Walk in the Spirit and You Shall Not Fulfill the Works of the Flesh

“This I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the works 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. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law.”
Galatians 5:16-17


Please, allow me to do a little unpacking of this scripture.


Notice, if you will, that if you walk in the Spirit, you won’t do what the flesh wants to do, but if you walk in the flesh, you won’t do what the Spirit wants to do. In like manner, if you walk in the Spirit you will do what the Spirit wants to do, and if you walk in the flesh, you will do what the flesh wants to do. The Apostle Paul adds, “But, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”


There were some Jewish “believers” in Galatia at the time this letter was written to the church, who were trying to diminish the gospel of grace by attempting to make the Gentile believers endure circumcision in keeping with the law of Moses. This was the same as saying, “If you want to be righteous in God’s eyes, you must follow this rule of law.” The Apostle Paul would have nothing to do with this error, and even went so far as to say that he wished those folks would castrate themselves!


What these heretics failed to understand was the following: The Spirit of God has regenerated the Christian believer’s human spirit creating a new righteous and holy nature within him. This happened the moment he repented of his sins and believed on the name of Jesus Christ for his salvation from sin, death, Hades, and the Lake of Fire. This grace was further implemented through the sacrament of water baptism in the name of Jesus, and the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire.


“The flesh” represents the old sin nature that every human being inherited through Adam’s transgression. This nature was executed on the cross with Jesus Christ when He became sin for the human race, giving all those who receive Him and believe on His name the ability to be born again and to see the kingdom of Heaven, or, if you will, the opportunity to inherit the kingdom of God.


The law of God was given to the Hebrew people through Moses so that “sin might become exceedingly sinful,” and it served as a tutorial until Jesus Christ was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. “When the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” He then proceeded to fulfill the law through His sinless life, vicarious suffering, sacrificial death, miraculous resurrection, glorious ascension, and eternal intersession. “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Jesus said, “I did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it,” and that is exactly what He did. “Therefore Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.” Also, it is essential that we understand, “The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” In other words, when we walk in the Spirit, we do the will and pleasure of God and not the will and pleasure of our old crucified sin nature. Simple. But wait a moment, there’s a potential challenge.


“My people perish for a lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6


Even though the sin nature of the Christian believer was executed with Christ on the cross, it still tries to live on and manifest itself in us through satanic deception, deceiving spirits, and doctrines of devils. All of these principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places attempt to blind the human race and keep it ignorant of the knowledge of the truth, the knowledge of Christ, and/or the knowledge of God. Regrettably, this is not only true of sinners in the world, but also of many in the church, who are blinded by, and kept in bondage to, the sins of self-righteous legalistic religion and unrighteous licensed rebellion. The key to our deliverance from, and our victory over, these foes is our receiving the knowledge of Christ. This knowledge of the truth leads to a relationship and fellowship with God through faith and obedience, resulting in the manifest gift of imputed righteousness through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and imparted righteousness through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.


Therefore, we are instructed to "reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" through knowing and appropriating the following truth by faith. "Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." “Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law, but under grace.” We are thereby encouraged and inspired to "mortify the misdeeds of the body through the Spirit" as we refuse to allow the executed sin nature to "rule in our mortal bodies that we should obey it in the lusts thereof." In a sentence, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.” The knowledge of this truth, or if you will, the knowledge of Christ is the means to our liberation from the satanically and self imposed ignorance that attempts, and more often than not, succeeds in keeping us bound to our old sin nature that was executed with Christ on the cross!


Jesus testified, "When He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth."


Now, being baptized in the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and continuously praying in the Spirit, as well as singing in the Spirit as we worship God in Spirit and in truth, will cause us to remain filled with the Spirit and thereby appropriate the grace of God in overcoming the sin nature. This is possible because we "live in the Spirit." These disciplines of glossolalia are also of great assistance in helping us to "walk in the Spirit" and not fulfill the works of the flesh. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” To walk in the Spirit we must follow God's lead, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”


Paul also instructed us to "pray without ceasing." Now, the Spirit of grace will not necessarily cause us to walk in the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit will so influence our spirit man, “the hidden man of the heart,” to cause our souls, which are comprised of intellect, will, and emotions, to choose, via divine exhortations, revelations, and impartations to do God’s will in a myriad of given situations and circumstances, instead of performing the works of the flesh in our mortal bodies. In other words, the born again, Spirit baptized, regenerated human spirit, in union with the Holy Spirit of God, enables our souls to take the ascendency over the executed human sin nature and thereby mortifies the misdeeds of the body through the Spirit. When our wills are completely submitted to God’s will through the influence of the Holy Spirit, we experience the sanctification that Christ provided for us on the cross. We are separated unto our God, and we are separated from our sins. This results in our deliverance from the works of the flesh which are: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” The Apostle Paul ended this infamous list with the following sobering exhortation, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Now, the kingdom of God is revealed in the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit which is, “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.” Again, the Apostle Paul ended this famous list with the following liberating revelation, “Against such there is no law.”


It also essential that we understand that “the doctrine of Christ,” or if you will, “the law of Christ,” is “the grace of God.” Jesus testified, “My words are Spirit and they are life,” and Paul reveals in his letter to Titus, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Through our new birth in Christ, God has placed His law in our human spirits. The Apostle Paul contrasting “the law of Moses” against “the law of Christ,” made this clear in his letter to the church in Rome recorded in chapters 7-8. (Please take a moment and prayerfully read Romans 7-8 now.) All the writers of the New Covenant well understood this new paradigm shift from the “law of Moses” to the “law of Christ” which is “the grace of God,” referring to it as, “The royal law of liberty whereby we will all be judged,” “The law of faith,” “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ,” and “The doctrine of Christ.”


Again, this law written in our hearts by God, is "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ" that was placed in us when Jesus fulfilled God’s law for our justification. So we see that in the New Covenant, grace and law become one and indwell the Christian believer through the Holy Spirit, and the righteous requirement of the law, that Jesus fulfilled, which is to love the Lord our God with our entire being, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, is also fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.


Now, it is also important to understand the following spiritual principle, “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. If he sows to the flesh, he will from the flesh reap corruption, but if he sows to the Spirit, he will from the Spirit reap life everlasting.” This is why we are told to “wake up and strengthen the things that remain,” or, if you will, put our energies and efforts into disciplines and practices that carry eternal weight and value. It is also why we are told, “Physical exercise profits a little, but spiritual exercise profits much, in this life and in the life to come.” Some of these disciplines have already been mentioned in this teaching, but I would like to reiterate them for you now, dear reader, as well as offer a few more. They are the following: Covert praying in the spirit and with the understanding, covert singing with the spirit and with the understanding, covert fasting, covert giving, praising and worshiping God in Spirit and in truth, meditation in the scriptures, fellowshipping with like-minded believers, witnessing and sharing your faith with others, confessing your faults one to another, and praying one for another that you might be healed, holy communion and breaking bread with one another, one on One communing with God in silence, Bible study, hearing and applying good preaching, teaching, and sound doctrine, mercy ministry and visitation to those in prisons, nursing homes, and hospitals, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, ministering to the orphans and widows in their affliction, and keeping oneself unspotted by the world. Or, if you will, in a phrase, living and walking in the Spirit. This is just a short list of some “good works that God has ordained beforehand that we should walk in them.” The important thing is to simply follow the leading of the Holy Spirit at all times and in all things, because if you, “Walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the works of the flesh.” Amen!