Galatians 5:24 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Here is the open door to the life in the Spirit. Paul connects the key thought of 2:20 with life in the Spirit and the fruit that results from obedience. In 2:20, the key thought is living by faith in Jesus Christ. In ch. 5, the key theme is obedience to the Holy Spirit. Faith and obedience are an important pair in Paul’s thought and lie at the heart of the Bible. Faith should lead to obedience. Obedience should be the response of active faith. The Galatians were trying to obey without the faith, which results in the bondage of legalism.
The flesh can show up in many ways. For the Galatians, their struggle was in trying to live by their own strength. This is the subtle issue for all humans. Ever since Adam and Eve, every person has attempted to live without God, which opens up a person to the temptations of the flesh. People have filled this void with all kinds of creative things, many of which are listed in vv. 19-21. In today’s world, we see replacing faith with God with faith in human ingenuity, cries for social justice, false religions, materialism, the media, gadgets and gaming, meaningless pursuits and hobbies, politics and power, and many other things. Some of these pursuits can actually be beneficial and even necessary for society and for health and prosperity. But unless they are resourced from the right place, they will only bring further problems and pain.
The answer to the flesh is to crucify it. The image of crucifixion was vivid and powerful for much of the Roman Empire, since this was a way criminals were executed. For believers, crucifixion lies at the heart of our faith because of what Jesus’ own crucifixion has accomplished for our salvation and eternal life. To belong to Christ Jesus means that we have put him first in our lives. He is Lord and Master, not our own agendas and distorted fleshly desires. The old life controlled by sin must be rejected with the help of the Holy Spirit. The old way of life that controlled us was dominated by the flesh with its passions and desires. This rejection will be evident in our faith. Where do we put our allegiance? Who or what determines the choices we make? What filter or sequence do we follow when we make everyday decisions? The Holy Spirit will speak to our consciences, bringing ideas and convictions to us if we are willing to listen. It is more than simply cognitive and is even deeper than our awareness and includes our whole body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
Crucifixion results in death. Death is the end of a relationship. Crucifixion marks the end of the control of the flesh in a person’s life. It is both a human and divine act. The divine part is experienced as grace. This grace comes prior to crucifixion, showing us that our old life has problems and that there is a better alternative. The grace enables the human decision to say no to the flesh. The Holy Spirit brings new life and this new life is compelling, drawing us forward to the foot of the cross where we see Jesus in a new way and see ourselves in a new way. This grace then follows us and empowers us to continue to resist the pull of the flesh. Our part is simply to say “yes” as the Holy Spirit leads. It is not always easy to say yes because temptations still exist. But the more we walk with the Spirit, the more victory we experience over temptations.
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