As usual, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
7You were running well. Who cut in [on] you to not be
obeying the truth? 8This persuasion [is] not out of the One calling
you. 9‘A little leaven leavens the whole lump’. 10I am
persuaded concerning you in the Lord that you will think nothing differently
but the one troubling you, whoever he is, will bear the judgment. 11But,
brethren, if I am yet preaching circumcision, why am I yet being persecuted?
Consequently the scandal of the Cross is negated. 12O that the ones
opposing you would castrate themselves!
In my last post, I recorded some thoughts and matters
concerning verse 7. Verse 8 has also been interesting to me. “This persuasion [is] not out of
the one calling you”, or, as in the KJV,
“This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you.” (Pardon the KJV but
that is what I was raised on, so oftentimes it is what sticks in my head).
“This persuasion
cometh not of Him that calleth you.” Interesting. These last few weeks, I
have been enjoying trying to learn to distinguish between my own rotten spirit
and the Holy Spirit indwelling me. “This
persuasion …” – where is it coming from? Many times lately those words have
come to my mind as I’m dealing with people and situations. I guess,
theologically speaking, for years I have recognized that, as a NT believer, I
am indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But this Galatians study has really opened my
eyes to how immediately and personally He is present and available to help me
live out God’s heart, to actually be aware second by second of my “spirit” and
to try to consciously and deliberately make sure it is coming “from Him who
called me.”
(I need to insert some explanation here: I am convinced from
my Bible study that I am a spirit living in a body. God formed Adam from the
dust of the ground (his body) then breathed into him the breath of life (his
spirit). When we die, our spirit goes to be with the Lord while our body
molders in the grave. When He returns (with us as spirit beings), He will then
raise our bodies and we will once again be complete human beings, a spirit living
in a body, only now an eternal combination that will never die. I do not
subscribe to the body, soul, spirit idea. That is only confusing and has no
defensible Biblical support. It also disagrees with my self-awareness. I am
very aware that “I” am inside here, that there is a “me” – my spirit – which
can exist separately from this body I currently live in. It is this “spirit”
inside me that is always thinking, noticing, deliberating, deciding, wanting,
and just generally talking to itself (me). Throughout my discussion of
“spirit,” this is what I am referring to. Also, I am convinced from my Bible
study that the term “the flesh” as used in the NT is actually referring to my
Adamic spirit/body combination. It is the natural “me” as I was born. Unfortunately, since the body is descended of
Adam it bears his sinfulness and hence the spirit that accompanies it, though
created in the image of God, is essentially an evil spirit. That is some background theology that bears on the
rest of what I want to say).
Just to recap what I think I’ve learned from Galatians,
there are literally now two spirits
inside of me. There is my Adamic spirit, which comes with my humanness, which I
was born with, that part of me the Bible calls my “flesh.” On the one hand it
was made in the image of God, therefore it is capable of doing much good. Because
of that, it even has a sense of good and wants to be good. Unfortunately, its
modus operandi is totally driven by selfish desires. Even when it does “good”
it is one way or another scheming to “get” something. If it turns out it has to
do wrong to get that something, well, “you just gotta do what you gotta do”. It
is capable of good but totally unreliable and incorrigibly selfish. I think in
the past I failed to recognize it because of that element of the image of God
which it still possesses. I think I thought of my flesh as totally bad and
always the “evil” voice in my heart. I realize now it may even be leading me to
do good things. Unfortunately, its motives are less than noble. Its ugly face
gets exposed when that “good” thing doesn’t get me what I wanted and suddenly I
become an angry, resentful, hateful person who can’t seem to get on top of my
emotions.
Honestly, I would say most of what I have done even as a
Christian has been done in this spirit. Oh, I have done a lot of “good” things
– in a sense my faith gave me a whole new horizon of good things I “wanted” in
my life ... now I even had Bible verses to tell me I was “right” to want those
things and “right” to pursue them. But, you see, by wanting “good” things, my
flesh was tricking me. It was hiding its face and assuring me that all was
well. In fact, that spirit within me is so powerful, so deceptive that, I am
absolutely powerless to overcome it. Even with faith it conquers me. I am an
utterly hopeless case of obligate selfishness.
