"Then I say, Walk in the Spirit, and you will never fulfill the desires of the flesh. "
— Galatians 5:16 (Holy Bible)
How can a person walk in the spirit? Walking is an action. I can liken it to a person walking towards a certain direction.
The author of the translation of the Bible in simple English will say, live by being guided, so when you go, a person is guided by the spirit towards a certain direction in order not to fulfill the desires of the body.
Galatians 5:16 TKU
"But I say to you, Everyone who looks at a woman with desire for her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. "
— Matthew 5:28 (Holy Bible)
Here Jesus will show that desire arises in the human heart, so a person begins to sin from his heart.
In another sense, we can say that what is going on in the body is also a continuation of what is in a person's heart.
"Because what he sees in himself, that is what he is. he said to you, Come on, eat, drink; But his heart is not with you. "
— Proverbs 23:7 (Holy Bible)
Here the writer of proverbs says, such
Which a person can see in himself is what he is. In other words, he may see himself as black, but on the outside, he becomes white. his skinning and appearing white does not remove the concept that he is black, his nature is black. When the tanning equipment is gone he will continue to remain in his natural black appearance.
"A good man in the good treasure of his heart produces what is good, and a wicked man in the evil treasure of his heart produces what is evil; for being a man, his mouth speaks what fills his heart. "
— Luke 6:45 (Holy Bible)
Speaking is the last act in the factory process which is the heart,
After you have processed a lot of things inside, and the final product is evident in your behavior, Luke tells you that actions are like words. Just as a person can insult and another person takes a sword and cuts someone, it is the result of the evil that filled his heart. or he stood up and did good, it is the result of the goodness that filled his heart.
So, what is the heart? It is a combination of thoughts, ideas, understanding and human feelings. Which is affected by information or knowledge passing through his ears. therefore, when he hears knowledge or knowledge about something, his heart gradually begins to match what he hears.
Therefore, when Paul says the people of
Walk in the spirit so that they do not fulfill the desires of the flesh, he will be returning to the knowledge that he has called the spirit, which has the ability to make a person not go in the direction of the desires of the flesh.
This Paul who wrote an epistle to the saints of Galatia is the same one who wrote an epistle to the saints of Rome. Now we can look at what he says about the works of the body to the Saints of Rome;
Romans 7:14-23 (Holy Bible)
Here Paul describes to the Romans two people in one person, where there is a spiritual person and a physical person. let's look carefully together at this concept, what is Paul trying to make us understand;
Verse 14 describes the Torah as spiritual in nature. What is the Torah!?. It is texts of laws from God that were passed by angels by the hand of Moses to give to God's people to follow them (Galatians 3:19). Now why does he say that the nature of the Torah is spiritual? What exactly does it mean to say "Spiritual?".
If you read verse 15 to 17 of chapter 7 of this letter to the saints of Rome. Verse 15 explains how he is in a state of confusion after he has learned the Lord's law fully but suddenly he finds that there is a way he finds himself acting outside of what he has learned. verse 16 he will say that what he learned in the law of the Lord or the Torah is what he happened to like to do but suddenly he finds that he does not do that, so he proves that the law of the Lord is good. And in verse 17 he will conclude his thought by saying "No
I myself do that"the word soul has been added by the translators of the Kiswahili language, if you go to the English translation you will come across the word "I" which is derived from the Greek translation "ego" which speaks of a person's personality (personality). therefore, the word "ego" here will refer to the person who received the knowledge of the Torah and fully understood it, when he understood it, he felt the urge to do what he understood (this is called repentance). But what will B of that verse and that of the 18th say?, "but it is the sin that dwells in me". in me here does not refer to "ego" but ¹⁸ Because I know that in me, that is in my body, no good word dwells; for to want I want, but to do what is good I do not get.
Therefore, in it he will talk about his body and not his personality.
So when you get to line 20 too
he will say "Then if what I did not like was what I did, it was not my soul that did it, but the sin that lived in me. "
— Romans 7:20 (Holy Bible)
So here he does not mean that his "ego" is a sinner, no, but his body is a sinner. therefore we will interpret this person as a saint but in his body he is a sinner.
