Galatians 5:16-24
The primary thrust of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians is summarized in this passage from chapter 2 of that letter, where the apostle writes:
“We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified.”
Being right with God – in time and in eternity – does not come from any righteousness that we might produce through obeying the law of God. Indeed, because of the sinful corruption of our human nature, we cannot obey the law of God as God would demand that it be obeyed – fully and from the heart.
Instead, we become acceptable to God through the righteousness of Christ, who obeyed the law perfectly for us; and who offered himself as an atoning sacrifice for us – and for all our failures to obey the law.
This perfect righteousness – the only righteousness that counts before God – is given and bestowed in the promises of the gospel; and is received, and credited to us, when those promises are believed.
Building on this central truth of God’s grace toward fallen man, in chapter 3 of the epistle, Paul also explains that it is the Holy Spirit, working through the gospel, who creates saving faith in us. And Paul comforts us in the knowledge that we who believe in God’s only-begotten Son, are embraced by God in love, are adopted into his family, and become heirs of his kingdom. Paul writes:
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
All of this changes our standing with God and our relationship with God. In Christ God is not angry at us because of our sins, as our guilty consciences would expect; but he is reconciled to us, is gracious toward us, and accepts us in his Son. By faith, we are in Christ and are clothed with his righteousness.
But not only is our standing with God changed through faith in the gospel. We are changed – on the inside.
We are in Christ and are accounted righteous before God on the basis of the righteousness of Christ. But also, Christ, and the Spirit of Christ, are in us. This is an important part of what Paul is talking about in today’s reading, from Galatians chapter 5.
The sinful nature with which we came into this world – which we share with all members of the human race – remains within us, for as long as we remain in this world. To be sure, conversion to Christ does bring with it a new nature. But it does not expel or obliterate the old nature.
Within each Christian, the old nature and the new nature are, as it were, in a fight to the death with each other. Inside each Christian, the old nature, with destructive temptations and selfish impulses – what St. Paul often refers to as “the flesh” – is in a constant struggle for dominance and influence with the Holy Spirit, who has planted the new Christlike nature within us through the gospel, and who inhabits that new nature within us.
God’s Spirit energizes and enlivens that new nature with new instincts and new impulses that are in harmony with God’s goodness and purity. God’s Spirit liberates our will, so that we desire good and pure things. God’s Spirit enlightens our mind, so that we think about good and pure things.
St. Paul accordingly appeals to the Galatians – and through them to all Christians – to be who we are in Christ. You have been reconciled to God by faith. You have been graciously endowed with the life of God.
Therefore be what you are. Live according to the new reality that now defines your existence as children and heirs of God. Do not live as enemies of God, so as to separate yourself from him: forsaking everything he has done for you, given to you, and promised you.
St. Paul admonishes us not to run away from this ongoing struggle, and not to surrender to the forces of the sinful flesh that are attacking us from within. He writes:
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
And then Paul lists and describes some key and common examples of the “lust of the flesh,” which, if indulged in, will ruin your relationships, leave you bereft of all joy and contentment, and ultimately destroy your soul. He says:
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Some of these things are self-evident in their meaning for us. Others might not be.
“Fornication” is a translation of the Greek term “porneia.” It includes everything that the English language describes with any term that has the root word “porn” in it, as well as the behaviors and attitudes that the term “fornication” usually calls to mind.
The Greek word translated as “lasciviousness” in our Bible version has a range of meanings and applications. None of them are good.
In other translations this term is rendered as sensuality, debauchery, licentiousness, promiscuity, shameful deeds, depravity, and lustfulness. It means living for the fulfillment of your base and animalistic cravings, with no human respect for yourself or others, no discipline or self-control, and no standards of decency.
The word “sorcery” is a translation of the Greek term “pharmakeia.” The most literal English equivalent would be pharmacology, but in the first century this term did not usually refer to something so innocuous as running a drug store. It was the term used to describe the dark deeds of those who performed chemical abortions on pregnant women.
But notice that some of the things on this list are not what might be thought of as “really bad” vices or wicked behaviors: contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, envy. Still, they flow out of the sinful nature. And these vices and behaviors are not innocent or harmless.
They offend and anger God. They poison your mind and twist your will. They also damage relationships, and hurt other people. None of them gets you closer to God. All of them lead you away from God.
Indeed, St. Paul urgently warns us against provoking one another and envying one another, rather than serving one another in love. He’s not just talking about sexual sins. He’s talking about being uncaring and unkind.
