The Spirit’s Power over the Flesh.
With freedom did Christ set us free; stand fast therefore, and be not
entangled again in a yoke of bondage.
“Behold, I Paul say unto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ
will profit you nothing. Yea, I testify again to every man that
receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Ye are
severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen
away from grace. For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of
righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love. Ye were
running well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This
persuasion came not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth
the whole lump. I have confidence to you-ward in the Lord, that ye will
be none otherwise minded; but he that troubleth you shall bear his
judgment, whosoever he be. But I, brethren, if I still preach
circumcision, why am I still persecuted? then hath the stumbling-block
of the cross been done away. I would that they which unsettle you would
even cut themselves off.
“For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom
for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to
another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one
another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
“But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the
flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not
do the things that ye would. But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not
under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities,
strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings,
drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of the which I forewarn you, even
as I did forewarn you; that they which practise such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,
temperance; against such there is no law. And they that are of Christ
Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.
“If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. Let us not be
vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5,
R. V.
* * * * *
The connection between the fourth and fifth chapters of Galatians is
closer than between any other two, so much so that it is difficult to
see how anybody could ever have hit upon the idea of making a chapter
division. One can not possibly close his reading of the fourth chapter
with the thirty-first verse, but must take in the first verse of the
fifth chapter, as we have done. But we have not by any means learned all
from that verse that we may, and we therefore dwell upon it longer.
[Sidenote: The Freedom That Christ Gives.]
When Christ was manifest in the flesh, His work was to proclaim
“deliverance to the captives,” and “to set at liberty them that are
bruised.” The miracles that He performed were practical illustrations of
this work, and one of the most striking may well be considered at this
stage of our study.
“And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And,
behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen
years, and was bowed together, and could in nowise lift up herself. And
when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou
art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands on her; and
immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” Luke 13:10-13.
Then when the hypocritical ruler of the synagogue complained because
Jesus did this miracle on the Sabbath, He referred to how each one would
loose his ox or ass from the stall, and lead him to water, and then
said:—
“And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath
bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath
day?”
Two features in this case are worthy of special note: The woman was
bound by Satan, and she had a spirit of infirmity, or absence of
strength.
Now note how accurately this describes our condition before we meet
Christ.
1. We are bound by Satan, “taken captive by him at his will.” “Every one
that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin” (John 8:34), and “he
that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “His own iniquities
shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of
his sins.” Prov. 5:22. Sin is the cord with which Satan binds us.
2. We have a spirit of infirmity, and can in nowise lift ourselves up,
or free ourselves from the chains that bind us. It was when we were
“without strength” that Christ died for us. Rom. 5:6. Now these two
words, “without strength,” are translated from the very same word that
is rendered “infirmity” in the account of the woman whom Jesus healed.
She was “without strength.” To be without strength means to have no
strength at all. That is our condition.
[Sidenote: What Jesus Does for Us.]
What now does Jesus do for us?—He takes the weakness, and gives us in
return His strength. “We have not an High Priest which can not be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Heb. 4:15. “Himself took
our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matt. 8:17. He becomes all
that we are, in order that we may become all that He is. He was “born
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” He hath
delivered us from the curse, being made a curse for us, that the
blessing might come to us. Although He knew no sin, He was made to be
sin for us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2
Cor 5:21.
[Sidenote: Why He Does It.]
Why did Jesus make that woman free from her infirmity?—In order that she
might walk at liberty. Certainly it was not in order that she might
continue of her own free will to do that which before she was obliged to
do. And why does He make us free from sin?—In order that we may live
free from sin. On account of the weakness of our flesh, we are unable to
do the righteousness of the law; therefore Christ, who is come in the
flesh, and who has power over all flesh, strengthens us with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that the righteousness of the law may be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We
can not tell how He does it; He alone knows how it is done, because He
alone has the power; but we may know the reality of it.
[Sidenote: Present Freedom.]
Pay special attention to the words of Jesus to the woman, uttered while
she was yet bound down, and unable to lift herself up: “Thou art loosed
from thine infirmity.” “Thou art loosed,” present tense. That is just
what He says to us. To every captive He has proclaimed deliverance. The
woman “could in nowise lift up herself;” yet at the word of Christ she
at once stood erect. She could not do it, yet she did. The things that
are impossible for men are possible for God. “The Lord upholdeth all
that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” Ps. 145:14.
Faith does not make facts; it only lays hold of them. There is not a
single soul that is bowed down with the weight of sin which Satan hath
bound on him, whom Christ does not lift up. Freedom is his; he has only
to make use of it. Let the message be sounded far and wide. Let every
soul hear it, that Christ has given deliverance to every captive.
Thousands will rejoice at the news.