Look at verse 22 and verse 23 now,
Romans 7:22 – 23 (Holy Bible)
He will say that his inner being, that is, "Ego" enjoys God's law, but in his limbs he sees a law that is far away or sin, it is fighting to compete with the law of his mind. Hold on there; this time the soul or inner personality has called it "the Law of his mind". so you get to understand that the law of God releases knowledge in a person's mind and makes him be born a second time or change his nature and become a saint or a person without sin. now this person with a sanctity mind meets opposition to his outer body in his organs and becomes a captive of his organs in doing evil things.
So now we get to understand that when he said that the Torah is spiritual, he meant the knowledge of God's goodness
in one's mind, which brings holiness or the nature of holiness.
If you have carefully followed Paul here in Romans, he is trying to show how it is difficult for a person to receive holiness through physical actions or efforts, except in this way:
Romans 7:25 (Holy Bible)
the body becomes difficult when it comes to wanting to please God so much that it has become impossible, then in verse 24 he said woe to the poor man who will save him from the body of death. when he asks who will save him, it is to show that he has personally failed, he is looking for help from someone else who won there or the Swahili will tell you "Whoever pierced, help me too".
Verse 25 will say, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord".
this statement is to show hope or rest or to say that help has been found, and it is God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ our Lord is the one who saves us, because he pierced, with him is our victory and not by our actions.
to conclude this analysis of Rumi, let's go back a little;
Romans 7:4 – 6 (Holy Bible)
Here, he has shown that by believing that Christ died for our sins in the way of the body, then we died in the state of sin in Christ not to remain in the state of sin in the way we act. Therefore, sin remains by not accepting Christ's work on the cross. especially we have a husband who rose from the cross, we who believed in him are his property, our judgment about sin, is not in what the Torah has classified but in the classification of the body of Christ. Then he says that we should bear fruit to God. In another sense, he says that we fulfill God's will in the power of resurrection, the power that resurrected Jesus resides in the believer and is what enables the believer to bear fruit for God.
Verse 5 shows the condition of a person who depends on his actions in order to get salvation, suddenly he meets the opposition of the actions of the body and suddenly he sees himself as a sinner and suddenly he sees himself as a person who is not worthy before God, and suddenly he hides himself before the face of God and suddenly that is death.
Verse 6 "But now". we have been opened in the Torah, we have matured the state that opposed us (the actions of the body to please God, and it was not possible). We have died in the body of Christ so that we can be used in the new state of the spirit, not in the old, scriptural state. "Give it to me and I will give it to you, if you don't give it to me I will not give it to you".
Hebrews 8:6- (Holy Bible)
⁶ But now he has received a better service, inasmuch as he is a messenger of a better covenant, commanded on better promises.
⁷ Because if the first one were not lacking, no place would be sought for the second one.
⁸ For, he who blames them, says Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, And I will fulfill a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah;
⁹ It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, on the day I took their hands to bring them out of the land of Egypt. Because they did not abide in my covenant, I did not care about them, says the Lord.
¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord; I will give them my laws in their minds, And in their hearts I will write them; And I will be God to them, and they will be my people.
¹¹ And they will not teach each man his neighbor, And each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; Because they will all know me, from the youngest to the oldest.
¹² Because I will forgive their iniquities, And their sins I will remember no more.
What will the writer Luke in his document of the Acts of the Apostles say about that promise:
Acts 13 (Holy Bible)
³² And we preach to them the good news of the promise given to the fathers,
³³ that God has fulfilled that promise to our children, by resurrecting Jesus; as it is written in the second Psalm, You are my Son, today I have begotten you.
anhaa, so the resurrection of Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise, that God's laws are all written in the hearts of believers, they are not written in stone like Moses or through their actions but are written through faith in their heart or their personality, which at the beginning we called "ego".
Now we can return to Paul's Epistle to the saints of Galatia, so that we can gather Paul's thoughts about the Torah or God's law in relation to the concept of faith in salvation.
