Category Archives: Galatians

Posted on

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit?—Galatians 5:18

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? In terms of particulars, that depends somewhat on which biblical passage one is examining.

Some of the context of the Spirit’s leading in Galatians 5:18 is moral. Instead of our lives being circumscribed by written laws, God writes his law in our hearts. Thus we “walk” by the Spirit (5:16), are “led” by the Spirit (5:18), and put our steps in the footsteps of the Spirit (5:25). We follow the ways that he directs for us. Those who do this aren’t “under the law,” because we fulfill the moral demands of the law anyway (5:18, 23). We have promptings or movings that go beyond conscience. (Since conscience can be misinformed [1 Tim 4:2], learning to distinguish them can be important; but the Spirit can reshape our conscience with grace and right desire [cf. the Spirit’s godly desire in Gal 5:16-17]). That we are “led by the Spirit” presumably means that, ideally, we are following the Spirit.

Yet putting our steps in the steps of the Spirit (5:25; for further explanation of this sense in 5:25, see either of my Galatians commentaries) can have broader application than this. As Jesus did whatever he saw his Father doing (John 5:19), so we learn to discern God’s heart in Christ by the Spirit and follow along. This doesn’t mean that we always hear everything perfectly (cf. 2 Kgs 4:27; 1 Cor 13:9), but we do know the pattern, the way Christ laid before us by the way of love (5:14; 6:2). Love is certainly a key fruit of the Spirit (5:22).

Similarly, in the context of Romans 8:14, being “led by the Spirit” contrasts with being ruled by fleshly passion (8:5-13). It also involves a personal experience with the Spirit, a relationship as God’s sons and daughters (8:15-16).

Paul’s primary focus in “led by the Spirit” in Gal 5 may be moral transformation, but those who understand the Spirit’s leading exclusively in these terms commit a fallacy of drawing conclusions that are too general from particular cases. The Spirit’s moral leading is a particular example belonging to a wider experience with the Spirit. Note the following:

Neh 9:19-20 (NASB): “… The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them  …”

Ps 139:7, 10 (NASB): “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? … Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me”

Ps 143:10 (NASB): “Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

Isa 63:13-14 (NIV): “who led them through the depths? Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the LORD. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name.”

Matt 4:1: “Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit for the purpose of being tested by the devil.”

Luke 4:1 (ESV): “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness” (cf. 4:14 [NIV} afterward: “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside”)

John 16:13 (NRSV): “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come”

These passages depict a range of way that God’s Spirit leads us, probably including Spirit-directed wisdom, intuition, and even God ordering our steps beyond our own recognition. The psalmist needs protection from enemies and also (as in Paul) guidance in God’s will (Ps 143:10). God’s Spirit is everywhere and always working in the psalmist’s life (Ps 139:7-10). Some other passages (Neh 9:19-20; Isa 63:13-14) refer directly to the exodus event, where God led his people in the wilderness by the pillar of fire (e.g., Exod 13:18; Deut 8:2, 15; 29:5; Ps 78:52; 106:9; 136:16; Jer 2:6; Amos 2:10), giving them direction where to move next as needed (e.g., Neh 9:12; Ps 78:14). They had to depend completely on him.

The Spirit leading Jesus into the wilderness (Matt 4:1; Luke 4:1), and perhaps even Paul’s language of being led by the Spirit, evokes this same imagery of God’s past leading of his people in the wilderness. From Jesus’s example, we see that sometimes the Spirit even leads us into, as well as through, hardships. From John 16:13 we learn about our intimate relationship with God, the Spirit revealing to us Jesus’s heart just as Jesus came to reveal the Father’s heart (cf. 15:15). Moreover, although Acts uses different wording, there we see the Spirit guiding God’s servants in sharing Christ with others (e.g., Acts 8:29; 10:19; 16:6-7; 19:21).

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? In terms of particulars, that depends somewhat on which biblical passage one is examining. But overall, it means depending on God’s guidance in our lives, so we walk in the paths he wants us to walk. We don’t always in every case know exactly what his leading us, but our trust is more in his ability to lead us than in our ability to hear him. We follow our best sense of his leading, and trust in him to order our steps.

As we grow in our sensitivity to the Spirit, however, there is one area where we can be sure that his presence in our life will lead us: what is truly the leading of the Spirit will guide us in ways pleasing to God, always opposed to inclinations that do not. That is, the Spirit will never contradict the moral point that God’s Spirit already revealed in Scripture; the Spirit will empower us to live according to God’s heart.