Christ came to restore that which was lost; He redeems us from the
curse; He hath redeemed us; therefore the liberty wherewith He makes us
free is the liberty that existed before the curse came. Man was made a
king. It was not merely the one individual first created who was made
king, but all mankind. “In the day that God created man, in the likeness
of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them,
and called their name Adam,” that is, man. Gen. 5:1, 2. “And God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in
the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And
God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion,” etc. The
dominion, we see, was given to every human being, male and female.
This dominion was universal. When God made man, He “put all things in
subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under
him, He left nothing that is not put under him.” Heb. 2:8. The dominion
was not confined to this planet; for when God crowned man with glory and
honor, He set him over the works of His hands (Heb. 2:7), and we read,
“Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and
the heavens are the works of Thine hands” (Heb. 1:10). This shows how
free man was before the curse came; for it is self-evident that a ruler
must have absolute freedom, at least as far as his dominion extends,
else he is not ruler.
It is true that now we do not see all things put under man; “but we
behold Him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even
Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,
that by the grace of God He should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9,
R. V.), and thus redeem every man from the curse of the lost dominion.
“Crowned with glory and honor.” A crown implies kingship, and Christ’s
crown is that which man had when he was set over the works of God’s
hands. Accordingly, Christ (as man, mind you, in the flesh), just as He
was about to ascend to heaven after the resurrection, said: “All power
is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.” Matt. 28:18,
19. This indicates that the same power is given to us in Him; and this
is made certain by the inspired prayer that we might know the exceeding
greatness of God’s power in us who believe, “according to the working of
His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from
the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far
above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to
come; and hath put all things under His feet;” and this prayer is
followed by the statement that God has made us alive in Christ, and
“raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus.” Eph. 1:18-22; 2:1-6.
Christ has tasted death for us as man, and through the cross has
redeemed us from the curse. If we are crucified with Him, we are also
risen with Him, and made to sit together with Him in the heavenly
places, with all things under our feet. If we do not know this, it is
only because we have not allowed the Spirit to reveal it to us. The eyes
of our heart need to be enlightened by the Spirit, that we may know what
is “the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints.” The exhortation to those who are dead and
risen with Christ is, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body,
that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Rom. 6:12. That shows that
we are masters. We have authority over sin, that it shall have no
dominion over us.
We have redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of
sin (Eph. 1:7); and when He “washed us from our sins in His own blood,”
He “made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” Rev. 1:5, 6.
Glorious dominion! Glorious freedom! Freedom from the power of the
curse, even while surrounded by it; freedom from “this present evil
world,”—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life! The freedom of the universe (power in heaven and on earth), so
that neither “the prince of the power of the air” nor the “rulers of the
darkness of this world” can have any dominion over us! It is the freedom
and authority that Christ had when He said, “Get thee hence, Satan.” And
the devil immediately left Him. It is authority “over all the power of
the enemy.” Luke 10:19. It is such freedom that nothing in heaven or
earth can coerce us, to make us do anything against our will. God will
not attempt it, for we hold our freedom from Him; and no one else can do
it. It is power over the elements, so that they will serve us, instead
of controlling us. We shall learn to recognize Christ and His cross in
everything, so that the curse will be powerless over us, and our minds
and bodies will not be subject to every change in the weather. Our
health will spring forth speedily; for the life of Jesus will be
manifest in our mortal flesh. Such glorious liberty no tongue or pen can
describe. Believe in it as the Holy Spirit makes it known, accept it,
and stand fast in it; yea, stand fast!
[Sidenote: “Stand Fast.”]
“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them
by the breath of His mouth.” “He spake, and it was done; He commanded,
and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:6, 9. The same word that created the starry
host, speaks to us, “Stand fast!” It is not a command that leaves us as
helpless as before, but one which carries the performance of the act
with it. Recall the cases of the lame men who were healed. John 5:5-9;
Acts 3:2-8; 14:8-10. The command does the thing commanded. The heavens
did not create themselves, but were brought into existence by the word
of the Lord. Then let them be your teachers. “Lift up your eyes on high,
and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number;
He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that
He is strong in power, not one is lacking.” Isa. 40:26, R. V. “He giveth
power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth
strength.” Isa. 40:29. Listen to the words, “Stand fast!”
[Sidenote: A Question of Profit.]
“If ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.” It should
be understood that much more is involved than the mere rite of
circumcision. The proof of this is found in the fact that this Epistle,
which has so much to say about circumcision, has been preserved by the
Lord for us, and contains the Gospel message for all time; yet
circumcision as a rite is not a burning, living question now. Nobody is
seeking to have Christians submit to the rite of circumcision in the
flesh.
The question under consideration is how to obtain
righteousness—salvation from sin—and the inheritance of righteousness.
The fact is that it can be obtained only by faith—by receiving Christ
into the heart, and allowing Him to live His life in us. Abraham had
this righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ, and God gave Him
circumcision as a sign of that fact. It had a peculiar significance to
Abraham, serving continually to remind him of his failure, when he
tried, by means of the flesh, to fulfil God’s promise. The record of it
serves the same purpose for us. It signifies that “the flesh profiteth
nothing,” and is not, therefore, to be depended on. The mere fact of
being circumcised did not make Christ of no avail, for Paul was himself
circumcised, and as a matter of expediency he had Timothy circumcised.