Galatians 3:11-12 (Holy Bible)
He writes to the Galatians to tell them that "It is evident that no one is justified before God in the law;" to say it is obvious, it means a truth that cannot be disputed or hidden, why is it so because the 10th verse said;
"For all those who are of the works of the law, are under a curse; because it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide in all that is written in the book of the Torah, and do it. "
— Galatians 3:10 (Holy Bible)
Now if you collect these thoughts and what he wrote to the Romans, you get to know how it is impossible for a person to fulfill all of them without leaving a single one of what is written in the Torah so that in order to please God. and it should be remembered that if you stumble in one and fulfill all the rest, you are an unsuitable person and you are considered to have stumbled in all; as written;
"For whoever keeps all the law, but stumbles in one word, has sinned above all. "
— James 2:10 (Holy Bible)
Ndiomana Paul boldly says "It is evident that no one is justified before God in the law;". But he has given an anemone "The righteous will live by faith". This statement means righteousness or holiness is by faith and its continuation is the same faith.
And when the Torah came, it did not come by faith but it wanted the one who holds it to be saved by it. in the conduct of Paul in the letter of Rome he specified that for him it has been difficult due to the law of sin that fights in his limbs and he finds himself doing what he does not want to do at the end of the day he found himself in need of help and the help came from God through Jesus Christ (repentance). therefore, a person who reads the Torah and fully understands it, his conclusion is that "I can't do it alone, I need help" (Repentance). This is something that the Pharisees missed and they thought that they could do it alone and did not need help (they lacked the hearts of repentance). I believe Jesus once said this in one event:
Mark 2:16-17 (Holy Bible)
Luke 18:9-14 (Holy Bible)
In this second example, you will see that there is no problem in everything that the Pharisee bids for, but there is a problem in relying on what gives him justice from God. this shows that the Pharisee did not see the reason for God to purify him because he has purified himself, or can we say who is the Pharisee? A Pharisee is a man who learned the Torah. Has he understood the Torah? No, because he has not received repentance in his heart.
See here also;
John 9:39-41 (Holy Bible)
JESUS will say that he came into this world for judgment, and what is his judgment that the blind may see and the one who sees be blind. in this example he means those who read the Torah and understand it end up seeing themselves as blind and need to see. Who are the blind? The blind are sinners
And who are those who see? Those who see are those who have read the Torah and did not understand it, and saw that they could do it alone without help.
So who are the Pharisees? They are the ones who look at themselves as if they see (they don't need repentance) so they remain in sin.
Basecally in these lessons I keep in your mind that Jesus Christ has come as a savior to save people from their sins, because as we continue to understand how to walk in the spirit you should understand Jesus Christ because he is the compass in walking in the spirit.
The by continuing to look at the two concepts between the Torah and Faith, having already understood the Torah we can look at faith in the salvation or holiness of a person (not guilty of sin).
Galatians 3:6-8 (Holy Bible)
The scriptures here in Galatians inform us that Abraham was justified by faith, he believed in God's promise, because verse 8 says the text has seen since ancient times that God will "justify the nations by faith". The word "Ata" shows the future, it is the promise itself. But also
"In you the nations will be blessed". They will be blessed later.
Then look here;
"Then the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendants. He does not say, To the descendants, as if they were many, but as if it were one, To your descendant, that is, Christ. "
— Galatians 3:16 (Holy Bible)
Well, now we realize that the promise to the descendants of Abraham to be justified was only through one person who is Jesus Christ. therefore Abraham, when he was shown a seed like the sand of the sea or the stars of the sky who are the justified ones, he did not see people who do what is written in the Torah in the sense
If you bring Abraham today, he cannot tell you anything about being holy by following the law or the Torah, but he will tell you about being justified by believing in one of his descendants, Jesus Christ.