In your own life, as you continually take account of yourself – and of your thoughts, words and deeds – never surrender to these “works of the flesh”: both the big ones, and the small ones. Repent of them.
Repent of them every day – if need be, every moment of every day. Live in repentance. Daily drown the old nature with this repentance.
And repentance means actually turning away from these sinful attitudes and actions, hating them, and really and truly not wanting them to be a part of your life any more.
And then, every day – and every moment of every day – believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Daily rise in him, to the new life he gives.
St. Peter told Cornelius and his household: “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
St. John writes in his First Epistle: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
And elsewhere in the Epistle to the Galatians, the apostle Paul comforts us with these words:
“The Lord Jesus Christ…gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.”
God, in his holiness, threatens damnation, and exclusion from his kingdom, for those who love their sin, and who hate him and his goodness. But God, in his love for sinners like us, would rather not have to follow through on this threat.
The Book of Ezekiel quotes God saying this: “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”
Turning from wickedness and living, in this context, means living within the forgiving grace of God: which covers over all our sins with the righteousness of Christ; and which soothes and comforts our troubled consciences.
And in this context, turning from wickedness and living, also means living out a life that is marked by the fruit of the Spirit, who dwells within us. St. Paul goes on to tell us in today’s text that
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
The “fruit of the Spirit” is not a matter of superficial modifications in outward behavior, while the inner thoughts and attitudes of the heart are just as wicked as ever. The fruit of the Spirit also does not involve virtues that we cultivate within ourselves, or good works that we perform, so as to earn God’s favor, or God’s approval.
We already have God’s favor and approval for the sake of Christ, on the basis of his obedience to God’s will for us.
But as we in this way have God’s favor and approval, so too do we have God’s Spirit. And God’s Spirit is never dead and inactive. If he is within you, he is alive within you. And if he is alive, he is bearing fruit, just as a living and healthy tree naturally and necessarily bears fruit.
The fruit of the Spirit that Paul lists here do indeed cause us to be ever more like Christ: in our own personal temperament; and in how we think about and treat other people.
There’s something in the conscience of every normal person that wants to have these character traits, and to grow in them. But remember that these character traits are the fruit of the Spirit.
They are not manufactured by human discipline and manipulations, and then externally pasted onto our lives. Rather, the fruit of the Spirit flow naturally from the Holy Spirit who indwells us.
The way to grow in these things, then, is to grow in our union with the Holy Spirit; and through him, in our union with the entire Holy Trinity. We recall an interesting thing that Jesus said in St. Luke’s Gospel:
“I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
This passage is not providing us with a magic formula for compelling God to give us earthly riches or physical health. It is describing the humble prayer that a Christian prays, asking God the Father, for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ, to give us his Holy Spirit: to send his Spirit to us continually; to renew his presence in our hearts, and to strengthen his influence in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
God will always hear such a godly prayer of faith. God will always grant such a request.
We are, in effect, asking for the Holy Spirit to be given to us whenever we ask God to forgive our sins: in Holy Baptism, in Holy Absolution, in his Holy Supper, or in our meditation on Holy Scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who delivers this great blessing to us from the throne of God, and from the cross of Christ, through the means of grace.
Jesus said, in St. John’s Gospel: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
And we are, in effect, asking for the Holy Spirit to be given to us, whenever we ask God to give us a forgiving heart toward those who have hurt or offended us; or whenever we ask God to strength us in our weakness, to increase our wisdom and understanding, or to renew our trust in him and our reliance upon him.
It is the Holy Spirit who works these things within us. St. Paul writes in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians: “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
And, we are quite literally asking for the Holy Spirit to be given to us – so that he can cleanse us, teach us, lead us, and guide us – when we sing hymns, and chant prayers, like this:
O Spirit blest, we Thee entreat: O grant us that we ever
With heart and soul, as it is meet, May serve our Lord and Savior,
And Him confess till our last breath, As Lord of life and Lord of death
And give Him praise and honor.
Our hearts let new-created be, Our walk make pure and holy.
Help us offense and sin to flee, And ever serve God solely,
So that our faith in Christ, our Lord, May prove itself in deed and word
Before the world about us.
What we ask for, God gives. His Spirit, with all his gifts and graces, comes to us, and stays with us.
And in a deeper sense, God gives even before we ask, which is what enables us to call out to him in the first place.
He gives to us his Spirit and all other blessings, because of his own mercy, because of the merits of his Son’s saving work for us, and because of the great love that he bears toward us and all men, even before we love him. Amen.