography, He calls the shots.  We hold on, and let go, and let Him.

Galatians 5:17 - The Battle for Spiritual Snickers

"For the flesh is desiring against the Spirit, but the Spirit against the flesh, for these one another are opposing, in order that not what things you [all] are wanting these you [all] may be doing."

-War.  There is a battle being waged deep down in my soul, a desperate struggle for supremacy, for allegiance.  In this corner, weighing in at zero pounds (He does after all show up like the wind), the Holy Spirit of God, the promised Helper, come not just to help but to take over, to undertake a makeover of heavenly proportions.  But no lightweight pretender, this one.  He is the undefeated heavyweight Champion of heaven and earth, come to bring heaven to earth thru the agency of redeemed rebels.  Undefeated He is, but not undisputed.  And oh, there’s a dispute.

-In the other corner, my flesh, aided and abetted by both the world and the devil.  Think of the world as the trainer and the devil as the manager.  Together they have been teamed up almost since the beginning of time.  Strong allies, these.  Collectively they are forever hell-bent on exchanging the truth of God for a lie and the glory of God for that of anything-other-than.  Pretty much any cheap subsitute will suffice.  Or pricey.  Whatever it takes.  Anything other than God and what He wants.  Leave Him out of the equation entirely, that’s what my flesh and the world and the devil are wont to do.

-Deeds are born from desires, and thus we have these polar opposite outcomes being determined by these two sets of opposing desires.  The objective is deeds which please, doing that which really satisfies (yes, we’re talking about spiritual snickers...!).  Aren’t we all like mick jagger, constantly in search of satisfaction?  The truth is that whatever I may do apart from God and what He wants results only in dissatisfaction (and ultimately death).  There may be a fleeting experience of pleasure, but it is invariably only so much cotton candy.  This is especially true for those who have trusted Christ and are now indwelt by His Spirit.  If I am in Christ, my heart has actually be reborn and remade to find its most soul-satisfying pleasure in the things of God, in Him.  And if my ultimate goal in life is real satisfaction, to the extent that I give in to the desires of my flesh, I will find myself ultimately disappointed.  DISsatisfied.  Sooner or later.  More on deeds after v. 18...

Galatians 5:16 - Assisted living

"But I am saying, by [the] Spirit be walking and desires of flesh you should definitely not be finishing.’

-Desire is one thing.  Consummating it, giving in to it and completing it is another thing altogether.  Just because our flesh desires something doesn’t mean that we have to give in to it.  We can say no to the flesh.  We can make our flesh do that which it is loathe to do.  This is called self-control.  And as we will see in just a few verses, it is a fruit of the Spirit, a (super!)natural byproduct of God’s presence and work in the life of a surrendered heart.  Before we came to be in Christ this was not an option.  But now in Him, the possibilities are supernaturally endless...!

-Now we are free, no longer to live as slaves to the law, but neither are we to become enslaved to the desires of our flesh.  Our freedom - freedom from guilt and condemnation and freedom from the indebtedness to the law, of having to obey its every last jot and tittle - This freedom can be abused and devolve into license.  We can be tempted and feel free to indulge ourselves and give into the flesh, knowing full well that now there is no longer any condemnation for us in Christ (Romans 8.1).  Giving in to and pursuing the things which we want in place of God and what He wants.  God will forgive us, right?  He won't condemn us, right?  Jesus paid for that one, didn’t He?  This is what Paul just warned us about.  We (supposedly) have crucified the flesh along with its desires, dead and buried, but it is waiting to be fed, nevertheless.  Like some starving, mangy mongrel.  For as long as we tarry in this fleshy body, the desire to choose what I want - regardless of whether or not it is what God wants - lies in waiting, crouching, warm embers waiting to be stoked and fanned into flame.

-And herein lies the secret to gaining that victory over the desires of the flesh - walk by THE SPIRIT.  The same Spirit of promise Who lives in our hearts (Galatians 3.5, 3.14), Who gives us the awareness in our hearts that we truly are adopted children of our heavenly Father (Galatians 4.6), the same Spirit Who helps us to persevere and endure all things in this life while we patiently and eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness in the next (Galatians 5.5) - He is indeed our Helper, our Source of strength in times of trouble and temptation, just as Jesus promised (John 14.16, 16.7).  He is the One for Whom Jesus instructed His disciples to wait after He ascended into heaven, the One Who would clothe them with power (Luke 24.29) - power to be His witnesses (and martyrs), divinely-sourced supernatural ‘help’ to live lives which would truly reflect His goodness and holiness and love to a world in desperate need of hope.  We’re talking serious help.  The assist of a lifetime, the grandaddy of all assists.