Acts 16:1-3. But Paul did not count his circumcision nor any other
external thing of any value (Phil. 3:4-7), and when it was proposed to
circumcise Titus, as a thing necessary to salvation, he would not allow
it (Gal 2:3-5).
That which was to be only the sign of an already-existing fact, was
taken by subsequent generations as the means of establishing the fact.
Circumcision, therefore, stands in this Epistle as the representative of
all kinds of work done by men with a view of obtaining righteousness.
Outward circumcision, in the flesh, which was what Judaizing teachers
were seeking to impose on believers from among the Gentiles as the great
means of salvation (see Acts 15:1), stands for the works of the flesh,
as opposed to the Spirit.
Now the truth is stated that if a person does anything with the
expectation of being saved by it, that is, of getting salvation by his
own work, Christ profits him nothing. If Christ be not accepted as a
complete Redeemer, He is not accepted at all. That is to say, if Christ
be not accepted for what He is, He is rejected. He can not be other than
what He is. Christ is not divided; and He does not share with any other
person or thing the honor of being Saviour. Therefore it is easy to see
that if any one were circumcised with a view to receiving salvation
thereby, that would show absence of faith in Christ as the
all-sufficient and only Saviour of mankind.
God gave circumcision as a sign of faith in Christ; the Jews perverted
it into a substitute for faith. So when a Jew boasted in his
circumcision, he was boasting of his own righteousness. This is shown by
verse 4: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” This is no
disparagement of the law, but of man’s ability to keep the law. It is
the glory of the law that it is so holy, and its requirements are so
great, that no man is able to attain to the perfection of it. Only in
Christ is the righteousness of the law ours; and true circumcision is to
worship God in Spirit, to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to put no
confidence in the flesh. Phil. 3:3.
[Sidenote: In Debt to the Law.]
“I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor
to do the whole law.”
“There!” exclaims some one, “that shows that the law is a thing to be
avoided; for Paul says that those who are circumcised have got to do the
whole law; and he warns them not to be circumcised.”
Not quite so hasty, my friend. Stick a little more closely to the text.
Read it again, and you will see that the bad thing is not the law, nor
the doing of the law, but that the thing to be avoided is being a debtor
to the law. Is there not a vast difference? It is a good thing to have
food to eat and clothes to wear, but it is a sorrowful thing to be in
debt for these necessary things. Sadder yet is it to be in debt for
them, and yet to lack them.
A debtor is one who owes something. He who is in debt to the law, owes
what the law demands, namely, righteousness. Therefore, whoever is in
debt to the law is under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of
the law to do them.” So to attempt to get righteousness by any other
means than by faith in Christ is to incur the curse of eternal debt. He
is eternally in debt, for he has nothing wherewith to pay; yet the fact
that he is in debt to the law,—debtor to do the whole law,—shows that he
ought to do it all. How shall he do it?—“This is the work of God, that
ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29. Let him cease trusting
in himself, and receive and confess Christ in his flesh, and then the
righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in him, because he will not
walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
[Sidenote: “The Hope of Righteousness by Faith.”]
“For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”
Don’t pass this verse by without reading it more than once, or you will
think that it says something that it does not say. And as you read it,
think of what you have already learned about the promise of the Spirit.
Don’t imagine that this verse teaches that, having the Spirit, we must
wait for righteousness. Not by any means; the Spirit brings
righteousness. “The Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Rom. 8:10.
When He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness.
John 16:8. Whoever, therefore, receives the Spirit, has the conviction
of sin, and has also the righteousness which the Spirit shows him that
he lacks, and which the Spirit alone can bring.
What is the righteousness which the Spirit brings?—It is the
righteousness of the law; this we know, “for we know that the law is
spiritual.” Rom. 7:14.
What, then, about the “hope of righteousness,” for which we wait through
the Spirit? Notice that it does not say that we through the Spirit hope
for righteousness, but that we wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith, that is, the hope which the possession of righteousness brings.
Let us briefly go over this matter in detail. It will not take long, for
we have already studied it, and all that we have to do is to refresh our
minds.
1. The Spirit of God is “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Not the Spirit
promised, but the Spirit the possession of whom insures to us the
promise of God.
2. That which God has promised to us, as children of Abraham, is an
inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the earnest or pledge of this
inheritance, until the purchased possession is redeemed and bestowed
upon us. Eph. 1:13, 14.
3. This inheritance that is promised is the new heavens and the new
earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13.
4. The Spirit brings righteousness; for the Spirit is Christ’s
representative, the means by which Christ Himself, who is our
righteousness, comes to dwell in our hearts. John 14:16-18.