Posted on

Galatians (podcast interview)

George Wood interviewed me yesterday on Paul’s letter to the Galatians (48 minutes), in connection with my new commentary on Galatians for Baker Academic (more detailed than my shorter one with Cambridge):

https://influencemagazine.com/en/Theory/How-to-Read-Galatians-for-Preaching-and-Teaching?fbclid=IwAR3ilDQnBakdD1AdIA_zDhxwNkeKn6qz5w8pEVvCHw11IPL1OzlasHaarNA

Posted on

Some key themes in Galatians

The New Perspective(s) and older perspectives come to different conclusions on various points, such as “faith in Christ” vs. “faith of Christ,” the meaning of “works of the law,” and so forth. I connection with my new Galatians commentary, Influence magazine published an article by me on this topic.

https://influencemagazine.com/en/Practice/Jesus-Followers-in-Step-With-the-Spirit

Posted on

Why Both Gifts and Fruit Matter

The fruit of the Spirit is produced by the Spirit working in us; it expresses God’s character, his heart, especially in relationships. As this fruit grows, we are increasingly conformed to Christ’s image. God’s seed in us (cf. 1 Pet 1:23; 1 John 3:9) grows the fruit of his character within us. We may welcome this growing by distinguishing between the fruit of the Spirit and the work of the flesh (Gal 5:19-23) and so choosing to sow to the Spirit rather than to the flesh (Gal 6:8). The work and the credit, however, belong to the Lord.

Like the Spirit’s fruit, the gifts of the Spirit are also the Spirit’s work within us. These gifts empower us as individual members of Christ’s body to share with other members of Christ’s body. But because these gifts are for building up Christ’s body, and express our functions as members of his body, they, like the Spirit’s fruit, help us reflect the image of Christ. When we function together as Christ’s body, as his body we together reveal his image. Like the seed, the body members share the spiritual DNA of the one whose body we are. Whereas fruit reveals God’s character in each of us, gifts reveal Christ’s character in us especially corporately.

The fruit of the Spirit shows what God can do in us, and the gifts of the Spirit show what God can do through us. In both cases, it’s God’s work and he should get the glory (or again, in modern Western language, the credit).

If one had to choose, the fruit would be more important than the gifts, because in Galatians 5:22-23 (the passage that specifically articulates the fruit of the Spirit), the key and ultimate fruit is love (cf. the context of 5:14). In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul reminds us that the gifts (ministries to one another) without love are worthless (13:1-3), and that the gifts are partial and will be supplanted or fulfilled by what is complete when Christ returns. By contrast, love endures forever (13:8-13). We need gifts right now to build one another up, but when Christ returns we will no longer have this need.

Rating fruit above gifts does not diminish the present importance of the latter. The purpose of the gifts is to build up Christ’s body. Thus they offer a concrete way to express Christ’s love to one another. What can we offer to others more than Christ’s own work through us? We often think of gifts in a corrective context especially because we are thinking of Corinth, where Christians were abusing some gifts. Yet Paul lists gifts also in Romans 12:6-8 and (in a different sense) Ephesians 4:11 (cf. also 1 Peter 4:10-11), just in terms of mutual edification.

The two verses that frame 1 Corinthians 13 remind us how gifts are valuable when used in love: we should pursue the gifts that most build up the body (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1). Thus we do not say, “I value love, so I don’t need spiritual gifts.” Rather, we say, “I can serve others in love by pursuing the gifts that will build them up, and by sharing the gifts Christ has given me.”

Posted on

Celebrating being God’s child

Today as I write this (Oct. 17, 2018: I scheduled this in advance), I am celebrating being a child of God.

Today I have felt so loved by God, as his son. This wasn’t something I grew up with before my conversion, but it has come in my relationship with God. I could feel the reality of the Spirit of God’s Son crying out and causing me to cry out, “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6).

One might think that since God has so many children now, it is not special to be his child. But that is not at all the case. This is the Spirit of God’s Son, Jesus Christ (Rom 8:3, 9, 11; Gal 4:4-6), and we are beloved in the Son. He made us his children in the Beloved One, Jesus (Eph 1:5-6). Our Father loves us as He loves Jesus (John 17:23). Of course, I already know that theoretically as the fruit of my study. But it is a step beyond that to celebrate its reality in my heart.

I don’t always think about it and I don’t always feel it. But when I remember what it means in my own relationship to God, when I express it in prayer and worship to God, when the Spirit reminds me, calling within me even when I had been thinking of something else—what sublime joy that brings!

Posted on

Observing special days–Galatians 4:10

Happy New Year–may you have a great day!

But some people feel that however their New Year’s Day goes, that sets the tone for the entire year. (Hopefully they don’t have a hangover today.)

Paul complained that the Galatians, now considering a traditional Jewish calendar, were observing days, months, seasons and years (Gal 4:10), just as they did in their pagan past.

Here is the comment of Ambrosiaster on this passage (Ep. Gal. 4.10.1-2, in Mark J. Edwards, ed., Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT 8; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999], p. 58): “The observers of days are those who say, for example, “Tomorrow there must be no setting out on a journey.” … The observers of months are those who watch the course of the moon, saying, for example, “Contracts must not be sealed in the seventh month.” … People pay respect to the year when they say, “The first day of January is the new year,” as though a year were not completed every day. … For if God is loved with the whole heart, there ought not to be any dread or suspicion of these phenomena so long as he is near.”