LESSON 5
FALLING FROM GRACE & THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5:1-26
Memory Verse: 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
Introduction:
“In this chapter the apostle exhorts to stand fast in Christian liberty, and warns against the abuse of it; and directs to shun various vices, and encourages, to the exercise of several graces, and the observance of several duties; and concludes with a caution against vain glory, provocation to wrath, and envy.
Paul begins this with an exhortation to continue steadfastly in the liberty of the Gospel;… since it was what Christ obtained for them, and bestowed on them; and to take care, that they were not again brought under the bondage of the ceremonial law, particularly the yoke of Circumcision.” —John Gill’s Expositor.
I. THE DANGER OF FALLING FROM GRACE vv. 1-12
A. Stand Fast in Grace, vv. 1-3.
1. In grace we have liberty and not bondage, v. 1.
a. Stand fast in Christian liberty, 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”
1) Buy the truth and sell it not, Proverbs 23:23, “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.”
01. The truth will keep us, Proverbs 4:5-6, “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.”
02. Man does not know the price of Truth, Job 28:13, “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.”
2) Stand as one well equipped, Ephesians 6:14, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”
01. Girded with gospel of your salvation, Ephesians 1:13, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
02. Equipped with the breastplate of faith and love, 1 Thessalonians 5:8, “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”
b. Christ has made us free, v. 1; Galatians 2:4, “And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:”
1) Our freedom was very COSTLY, Acts 22:28, “And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.”
2) The Lord has PROCLAIMED our liberty, Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”
2. Be not entangled AGAIN, v. 1; Matthew 23:4, “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” To go back to the law, was to go back into bondage as a slave.
3. To go back to law and circumcision was profitless, v. 2.
a. Paul asserts all his personal and apostolic authority, 2 Corinthians 10:1, “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:”
b. Israel found no profit in circumcision, Romans 9:31, “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;”
4. To go back to circumcision or any law keeping for salvation, makes a person a debtor to do the whole law, v. 3. James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” You cannot keep part of the law and then ignore the other part without being a lawbreaker.
a. A debtor, to owe for one who has assumed an obligation for a moral or spiritual debt, Galatians 3:12, “And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.”
b. He is under a curse, Deuteronomy 27:26, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.”
B. Fall Not From Grace, vv. 4-9.
1. Justification by the Law will result in falling from grace, v. 4.
a. Those who would be justified by the Law are severed from Christ, Romans 7:2, “For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.”
b. You LEFT the sphere of GRACE in Christ and took your stand in the sphere of Law AS YOUR HOPE of salvation, Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have TASTED the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”
This verse does not mean that you must work for your salvation or you will fall from grace. It means that those who work for their salvation have already fallen from grace. —ELB
1) These were “ILLUMINATED” by the gospel, Hebrews 10:32, “But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;”
2) They were “ENLIGHTENED” by the gospel, Ephesians 1:18, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”
3) However, they DID NOT LOOK UNTO HIM for salvation, Hebrews 9:28, “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
2. By the LEADERSHIP of the Spirit we stand in faith, v. 5.
a. He leads us in truth, Psalms 25:5, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”
b. Our hope of righteousness is by faith, Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”
3. Our salvation is in Christ and not in the works of the law nor the ordinance of circumcision, v. 6.
a. Circumcision is like salt that has lost it savor, Matthew 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
b. Faith works through love, 1 Peter 1:8, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:”
4. They had in the past run well in the truth, but now they have been PERSUADED by Judaizers to turn back to the law, vv. 7-8.
a. “Ye were running well” in the Gospel race, v. 7; 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:”
b. WHO (NOT WHAT) “DROVE YOU BACK”? v. 7; Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians, WHO hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”
c. This does NOT come from the Lord, Galatians 1:6, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:”
5. It only takes a little lump of doctrinal error to pollute the system of salvation by grace, v. 9.
a. It takes only a little yeast to change the shape, size and texture of the bread, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
b. It is merely the PERVASIVE POWER of leaven (to spread) that is involved in the proverb as in Matthew 13:33, NOT THE USE OF LEAVEN AS A SYMBOL OF EVIL, Matthew 13:33, “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
C. Cut Off those that would Pollute Grace, vv. 10-12.
1. Paul was confident they would return to the truth, v. 10a; 2 Thessalonians 3:4, “And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.”
