After referring to the brands of Jesus, Paul says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.” The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is actually the bountiful supply, the all-inclusive enjoyment, of the life-giving Spirit. On the one hand, we bear the brands of Jesus, are persecuted, and live a crucified life; on the other hand, we enjoy the grace of Christ and experience the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Oh, the rich and bountiful supply of the all-inclusive Spirit is with our spirit!
As God’s chosen people, we are sons of God, and the processed Triune God has been wrought into our being. Because we are sons of God with the Triune God wrought into us, we are despised and persecuted. Some even regard us as a cult. Paul endured a similar kind of attack. Acts 24:5 says, “For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” To this charge Paul replied, “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call a sect, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets” (Acts 24:14, Gk.). Paul was accused of being the ringleader of a sect, a cult, but he knew that he was living a new creation and was enjoying the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive Spirit in his spirit. As the book of Galatians indicates, if we bear the brands of Jesus and live a crucified life, we shall enjoy the supply of the life-giving Spirit in our spirit.
The spirit in 6:18 is our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Spirit, who is the focus of God’s promised blessing stressed so much throughout the book of Galatians. It is in this spirit of ours that we experience and enjoy the Spirit as the focal blessing of the New Testament. Hence, we need the grace of the Lord, which is the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive Spirit, to be with our spirit.
Christ, the Spirit, the new creation, and our spirit are the four basic things revealed in this book as the underlying thought of God’s economy. Christ is the center of God’s economy, and the Spirit is the reality of Christ. When Christ is realized through the Spirit in our spirit, we become the new creation. Thus, our spirit is vital for us to live the life of the new creation for the fulfilling of God’s purpose.
The book of Galatians places a strong emphasis on the cross and on the experience of crucifixion. Then, on the positive side, this book reveals Christ, the Spirit, the sons of God, the heirs of promise, the household of faith, the new creation, and the Israel of God. As we have seen, in 6:18 Paul refers to our spirit. On the negative side, the book of Galatians speaks of the law, the flesh, the “I,” the religious world, slavery, and the curse. However, the three main items of the negative things dealt with in Galatians are the law, the flesh, and religion. These three things go together. When we are under the law, we are involved with both the flesh and religion. The religion in Galatians is the highest religion, the Hebrew religion formed according to God’s oracle. Nevertheless, even this religion is related to the law and the flesh. By the cross we are set free from the law, the flesh, and religion, and we have Christ, the Spirit, the new creation, and our regenerated spirit. If we see this vision, we shall praise the Lord for the cross. Because of the cross of Christ, the law, the flesh, and religion have all been terminated. But through the cross of Christ we have the Spirit, the new creation, and our spirit. Now, by the Spirit, who is the realization of Christ in our spirit, we may live the new creation. Living the new creation, we bear the brands of Jesus and enjoy the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in our spirit. With Paul we can say, “Let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brands of Jesus.” Then we shall know that the grace of Christ is with our spirit. This is the way Paul concludes the book of Galatians.
At the end of verse 18 Paul uses the term brothers. Although Paul had rebuked the Galatians and called them foolish (3:1), he had already used this intimate term to address them a number of times (1:11; 3:15; 4:12, 28, 31; 5:11, 13; 6:1). At the close of such a severe, rebuking, and warning Epistle, the Apostle Paul used this loving term again, especially placing it at the end of the sentence, to express his unchanging love toward them and to assure them that they were still his brothers in the household of the faith (6:10).