GalatiansStudy 49: Gal.5:24-25Walk as He walkedContents page Not your own Not as other Gentiles Conformed to His image
In this epistle we have seen that salvation is not by any work of the flesh. Instead it is by the grace of God. Likewise living the Christian life is not by our fleshly efforts, but by walking in the Spirit. By saving us God has brought us into His very own life, we now belong to Christ. We are not the devil's, and neither are we our own masters any longer. We belong to Him alone.
This is the key verse to the epistle: salvation is Christ in us the hope of glory. If He lives in us, and we walk as He walked, then the life that He lived out in the days of His flesh will be manifested in us too. In short we will manifest the fruit of the Spirit as Jesus did. There is no alternative, we are either in the flesh or in the Spirit; we manifest either the works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit. Paul in the last section of Galatians seeks to exhort us to walk as Jesus walked as it relates to those around us. This theme of walking occurs frequently in the NT. We shall consider a few of the many references as it relates to our thoughts from Galatians. 1. Not your ownThe epistles to the Corinthians were written to correct certain wrong teachings and practices in that assembly. The underlying reason for their problems is found in the opening chapters of the first letter.
All the problems of the Corinthian believers were rooted in the fact they were carnal, walking as other men. As we survey the epistle we see that amongst them there were divisions, fornication, contentions etc., so much so that when talking of the Lord's supper Paul says that because they were eating unworthily some were sick and even 'sleeping' ( i.e. dead). God had seen fit to judge them thus. The point we want here is that the Corinthian Christians were carnal and thus they exhibited the works of the flesh. In their lives the foundation Christ Himself had been laid I Cor. 3:11, and Paul never questioned that had happened to them, instead he warned them about how they were building on it; was it wood, stubble and hay, or was it gold, silver and precious stones? The former resulting from being carnal, the other from walking in the Spirit. The Corinthians were walking in the flesh and were thus exhibiting the works of the flesh.
You are not you own, you have been bought with a price! Famous words indeed, but no less true for all that. The price God paid for our redemption was His own blood (Acts 20:28); having being bought we thus belong to Him. Through the new birth wee are also joined to Him by the Spirit and so we are in spiritual union with Him to do HIs will. We have not been saved to please ourselves, that is to satisfy the flesh and its desires ( Gal. 5:13). Instead we are to glorify God in our bodies and spirit, and serve one another, just as Jesus did. 2. Not as other GentilesIf we now turn to the Ephesian letter we see Paul talking about the mystery of the Gospel. After expounding the gospel in the first three chapters, Paul goes on to speak of living the Christian life. He speaks of keeping the unity of the body, then talks of the ministries within the body and their purpose.
The purpose of any ministry is not to exalt any man and his gifts, but rather to edify the believers and bring the whole body to a perfect man - to the stature of the fullness of Christ. Any 'ministry' that does not have that as its end point has to be questioned. This perfecting of the Saints means that we should no longer be carried about with every wind of doctrine that might be doing the rounds, so to speak. Since the church was born there have been many winds of doctrine that have carried God's people astray, we have seen an example in Galatians: the Judaising tendency that took people in the opposite direction to the pure gospel, it even caught Peter and Barnabus up in it ( Gal. 2). Paul says that because the body is to edify itself in love, we should no longer walk as other Gentiles. Just as the Apostle rebuked the Corinthians for walking as other men, so he now exhorts us not to walk as other Gentiles. The Gentiles walk as they do because they have their understanding darkened, they are alienated, shut out from the life of God. This has resulted in them being given over to all kinds of unrighteousness. If we, who are born anew, and have the life of God planted in us, walk as other Gentiles, then we are identifying ourselves with the ignorance and blindness of unregenerate men and women, and are walking contrary to the life that God has planted in us. Instead we are encouraged to live in such a manner that is consistent with the life that has been planted in us. Six times Paul mentions walking in this letter.
The common note in all these references is that we should walk such that our conduct befits our profession of born again believers. This can only be done by those in the Spirit. 3. Conformed to His imageHaving been told not to walk as men, or as the other Gentiles what then is God's ultimate intention for His people? The Scriptures leave us in no doubt.
In this most famous of scriptures we see what God's purpose is for his children. If we are lovers of God, and called to His purpose, He works all things together for our good. However that working for good is in order to fulfil a specific purpose in us. The question is: what is that purpose? The passage leaves us in no doubt at all. That purpose is for us to be conformed to the image of His dear Son. The individual plans that God has for each of us may vary, and lead to different callings in life, but ultimately God's plan for all His children is to conform us to His own Son's image. Salvation from sin and new birth is to deal with the basic problem of the sinful nature, from there onwards that divine life, which has been planted, has to grow and mature unto 'the full measure' both individually and within the body of 'The Church'. The preceding verses of this eighth chapter is a further exposition on the Spirit and the flesh.
The word please here is interesting. It reminds us of a certain passage in Hebrews, and in relationship to an OT example.
We can only please God by faith, and it is said of Enoch that he pleased God, and that was because he walked with God. The tie up is plain to see and consistent with the teaching in Galatians. Our walk in the Spirit is by faith, and it is that which is pleasing to God. Turning now to the first epistle of John we have the same teaching.
In the Ephesian letter Paul says that once we were darkness , and now we are light ( Eph.5:8), as quoted earlier. Now John pursues that theme by saying that to walk in darkness, and saying that we have fellowship with Him is to lie. When the scriptures talk of walking it must be understood that it refers to, and means the habitual walk or conduct of life. In fact in John's epistles whenever he makes statements such as ' whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin ... ( I Jn.3:9) in the literal Greek it reads ' whosoever is born of God can not continue in sin .. see also Rom. 6:1 .In other words a born anew person does not have sin as their continued or habitual practice. By correctly understanding this we avoid the extreme errors of sinless perfection, and excusing sinful behaviour in believers. So being born again means that we are in the Spirit and our habit will be of walking in the light as He is. God's children are light for the Light of the world is living in them. Fellowship with God is only on the basis of light. Fellowship can not exist between opposites.
So as we have received Christ and have the Spirit we are to build on that foundation, and walk in the Spirit and the fruit of the Sprit will be manifested as it was in the life of Jesus.
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