-WALK by the Spirit, Paul says.  peripateo, to tread around.  It is about how you conduct yourself, the means by which you get around, how you simply live your life.  Do this, BY the Spirit, Paul says.  He is how we get around and live our lives.  He is our means of locomotion, our means of living.  Yes, we are to be on assisted-living.  Power-assist - but this is not about brakes.  He is our accelerator - our Divine Life Turbocharger!  He is our ride - our car, or hoverboard, or segway, or airplane - whatever picture works for you - if we move or do anything, He is the One Who gets us there.  He doesn’t just give us guidance on what to do or where to go, He’s not just the gps, He’s the very vehicle itself.  He is that divine wind beneath our wings, taking us higher, further than we could ever imagine.  He is our heavenly new pair of kicks, putting that spiritual bounce in every step we take.  Put Him on, climb fully into Him, live and move around in Him and let Him bring the increase.  When we are moving around in Him, by means of Him, He shows us what is right and what is not.  What God wants, and what He does not.  When to say yes, and when to say no.  AND He gives us the power to do so - to enter in, to hang in, or even to get the heck out of there.  The more we starve and crucify those fleshy desires, the weaker and more emaciated they become.  It doesn’t mean that those desires will not ever present themselves, but Paul here promises that we will NOT carry them out.  We will NOT fulfill or bring them to completion.  Not when we are on (His Holy Spirit) Assisted living.

-So I can love the Lord with all my heart to day - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love and cherish my wife today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love and respect my husband today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love and disciple my kids today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love my neighbor and serve at my job today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can bless my city and the nations today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can rejoice in all things and be Jesus' witness/martyr today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can find victory over that habit, over that besetting sin today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can forgive and forebear, I can go low and go long and soar on the wings of an eagle today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  This is the key to those greater works, to living that kind of life which truly lights the darkness and makes those around me, the ones stumbling around in darkness, stop and take notice.  This is what the world really needs now.  It’s up to us as to whether or not we give it to them...

Galatians 5:15 - Nauseating Spiritual Cannibalism

"But if one another you are biting and devouring, be seeing not by one another you should be consumed."

-Spiritual cannibalism - that’s what Paul is warning against.  Animals.  Base survival, turning on those closest to you in a desperate situation.  Or, maybe it’s not quite so desperate.  Sometimes we just take little bites out of one another - a tasty morsel of gossip here, a snipey complaint or grumble there (Philippians 2.14).  Other times we jettison any pretense of forbearance or forgiveness and break the family apart, we break up the band, put it right asunder (cf Philippians 4.2, 4.5; 1Corinthians 13.7; Colossians 3.13).  Of course all this is in fact the polar opposite of loving and serving one another.  Apparently this must have been happening within the assembly there in Galatia.  They were turning on one another, wounding with their words no doubt, causing conflict and holding grudges and walking in unforgiveness.  Surely this was a result of the inroads of these judaizers.  The controversial teaching had spawned disagreements, disagreements which were turning ugly and now this assembly of called-out-to-be-gathered-together ones had drawn up battle lines.  Divided.  They were a family at war.  Yes, ugly, unseemly, awkward and embarrassing to any onlooker.  This schism threatened their very survival as an assembly, the exact reason why the Lord had called them out of the world and into existence to begin with - to show Him to the world (cf Philippians 2.15), to give the unbelievers around them a picture of His glory and grace, and they would do this by their love.  But for now they were sliding apart in a growing division of seismic proportions, one which did indeed threaten their very existence.  Back in those days, divorce was not an option, the very thought of a church split and of multiple congregations existing thereafter within a single city was incomprehensible.  Totally inconveivable.  No really, I’m sure the thought would have never even entered Paul’s mind, nor the mind of any other early believer.  That there might be two disparate congregations existing side by side within one city - completely unimaginable.  No, they were (meant to be) one.  Theirs was one city, one assembly.  That’s how they rolled.  They rolled together, or not at all.  And so an assembly like this one in Galatia was really only left with two options - one was to faithfully come together and work out their differences in love and grace and truth, to serve and build up and bear with one another.  The other option would be to allow these divisions, these fault lines, to fester and widen like two massive sliding tectonic plates and not only get them completely off kilter but ultimately consume and destroy them, destroy their witness, destroy their ability to be that blessing to their city for which God had blessed them to begin with.  Paul is warning them - watch out!  Wake up and be careful, take care and fix what needs to be fixed, because this is going sideways and destruction is going to happen if you don’t do something about it.