I believe here Paul said;
"What I am saying is this; the covenant confirmed first by God, the Torah that appeared four hundred and thirty years later does not begin, even annuls the promise. "
— Galatians 3:17 (Holy Bible)
therefore he will say that the Torah that came 430 years later after the promise was made to Abraham about his descendants being justified through faith in Christ Jesus, could not be annulled by the Torah there later, in another sense, God would have lied to Abraham when God is not a human being to tell a lie. "God is not a man, he should lie; And it is not human, he regrets; If he has spoken, he will not act? If he has spoken, he will not fulfill it? "
— Numbers 23:19 (Holy Bible)
therefore we see God's promises are true and certain.
So what does Ibrahim understand about the Torah!?;
"The Lord said to Abram, Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, they will serve those people, and they will be tormented for four hundred years. "
— Genesis 15:13 (Holy Bible)
Abraham was told about his offspring that you will be a stranger in a land that is not his. The land of his seed is the land of promise and that promise is the seed (Jesus Christ). When this generation will be in a foreign land, you will be a slave, you will suffer for 400 years. therefore, the foreign country here will be a different country from the promised land which is the Torah.
Look here;
"What is the Torah then? It was entered because of mistakes, so that the seed that was given the promise should come; it was commanded by the service of angels by the hand of the messenger. "
— Galatians 3:19 (Holy Bible)
if you read it in the English translation of the Amplified Bible it will read like this:
Gal.3.19 What then is the purpose of the Law? it was added [later, after the promise, to open and expose the guilt of man] because of the error and [to make people more aware of sin]; and it was intended to work until the Seed (Descendant, Heir) came, to whom and to Whom the promise had been made. and [the Law] was arranged and ordered and appointed by the power of angels [and was given] by the hand (in the soul) of the mediator between [Moses, a mediator between God and man]. (AMP)
You see that the Torah was added later after the promise was spoken, because of mistakes. the word error there is the Greek word "Parabasis" which is similar in use to another Greek word "Hamartano". They are verbs that show doing something wrong. For example, something happened
Adultery then a person is married. At home we will call you Parabasis or hamartano from its nouns (Parabaino and Hamartia).
So we see that the Torah was added because of a mistake. They were directed this way and they went the other way. the word revealed to them the promise of justification in Jesus Christ, they did not see that promise, they had hard hearts of unbelief.
Hebrews 3:15-19 (Holy Bible)
Hebrews 4:1-9 (Holy Bible)
Therefore, the problem of Moses' people was unbelief and they did not enter into the promise including Moses himself, Joshua's people entered, Joshua is a man of faith, he and Caleb brought good news when they went to spy on the city.
Verses 8 and 9 show the faith that Joshua and Caleb had. All those who joined Joshua and Caleb inherited the land and those who did not believe in Joshua and Caleb were destroyed.
Up to this point we have been able to see the power of faith in salvation and not in the works of the law or the Torah. then what is faith?
Hebrews 11:1-10 (Holy Bible)
¹⁰ Because he was looking forward to a city with foundations, whose creator and builder is God.we see faith is to be sure of things expected and it is a statement of unseen things that our ancestors witnessed and here I have given you the example of Abraham and all his descendants were justified by being sure of the coming of Jesus Christ as a savior in the future and their expectations were determined by making it clear, they obeyed in what they were told in parables.Ibrahim will be told to go to a country he does not know. When he says a country he doesn't know, it's not that he started going to himself without guidance but God was guiding him to that land, but when he arrived he was not familiar with that land. Ibrahim believed in God and he left, if he didn't believe in him it would not have been easy to leave the place where he was leading his life and got a lot of wealth there and then tell him to go to another country. Ibrahim believed in God, actions or deeds followed.
That same faith is what saves us today. When you are told that if you believe in the resurrected Jesus, your sins are removed, it is something that you expect to receive, when you believe, you identify it in your behavior. Your expectation today is different from what the elders expected because they expected and did not see it, but you expect something what you saw, perfectly. That Jesus has already completed 2000 years ago. therefore you begin to see yourself as holy and then you continue in holiness, with thoughts, words and actions.
