Scripture Reading: Gal. 5:16, 18, 22-25
Colossians and Galatians are two books in the New Testament which reveal that Christ is life and everything to us. Colossians deals with culture, and Galatians, with the law given through Moses and the religion formed according to this law. Both the culture devised by man and the law given by God have been used by Satan to frustrate God’s chosen people from experiencing Christ and enjoying Him. God’s intention is to dispense Himself as the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, into our being so that He and we may be organically one. If we are organically one with the Triune God, He will be our life, and we shall be His living. Thus, God’s ultimate intention in the universe is to dispense Himself into His people that they may have one life and one living with Him. Because Satan utilizes culture and the law to frustrate us from experiencing the Spirit as the ultimate realization of the Triune God, the books of Colossians and Galatians are very important.
The book of Galatians is composed in a very particular way. In chapter one we see that the Son of God is versus the very religion formed and established according to the law given by God. In 1:16 Paul indicates that the Son of God has been revealed in us. The Son of God is not merely an object of our belief apart from us; He is the One who has been revealed to us subjectively and has become one with us. The dear Son of God who has been revealed in us and who is now one with us is versus religion with all its traditions. God’s intention is that religion and tradition must go and that only the Son of God remain.
However, today’s Judaism and Christianity are filled with religion and tradition. Not much of the Son of God can be seen either in Catholicism or in the denominations. We are still surrounded by religion and tradition. I do not have the confidence that religion with all its traditions has been fully removed from us in the Lord’s recovery. Do not think that because you have been in the church life for a period of time you have no religion or tradition, but only Christ, the Son of God. I do not have the assurance that only Christ is in us and that we are free from all religion and tradition.
When Peter, James, and John witnessed the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus on the mountain, Peter made the foolish suggestion that they build three tabernacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Suddenly a voice from heaven declared, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I delight; hear Him!” (Matt. 17:5). When the disciples lifted up their eyes, “They saw no one except Jesus Himself alone” (v. 8). Their experience on the mount of transfiguration illustrates what Paul is saying in the first chapter of Galatians. Just as Moses and Elijah had to give way to Christ, the beloved Son of God, so religion and tradition must be set aside, and only the Son of God should remain.
Because religion is in our very marrow, it is extremely difficult to get rid of it. We may be under the influence of tradition when we pray. For example, we may feel that the best way to pray is to kneel down, not to sit in a chair. But how can we say what is the best position to take in prayer? The feeling that kneeling to pray is better than sitting may come from tradition. It is common among Moslems to prostrate themselves during set times of prayer. In a visit to Jerusalem I observed Moslems in a mosque praying in this way. Within me I had the sense that they were not truly worshipping God. Instead of worshipping Him in reality, they performed their ritual in a religious, traditional manner. Although the Lord Jesus and Paul the apostle knelt to pray, the Lord did not command us to kneel down to pray or to prostrate ourselves before God the Father when we worship Him. The Lord gave no such commandment. But in John 4:24 He said that God is Spirit and that those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit. This word was spoken to a Samaritan woman beside a well. The Lord Jesus ministered living water to this woman, and she drank of this living water. According to the context of John 4, to drink the living water is to worship God the Father.
While the Lord Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman, the priests in Jerusalem were worshipping God in the temple. Where was the true worship taking place — in the temple or beside the well? To answer this question properly we need to realize that the One who spoke to the Samaritan woman beside the well was actually God Himself. God was there with the Samaritan woman, not in the temple in Jerusalem. The worship carried on by the priests in the prescribed, orderly way was vain. If you had been there, would you have been worshipping God with the priests in the temple or with the Samaritan woman by the well? If we are honest, we must admit that we probably would have been with the priests worshipping according to tradition.
Although for years we have been saying that we must do away with tradition, I do not have the assurance that we are free from it. In a very subtle way tradition continues to undermine our experience of Christ and enjoyment of Him. We need to see from Galatians 1 that tradition must be set aside and that only the Son of God should be revealed in us. This revealed Son of God is versus religion with all its tradition.
In Galatians 1 we see that the Son of God replaces religion with its tradition. Now in Galatians 2 we see that Christ, God’s anointed One, replaces the law. In verse 19 Paul says that through the law he died to the law that he might live to God. Then in verse 20 he goes on to say, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Therefore, according to chapter one, the Son is revealed in us, and according to chapter two, Christ lives in us.
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.
The first kind of walk by the Spirit is for the second — that of taking the Spirit as the path for our way. We all must walk along a certain way. The path of this way should be the Spirit Himself. For the first kind of walk, the Spirit is our essence; for the second kind, the Spirit is our way.
Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Here Paul seems to be telling the Galatians, “Not only have you been living by the law, taking it as the essence of your life, but your goal has been established according to the law. The law has become the path for your way. Now you are not merely living under the law, but you are walking according to it. Dear Galatians, you must come back to the Spirit and leave the law on the cross. Take the Spirit as the essence of your daily life in place of the law. If you live by the Spirit as your essence, you should also take the Spirit as your pathway to reach God’s goal. Taking the Spirit as your essence and pathway excludes law, doctrine, religion, tradition, and regulations. None of these things should be your way toward God’s goal. The unique pathway is the Triune God as the life-giving Spirit. He alone should be the principle, the rule, the path, according to which you walk.”
The underlying thought in 5:25 is very deep. By uttering such a word concerning walking by the Spirit as our rule or principle, Paul eliminated law, religion, tradition, doctrine, and regulations as the rule. The governing principle, the directing rule, of our walk must be the Spirit. We should do certain things and refrain from doing other things not because of regulations, but because we take the Spirit as the essence of our life, the essence of our new being. If you ask me why I would not do a particular thing, my answer would be that I am walking by taking the Spirit as the essence of my being. However, should I answer that I would not do that thing because it wastes time or because it damages the Lord’s testimony, my answer would be religious and traditional. Our only reason for doing things or for not doing things should be that we take the Spirit as our essence and thereby live Christ.
When we have the first kind of walk, that of taking the Spirit as our essence, we shall be able to have the second kind of walk toward God’s goal. Day by day, the Spirit will be our pathway. Then we shall walk according to the Spirit, not according to doctrine, theology, religion, tradition, or organization. The wonderful processed Triune God will be our pathway, and we shall walk in Him. Walking by the Spirit as our way, we shall be able to reach the goal and gain the prize, which is Christ Himself.
If we are one with the all-inclusive Spirit, He will no doubt lead us to walk in Himself as our way. As a result, the Spirit becomes the rule, the principle leading to God’s goal. Spontaneously the Spirit becomes the lane, the regulation, on the way to God’s goal. Thus the all-inclusive Spirit becomes the path for our way. If we walk along this pathway, we shall surely reach God’s goal, and His purpose will be accomplished.
The book of Galatians indicates that we should not live by the law, religion, tradition, organization, doctrines, or regulations. Instead, the processed Triune God who lives in us should be the essence of our new being and the very path as our way. We should live by Him and walk in Him, having the two kinds of walk by the Spirit.
