The Bible teaches that the tripartite man created by God fell and sank lower and lower until he became flesh (Gen. 6:3). All fallen human beings are sinners in the flesh. This is just as true of those who are ethical and moral as it is of those who are evil and immoral. Before we were saved, we were all sinners in the flesh. Praise the Lord that Christ came and accomplished redemption by dying on the cross that we may have the sonship! Through death and resurrection Christ has become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit and, as such, has entered into our spirit to regenerate us and to make our sonship real and practical. The Spirit has come into our spirit to make us sons of God. Now if we walk by the Spirit, we are truly led by the Spirit. According to Paul’s word in Romans 8:14, as many as are led by the Spirit are sons of God.
As we consider 5:24 and 25 once again, we need to realize that through Christ’s redemption and the Spirit’s regeneration, we are now sons of God in position. However, in our daily walk we may not be sons in reality. Instead of walking by the Spirit, we may walk by the flesh. Whenever we walk by the flesh, we in a very practical way are sons of Adam. Only when we walk by the Spirit are we sons of God in reality and in practicality. Thus, whether we are sons of God or sons of Adam in our daily living depends on the kind of walk we have. In life, in right, and in position we no doubt are sons of God, for we have been regenerated by the Spirit. But in our practical daily walk we may be something altogether different from sons of God. This means that in our walk we may be either sons of God or sons of Adam. To repeat, if we walk by the flesh, we are sons of Adam, but if we walk by the Spirit, we are sons of God. The crucial matter here concerns the flesh. We need to deal with the flesh.
The cross of Christ gives us the standing, or the basis, to deal with the flesh. Our whole being—the entire fallen tripartite man—was crucified with Christ on the cross. Now not only do we have this base objectively, but we have the divine life and the Spirit subjectively to enable us to execute the cross of Christ upon our flesh. In order to walk by the Spirit, we must apply Christ’s crucifixion to our flesh. This is the reason Paul says that all who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. If we apply the cross to our flesh by the indwelling Spirit, our flesh will be nailed to the cross. This is to crucify the flesh. Now that the flesh is on the cross, only the Spirit remains. It is crucial that we realize that within us we have the divine life and the all-inclusive Spirit. Now we need to exercise the spirit by the divine life to apply the cross to our flesh. In so doing, we apply what Christ has accomplished by crucifying our old man with Him on the cross. This application must be made to every aspect of our flesh, no matter whether our flesh is evil or seems to be good. Both the flesh that loves and the flesh that hates need to be crucified.
In the eyes of God, all those who believe in Christ have already crucified their flesh. But when in our actual experience we execute the crucifixion of Christ by applying the cross to our flesh, we are immediately uplifted to the heavens and experience the Spirit as everything to us. The Spirit may even become the Spirit of our mind, emotion, and will. Experiencing the Spirit in this way, we walk by the Spirit and are led by the Spirit. Therefore, we are in reality sons of God. The more we experience the Spirit in this way, the more we are not only transformed, but also conformed to the image of His Son.
In this light, let us look again at verse 26. We have seen that in this verse Paul mentions vainglory, provoking, and envying. Whether or not we walk by the Spirit can be tested by these three matters. In our practical daily situation very often we have vainglory, provoking, and envy. Both in the church life and in our family life we need to test our walk by the Spirit by asking if we have any vainglory, provoking, or envying. If Paul had stopped with verses 24 and 25, the matter of living by the Spirit and walking by the Spirit might have been very theoretical. But verse 26 makes it extremely practical. Paul says, “Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.” If we would be sons of God in reality, we must walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. But whether we are walking by the Spirit or by the flesh can be tested by the existence of vainglory, provoking, and envy. We may think that we are walking by the Spirit; however, feelings of vainglory and of envy prove that we are not. For example, a brother may become envious when he learns that another brother, who has been in the recovery a shorter time than he, has been made an elder. This feeling of envy is an indication that this brother is not walking by the Spirit at that particular time. Vainglory gives rise to provoking and envying. If we slay vainglory, provoking and envying will be killed automatically. This means that if our vainglory is terminated, there will be no problem in the church life. Instead, there will be peace.
According to the grammatical construction of verse 26, the main item is vainglory. Provoking and envying are subordinate. This tells us that we must concentrate on dealing with vainglory, not with provoking or envying. If we try to deal with provoking and envying without putting to death our vainglory, our efforts will be in vain. I repeat, if we slay vainglory, we shall simultaneously terminate provoking and envying. Thus, the presence or absence of vainglory is a true test of whether we are walking by the Spirit or by the flesh.
Whether we are young or old, vainglory may be present among us. I have observed vainglory accompanied by provoking and envying even in my small grandchildren. It is found also in the relationship between husband and wife. The husbands and wives may give in to one another, but if this giving in does not touch their vainglory, it is not genuine. A man may lord it over his wife, boasting that he is the head and that she should be subject to him. This is nothing other than vainglory, which leads to provoking and envying. Such vainglory is a clear indication that we are not walking by the Spirit.
It is not adequate simply to read messages about living by the Spirit and walking by the Spirit. In our daily living, in our church life and family life, we need to test our walk by the matter of vainglory. If we have vainglory, we are not walking by the Spirit. Our need today is to walk by the Spirit that we may be sons of God in a practical way.