Live Not By The Law, But By The Holy Spirit - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Galatians 5:16-18,

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

These Galatian believers had allowed themselves to get into a conflict with Paul by embracing false teachers who had come into their midst. These false teachers contradicted the pure gospel message Paul had given these believers earlier by claiming Christians had to get circumcised and keep the law. 

It is a false theology that people still struggle with today. Not finding assurance (full faith!) in the atonement Jesus Christ made on the cross, that his payment for all our sins fully satisfies our just and righteous God when we embrace him in faith, they attempt to adorn the cross with their own efforts of law-keeping. It is as if the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is not enough, that we need to add to it by law-keeping.

How many times I have heard someone say that we need to keep the ten commandments! In Romans 7, Paul uses the tenth commandment (don't covet) as his example of why we serve "in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." Romans 7:6.

The conversation about this issue inevitably leads to the question, "If we don't have to keep the law, then are you saying we can do whatever we want and still get to heaven?" Although the question is asked of me, it really needs to be asked of the Scriptures, Paul particularly. 

Paul actually answers the question in our passage above. The answer is that true believers are led by the Holy Spirit, true believers are influenced by the Holy Spirit. We do not need to worry about law-keeping, we need to "walk by the Spirit", something that goes well beyond law-keeping in ordering our lives. The Holy Spirit should well up within our hearts a strong desire to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, to please our loving Heavenly Father, to be changed from within. An outward adherence to the law just won't do, God has grander designs for us: a change within!

Our lives are to be ordered by the Holy Spirit, not the Mosaic law.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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