Galatians 5 - How Can You Know If You Are Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit?

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5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Paul again hits on the theme of "freedom". By Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, he has set us from free from sin, death, and the power of the devil. This is priceless. Though we were not "slaves" in the modern day version of slavery, we were slaves to sin. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus".

Sin brings us death physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Physically, we know that though we die, yet shall we live in heaven. Emotionally, we have hope, joy, and peace, which you cannot put a price on. Spiritually, our relationship with God has been restored, so we don't need to fear God. As Paul taught in Galatians 4 we can cry out, "Abba Father". 

Paul also vehemently tells them they don't need to be circumcised. He was referring to the Gentile converts. This was the major issue in the Galatian church. The Jewish legalists were requiring the new Gentile men in the church to be circumcised. Ouch! They were essentially going back to the works of the Law, which is antithetical to the gospel of grace Paul had preached. 

Paul has a great summary of the true Christian faith and the balance between faith and works!. 

"The only things that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Galatians 5:6

7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

Paul frequently used the analogy of the Christian life as a race. Paul said in Philippians, "Forgetting what is behind me I press to win the race, the heavenly calling I have in Christ." Paul says these legalists had cut in the race and gotten them off track. 

Paul uses the analogy of yeast and dough. Though yeast is small in comparison, when it gets worked into the dough, it changes the nature of the whole dough. When legalism seeps into the church, it is like the yeast that works through the whole church. It changes the church. 

Some had accused Paul of advocating circumcising the Gentiles, but Paul asked rhetorically asked why he was being persecuted if he was preaching circumcision. He says if they were to teach this practice, they would be essentially abolishing the true nature of the gospel. It was false teaching, and a false gospel! Paul then says sarcastically says he wished those who advocated circumcision should go the whole way and emasculate themselves. Wow! He was pretty peeved. 

Life by the Spirit

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Continuing with the theme of freedom, he urges the believers to use their freedom to serve one another humbly in love. The essence of the law was to love God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbors as yourself. This is the greatest commandment and will never go away, but the gospel is the only we can carry this out. It is only through the gospel we can fulfill this greatest commandment. 

Secondly, Paul gives the unequivocal and clear way to live a life worthy of our calling. We still struggle with a sinful nature and will until Jesus calls us home. The ONLY way to live the Christian life is to live according in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the only way we can overcome our inherited sinful nature from Adam.

As Paul says, the flesh and Spirit are diametrically opposed to each other. You can't live according to the flesh, and then try to live in the Spirit. They have different agendas. The flesh is controlled by the ruler of this world, and our spirit is controlled by the Spirit of Christ. 

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul gives us a long list of the fruit of the sinful nature. While we may not indulge in all of them, but I am sure you can identify with a few of them. Paul says those who live according to this nature will not inherit the kingdom of God. What does this mean? 

We know we are saved by grace through faith, so it is not as though when we indulge in one of these sinful habits, we lose our salvation. I would say the best way to interpret is that someone who only exhibits this kind of fruit in their life may never have become a believer. 

Paul is illustrating what an unbeliever looks like, to point out the lifestyle the Galatians have been delivered from. Why would they dare return to it? Just a dumb idea!

How do we know if we are living according to the Spirit? Paul says we will know it by the fruit of the Spirit which the Holy Spirit produces in us. 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

When Paul says "fruit", he sees these as collective. It is not as though we get some of the fruit and not others. We can't exhibit peace and joy but be loveless. They come as a package deal. These are characteristics of what a Christian should look like? If a person exhibits none of these traits, they are either not a Christian, or are not walking in the power of the Spirit! 

We often call these type of Christians as "backsliders", or "fallen away". But the bottom line is God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. If we have fallen away from God, God always waits for us to come home like in the story of the Father and the Prodigal Son. He scans the horizon looking for believers that are caught in sin to come to their senses and come home.

Are you living according to the Spirit? How would you know? Would someone who knows you well, say you are exhibiting the fruit of a Spirit on a regular basis?  Or, at least most of the time? Or, never? 

The bottom line is experiencing the fruit of the Spirit is the joy of the Christian life, and what makes us different than the world. We will never be perfect on this side of life, but if we live according to the Spirit, we will enjoy the life we have always wanted. The eternal kind of life which will end up in heaven with our Lord forever!