-Sadly, we don’t know how things turned out for this assembly.  We do know how things turned out for the global body of Christ.  Not good.  Division slowly crept in, and ultimately the body fractured wide open.  Disunity and factions now are rampant.  They are tolerated, even.  Acceptable.  They are called denominations.  It is the new norm, yet so far from that fetching unified bride for whom Jesus prayed in that upper room before He sacrficed Himself to make it all possible (John 17.11-22).  "That they may be one", He prayed.  "That they all may be one... that they may be one, just as We are One".  Three times He asked it.  Three times.  Surely He meant it.  Surely His Father heard Him, heard His pleading, His interceding on behalf of His would-be glorious bride.  And yet, what do we have today?  Churches split and believers turn on one another over the smallest of things.  Carpet choices.  Placement of ornaments.  Preaching styles.  Yes, there are weightier issues of doctrine (many of which are still non-essential, non-salvific), but even with those few others, surely there is a way to come together, to lay aside differences of interpretation for the greater glory of the Bride (and her glorious Groom).  Yet in our brokenness we let other people’s brokenness drive us apart, bodies (and Body) split asunder ad nauseum.  God have mercy on us all...

Galatians 5:14 - Cliff Notes by Jesus?

"For the whole law in one word has been fulfilled, in this: 'You will love the neighbor of you as yourself.'"

-Breaking news, Judaizers!  Heads up, would-be legalizers!  Rather than getting caught up in circumcision and all the myriad requirements of the Mosaic law, Paul here drops a bombshell.  What he gives us is the inspired, authorized cliff notes of the entire law (and endorsed by Jesus, no less!).  No need to read the whole thing, in other words (much less try to keep every last one of them)(altho reading it is still a good idea!) - the entirety of the law is summed up in just one word (or six, to be exact).  One phrase.  All you need to do in order to fulfill the whole kit-n-kaboodle is just this one thing: Love. Your. Neighbor. (Paul says the same thing to the Romans - Romans 13.9).  This is Leviticus 19.18, the second "Great Command", given separately from the more prominent first "Great Command" of Deuteronomy 6.5, but given earlier, in fact, and somehow it became associated with its older sibling even before Jesus mentioned them in the same breath (Matthew 22.37-40, cf Luke 10.27).  

-It is certainly natural to ask, who is my neighbor, both for those rationalizers who are looking for an excuse not to love, and even more so for sincere people of faith who would love nothing better than to please the Lord by somehow fulfilling the entirety of His commands.  The definition of who I should consider to be my neighbor is clearly not confined to my immediate circle of intimates, or merely to those belong to whatever cultural or social circle with which I most closely identify.  It extends to both aliens (Leviticus 19.34) as well as to people I can't stand or even hate - to anyone who has a need, in fact (Luke 10.36-37).  The point being that love, showing mercy to anyone who has need of it, even to strangers, is how we most completely fulfill God’s purpose for us as His divine image bearers.  We are most like Him when we love.  We are best doing what He wants when we love - Him, AND others.  But for now, Paul is most concerned that this 2nd Great Command to love our neighbor gets applied within the body of Christ, between those of us who profess to follow the One Who first loved us and Who called us brothers and Who does gather us together to be a family, to be unified as one.  Loving one another is the best and first and foremost way to fulfill the law, to show the world that we really are the people of the Book... 

Galatians 5:13 - Land of the free and home of the whopper

"For you [all] upon freedom have been called, brothers.  Only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh, but rather through the love, be serving one another."