5. Therefore the hope which the Spirit brings is the hope which the
possession of righteousness brings, namely, the hope of an inheritance
in the kingdom of God, the earth made new.
6. The righteousness which the Spirit brings to us is the righteousness
of the law of God, which by the Spirit is written in our hearts, instead
of on tables of stone. Rom. 2:29; 2 Cor. 3:3.
7. The sum of the whole matter, therefore, is this, that if we will
wholly distrust ourselves, and will acknowledge that in us there
dwelleth no good thing, and that consequently no good thing can come
from us; and so, instead of thinking ourselves so powerful that we can
do the law, will allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, that thus we may be
filled with the righteousness of the law, we shall have living hope
dwelling in us. The hope of the Spirit—the hope of righteousness by
faith—has no element of uncertainty in it; it is positive assurance. But
in nothing else is there any hope. He who has not “the righteousness
which is of God by faith,” has no hope whatever. Only Christ in us is
“the hope of glory.”
[Sidenote: No Power Except in Faith.]
“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor
uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” The word here rendered
“availeth” is the same word that is rendered “able” in Luke 13:24; Acts
15:10; 6:10. In Phil. 4:13 it is rendered “can do.” The statement,
therefore, amounts to this: Circumcision is not able to do anything,
neither is uncircumcision; but faith alone, which works by love, can do
anything. This faith which works by love is found only in Christ Jesus.
But what is it that there is talk about doing?—Nothing else than the law
of God. No man can do it, whatever his state or condition. The
uncircumcised man has no power to keep the law, and circumcision has no
power to enable him to do it. One may boast of his circumcision, and
another may boast of his uncircumcision, but both are alike vain. By the
law of faith boasting is excluded (Rom. 3:27); for since the faith of
Christ alone can keep the righteousness of the law, there is no chance
for us to tell what we have done.
“All to Christ I owe.”
[Sidenote: Hindered.]
The Galatian brethren had started well, for they had “begun in the
Spirit;” but somebody had hindered them in the way. The question is,
“Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” God’s law is the
truth (Ps. 119:142), and the Galatian brethren had started out to obey
it; they had succeeded in the beginning, but later on had been hindered
in their progress. Why?—“Because they sought it not by faith, but as it
were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that
stumbling-stone.” Christ is the way, and the truth, and the life, and
there is no stumbling in Him. He is made unto us righteousness; the
perfection of the law is in Him, for His life is the law.
[Sidenote: “The Offense of the Cross.”]
The cross is and always has been a symbol of disgrace. To be crucified
was to be subjected to the most ignominious death known. The apostle
said that if he preached circumcision, that is, righteousness by works,
the offense of the cross would cease. The offense of the cross is that
it is a confession of human frailty and sin, and of inability to do any
good thing. To take the cross of Christ means to depend solely on Him
for everything, and this is the abasement of all human pride. Men love
to fancy themselves independent. They have no objection to any goodness
that they themselves can do. One might preach “morality” to a band of
robbers, or to any heathen, and it would be well received, so long as
they were exhorted to get it by their own efforts. Indeed, they would
feel flattered, rather than otherwise, for such, preaching would imply
that they were already righteous in themselves. But let the cross be
preached; let it be made known that in man dwelleth no good thing, and
that all must be received as a gift, and straightway somebody is
offended.
[Sidenote: Liberty to Serve, Not to Sin.]
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty
for an occasion to the flesh; but by love serve one another.” The two
preceding chapters tell about bondage, imprisonment. Before faith comes,
we are shut up under sin, debtors to the law. The faith of Christ sets
us free, but as we are set at liberty, the admonition is given us, “Go,
and sin no more.” We have been set at liberty from sin, not at liberty
to sin. How many make a mistake here! Many sincere people imagine that
in Christ we are at liberty to ignore the law, and to set it at
defiance, forgetting that the transgression of the law is sin. 1 John
3:4. To serve the flesh is to commit sin, “because the carnal mind is
enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. So when the apostle exhorts us not to use our
liberty for an occasion of the flesh, he simply warns us not to misuse
the liberty which Christ gives us, and to bring ourselves into bondage
again by transgressing the law. Instead of this, we should by love serve
one another; for love is the fulfilling of the law.
Recall what has been said in this chapter concerning the liberty
wherewith Christ makes us free. He gives us the liberty of the first
dominion. But remember that God gave the dominion to mankind, and that
in Christ all are made kings. This shows that the only human being over
whom any Christian has the right to rule is himself. The great man in
Christ’s kingdom is he who rules his own spirit. As kings, our subjects
are found in the lower orders of created beings, in the elements, and in
our own flesh, but not in our fellow-men. We are to serve them. We are
to have in us the mind that was in Christ while He was still in the
royal court in heaven, “in the form of God,” which led Him to take “the
form of a servant.” Phil. 2:5-7. He did not change His nature in coming
to this earth, but only His form; therefore, as Anointed King in Zion,
He was a servant. This is further seen by the fact that He washed the
feet of the disciples, with full consciousness of the fact that He was
their Master and Lord, and that He came from God and went to God. John
13:3-13. Moreover, when all the redeemed saints appear in glory, Christ
Himself “shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will
come forth and serve them.” Luke 12:37. The greatest freedom is found in
service—in service rendered to our fellows in the name of Jesus. He who
does the greatest service—not greatest as men reckon, but what they
would call lowest—is the greatest. This we learn from Christ, who is
King of kings and Lord of lords, because He is servant of all,
performing service that nobody else would or could do. God’s servants
are all kings.