Even en now we have come to know that our sanctity, or our right is not interpreted by us doing what the law or the Torah has directed, but our sanctity and justice have been found in the hope and faith of what God has done in Christ Jesus. therefore, the object of sanctification or the subject of holiness is Jesus Christ. A place where Jesus Christ is not identified is a place of evil or sin.
Therefore, learning about God's justice and holiness, separation from evil or sin is learning about Jesus Christ.
Come and let me take you here;
1 Corinthians 15:1-3 (Holy Bible)
in the beginning Paul gave or taught people the knowledge of Christ that he died for our sins as the scriptures say, but not only did he die but he was buried and rose again on the third day as the scriptures continue to say.
So if you go back to Galatians 5 down there he will list the works of the body which if a person does not walk in the knowledge of Christ or if he does not think about his reality in Christ he will end up doing that.
Galatians 5:19-21 (Holy Bible)
So what will Paul say;
"............ in that I tell you in advance, as I have already told you, that people who do things like that will not inherit the kingdom of God. "
— Galatians 5:21 (Holy Bible)
He says "he is telling you in advance as he has already told you". This statement shows that this thing that Paul is talking about is not as if it is new and foreign to these people, it is that he has already told them that people who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. but it should be remembered that Paul does not teach that these actions are salvation, or that if a person stops doing them externally he will be saved, but he is speaking of the gospel of Christ, which
He has already explained to the Corinthians about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. therefore a person who does not believe that in his heart is filled with evil. Fornication, impurity, envy, witchcraft, corruption, drunkenness, idolatry and all kinds of evil. Which interpretation of these things is sin. Therefore, a person who has believed in Christ Jesus, his sins have been removed and are not there at all. therefore he begins to walk or think in the spirit and see himself as such, and that is the only fagion that the Bible has revealed to us that can remove bad behavior or lust of the flesh.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (Holy Bible)
Here is the same Paul writing to the people of the church of Ephesus that the salvation that they received is the grace of God, they did not receive it by the actions or soul of a person, and no one should boast. Verse 10 will conclude by saying that we were created in Christ Jesus to do good deeds, which God himself made for us to do good deeds. That is the word "to" is the word "unto" and in the Greek language "epi".referring to through, on, and in, (Christ) its conclusion is good behavior. So we could put this sentence well by saying; "Good deeds are created by God through Jesus Christ, and in Christ and on Christ." Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God's goodness. If you give away Christ, you have given away goodness, that is, Jesus Christ is free but goodness is dependent. Goodness cannot stand without Jesus Christ. If you turn Jesus inside you will see the goodness of God, outside as well as on him, every corner of him is full of goodness, the radiance of goodness. therefore we do not start doing good deeds to please God, but we are in Christ Jesus to please God, so even our actions or good conduct begins in the knowledge of the goodness that God has done in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:1-7 (Holy Bible)
He will tell these saints of Ephesus that before they became believers they were dead because of their mistakes and sins. those sins and their mistakes were in following the norm of this world and following the king of the power of the sky.
This second line is the English translation of
Ephesians. 2.2
That is, he has likened the world to air polluted by unbelief, that does not know Christ, so it does not know the basic meaning of living and then we wanted to explain to us how to live, as a result we became people who follow the desires of our bodies, being angry people, disgusting and hating each otherthose who do all kinds of bad deeds.
So he says that when they were in the same evil situation, God had mercy on them and saved them, he did not wait for their external change characteristically, but he saved them from the same evil conditions of unworthiness. Then he calls it his Grace. how he saved them was when they were preached about the goodness of God through Christ Jesus and then they believed and that's when they were saved. So he will return to the resurrection of Christ and it will be their resurrection too, that they rose with Christ and were seated with him "In the spirit world". the spirit world refers to heaven, the invisible place, God's righteousness and holiness. Where is the state of having the knowledge of God's goodness and grace in Christ Jesus as we saw earlier in this lesson.