-So, yes, we are free indeed.  Free from the soul-sucking bondage of obligatory law-keeping, from vainly trying to garner God’s acceptance through works.  Yes, we have been called to freedom.  But, freedom.  Freedom.  I do not think that word means what we think it means.  Here in the US, land of the free and home of the whopper, we think it means that I get to have it my way.  The land of opportunity, right?  The opportunity to super-size my combo meal and everything else, to super-size ME, to upgrade and update and indulge the threefold-self without limits, as long as I'm reasonably decent to most people, as long as you don't get in my way.  The opportunity to be selfish is what it is.  Me-first.  To which Paul says, uh-uh.  That may be the American way, but it is not the Christian way, not the way of the Cross.  Freedom in Christ, that freedom which He purchased with so great a love, with His precious blood, is not a ticket to boundless narcissism.  It was never meant to be a license to never say no to self.  In fact, it is just the opposite.  No, we have been set free to be like Jesus, the One Who so loved the world, Who came not to be served but to serve, to say yes to others, to give away His life, His rights, His wants, to spend His life and be spent - for others.  Deny yourself, say no to self, He said.  Not what I want, He said.  He came to show love, and love gives.  We were made for this, for love, to freely give and receive God's unconditional love in the ultimate expression of His breathtaking goodness.  Greater love has no man than this, than he lays down his life for His brother.  Just like Jesus, Who emptied Himself of self.  Which is precisely the point.  The way of self, it turns out, is just another form of bondage.  As long as I am enslaved to the threefold-self, giving in to the flesh and indulging my wants at every turn, I am completely unable to become that divine image bearer I was designed and recreated in Christ to be.  This is what we were always made for.  True freedom is found in the wide open spaces of God's unconditional love, giving and serving with no strings attached, no expectation of payback or wondering what might be in it for me.  God’s love does not live in that soul-sucking cul-de-sac called Me-Myself-And-I Circle, always circling around on what I want, that place where I am absorbed and lost in a black hole of selfishness.  God's game-changing love comes in and goes back out, life-giving, living water, like the Sea of Galilee (as compared to that truly dead Dead Sea, which only takes in and never gives).  God’s love blesses me to be a blessing.  And it starts with loving and serving my fellow believers.

-One another.  One another.  Two English words, but a single word in the Greek, and it appears over and over and over again in the New Testament.  Allélōn, sounds a little like ‘all alone’, but it is far from it in meaning.  In fact, it is about the exact opposite, because we are talking about not a lonely individual but rather a family, the family of God actually, gathered together and burdened with glorious purpose, a purpose which finds it primary expression in how God’s children relate to - wait for it... one another.  Jesus raised the flag first.  He said, you - God’s people - you need to wash one another’s feet (John 13.14).  You - God’s people, God's children - you should be loving one another, a ‘new’ command which He then repeated 5 times in a single setting (John 13.34-35, 15.12, 15.17).  Yes, you need to love the Lord your God with all your heart - and right alongside that you need to love your neighbor, but this neighbor love which shows my God-love now begins with loving and serving those others who are walking with Christ beside me, fellow members of God's family.  We are walking together and are helping one another - or should be.  Paul himself picks it up here and throughout his letters to the churches in Christ - 70 times he uses this word, shedding light on the importance of how we as the sons and daughters of the King (brothers and sisters in Christ!) are to treat and relate to one another.  Over and over and over again, he instructs God’s people - who are family - to actually live like one.  And not like just your average fallen human version of a family.  This family is (to be) divine, heavenly, heaven-sent.  Love one another with God's unconditional love, serve one another like Jesus - or at least that’s the idea.  God help us...

Galatians 5:12 - On mangling those works-entangling...

"Having wanted [that] even they will castrate [themselves], the [ones] upsetting you."

-Whoa!  Such strong, serious language coming from Paul.  But in his eyes, this is a serious situation.  He is so upset, Paul says the ones who have been wanting to cut foreskins off of Gentile converts to the faith, he wants them to go ahead and cut off their whole member!  That’s literally what Paul is saying here.  And perhaps more than actually being serious about castration, he wants these Galatian believers to realize just how serious it is.  Forcing someone who has embraced the true soul freedom of forgiveness through faith in Christ, forcing them to receive circumcision and to enter into the bondage of the ineffectual works-based righteousness of the Jewish religious tradition - this to Paul was horrific, just as horrific as the prospect of physical mutilation.  This person or persons who are hindering and troubling and upsetting the Galatians are leading them into bondage, slavery, to a place where the grace of Christ will be of no benefit to them.  Entangled and strangled by works such that they will be unable to enjoy the freedom for which Christ set them (and us!) free.  Tragic, really.  So much so, so horrifying a prospect to Paul that he is angry enough to be suggesting that these would-be works entanglers should instead be member-manglers.  Usually Paul is more inclined to reserve judgment for the Lord (Romans 12.17, 12.19; 1Thessalonians 4.6), and to be fair he does so here as well (Galatians 5.10), but it is both interesting and enlightening to observe how angry he is about what these Judaizers are doing.  May we find similar grace and wisdom to care just as deeply about the things which really matter to the Lord, and be less upset by the those things which have far less eternal significance...

Galatians 5:11 - Scandalous

"But I, brothers, if circumcision still I am preaching, why still I am being persecuted?  Then it has been nullified, the stumbling block of the cross."