[Sidenote: Love Fulfils the Law.]
Love is not a substitute for the keeping of the law, but is the
perfection of it. Just here it would be well to read 1 Cor. 13. “Love
worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the
law.” Rom. 13:10. “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother,
he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how
can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John 4:20. If, therefore, a
man loves his neighbor it must be that he loves God. “Love is of God,”
for “God is love.” Therefore love is the life of God. If that life be in
us, and be given free course, the law will necessarily be in us, for
God’s life is the law for all creation. That life of love was manifested
in the gift of Himself for the world. “Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.”
[Sidenote: Love Is Unselfishness.]
This follows from the foregoing; for since love means service, and
service means the doing of something for others, it is evident that love
takes no thought of itself, and that he who loves has no thought but of
how he may bless others. So we read, “Love suffereth long, and is kind;
love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not
behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not
account of evil.” 1 Cor. 13:4, 5, R. V.
It is just on this vital point that everybody in the world is making or
has made a mistake. Happy are they who have found out their mistake, and
have come to the understanding and practise of true love. “Love seeketh
not her own.” Therefore self-love is not love at all, in the right sense
of the word. It is only a base counterfeit. Yet the most of that which
in the world is called love, is not really love for another, but is love
of self. Even that which should be the highest form of love known on
earth, the love which is used by the Lord as a representation of His
love for His people,—the love of husband and wife,—is more often
selfishness than real love. Leaving out of the question, as unworthy of
notice, marriages that are formed for the purpose of gaining wealth or
position in society, it is a fact, which all will recognize when their
attention is called to it, that in nearly every case the parties to a
marriage are thinking more of their own individual happiness than of the
happiness of the other. Of course this condition of things exists in
varying degrees, and in proportion as real, unselfish love exists, is
there real happiness; for it is a lesson that the world is slow to
learn, that true happiness is found only when one ceases to seek for it,
and sets about making it for others.
[Sidenote: “Love Never Faileth.”]
Here again is a test which shows that much that is called love is not
love. Love never ceases. The statement is absolute, never. There is no
exception, and no allowance made for circumstances. Love is not affected
by circumstances. We often hear about one’s love growing cold, but that
is something that can never happen. Love is always warm, always flowing;
nothing can freeze the fountain of love. Love is absolutely endless and
unchangeable, simply because it is the life of God. There is no other
love than the love of God, therefore the only possibility for true love
to be manifested among mankind is for the love of God to be shed abroad
in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
[Sidenote: Why Love?]
Sometimes when a declaration of love is made, the loved one asks, “Why
do you love me?” Just as if anybody could give a reason for love! Love
is its own reason. If the lover can tell just why he loves another, then
that very answer shows that he does not really love. Whatever object he
names as a reason for love, may sometime cease to exist, and then his
supposed love ceases to exist; but “love never faileth.” Therefore love
can not depend upon circumstances. So the only answer that can be given
to the question as to why one loves, is “because,” because of love. Love
loves, simply because it is love. Love is the quality of the individual
who loves, and he loves because he has love, irrespective of the
character of the object. The truth of this is seen when we go back to
God, the Fountain of love. He is love; love is His life; but no
explanation of His existence can be given. The highest human conception
of love is to love because we are loved, or because the object of our
love is lovable. But God loves the unlovely, and those who hate Him. “We
also were aforetime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and His love toward man,
appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves,
but according to His mercy He saved us.” Titus 3:3, 4, R. V. “If ye love
them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the
same?” “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect.” Matt. 5:46, 48.
[Sidenote: Working no Ill.]
“Love worketh no ill to his neighbor.” The word “neighbor” means whoever
dwells near. Love, therefore, extends to everything with which it comes
in contact. He who loves must necessarily love everybody. It may be
objected that love does make distinctions, and the case of husband and
wife, or of any of the members of a family, may be cited. But the
objection does not hold, for the family relation, rightly understood,
was instituted in order that by a union love might the more effectually
be manifested to others. On the principle that strength is not merely
doubled, but increased tenfold, by union, as shown by the statement that
“one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight,” union
multiplies the working value of love. If two persons, each of whom has
this unselfish love to all mankind, unite in love, then their union
makes them ten times better able to serve others. If any one thinks this
is too high a standard, let him remember that we are considering a very
high thing—the highest thing in the universe. We are talking of love,
absolute and unqualified, as it comes from heaven, and not that which
has been dragged through the mire of earth. Poor, frail human beings
certainly need the very best.