But herein is exactly the freedom for which Christ has set
me free. He did the one (and only) thing that could possibly save me from this
powerful, deceptive spirit which is me. He Himself took up residence in me. The
very Holy Spirit, the third person of the divine Trinity, the Spirit of Jesus,
very God Himself, moved into “me.” Now there is another voice that calls me,
another spirit within me that is seeing what I see, hearing what I hear, knowing
what I know. It too wants to do good, wants me to be good, but because it is
the Spirit of Christ, its motives are truly good. It is literally the Holy Spirit.
This is so completely awesome and liberating, I don’t know
if I can even put it in words, but I will try. Through this study in Galatians,
I feel I am now very aware of these two spirits inside me. Now I feel I am
beginning to recognize my evil spirit, even when it is wanting “good.” I
recognize the feeling of how I am wanting something, yet deep down inside
knowing something is “wrong.” Where is this “persuasion” coming from? There is
something insidiously evil present and I somehow even faintly know it. Again,
for years I was deceived by the fact that supposedly what I wanted was
“good.” Why then, I have wondered, deep
down underneath it all did I still have a “dirty” feeling? Why, even while I
was doing “good” was I so easily irritated and angered and fed up? Now I know.
I was literally doing it “in the flesh” – the spirit inside me that was actually
moving me was my own rotten spirit, masquerading as a “minister of
righteousness.”
But then there is God. He is so patient with me. He loves me
with His undying love. He never stops doing everything in my best interest. He
cherishes me. I am the constant and endlessly amazed recipient of His gracious
kindness. He is so good. Everything He is and does is right and best and
loving. I do want so much to be like Him, to see the world through His eyes, to
love people the way He loves them. I used to feel that “spirit” was something
“out there,” something I must somehow reach out to, to somehow attain. No. It
is NOT outside me. It is INSIDE me. He is present with me, IN me. That very
spirit, that spirit of undying love and sincere goodness lives INSIDE me. That
very Spirit is itself a voice that is calling me.
And that is the very choice of freedom I now have: which
spirit, which voice am I allowing to rule me? A spirit of love and kindness and
sincerity and patience, the Spirit of Jesus, is my spirit, or should I say can be. But I must let it be my
spirit. I must be aware “whence cometh this persuasion?” Am I at this very
second being my old rotten self or am I allowing the Holy Spirit in me to
define who I am? Am I “walking in the flesh” or “in the Spirit?” That is my
choice. It is my freedom. I not only “don’t have to be who I was,” there is a
sense in which I am not “who I was,” or in another way of saying it, don’t
have to be. There is an infinitely
powerful Spirit present to “make things happen!”
Think about it: It is cosmically encouraging to know that
the Holy Spirit in me is the third Person
of the Trinity. What I mean is, think of the power that is available there –
the very power of God Himself. My rotten spirit seems so powerful. As I said
above and it has been my sad realization all these years of “trying” to be a
Christian – my rotten spirit is so powerful it conquers me. But it is not “me”
that has to conquer it. God already
has. The Spirit of Jesus in me already has conquered it. In fact, though it
puffs and blows and appears so very powerful to me, yet it surely can only
cringe before the infinite power of the Spirit of God. While it may seem “hard”
to let His Spirit control me, yet I must believe that if I only will yield and
unleash His power, I will find that in any given moment or situation I have in
fact (He has) conquered my own evil
self.
Hmmmm. I still have a lot to learn here. My
understanding is no doubt very elementary and probably flawed somewhere, but “Strong
meat belongs to those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern good and evil.” “By reason of use.” One truly learns to live Scripture
as one tries to live Scripture. I’m going to try to allow the question to stay
constantly in my mind, “From whence cometh this persuasion?” Then I am so
looking forward to studying on through this book. The next section of verses
directly address this whole subject of “walking in the Spirit” and not in “the
flesh.” Surely the Lord will show me more that I need to know. And when I know
the truth, the truth shall set me free!
This is so much fun! What will Heaven be like??
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