In chapter three Paul begins to speak of the Spirit. In verse 2 he inquires of the Galatian believers, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of law or by the hearing of faith?” In chapter one we have the Son of God revealed in us and in chapter two, Christ living in us. But here in chapter three Paul indicates that the One we have received is the Spirit. The Spirit in chapter three is the very Son of God in chapter one and Christ in chapter two. When Paul writes concerning the revelation in chapters one and two, he speaks of Christ. But when he turns to our experience in chapter three and in the chapters following, he emphasizes the Spirit. The Spirit we have received is the totality of the blessing of the gospel promised by God to Abraham (3:14).
In 4:6 we see that we have not only received the Spirit, but that the Spirit of God’s Son has entered into us. According to 4:29, we are those born according to the Spirit. The Spirit has come into us, and we have been born of Him. As sons of God, we have His life and nature. The life and nature of God are not poured into us like water into a bottle. No, we receive the Father’s life and nature through a process of conception and birth. We all have been born of God through the Spirit. Now that we have received God’s life and nature, in a very real sense we are divine. How could a child not have the life and nature of his father? Likewise, how could the children of God not have God’s life and nature? However, to say that we have received the divine life and nature does not mean that we shall ever be deified or worshipped as God Himself. To say that we are deified to become an object of worship is blasphemy. But it by no means is blasphemy to testify that we have the divine life and nature because we have been born of God, and as a result we are divine. We are children of God with the Spirit dwelling in our being in a very subjective way.
In chapter five we have the two kinds of walk by the Spirit. Verse 16 says, “Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.” The walk here refers to our ordinary daily living. It is to live and have our being by the Spirit. In verse 25 Paul speaks of the second kind of walk, that of walking by certain rules or principles to reach the goal for the fulfillment of God’s purpose: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” In this message we shall deal with these two walks together and consider walking by the Spirit as the path for our way.
The Spirit in 5:16 and 25 is the processed Triune God. The Triune God has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the processed, compound Spirit living in us. Now that such a Spirit dwells within us, we should have our daily life by this Spirit. This means that the Spirit should become the very essence of our life.
I am concerned that instead of walking by the Spirit and living in the essence of the divine life, many of us are still living by the flesh, by the essence of our fallen life. To walk by the Spirit means that we take the Spirit as the essence of our life. As regenerated people, we have two essences: the flesh and the Spirit. Before we were saved, we did everything by the flesh. Because we were constituted of the element of the flesh, the flesh was the essence of our life, our constitution. The actions of the flesh may differ, but the essence is the same. For example, one person may despise his parents and another may honor them, but both actions are by the flesh if the flesh is the essence of their living. One day the all-inclusive Spirit, with the essence of the divine life, came into us. From that time onward it has been possible for us to live either by the essence of the flesh or by the essence of the Spirit. In Galatians 5 Paul charges us to walk by the Spirit, that is, to take the Spirit as our essence and constituent. No longer should we live by the flesh, our old constituent, but by the Spirit, our new constituent. Whenever we love, we should love by the Spirit, by the new essence. Likewise, even when we hate, we should do so by the Spirit as our essence. Christians should not only love, but also hate. We certainly should hate Satan, sin, and the world. Whether we love or hate, we need to live by the all-inclusive Spirit as our essence. The crucial matter is not whether we love or hate, or whether we are proud or humble. It is by what essence we love or hate or we are proud or humble. If we love by the Spirit as our essence, it is right to hate certain things. But if we love by the flesh as our essence, God will be very displeased. God does not approve of the flesh in any way. In our daily life we should no longer walk by the flesh as the essence of our being. Instead, we should take the Spirit as our essence and do everything by the Spirit.
In the first kind of walk by the Spirit we take the Spirit as the essence of our life. Then whatever we are, whatever we do, and whatever we have will be by the Spirit as our essence. This means that our essence will be the Triune God processed to become our constituent. Then in a practical way the flesh will be crucified. In the words of 5:24, those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. If we take the Spirit as our essence and crucify the flesh, every aspect of our daily walk will be by the Spirit.