Galatians 5:13-26

 Galatians 5:13-26

One of the challenges we all face is how can we be good without rules to tell us what is good and evil? Legalists of every age have used this challenge to argue for strict adherence to the code of conduct they propose. Two points must be made. First, neither Paul nor the Christian faith will ever argue that behavior is unimportant. In fact, Christian behavior ought to be of the highest quality and holiness. But there is no sense in which salvation can be achieved by the merit of good works. Second, Paul will show that the power to overcome evil comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes not through the law but by the grace of Christ. No law, neither Mosaic nor any current form of rule-keeping, can compare to the Holy Spirit’s power to overcome sin.

No one can doubt the power of our carnal and sinful nature. It is like an irresistible itch that, when scratched, becomes more intense, grows larger, and spreads. Every person that has tried has found that against sin ‘willpower’ is helpless. All the rules and laws and proclamations of how evil something is will not reduce its attraction one bit. Often we will engage in sin, pamper it, and make arrangements for it without actually planning or thinking about it. All the while knowing it is evil because the rules tell us so. Never doubt that our flesh will triumph over law in one way or another. The works of the flesh will show up in various forms. Even as one form of evil is defeated, another will surface.

But when we are filled with the Spirit, the terms of the struggle change. We will still have to make an effort to cooperate with God’s Spirit, and He will produce in us the fruit of the Spirit. It is incredibly important to see that it is the Spirit producing the fruit and not us. There is no merit of our own. He is the one making it happen. And while the law is ineffective at changing hearts or behaviors, no law opposes or could oppose the fruit of the Spirit. All the promises of the Judaizers for a better faith proved hollow, capable of neither right standing with God nor producing genuinely better behavior. The faith we have in Christ is neither a license to sin nor lower morals; rather, it is the power to be and to do right by the Spirit.

“Lord, produce in me the fruit of the Spirit. AMEN”