Walking in the Spirit

Gal 5:16-25
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (KJV)

The Goal and Benefits

The goal of Christian living and discipleship is to learn how to walk in the Spirit. The Galatians passage above from which this expression comes from shows us why. We do not want to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, but want the fruit of the Spirit. The works of the flesh are described for us in verses 19 through 21. The fruit of the Spirit are described in verses 22 and 23. Notice, too, that walking in the Spirit is also to be led by the Spirit in verse 18 and that when we are led by the Spirit we are not under the law. So the reasons for walking in the Spirit are many. But how do you do that?

The answer is given to us in verse 24, we crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts. But do we crucify the flesh by self will? Self effort? Self strength? Those who try to do so by those means always fail. So how do we do it.? Paul told the Romans how.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Rom 8:13 KJV)

It is by the power of the Holy Spirit. So does this mean that we ask the Spirit to crucify the flesh? Yes and no. You can ask the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the flesh but if that is all you do, then you will still struggle with the flesh. How to mortify the deeds of the flesh and to walk in the Spirit instead is given to us the second epistle to the Corinthians.

We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; (2 Cor 4:13 KJV)

And again in Hebrews:

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (Heb 4:2 KJV)

We have to believe that the Holy Spirit mortifies the deeds of the flesh. In fact we must believe even more than that. We must believe the Bible where it says that we have already died with Christ.

Death by Faith

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20 KJV)

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Gal 6:14 KJV)

We have the new birth because we have already died. Yet we live, not because we remain alive, but because we have already participated in the resurrection of Christ and that it is the Lord whose faith gives us life now. And not only have we died, but that we have died to the world and the world to us by that same death (Gal. 6:14). This is a heart faith, however, not a mental assent.

Walking in the Spirit

Dying with Christ is not the end, but the means. The end is to let Christ live His life through us. Paul tells in Second Corinthians how we walk in the Spirit. In chapter 4 the key to believing that we have died with Christ and already abide in the resurrection life of Jesus is found in verse 18.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:18 KJV)

We disregard those things that contradict what the Bible tells us about our lives in Christ, and meditate on that which is unseen, the eternal Truth that dwells within us. Because so many believers and commentators have not believed in their death as a past event, what Paul says is commonly misunderstood in the following chapter.

2 Cor 5:1-9 1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Most people think that Paul is talking about a natural death and going to heaven in this passage. But he does not say, die, but dissolved. The word image suggests a stripping away. He is saying if mortal bodies were to suddenly disappear we would discover the immortal body already there.

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

He is not desiring to die and go to heaven in these next three verses. His desire is explained in verse 4. He would rather in this life have his mortal body swallowed up by the immortal body of life. For he says he does not want to be "unclothed, but clothed upon". Our immortal bodies, which are unseen, are clothed upon with the mortal body that we see. It would be better, in Paul's mind, that we be clothed with the unseen immortal body.

5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Verse 5 declares that this hope in Paul comes from God who has given us the experience of the Spirit as the promise that we will ultimately see the glorified body of immortality.

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Verses 6 -8 are the most important verses to the practical understanding of what it means to walk in the Spirit. Regrettably it is misquoted with a natural understanding. While it is true that when we shed this mortal body we will be in the presence of God, it is misleading to think that way since we are already in the presence of God. We are told that in verse 5. We are also told that in Ephesians.

Eph 2:5-6 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (KJV)

No, that is not what the second Corinthian passage is speaking about. It is speaking about the choice we have of either walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. Try reading verse 6 this way:

"Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while our minds are on the flesh, we forget the Lord therefore end up walking in the flesh."

But it is not necessary to walk in the flesh, for verse 7 reminds us that we have the unseen Spirit within us that we experience by faith. And if we walk by faith in that which is within us, and not by the sight of our mortal bodies, then we can walk in the spirit.

So verse 8 declares the choice: we would rather be deny our flesh and experience the Lord instead. This is how we walk in the Spirit. As long as we choose to believe what the Bible tells us about our new birth, that we have already died and are already in the Spirit with the Lord, then the choice of denying self is automatically replaced with walking in the Spirit. But it is a daily choice. We can be sidetracked at any time when attention is diverted. This is one reason the devil loves busy work. It takes our mind off God while we are on the project. But it need not be so. This is what Brother Lawrence was addressing in his book, "Practice the Presence of God," in which he describes experiencing God's presence in all the mundane things of life such as washing the dishes.