Download discussion questions: Galatians 5:16-26
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The end of the passage from the previous week (Galatian 5:13-18) leads smoothly into this week’s passage by introducing the sharp opposition between flesh and Spirit. This week’s passage expands on some of the details of the opposing principles.
The section begins with a listing of fifteen “works” or expressions of the flesh (v. 19-21). Paul ended the list with the addendum “and anything similar.” Someone in our group pointed out that the list must not be exhaustive but just provides multiple examples. That means that Paul did not intend the fifteen items as a checklist to draw artificial limits to the works of the flesh. Just because someone might say, “I don’t do any of the fifteen items” doesn’t mean that they are not still influenced by “the flesh.” As was pointed out last week, “The flesh is Paul’s term for everything aside from God in which one places his final trust.”[1]
Another member of the group wondered if the list represented some kind of grouping of related works, or if there was a sequence, or if the list was simply random or arbitrary. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in a free-flowing discussion, we never addressed that question. However, looking at those verses might suggest that Paul had some kind of groupings in mind:
- Distorted sensuality: Sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity
- Distorted spirituality: Idolatry, sorcery
- Bitterness: Hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger
- Relationships: Selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions
- Self-indulgence: Drunkenness, carousing
One question that came up related to the mention of the kingdom of God (v. 21b). Throughout the letter Paul has insisted that the law and rules for behavior are not the deciding factor in a relationship with God. But if “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom,” then is this just a new form of law? The consensus of the group was that those who continuously “practice” (present tense participle) such things are not interested in the kingdom or anything else related to God. The “works of the flesh” listed by Paul are not criteria for acceptance by God. Instead, they are symptoms of a complete lack of interest in God. C. S. Lewis brings out the tragic consequences of that lack of interest:
We are therefore at liberty … to think of this bad man’s perdition not as a sentence imposed on him but as the mere fact of being what he is. The characteristic of lost souls is ‘their rejection of everything that is not simply themselves’ … He has his wish—to lie wholly in the self and to make the best of what he finds there. And what he finds there is Hell.[2]
Or, in a more compact form, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.”[3]
Fruit of the Spirit
Then Paul turned to the other side of the contrast between flesh and Spirit. The expression of the flesh is a list of multiple “works,” but the life of walking (v. 16) or being led (v. 18) by the Spirit is a singular “fruit” with at least nine characteristics. Once again, there may be an intentional grouping:
- Inner life: Love, joy, peace
- Relationships with others: Patience, kindness, goodness
- Response to difficulties: Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
Paul made it clear that this is not a checklist of rules to keep: “The law is not against such things” (v. 23b).
When these qualities are in view we are in a sphere with which law has nothing to do. Law may prescribe certain forms of conduct and prohibit others, but love, joy, peace and the rest cannot be legally enforced. ‘A vine does not produce grapes by Act of Parliament.’[4]
Crucified Flesh
When Paul stated that “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh” we might wonder how the “crucified flesh” is still such a problem.
“The crucifixion of the flesh does not mean that it is totally destroyed but that it is definitely judged and its power decisively broken.”[5]
The particular emphasis on crucifixion draws attention back to the work of Christ:
The point … is to link this total change in attitude, and therefore conduct, with the death of Christ. It is another way of expressing Galatians ii.20, ‘I have been crucified with Christ.’ There were many other words that Paul could have used, like ‘die’ or ‘abolish,’ which would have conveyed his general meaning but not this nuance.[6]
An older term often used of dealing with sin or the flesh was “mortification:”
Indwelling sin … says the apostle, must be killed, put to death, mortified,— that is, have its power, life, vigour, and strength, to produce its effects, taken away by the Spirit. It is, indeed, meritoriously, and by way of example, utterly mortified and slain by the cross of Christ.[7]
Dealing with the flesh is the work of the Holy Spirit applying the results of the work of Christ on the cross. As in the case of the fruit of the Spirit, the Triune God is the primary agent, both in defeating the works of the flesh and in producing the fruit He desires in our life.
Keeping in Step
Near the end of this passage, Paul mentioned another description of our relationship with the Spirit who produces that fruit: “Keep in step” (v. 25, CSB, ESV, NIV). Perhaps Paul, writing under the inspiration of that same Spirit, intended the progression of walk, be led, keep in step as a continually increasing conformity to the work of the Holy Spirit.
That progress consists at least partly of recognizing the difference between a change of behavior and a change of heart. Only the Spirit can change hearts, but our part consists in understanding as best we can how our flesh continually affects us. Getting control over a particular sin or external expression of the flesh (anger, lust, envy, etc.) is not the whole battle. Managing sin is not the goal. Mortification is.
A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; whilst the root abides in strength and vigour, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more. This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the appearing eruption of lust, but, leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps unsearched out, they make but little or no progress in this work of mortification.[8]
One way to find the roots hidden deep within our own hearts is to become aware of our own self-obsession, that subtle self-protective stance that comes from our flesh.
And, indeed, one of the choicest and most eminent parts of practically spiritual wisdom consists in finding out the subtleties, policies, and depths of any indwelling sin.[9]
Our own self-awareness and especially our interaction with a community of believers are essential to discovering and understanding the various examples of self-obsession that keep of out of step with the Spirit. The rest of Paul’s letter to the Galatians will take us further into the Apostle’s instructions on this subject.
[1] R. Jewett, quoted in F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), 243.
[2] C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2009 EPub Edition), 161.
[3] C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2009 Adobe Digital Edition), 75, original emphasis.
[4] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), 255; quoting S. H. Hooke.
[5] Douglas J. Moo, Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013), 368.
[6] Alan Cole, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976), 169.
[7] John Owen, On Temptation and the Mortification of Sin in Believers (Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 2014), Kindle Edition; location 2017, emphasis added.
[8] John Owen, On Temptation and the Mortification of Sin in Believers (Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 2014), Kindle Edition; location 2607.
[9] John Owen, On Temptation and the Mortification of Sin in Believers (Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing, 2014), Kindle Edition; location 2625.