-When we look at the early history of the church, we see that most of the persecution leveled at those first Christ-followers came from Jews, from their leaders whose religious tradition was grounded in works.  Their system not only placed circumcision front and center as the primary work for gaining entry into the Jewish religion, but also placed a high value on both excommunication and execution for those who transgressed or who taught something contrary to their tradition.  It is certainly instructive to recall the evolution of the thinking of the early church, whose Jewish tradition - not the law which God delivered to Moses - told them first to not even associate with an uncircumcised person - cf Acts 11.2-3, 11.19, assumed that the Good News was not for anyone uncircumcised - cf Acts 11.1, 11.18, and then assumed that circumcision ought to be a necessary requirement even for entry into the Christian church - Acts 15.5.  Yes, we find persecution coming from Gentile quarters as well (Acts 14.5, 16.20-23).  But if you remember, tho' the Gentiles carried out the crucifixion, it was the Jews who demanded it.  Pilate, the Gentile governor, tried to talk them out of it but ultimately consented, as he feared they would riot.  It was the Jews, led by Saul of Tarsus himself, who instituted that initial terrible deadly persecution of those early believers (Acts 8.1).  And in most of the cities where Paul and others go throughout the book of Acts, it was the Jewish leaders who would drive them out or stone them and leave them for dead (Acts 13.50, 14.2, 14.19, 17.5, 17.13, 18.12, 20.3).  Ultimately it was the Jews who wanted Paul dead (Acts 21.27-31, 23.22) - the Gentiles were inclined to let him go free (Acts 22.29, 26.30-32).

-The point Paul is making here is, had he been teaching the need for Gentile converts to be circumcised, the Jews would not have continued persecuting him.  But the very fact that the Jews were persecuting him - and were still doing so - was proof that he had not at any point embraced that thinking in any way whatsoever.  Entry into heaven for Paul was still entirely based on faith/trust in the death of Jesus of Nazareth on that cruel Roman Cross.  Paul maintained that THIS was the one work by which both Jew and Gentile could gain entry into the heavenly realms, a finished work, which left no more work to be done, not even circumcision.  Messiah had come and had suffered and died in order to secure full cleansing, perfect righteousness and forgiveness on our behalf, for all, both Jews and Gentiles, regardless of whether or not they were circumcised.  This was the scandalous teaching which made the Jews stumble, which chaffed those finely-honed works-based traditional Jewish sensibilities, and which in their eyes justified every ounce of persecution and attempted murder they could possibly direct at this one who blasphemed their tradition.  Paul thumbed his nose at the Jews perceived need both to be circumcised and to remain untouched and unstained by the religious filth of those were foreskinned.  Reprehensible.  Public outrage.  This was the scandal of the Cross - and that is actually the word in the Greek - skandalon.  This was the teaching which - to Paul’s point - he clearly still embraced.  Remember: for by grace we are saved, through faith, NOT as a result of [any] works... (Ephesians 2.8)

Galatians 5:10 - Wolves vs Lions vs Cavaliers

"I myself have been persuaded unto you [all] in [the] Lord that nothing other you will be thinking.  But the [one] troubling you [all] will bear the judgment, whoever he may be."

-Now, Paul affirms his faith in these disciples he helped bring into the faith, expressing his complete confidence that they will turn out okay.  He says that he is firmly convinced they are not going to embrace a mindset of works-based favor seeking in their walk with the Lord, that they will continue to walk by faith and seek the righteousness which comes only through faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross.  It's hard to know perhaps whether he really believes this, or if perhaps he thinks that an awareness of his high expectations for them will provide them with some additional incentive and accountability.  It could be both...

-Additionally, however, while Paul still does not know who this Judaizer is, this ravenous wolf, he also is confident that this individual who has been leavening their lump with teaching about circumcision will be held accountable, and that by the Lord Almighty Himself.  God sees.  He knows.  He is here, right where you are, every second of every minute of the day.  Not even the smallest sparrow falls to the ground without Him noticing it. He knows the thoughts and intentions of every heart.  He is the God with Whom we have to do, and He will repay every last one of us according to every last one of our deeds.  The one who was upsetting these Galatians and leading them away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ was going to regret it, mark my words, Paul says.  Which should serve as a reminder to us all.  Our God is a God of mercy and love, yes, but He is not one to be trifled with.  He is indescribably good, but He is not a safe Lion.  Our inconsistent, occasionally casual and cavalier approach to worship and holiness and mission reveals the truth that we truly don't know (or always keep in mind) Who we're dealing with.  God have mercy on us...