Once again, here’s my fairly literal translation of these
verses:
13For brothers you were called upon freedom. Only [do not
use] that freedom into an opportunity to the flesh, but be serving one another
through the love; 14for all the law is fulfilled in one word, in
this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But beware, if you are
biting and devouring each other, lest you are consumed by one another.
16But, I say, be walking [in the] Spirit, and you absolutely
will not fulfill the lust of [the] flesh, 17for the flesh is lusting
against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for they are opposed to
each other, so that you cannot be doing the things you might be wishing; 18but
if you are being led [by the] Spirit, you are not under law.
…22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law.
I was thinking I was ready to move on but as I look at the
passage, there’s still so much to ponder. As I read it this morning, I
particularly notice the battle. In a sense “the battle” is what legalism is all
about – the battle going on inside of every person, believer or not – the
battle of living with “right and wrong.” I personally think in part it (the
battle) comes from the fact we were made in the image of God, morally
responsible and accountable (which image even unbelievers still bear) and part
of it is the sense of law which I think God implanted in us as fallen people
(to keep us at least from being as bad as we could be). There simply is a battle going on inside
every one of us. Legalism once again proposes the answer has something to do
with law, more rules, less rules, new and better rules, restoring old-fashioned
rules, etc., etc. As we learn from Galatians, God’s answer is not law but grace:
blood-bought forgiveness and the indwelling Holy Spirit. But, from the passage
before us (and from hard experience) we see that even the very Holy Spirit’s
indwelling doesn’t end the battle inside us.
Somehow, way down deep in my heart, I think I have to come
to grips with this myself. Even the Holy Spirit’s indwelling doesn’t end the battle. It only equips us to
fight the battle. Everyone, regenerate or not, fights this battle within
themselves. The whole point of Jesus’ outpouring the gift of Holy Spirit
indwelling was to give us His power
to fight the battle – not, in the short run, to win it but to empower us to
fight it. Martin Luther struggled with this but told himself, “Martin, you will never be without sin, for
you have flesh. Despair not, but resist the flesh.” His advice to us was: “Do not despair if you feel the flesh battling against the Spirit or if
you cannot make it behave. For you to follow the guidance of the Spirit in all
things without interference on the part of the flesh is impossible. You are
doing all you can if you resist the flesh and do not fulfill its demands.”
The fight. We are free; but we must guard lest that freedom
become a beachhead for our rottenness. We must love others; if we don’t we’ll
bite and devour each other. We must choose to be walking in the Spirit; but we
have to beware of instead fulfilling the lusts of our flesh. We must let
ourselves be led by the Spirit; but we are in danger of instead resorting to
law.
It’s the battle. “… the
flesh is lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for they
are opposed to each other, so that you cannot be doing the things you might be
wishing…” Eadie
observed, “They maintain this reflex
warfare, and they cannot coalesce, for they are contrary the one to the other …
The phrase “opposed to each other” describes not only actual antagonism, but
undecided result.”
Perhaps it’s the “undecided result” my
heart doesn’t like. As I have learned these things and have been trying to
apply them, I don’t necessarily feel like I’m doing any better. I’m still just
as impatient and rotten. I wish I could feel like my realization of the Holy Spirit’s
indwelling, my sense of His presence, my determination to in fact draw on His
power could mean some kind of significant and measurable improvement. But I can’t
say it has. I think I am more aware of my rottenness, more aware that I am
being impatient or unloving. I just don’t know that I’m winning the battle to
change it. But then I read, “… so
that you cannot be doing the things you might be wishing…” Even Paul’s “victory”
in Romans 7 doesn’t actually conclude with his success. He’s still bemoaning his
failures, “O, wretched
man that I am!” when he asserts, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through
Jesus Christ our Lord!” And to make himself clear that the battle
isn’t over, he actually concludes that chapter with “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my flesh
a slave to the law of sin.”
Hmmmm. Not sure what to do with this. I
wish I did feel like it was all making more of a difference, that I was doing a
better job of putting off the old self and putting on Christ. Perhaps there is
more to understand. Perhaps it is possible to do “better;” I just don’t see it
yet. Or perhaps it’s just “the battle.” In this fractal universe, I’ve often
noticed Exodus 23:28-30: “I will send the
hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your
way. But I will not drive them out in a single year,
because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for
you. Little by little I
will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take
possession of the land.” “Little by little I
will drive them out before you …” The Lord could have just nuked the Promised
Land, cleared out the Canaanites, and handed it all to the Israelites with a
bow on top. But He didn’t. He made them fight for it. And even their fight, He
told them ahead of time, wouldn’t be successful in a year. It would take time.
It would be a process. They’d have to stay at it. That’s the same pattern, it
would seem to me, that we face in this battle of sanctification.
Maybe I expect too much. Maybe I’m hoping
for too much. I wish there could be a quantum leap of improvement. If there is
a way, as I said above, I still don’t see it. So … I will keep studying to
understand better and keep at least trying to fight. “You are doing all you can if you resist the
flesh and do not fulfill its demands,” said Martin Luther. I guess if that
is where I feel I am, at least I’m in good company!
“Carry on, my wayward
son. There’ll be peace when you are done.” (Kansas)
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