Walk in the Spirit
Walk in the Spirit, and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians
"I am learning to walk in the
Spirit." "Just follow the leading of the Spirit, brother."
"That does not bear witness with my spirit." These expressions are
common today, particularly in Charismatic and Pentecostal circles of
fellowship. However, are the underlying implications of these expressions in
line with Scripture? What did the Apostle Paul really mean when he exhorted the
Galatians, and us, to "walk in the Spirit"?
The Dispensational mindset of many
Christians today erects a false dichotomy between the New and Old Testaments,
and between grace and law. While the Jews of ancient
But has not the coming of Christ abrogated
the demands of the Law, replacing them with the "new law" of loving
one another? In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus Himself denied that even "One jot
or tittle" of the Law would be diminished in its
significance and authority. Furthermore, the command to "love your
neighbor as yourself" is certainly nothing new, being as it is the
underlying focus of the Mosaic Law itself (Leviticus
"Brethren, I write no
new command to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the
beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the
beginning" (1 John 2:7).
Clearly, the "word" which John's
audience had "heard from the beginning" was the entire Old Testament
canon, complete with its commandments. If John actually viewed these
commandments as having somehow become obsolete, he had ample opportunity in the
above passage to say so. The fact is that he did not. Indeed, it is in John's
epistle that we find the Bible's clearest definition of sin:
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the
Law: for sin is the transgression of the Law" (1 John 3:4).
In chapter 2, verse one of the same epistle,
John stated that his very purpose for writing was "that you may not
sin." In other words, it was John's pressing concern that his readers not
sin by disobeying the Law of God. There is no amount of equivocation and
rationalizing of the text that will diminish the import of these words. Let us
now return to the Apostle Paul to see if he would agree with this thesis.
Romans 8:13-14, for the most part, is a parallel passage to his words in
Galatians, which we have quoted above:
"Therefore, brethren,
we are debtors- not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you
live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death
the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, these are sons of God." (Romans 8:13-14).
Does Paul here refer to some mystical inward
promptings or some "still small voice" that whispers in our heart?
Certainly not! As an orthodox Jew and a learned Pharisee, Paul would no doubt
have understood Jeremiah's intention when he wrote that "the heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). He went so far as to withhold judgment on himself
because he knew very well that the heart cannot be trusted (1 Corinthians
4:3-4). What arrogance it is to think that we are somehow "more
spiritual" than the great Apostle, and will always be able to tell the difference
between some mystical "leading of the Spirit" and the delusions of
our own minds! Without an external standard, we simply cannot. This is evident
by the fact that "spiritual Christians" everywhere have conflicting
ideas of what constitutes right and wrong, and disagree amongst themselves
quite frequently on matters of ethical importance. Surely, the same Spirit is
not constantly contradicting Himself, for "God is not the author of
confusion" (1 Corinthians
To which reference point, then, should we
look for our guidance when being "led by the Spirit" if not to an
inner "witness"? In verse 7, Paul pointed out that the unregenerate
man "is not subject to the Law of God, nor indeed can be." What then
of the regenerate man? Our answer is found in verses 3-4:
"For what the Law could
not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not
walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
We have been given the Holy Spirit so that
we might live according to the Law and to obey its precepts! It is the Law, as
it is contained in the written Word, that is to be our
ethical guide. Though the Law was powerless to produce obedience in the human
heart apart from the indwelling Spirit, and therefore only condemned sinful
man, such is not the case with the man who has been born-again. We have been "set
free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2), because we no longer
stand under the Law's condemnation (Romans 8:1), but it does not follow that we
have been set free from obedience to the great Law-Giver (Romans
Too many leaders in the Church are insistent
that to view the Law of God as anything but an out-dated relic is to introduce
an "anti-spiritual" legalism into the Body of Christ and to impose an
unbearable yoke of bondage upon Christians. Part of the confusion here is a
faulty definition of the biblical term "spiritual" as that which is
inward and opposed to physical and external realities, rather than simply
"of, or controlled by the Spirit." According to Paul, "the Law
is spiritual... [and] to be spiritually minded is life
and peace" (Romans
It should be remembered that it was the
Spirit of God that gave us the Law- it had a spiritual origin and it holds
forth a standard of spiritual behavior (obedience). Therefore, when we are
exhorted to "walk according to the Spirit," Scripture is telling us
to conform our lives to the Law of God, through the
empowerment of the Spirit which lives in us. We are not to attempt to replace
its holy demands with our own subjective standards of right and wrong, thereby "being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish [our] own...."
(Romans 10:3) The comments of John Calvin in this regard are instructive:
Those who,
rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to
God, are to be deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness. For certain giddy men have lately appeared, who,
while they make a great display of the superiority of the Spirit, reject all
reading of the Scriptures themselves, and deride the simplicity of those who
only delight in what they call the dead and deadly letter. But I wish they
would tell me what spirit it is whose inspiration raises them to such a sublime
height that they dare despise the doctrine of Scripture as mean and childish.
(1)
In today's "feel
good Christianity," such a teaching is not popular, and, indeed, is vehemently
opposed. Nevertheless, the Scripture tells us to "let God be true but
every man a liar" (Romans 3:4). The issue that should concern the truly
regenerate believer is not whether a doctrine is embraced enthusiastically by
the masses- the issue is whether or not the Bible teaches it.
"Jesus is just all right with me,"
sang the Doobie Brothers in the 1970s. This seems to
be the anthem of millions of professing believers today as well. Of course,
Jesus "is just all right" as long as His demands are not in
opposition to the will of the unregenerate flesh. People smile amiably when
told the gushy "news" that "Jesus loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life." However, the smile more often than not will turn to
an angry frown if the message is changed to "Jesus is Lord and you are
obligated to obey Him." Today's "easy believer" does not want to
hear of obedience and external standards of behavior, but these are
nevertheless the biblical test of the inward state of one's heart. Either one "live[s]
according to the flesh" (Romans 8:5), opposing God's Law in heart and/or
action, or one "live[s] according to the Spirit" (Romans
"Now by this we know
that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know
Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
By this we know that we are in Him" (1 John 2:3-5).
Endnotes
1. John Calvin, Institutes
of the Christian Religion, Book I, Chapter IX:1.