13th July 2023 – Galatians 5:13-17
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
If we stand back, so to speak, from these verses, and see them in perspective, we shall see that Paul continues to emphasise in them his characteristic pattern of indicatives followed by imperatives. 'You have been called unto liberty' - this is the indicative; 'Walk in love, and in the Spirit' - this is the imperative. This is exactly the same emphasis as in 4:31-51 - 'We are children of the free' and 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty...'. When we project this pattern further, we see the logical sequence in the rest of the passage: there are in fact two ways of life unfolded here - life in the flesh, and life in the Spirit, as we see in 16, 17. And both follow the same kind of pattern, and the resultant behaviour in each case is an inevitable expression of the respective basic positions. To be in the flesh produces the works of the flesh, as enumerated in 19-21. This is a natural and inevitable, and indeed spontaneous, outcome from the facts of the situation. To be in the Spirit, and to walk in the Spirit, produces the fruit of the Spirit, as unfolded in 22, 23, and this likewise is an inevitable and spontaneous outcome from the facts of the situation, viz., that we are, in Christ, a certain kind of person, and the fruit is the dynamic result of responding to the challenge to be what God has made us in Christ, through the gospel. This is the background against which these verses are to be understood.
12 July 2023 – Galatians 5:13-15
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you…
11th July 2023 – Galatians 5:7-12
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the…
10th July 2023 – Galatians 5:7-12
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the…
9th July 2023 – Galatians 5:1-6
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be…
8th July 2023 – Galatians 5:1-6
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be…
7th July 2023 – Galatians 5:1-6
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be…
6th July 2023 – Galatians 5:1
5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. It should be noted that many of the modern translations of the New Testament give…
5th July 2023 – Galatians 5:1
5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. The Apostle now comes to exhortation, based upon what has gone before. In chapters 1…
4th July 2023 – Galatians 4:31
31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. But – and this is the wonderful thing – God’s ‘outcasting’ of those who trust in good works for salvation, His condemnation of them…