Since love worketh no ill to his neighbor, it obviously follows that
Christian love,—and there is really no other love, as we have seen,—does
not admit of wars and fightings. No philosophy can ever make it appear
that it does a man any good to kill him. When the soldiers asked John
the Baptist what they should do, as followers of the Lamb of God, to
whom he pointed, he replied, “Do violence to no man.” Luke 3:14. Those
who asked were “soldiers on service,” as we see from the margin of the
Revised Version. And the margin also gives as the alternative rendering
of John’s answer, “Put no man in fear.” It would be a very mild war in
which this command was followed. If an army were composed of
Christians,—true followers of Christ,—when they came in contact with the
enemy, instead of shooting them, they would find out what they needed,
and supply their wants. “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,
give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his
head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom. 12:
20, 21.
[Sidenote: “Take Heed.”]
“But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not
consumed one of another.” See into what danger the Galatians had run by
following evil counsel. By departing from the simplicity of the faith,
they were bringing themselves under the curse, and in danger of hell
fire. For “the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue
among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire
the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” James 3:6. The
tongue has devoured more than the sword, for the sword would never be
drawn if it were not for the unruly tongue. No man can tame it, but God
can. He had done it in the case of the Galatians, when their mouths were
filled with blessing and praise; but what a change had again taken
place! As the result of their later instruction, they had descended from
blessing to bickering, and instead of talking to edification, were about
to devour one another.
[Sidenote: “The Leaven of Malice and Wickedness.”]
Verses 8 and 9, following the question, “Who did hinder you that ye
should not obey the truth?” manifestly apply here as well as there,
since biting and devouring are very strong evidences of not obeying the
truth. “This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you.” God is the
God of peace. Of Christ, the Prince of peace, it was said, “He shall not
strive” (Matt. 12:19); therefore “the servant of the Lord must not
strive” (2 Tim. 2:24). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is “the Gospel of
peace.” Eph. 6:15. When there is bickering and strife in the church, be
sure that the Gospel has been sadly perverted. Let no one flatter
himself on his orthodoxy, or his soundness in the faith, while he has a
quarrelsome disposition, or can be provoked to quarrel. Dissension and
strife are the marks of departure from the faith, if one was ever in it;
for, “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1. We are not merely at peace with God, but we
have peace with Him—His peace. So this new persuasion, which led to
strife and the devouring of one another with the tongue of unholy fire,
did not come from God, who had called them into the Gospel. Only a step
aside often leads to a wide divergence. Two lines of railway may seem to
lie parallel, yet insensibly they diverge until they lead in opposite
directions. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” A seemingly
“little error,” no matter what it be, has in it the germ of all
wickedness. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10. A single false principle
adhered to, will wreck the whole life and character. The little foxes
spoil the vines.
[Sidenote: The Works of the Flesh.]
What are the works of the flesh?—Here is a sample list of them:
“Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings.” Not a
pleasant-sounding list, is it? But it is not all of them, for the
apostle adds, “and such like.” There is a good deal to think about in
this list, taken in connection with the statement that “they which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Compare this list
with that given by the Lord in Mark 7:21-23, as the things that come
from within, from the heart of man. They are the very life of the
natural man. They belong to man by nature. Compare both these lists with
the list given in Rom. 1:28-32, as the things done by the heathen, who
did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They are the things that
are done by all who do not know the Lord.
Then compare these lists of sins with the list given by the apostle Paul
in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, of things that will be done in the last days by those
who even have a form of godliness. It will be noticed that all these
lists are essentially the same. When men turn from “the truth of the
Gospel,” which is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth, they inevitably fall under the power of these sins.
[Sidenote: “There Is No Difference.”]
There is only one flesh of man (1 Cor. 15:39), since all the inhabitants
of the earth are descendants of the one pair—Adam and Eve. “By one man
sin entered into the world” (Rom. 5:12), so that whatever sin there is
in the world is common to all flesh. Therefore it is that in the plan of
salvation “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.” Rom. 10:12. See
also Rom. 3:21-24. No person on earth can boast over another, or has any
right to despise another because of his sinful, degraded condition. The
sight or knowledge of low vices in any people, instead of making us feel
complacent over our superior morality, ought, on the contrary, to fill
us with sorrow and shame; for it is but a reminder to us of what our
human nature is. The works that manifest themselves in that murderer,
that drunkard, or that libertine, are simply the works of our flesh. The
flesh of mankind has nothing else in its power but just such works as
are described in this chapter.
[Sidenote: “And Such Like.”]