2. Paul was confident false teachers would be judged, v. 10b.
a. He that troubles you, Acts 15:1, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”
b. He shall be judged, Hebrews 10:29, “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath TRODDEM UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD, and hath COUNTED THE BLOOD of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, AN UNHOLY THING, and hath DONE DESPITE unto the Spirit of grace?”
3. Paul was accused of preaching circumcision by the false teachers, v. 11. If he had done so, he would not be suffering the persecution he was now suffering.
4. Paul desired that God cut off these false teachers, v. 12; Titus 1:10-11, “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.”
a. There is not hint of compromise in this verse.
b. Truth can never compromise with error.
II. OVERCOMING THE FLESH BY THE SPIRIT vv. 13-26.
A. We Are to Walk in the Spirit, vv. 13-16.
1. To walk in the Spirit causes us not to live in the flesh, but to SERVE ONE ANOTHER, v. 13.
a. We should use our liberty as an advantage to help, Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”
b. Be careful that your liberty doesn’t become a stumblingblock, 1 Corinthians 8:9, “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.”
c. We are to serve by love, Mark 10:43-45, “But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
There are about fourteen references to the Holy Spirit in Galatians.
2. To walk in the Spirit causes us to LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR as ourselves, v. 14;
a. We are not to bear any grudge, Leviticus 19:18, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”
b. We are to love out of a good conscience, 1 Timothy 1:5, “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.”
3. To walk in the Spirit causes us to avoid HARSH ATTITUDES toward toward one another, v. 15;
a. Envying, strife, and divisions among church members cause most church splits,1 Corinthians 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?”
b. Finding these things were Paul’s greatest fear, 2 Corinthians 12:20, “For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults.”
c. The problem was with the heart, James 3:14-15, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”
4. To walk in the Spirit causes us AVOID FULFILLING the lust of the flesh, v. 16.
a. Walk by the rule of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
b. The works of the flesh will not rule, Romans 6:12, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”
B. We Are to Be LED by the Spirit, vv. 17-21.
1. If we are led of the Spirit, we will have VICTORY over the flesh, v. 17. There is a declared war between the old fleshly nature, and new spiritual man.
2. If we are led of the Spirit we are NOT under law, v. 18.
3. If we are led of the Spirit we will NOT CONTINUE in the WORKS of the FLESH, v. 19-21. Let us consider these awful sins of the flesh that cause so much havoc in our society.
a. The sins of sensuality, v. 19.
1) “Adultery” is illicit sex between unfaithful married people.
2) “Fornication” refers to this same sin between unmarried people.
3) “Uncleanness” refers to a filthy heart and mind.
4) “Lasciviousness” is unbridled lust and debauchery (extreme indulgence)
b. The sins of superstition, v. 20a.
1) “Idolatry” is the worship of false gods, whether they are visible or invisible. Whatever we serve, we worship, because it comes between us and God.
2) “Witchcraft” comes from the Greek “pharmakeia,” from which we get our word pharmacy. Witchcraft is a form of idolatry which in that day was often drug induced. This will be dominate in the last days, Revelation 9:21, “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
3) “Sorceries” is also the Greek “pharmakeia,”
c. The social sins, vv. 20b-21a.
1) “Hatred” (Gr. = “Enmities”) “as the carnal mind is nothing else but ENMITY AGAINST God and Christ, AGAINST law and Gospel, and all good men, and everything that is good.”
2) “Variance” is contention, strife and wrangling.
3) “Emulations” is Indignation, jealousy and Envy.
