24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. NKJV
In our last Broadcast we did not have time to finish, so today, we pick up at verse 25 with a goal of finishing this chapter by God’s grace.
Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Our life in Christ is not a life that can be lived naturally. Many of God’s people try to live out the principles of the New Creation in their own ability, strength, conviction, and religious affiliation. But it cannot be done. God did not design the New Man after the flesh in any way, shape, or form. The New Creation must be lived out of the “life” that the Holy Spirit gives to each believer. It is lived out through the flesh, but not by the flesh. (see 2 Corinthians 5:14-17).
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV
Our daily walk is meant to be lived “in the Spirit.” The Spirit enables us to “put on the mind of Christ.” The Spirit enables us to “put on the whole armor of God.” Every admonition of scripture is meant to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is what is meant by “Living the Spirit-Empowered life.”
Now let’s journey into the depths of verse 26 of Galatians 5.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another (NKJV).
Conceit is to be crucified as a part of the flesh, in going back a few lessons where we learned how to apply the word of God in being set free. Confess, start there, confessing any conceit you have, both in attitude and in your heart. Next, repent or change your mind about conceit. Then, renounce any conceit in your life. Now claim the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ to wash away conceit. Forgive any that has demonstrated conceit against you.
This practice of discipline will work for any activities of the flesh you are struggling with—Paul warned the believers in verse 26 not to become conceited. Paul points out two attitudes, provoking one another and envying one another that will produce damage in the body of Christ. And it has!
Do you provoke people into arguments? This can be connected with resentment, anger, cutting off communication. Consider how the Scriptures instruct us in how to provoke one another:
- And let us consider one another to provoke love and good works Hebrews 10:24 (KJV).
- And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works (NKJV).
- And let us consider how we may spur one another toward love and good deeds (NIV).
Conceit is a significant helper of the flesh. Definition for conceit: excessively proud of oneself; vain.
Definition of conceited Merriam-Webster
1: ingeniously contrived: FANCIFUL… a person may hold to conceited fantasies which falsify a discouraging reality.— Derek Russell Davis
2: having or showing an excessively high opinion of oneself (one can be brilliant but conceited (a brilliant but conceited musician)
Envy is another work of the flesh that can be a problem in healthy relationships. The Spirit blesses others in their success. The flesh envy’s and covets what others have.
This is how Paul ends this part of Galatians. These three areas of the flesh are significant problems in the body of Christ. They can be easily missed because they can be relegated to normal human responses. Don’t ignore these symptoms for much more significant issues of the flesh.
Directly confronting the flesh by humility and contrition, which is repentance opens the way for a Holy Spirit empowered life in our entire walk with our heavenly Father.
Back to examining 2 Corinthians 5:14-17:
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV
First, Paul states that it is “the love of Christ that compels us.” Let’s quit thinking that it is “our love” that compels us. We do not know in and of ourselves this kind of love. Agape love is the highest kind of love that was revealed in Christ’s coming and dying on the cross. It is love that only the Father knew or possessed. The believer, who by the Holy Spirit, now has this kind of love in themselves that can be tapped into. It can be made an everyday component of our life if we choose. This is the “Spirit-empowered life” or living from His presence.
This love of the Father, revealed in Christ and given to us by the Holy Spirit, “compels us” to love as He loved. Jesus instructions to His disciples:
“And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” Matt 5:41-42 NKJV
COMPEL in the Greek: denotes to put constraint upon, from the thought of “necessity.”
Constraint: 3. sunecho (sune/xw, NT:4912), “to hold together, confine, secure, to hold fast” (echo, “to have or hold”), “to constrain,” is said (a) of the effect of the word of the Lord upon Paul, Acts 18:5 (KJV, “was pressed in spirit,” RV, “was constrained by the word”); of the effect of the love of Christ, 2 Cor 5:14; Note: The verb echo, “to have,” with ananke, “a necessity,” is translated “I was constrained,” in Jude 3, RV (KJV, “it was needful”).
From this, we look at the next part of 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: “because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
Paul is stating his understanding by the Holy Spirit and his application to his own life. His judgment, “one died for all, then all died.” “Reckon yourself dead.”
Listen to Paul in Romans 6
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that 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. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This leads us to the rest of 2 Corinthians 5:16-17:
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
The key to walking in the Spirit, “regard no one according to the flesh.” Now this will take the power of God. This will take putting on a different set of lenses. This is the Spirit-empowered life. Jesus came in the flesh. The disciples knew Him as a flesh man. Jesus, after His resurrection, appeared to His disciples and said to them all, “does a spirit have flesh and bone?”
Thomas, come here and put your hand in my wounds. Thomas did and then knelt and said, “my Lord and my God.”
We know Him no longer physically, but we know Him by the Holy Spirit revealing Him to us and His Resurrected life living through us.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV
Let us provoke one another to this kind of love! Let us stir one another to this kind of love. Let us spur one another to this kind of love. We can do it because He lives, and His life is in us by the Holy Spirit.