The Real Sabbath - The Unity of the Faith is to Walk in the Spirit

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. What does Paul mean here?

Surely it is not possible to "live in the Spirit" and at the same time "not walk in the Spirit." At face value it would certainly seem that such a thing is not possible lest one holds philosophically to some form of dualism by which the condition of one's soul is separate from the deeds done in the body, a view which is actually commonly held in the Babylon Church System.

What Paul is actually speaking about is spiritual immaturity, not carnal rebellion. Paul is not speaking of "Christians who are in rebellion to God" like many in the "provisional salvation substitution" theological camps would imply. Paul was calling out the Galatians as having "fallen from grace" and thus being "entangled again with a yolk of bondage"...

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Gal 5:2  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Gal 5:3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Gal 5:4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

In what could only have been a state of a misapplied zeal to serve God, the Galatians had been seduced into the idea that they ought to submit themselves to an ordinance of the flesh, namely that of circumcision. This does not mean that the Galations were in rebellion to God, rather they had lost sight, and thus an understanding of what "the faith" actually is. They were immature and thus subject to error in that their thinking was carnal in nature, and thus they were easily seduced by those with false reasoning.

Abiding in Jesus Christ, in His Spirit, is to "live in the Spirit." It means that our hearts are completely yielded to God and we conduct ourselves in accordance to the doctrine of godliness and thus we walk in righteousness. Yet if we choose to subject ourselves to carnal ordinances as a necessity as it pertains to the Christian walk and thus salvation, then we no longer "walk in the Spirit" for our foundation of liberty wrought through the "law of love" has been supplanted by a carnal sense of duty.

Physical circumcision has no bearing whatsoever on the condition of the heart, it cannot regenerate a heart, nor can it add any value to a regenerated heart. Thus for a Christian to subject themselves to the necessity of such a carnal ordinance is to fall from the grace of God, grace which teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live soberly, uprightly and godly in the present age.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Grace is the foundation of our salvation, right doing from a right heart, faith works by love and love works no ill (Gal 5:6, Rom 13:10). To "walk in the Spirit" is to act in accordance with this basic principle, the principle of right doing from a pure heart. To live in the Spirit and not walk in the Spirit is to depart or fall from this foundation.

The Galatians had much in common with those in Corinth. In Corinth we find...

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Those in Corinth were carnal in seeking to govern themselves by the precepts of men where, in order to deal with some differences, they sought worldly authorities...

1Co 6:1  Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
...
1Co 6:6  But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
1Co 6:7  Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
1Co 6:8  Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

This is not much different to sentiment aimed at the Galatians...

Gal 5:15  But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

The Corinthians were also upholding one teacher above another and dividing themselves into various camps...

1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

In other words, they were looking at outward things as opposed to letting the Spirit of God direct all their steps. We all need to take heed of their error and do as Paul admonished...

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

It is "walking in the Spirit" in which we find the true liberty which is the rest of Jesus Christ.

Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Gal 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

The rest of Jesus Christ is the true Sabbath...

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

We don't cease from right doing, rather we cease from a carnal obligation of right doing and instead simply love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbour as ourselves. The natural outcome of this love is the manifestation of righteousness, and thus we no longer need to be subject to rules and regulations. Remember the law is made for the ungodly...

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

It is in the rest of Jesus Christ that we find true peace as we walk in the Spirit. Our conscience is clear before God for we have submitted ourselves to His leading by which the true motive of our heart is always pure.

Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

1Sa 16:7  But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Hence the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and genuine faith, from which some have swerved aside unto the vain jangling of a carnal sense of duty, whether it be law keeping or carnal judgments.

1Ti 1:5  Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
1Ti 1:6  From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;
1Ti 1:7  Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

We must be diligent to enter into the real rest available through Jesus Christ, for God is not looking at the outward, but that which is within, and it is on the basis of the motive within by which God judges us on the deeds we do in the flesh, right or wrong.

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Love out of a pure heart, a good conscience and genuine faith, all wrought through being spiritually minded brings with it life and peace.

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Life and peace, what could be more satisfying?

Paul wrote to the Ephesians...

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Is not the unity of the faith the true rest in Jesus Christ? A rest in which the foundation is love out of a pure heart? I think so.

An understanding of this is what separates the mature Christian from the immature Christian. It is through the Spirit that we attain genuine love for the brethren whereby we love one another with pure hearts, a manifestation of the new birth, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

So let us reflect upon these things and examine ourselves. Do we both live and walk in the Spirit, or are we yet carnal?

Please consider...


Scott.