4) “Wrath” and “strife” = contention, “passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again,” Philippians 2:3, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” James 3:14, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.”
5) “Seditions” means dissension or division.
6) “Heresies” refers to false doctrines. Dissension arising from diversity of opinions and aims.
7) “Envyings, murders” and “drunkenness,” the meaning of which should be well known to all.
8) “Revellings” is the strutting around of those who are often drunken.
4. Those who continue to practice these sins of the flesh shall NOT INHERIT the kingdom of God, v. 21b.
a. This DOES NOT MEAN that someone who has committed these sins CANNOT be saved.
b. It does mean that after they are saved they WILL NOT CONTINUE to practice these sins, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
5. We KNOW that Christians DO sin, since none of us are perfect in our obedience to God. We need to know WHAT WILL HAPPEN when we DO sin, 1 John 1:8-10, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
a. If we sin and do not confess and repent, we will be severely chastened by the Lord, Hebrews 12:5-11, “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
b. We will also lose rewards at the judgment seat of Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
C. We Are to LIVE IN the Spirit, vv. 22-26.
1. We must live in the Spirit to BEAR THE FRUIT of the Spirit, vv. 22-23.
a. The fruit of the Spirit is singular but is manifested in NINE wonderful ways.
b. The fruit of the Spirit is the NORMAL OUTCROPPING (the part exposed) of a DEDICATED believer:
1) Love, 1 Corinthians 13.
Many others have written on love, but Paul has here surpassed them all in this marvellous prose-poem. It comes like a sweet bell right between the jangling noise of the gifts in chapters 12 and 14. It is a pity to dissect this gem or to pull to pieces this fragrant rose, petal by petal. Fortunately Paul’s language here calls for little comment, for it is the language of the heart. “The greatest, strongest, deepest thing Paul ever wrote” (Harnack). —A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament.
2) Joy, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:”
3) Peace is more than the Hebrew word of “shalom” so common is salutations.
01. It is the peace that Jesus gives, John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
02. It is the peace that passes all understanding, Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
03. The Greek word from which “peace” comes means “to rejoice.”
4) Longsuffering, not easily provoked to wrath, but bearing with patience every indignity and affront, “without hypocracy,” 1 Corinthians 13:4a, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind;”
5) Gentleness, our example is the Lord Jesus, Psalms 18:35, “Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.”
6) Faith (Faithfulness), Luke 16:10, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”
7) Meekness, 1 Corinthians 4:21, “What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?”
8) Temperance, or “self-control, moderation,” Philippians 4:5, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”
9) There is no law against these fruits of the Spirit, but rather the law commands them, Galatians 5:14, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
It may be observed, that these fruits of the Spirit are OPPOSED TO THE WORKS OF THE FLESH. So love is OPPOSED TO hatred; joy TO emulations and envying; peace TO variance, strife, and seditions; longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and meekness, TO wrath and murders; faith TO idolatry, witchcraft, and heresies; and temperance TO adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, drunkenness, and revellings. —John Gill’s Expositor.
2. We must live in the Spirit in order TO BE ABLE to crucify the flesh with all its affections, v. 24. To crucify the flesh is to PUT TO DEATH spiritually and to utterly DESTROY its power.
a. It is a matter of RECKONING (to number among or account), Romans 6:11, “Likewise RECKON [account] ye also yourselves to be DEAD INDEED UNTO SIN, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”
b. Paul practiced a daily SELF CRUCIFIXION, 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I DIE DAILY.”
3. We must LIVE IN the Spirit, IF we are TO WALK IN the Spirit, v. 25; Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
4. We must LIVE IN the Spirit if we want CONTINUAL VICTORY over the flesh, v. 26.
a. Let us not BECOME vainglorious over a weaker brother, Romans 14:15, 21, “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”
b. Let us not PROVOKE [challenge or contest with] one another, James 3:16, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
–Lesson by E. L. Bynum Revision by Art Davison