Results tagged “Spirit”

Galatians 5:1 - "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." There's so much power in this statement. Do not submit to a yoke of slavery. Slavery of performance, Slavery of perfection. Slavery of doing the right thing. Slavery of making the right choice. Slavery of finding the right way. Slavery of working to become worthy.

God has chosen us, bought us for a price. He's already said we are worthy, set a price on us that's higher than we would have paid. So why do we think we have to prove ourselves?

Galatians 5:7 - All this talk against the law, against circumcision and here he asks "Who hindered you from obeying the truth?" What is this talk about obedience if the law is nothing? We are still called to obey, the question is why do we obey and what? Do we obey from a call to duty, out of a desire to please Him who has already shown His pleasure with us? Or, do we obey because of the love he has already lavished on us? Do we obey the failed rules and laws of old that did nothing to truly sanctify those who followed them or do we obey the call to simple faith in a God who became man to rescue us?

Galatians 5:16-24 - For so long I lived and preached this section (verses 19-21 particularly) as law, rules to live by. Her was the list of don'ts (oh yeah, and some dos in verses 22-23) to avoid. This is how you live as a disciple of Jesus, here's how it works.

But I missed the 4 1/2 chapters proceeding it. For 4 1/2 chapters Paul railed on living by the law, by the dos and don'ts, going as far here in Galatians 5:4 to say that those who follow that path are "severed from Christ, ... fallen away from grace.".

Paul here is contrasting living by the spirit, which leads to the acts of the spirit, with living by the flesh which produces these (and other)acts of sin. He's calling them, not to do their best to eliminate these sins and incorporate these acts of righteousness, but to live by the spirit.

We like the rules, they're easy. Do this, don't do that. Instead, Paul says look to Jesus and don't worry about what to do. If you truly seek to follow him, the spirit will take care of your transformation. You will naturally move toward the acts of the spirit and leave the acts of the sinful nature. but we don't trust the spirit, it seems to ethereal or mystical. We want a plan of attack, something we can do to better ourselves. But faith says that we can never better ourselves enough and puts our betterment in His hands.

Wow, has it been over three weeks since my last Quiet Time Journal entry? Yep. I'm not a fan of the 'Quiet Time is your relationship with God' model, but over three weeks without sitting with your face in God's word isn't good either. Thanks to our minister, Doug Geyer, for his message on Sunday (unfortunately not recorded) that challenged me to get back on track.

Romans 8:1 - Three weeks later and this verse still is an amazing comfort to a weary soul. No condemnation.

Romans 8:2-8 - I always looked at this as those in the flesh are non-Christinas or perhaps Christians not living right and those in the spirit as those doing the right things. But now I see that Paul isn't contrasting the 'ins' verses the 'outs' here, but contrasting, as he has throughout Romans, two different mindsets.

The mindset of the flesh is to use law or rules of man to get close to God, the mindset of the spirit trusts in and relies on Jesus completely. The flesh says God expects me to do X, Y and Z to be with Him, the spirit says God longs to be with me and through Jesus I can be with him, so I'm going to do X, Y and Z because I know it pleases Him.

It's a radically different way of thinking. One works, the other simply can't.

Romans 8:15 confirms this: "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"" The way of the flesh is one of fear. If I don't live up to the demands of God, I will be punished, so I'll work to earn his favor. The spirit of sonship says I already have his favor, so I'll act like it.

Romans 8:28 - The ESV words this a little differently than the NIV that I've read for so long. The difference is small, but the change in meaning is profound:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

(ESV)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(NIV)

The NIV seems to imply that God is behind the scenes, pulling the strings, working things out for out good. The ESV doesn't say that God is working, but that the things work for our good. When I read the ESV version, I think that perhaps it isn't that God is stacking the deck on our pehalf (which is how the standard NIV interpretation feels), but rather that because we love God, our mindset allows us to see things in a new light, a light that allows them to 'work together for good'.

Then again, maybe it's the closet deist in me coming out again. What do you make of this passage and the differences in translations?

Romans 8:31-39 - I love this passage, as many do. The contrast between the call to suffer earlier (Romans 8:17-18) and the certainties of Romans 8:38-39 is profound. He does not promise, as too many modern preachers will, that our lives will be free from pain. No, rather he tells us plainly that we will suffer more from following Christ, but the love that God has lavished on us through Jesus is incomparable to anything that we suffer here.

Galatians 5:1-6 - How should we look at this passage? Paul argues that Christ came to free us, and if we attempt to find our justification on the law then Jesus is of no value to us. So, what then of things like expectations of members (we were just talking about this at Pinikidion's place)? Would Paul rail against them?

Well, if it was an attempt to define what a Christian is and force others into their mold, then I believe yes. If it's simply a matter of proclaiming who they are, then perhaps no.

A Christian is justified through Christ alone, no careful following of any rules - and Paul was talking here about God's rules, not man made Church rules - can make us right with God. A church that proclaims that unless people act as they believe, they are not Christians (as we most certainly used to do) would earn the rebuke of Paul, based on what I see here. But, the church that simply says that this is the kind of Christians we are, we stand for these practices and believe in them, teach them and follow them would not necessarily. If they can do so without passing judgment on the rest of believers, then good.

An argument can be made, convincingly I believe, that such statements serve more to exclude and to comfort those inside and that perhaps whatever is gained in defining themselves and knowing who they are, is lost in shutting out those who might come into fellowship and bring new understandings and wisdom.

It's always good to ask why? Why do you want this rule or that? Paul claims here in Galatians that following the rules is of no value for those who follow Jesus. In fact, Jesus' coming signaled the end of the era of rules. Having a set of rules makes us feel good about who we are as a group and help us draw a line of distinction between us and others. A boundary can protect us, but can also keep us from maturing to where we can find our own way. The Christian raised within the safety of a boundary, flounders and wanders when those boundaries are removed and is danger because they have no means of determining what is safe and what is not. Inside the boundary, everything was safe.

Certainly, God has things He approves of and doesn't and a church should stand up for and against what God does. But we must be careful and not mistake the standing for principals for the work of Jesus. No amount of vehemently proclaiming what God hates or loves will ever save anyone, only Jesus can do that. And rest assured, there are some who don't follow your or my rules that He will save as well.

Galatians 5:11 - Paul refers here to "the offense of the cross", what does that mean? I think I've always just skipped over that, but what is it? Paul's talking about salvation by grace here, calling the law useless here. He's quite adamant about it. What's the implication? That we are powerless, that none of the good we can claim, no deed we have done is of any value. The cross strips us of our pride, shows us for the failures that we are in following God. Jesus on the says that we are not good enough, in fact so far away that a man had to die to bring us back. To those who think they are something, what an offense indeed!

Galatians 5:16-24 - This is a passage I'm well familiar with, we went to it frequently to teach about what Christians should and shouldn't do. But this is written in the context of freedom, not as rules to be followed as it is frequently taught and we never visited the first part of the chapter with the last. In urging them to not allow themselves to be fenced in, Paul also warned them of the dangers of unregulated freedom. Paul challenged them to regulate themselves rather than to let others do it for them. And he says that the works of the flesh and the fruits are the spirit are clear, seek the one and flee the other.