Read again that list of the works of the flesh. Some of them are
generally recognized as very bad, or, at any rate, as not respectable;
but others are commonly regarded as venial sins, if not absolute
virtues. Notice, however, the words “and such like,” which indicate that
all the things here named are identical in character. The Scripture
tells us that hatred is murder. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer.” 1 John 3:15. Moreover, anger is also murder, as shown by the
Saviour in Matt. 5:21, 22. Envy, which is so common, also contains
murder in it. But who regards emulation as sinful? Isn’t emulation
encouraged everywhere? Are not children from their infancy taught to
strive to surpass somebody else? Is not emulation fostered, not only in
schools of all kinds, but also in the home and in the church? In the
Sabbath-school, emulation is fostered by the records that are often read
out. So far from being regarded as sinful in the extreme, it is
cultivated. And yet the Word of God assures us that it is of the same
kind as adultery, fornication, murder, and drunkenness, and that they
which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Is it not a
fearful thing?
* * * * *
The love of self, the desire for the supremacy, is the source of all the
other sins that are mentioned. Out of that have grown innumerable
murders; and yet many mothers are unconsciously training their children
in that very evil, even while striving to bring them up properly, by
saying: “Now see if you can behave better than so and so.” “See if you
can not learn to read or play better than such an one.” “See if you can
not keep your clothes looking as nice as that one.” All such
expressions, which are everyday words in thousands of households, are
teaching emulation, setting a false standard. The child is not taught to
distinguish between the right and the wrong, and to love the right, but
is simply trained to appear better than somebody else. That leads to
self-deception and Pharisaism, for all that is thought necessary is to
present a better appearance than others, while the heart is corrupt.
Those others may not be of very high character, and so the emulator is
satisfied, even in this faulty exertion, with simply appearing better
than some one who is himself very bad. Go through the entire list, and
study each word carefully. Ah, the abominable works of the flesh are
lurking where many least suspect them! They are wherever human flesh is,
and are manifest in some form or other wherever the flesh is not
crucified. Sin coucheth at the door.
[Sidenote: The Flesh and the Spirit in Conflict.]
The flesh and the Spirit of God have nothing in common. They are
“contrary the one to the other,” that is, they lie over against each
other, like two active foes, each eagerly watching the opportunity to
crush the other. The flesh is corruption; it can not inherit the kingdom
of God, because corruption doth not inherit incorruption. 1 Cor. 15:50.
The flesh can not be converted; it must be destroyed. The carnal
(fleshly) mind “is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh can
not please God.” Rom. 8:7, 8. Here is the secret of the backsliding of
the Galatians, and of the trouble which so many find in living the
Christian life. The Galatians began in the Spirit, but thought to attain
to perfection by the flesh (chapter 3:3), a thing as impossible as to
reach the stars by delving in the earth. So many people desire to do
right, but, not having definitely and fully yielded to the Spirit, they
can not do the things that they would. The Spirit strives with them, and
has partial control, or is at times quite fully yielded to, and they
have a rich experience; then the Spirit is grieved, the flesh asserts
itself, and they seem like other persons. They are swayed at times by
the mind of the Spirit, and at times by the mind of the flesh (Rom.
8:6), and so, being double-minded, they are unstable in all their ways
(James 1:8). It is a most unsatisfactory position in which to be.
[Sidenote: The Spirit and the Law.]
“If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” “For we know
that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Rom. 7:14.
The flesh and the Spirit are in opposition; but against the fruits of
the Spirit there is no law. Gal. 5:22, 23. Therefore the law is against
the works of the flesh. The carnal mind is “not subject to the law of
God.” So those who are in the flesh can not please God, but are “under
the law.” This is another clear proof of the fact that to be “under the
law” is to be a transgressor of it. “The law is spiritual;” therefore
all who are led by the Spirit are in full harmony with the law, and so
they are not under it.
Here again we see that the controversy was not whether or not the law
should be kept; that never at that time came into the mind of anybody
professing godliness. But the question was concerning how it could be
fulfilled. The Galatians were being led astray by the flattering
teaching that they themselves had power to do it, while the heaven-sent
apostle strenuously maintained that only through the Spirit could it be
kept. This he showed from the Scriptures, from the history of Abraham,
and from the experience of the Galatians themselves. They began in the
Spirit, and as long as they continued in the Spirit, they ran well; but
when they substituted themselves for the Spirit, immediately the works
began to manifest themselves, which were wholly contrary to the law. The
Holy Spirit is the life of God; God is love; love is the fulfilling of
the law; the law is spiritual. Therefore whoever would be spiritual must
submit to the righteousness of God, which is witnessed to by the law,
but is gained only through the faith of Jesus Christ. Whoever is led by
the Spirit must keep the law, not as a condition of receiving the
Spirit, but as the necessary result.
We often find people who profess to be so spiritual, so wholly led by
the Spirit, that they do not need to keep the law. They admit that they
do not keep the law, but say that it is the Spirit that leads them to do
as they do, and that, therefore, it can not be sin, even though opposed
to the law. Such persons make the terrible mistake of substituting their
own carnal mind for the mind of the Spirit. They have confounded the
flesh with the Spirit, and have thus put themselves in the place of God.
