NAU Gelatins 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Today we will be focusing in on verse 16 of Galatians chapter five. In verse 16, Paul is continuing his thoughts of encouraging the believers to live in love for one another.
First he says “walk by the Spirit”. In the Greek the verb “peripateo” is used. It literally means to walk with the idea of spending time in a place, and figuratively meaning how one conducts one’s daily life or how one behaves or lives. This verb with a word in the dative position states the idea of a kind of life. Since The Spirit is in the dative position, walking, living, or behaving is directly related to Him being a part of how one is able to conduct one’s life. The verb is, also, in the Imperative Present Active 2nd person plural form. This tells us that a command or exhortation is given by someone to a group of people and describes the continuous action of the verb.
Secondly, Paul states, “and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” He continues the point of the verse by using the word “and” to make the connection and complete the thought. The verb used is “carry out” or “teleo” in the Greek. The idea of the verb is to complete a performed action. It is in the Subjunctive Aorist Active 2nd person plural form. This tells us that action has the possibility of happening at a future time, the action is undefined, and the subject is doing the action. Paul uses the negative construction “ou me” in the Greek. This is a combination of two negative words meaning “no or not” that expresses an emphatic “NO or NOT!!” It gives the understanding of never, in no way, or in any circumstances. The direct object of the sentence is “desire”. The type of desire is specified by the prepositional phrase “of the flesh”. Paul used the term “flesh” in this context to mean ‘the sinful and sensual power tending toward sin and opposed to The Spirit’s working’ (Fridberg’s Lexicon).
Paul is stating that the believer has the choice of either living with The Spirit’s direction in ones life or not too. Just because The Spirit lives inside the Believer does not mean that He takes over. Just as someone turns to Jesus or salvation by choice, God also desires the choice of letting Him live freely and powerfully in the life of the Believer. This is understood by the continuous aspect of the verb “walk” or “peripateo” in the Greek. This is a moment by moment decision by the believer. This is part of the relationship that the Believer has with God. The giving of the command or exhortation by Paul implies that the Believer has a role in submitting to The Spirit’s work in their life.
What Paul wants the reader too understand is that if one is letting The Spirit direct ones’ life then the fleshly desires will not be carried out or performed. There is no possibility of it happening. It is impossible for one to be directed by The Spirit and live fulfilling the desires of the flesh at the same time. Absolutely impossible!! One is either directed by The Spirit over directed by the flesh.
The promise given here is that as one does live with The Spirit’s working in their life that the desires of the flesh will not be lived out. This is not to say that trials and temptations will not be confronted any longer in ones life, but that by walking or living by The Spirit’s direction and help, the Believer has the ability and power of The Spirit too not make decisions that will in the interest of the flesh’s wants or desires.
Paul is not stating an idea here. He is telling the reader a fact about life with The Spirit of God.
The truth that he is stating in verse 16 is powerful and vital to life. It can be over looked or watered down because of the constant failure one can have of trying to live in and by the help of The Spirit. Because of this failure, one could easily think that no one can live like Jesus did. We could say, ‘We are sinful humans and He is a sinless God. We cannot live life like Him.’ This can be believed because of the continual failure to be able to live like Him. This type of thinking would be a denial of the truth that is stated here by Paul.
We live in a world with a philosophy that is always trying make situations relative to experience. It is always trying to distort the absolute truths about life that God shares with us. If the world can pervert the understanding of the truth enough, then the truth will have no relevance, power, or impact in ones life.
What Paul is not saying is that if one lives by The Spirit one becomes God. What he is saying is that when one relies on and rests in The Spirit’s power and leading then one will not make decisions that are of the flesh. If one is not following The Spirit, then decisions are being made out of selfish motives void of The Spirit’s leading. Later in the passage, he shares a list of what living in the flesh looks like (verses 19-21) and what living by The Spirit looks like (verses 22-23). The lists are totally opposite of one another.
love Daniel
Notes: Greek Lexicons (dictionaries) used for definitions Fridberg, Strong’s, LS, Louw-Nida, and UBS.
Posted on September 24th, 2007 by Daniel
Filed under: Truth To Live By