Look at what Paul will write to Titus;
Titus 3:1-7 (Holy Bible)
Here Paul will instruct Titus who is a pastor or overseer of the church how to lead the people in the church. he will be told to emphasize or forcefully teach people to do good deeds because that is what they should do, he will return to himself Paul with Titus that they were also evil doing every evil but the grace of God that came to them saved them in their same state of evil that they were in and now they have become a man in every good deed. Paul here has described how salvation is obtained by the grace of God and maintained by the same grace of God without depending on a person's behavior. And in line 8 he will say this;
"It is a word to be trusted; and I want you to say these things strongly, so that those who believed in God remember to persevere in good deeds. That's good, and it's beneficial to humans. "
— Titus 3:8 (Holy Bible)
This verse will read like this in the English translation of the Amplified Bible;
Tito.3.8 This message is to be trusted, and In relation to these things, I want to emphasize them with emphasis, so that those who have believed in (believing in, relying on) God should be careful to use them among themselves for honorable works and for doing good, because those things [Not only] are very good and right [among their own], but [those thingsis] good and beneficial to people.aMP).
With this interpretation we know that while good deeds bring benefit to the one who acts and to those who are treated, he has not shown anything that increases or decreases in God, it does not benefit God but good deeds are for the benefit of people. What does God benefit from us until we are seated in the spirit world in heaven with Christ!?. That is our belief in his grace.
So until here we see that actions cannot take a person and bring him to the kingdom of God or to see the kingdom of God, but it is faith alone in Christ Jesus that brings a person there.
Now then we can reflect again on Paul in Galatians chapter 5 why he wrote that;
Galatians 5:19 (Holy Bible)
All these acts that Paul has listed and other bad things that are known in the society of people, he did not even need to mention them (All of them together are called "Sins"). Now who is the believer? he is the one who has been removed from his sins not because he does not do bad deeds but because he has believed in Christ Jesus. It is a big mistake to call a believer a sinner because Christ has removed his sins as we have seen in the past.
Only a person who does not believe in the work of Christ Jesus in dying, being buried and resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) is a sinner, even if he is not found doing anything bad that is known to be bad in society.
"And if Christ did not rise, your faith is in vain; forgive you in your sins. "
— 1 Corinthians 15:17 (Holy Bible)
Therefore, the confidence of the believer not to be in sin is because Christ was resurrected, not in his behavior.
Paul will say as he has already said that sinners who have not believed in Jesus Christ cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Now then;
"Then I say, Walk in the Spirit, and you will never fulfill the desires of the flesh. "
— Galatians 5:16 (Holy Bible)
Therefore, he will give them the medicine to live the reality of their souls, that is in the walk of the Spirit, then they will never fulfill the desires of the flesh.
The word "you shall never be fulfilled" is the word "You shall" in the Greek "teleo". It is a word that means to complete something, finish or pay a debt.
Therefore, the desire of the body so that it does not exist is paid or completed and removed by being guided by the Spirit.
"Because the body craves competition and the Spirit, and the Spirit to compete with the body; for these are opposed to each other, so you cannot do what you want. "
— Galatians 5:17 (Holy Bible)
He says because the body is the obstacle of the Spirit, the body is what desires and competes or brings opposition to the Spirit.
"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. "
— Galatians 5:18 (Holy Bible)
In another sense, he says if you want to be guided by the Spirit, don't look at them
actions as a criterion to make you holy or acceptable to God, but see yourself as a person accepted by God for the knowledge you received about the suffering and resurrection of Christ for the remission of our sins.
So how can I not get involved in anything bad?. it is by continuing to see myself that I am sanctified in Christ Jesus.
What do I do if I fall or stumble in any bad action or word, I remain in the continuity of seeing myself as sanctified in Christ Jesus.
CONCLUSION: Walking in the Spirit is relying on receiving righteousness and holiness by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Or it is our faith in Christ Jesus.
for example, the actions of the body as the evangelist Paul described in his epistle to the saints of Galatia that those who do that and others similar to that will not inherit the kingdom of God. refers to those who trust their behavior in pleasing God, where it is contrary to the Spirit they will not inherit the kingdom of God.
GOD has blessed you very much, and congratulations for following this message until the end, I hope you have been built and strengthened in your spirit.
Rooted in Christ 2024/2025