That is the very worst kind of popery. To speak against the law of God,
is to speak against the Spirit. They are terribly blinded, and should
pray, “Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy
law.”
[Sidenote: The Fruit of the Spirit.]
The first-fruit of the Spirit is love, and “love is the fulfilling of
the law.” Joy and peace come next, for, “being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “And not only so,
but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1, 11.
Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost (Acts 10:38), or, as stated in
another place, “with the oil of gladness” (Heb. 1:9). The service of God
is a joyful service. The kingdom of God is “righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Rom. 14:17. He who is not glad, not
occasionally merely, but all the time,—glad in adversity as well as in
prosperity,—does not yet know the Lord as he should. The words of Christ
lead to fulness of joy. John 15:11.
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance, must come forth spontaneously from the heart of the true
follower of Christ. They can not be forced. But they do not dwell
naturally in us. It is natural for us to be angry and exasperated,
instead of gentle and long-suffering, when opposed. Note the contrast
between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. The first
come naturally; therefore, in order for the good fruit to be borne, we
must be made completely over into new creatures. “A good man out of the
good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good.” Luke
6:45. Goodness comes not from any man, but from the Spirit of Christ
continually dwelling in him.
[Sidenote: Christ’s by Crucifixion.]
“They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the passions and
lusts.” It is by death that we become joined to Christ. As many as are
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ (Gal. 5:27), and as many as
have been baptized into Christ, have been baptized into His death (Rom.
6:3). “Our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead
is freed from sin.” Rom. 6:6, 7. “I am crucified with Christ;
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Gal. 2:20. This is the experience of
every true child of God. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature.” 2 Cor. 5:17. He still lives in the flesh, to all outward
appearance the same as other men, yet he is in the Spirit, and not in
the flesh. Rom. 8:9. He lives in the flesh a life that is not of the
flesh, and the flesh has no power over him, but, so far as its works are
concerned, is dead. “The body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is
life because of righteousness.”
[Sidenote: Walking in the Spirit.]
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Is there any
doubt as to whether or not we live in the Spirit?—Not the slightest, nor
is there any implied. Because we live in the Spirit, we are in duty
bound to submit to the Spirit. Only by the Spirit’s power—the same
Spirit that in the beginning hovered over the face of the deep and
brought order out of chaos—can any person live. “The Spirit of God hath
made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Job 33:4.
By the same breath were the heavens made. Ps. 33:6. The Spirit of God is
the life of the universe. The Spirit of God in our nostrils (Job 27:3)
keeps us in life. The Spirit is the universal presence of God, in whom
“we live, and move, and have our being.” We are dependent on the Spirit
for life, and therefore should walk according to, or be guided by, the
Spirit. This is our “reasonable service.”
What a wondrous possibility is here set forth! To live in the flesh as
though the flesh were spirit. “There is a natural body, and there is a
spiritual body.” “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but
that which is natural; and afterwards that which is spiritual.” 1 Cor.
15:44, 46. The natural body we now have; the spiritual body all the true
followers of Christ will receive at the resurrection. See 1 Cor.
15:42-44, 50-53. Yet in this life, in the natural body, men are to be
spiritual,—to live just as they will in the future spiritual body. “Ye
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you.” Rom. 8:9. “The natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he
know them; because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is
spiritual judgeth all things.” 1 Cor. 2:14, 15.
“Except a man be born again [from above], he can not see the kingdom of
God.” “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:3, 6. By our natural birth we inherit
all the evils enumerated in this fifth chapter of Galatians, “and such
like.” We are fleshly; corruption rules in us. By the new birth we
inherit the fulness of God, being made “partakers of the Divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2
Peter 1:4. “The old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts” (Eph. 4:22), is crucified, and “put off,” “that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:6).
Abiding in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, the flesh with its lusts
has no more power over us than if we were actually dead and in our
graves. It is then the Spirit of God alone that animates the body. The
Spirit uses the flesh as an instrument of righteousness. The flesh is
still corruptible, still full of lusts, still ready to rebel against the
Spirit, but as long as we yield our wills to God, the Spirit holds the
flesh in check. If we waver, if we in our hearts turn back to Egypt, or
if we become self-confident, and so relax our dependence on the Spirit,
then we build again the things that we destroyed, and again make
ourselves transgressors. But this need not be. Christ has “power over
all flesh,” and He has demonstrated His ability to live a spiritual life
in human flesh.
This is the Word made flesh, God manifest in the flesh. It is the
revelation of “the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we
might be filled with all the fulness of God.” With this Spirit of love
and meekness ruling us, we shall not be desirous of vainglory, provoking
one another, envying one another. All things will be of God, and this
will be acknowledged, so that none will have any disposition to boast
over another.
This Spirit of life in Christ—the life of Christ—is given freely to all.
“Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” “For the Life
was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you
that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto
us.” “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”