Keep in Step with The Spirit // Galatians

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
- Galatians 5.25-26
The cross of Jesus Christ is the emblem of the Christian faith. Why? Why is the cross of Christ the symbol of Christianity? That’s poor marketing. The Roman cross represented weakness and not power. And man-centered marketing says, “Show your power and not your Weaknesses.”
On the cross Jesus shed his blood and said, (Τετέλεσται), “It is finished” (John 19:30). What did Jesus mean when he said, (Τετέλεσται), “It is finished” (John 19:30)? Salvation has been accomplished. (Τετέλεσται), “It is finished” is antithetical to Buddha’s final words: “Keep striving.”
Jesus, the God-man, saved us by his blood, so that we don’t have shed our blood for salvation. That was Paul’s counterargument toward the Circumcision Party-who alleged that salvation was Christ’s blood and you bleeding through circumcision. Sorry, Ladies! You can’t be saved.
But Jesus said the Holy Spirit, he will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13). “Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth’” (John 18:38)? The truth is a person, namely Jesus Christ. The truth is that He is very God and very man and He died on the cross to pay the eternal penalty for our sin. The truth is: “Hail him who saved you by his grace.”
In Galatians 5, Paul launched into a robust teaching on pneumatology, a study of the Holy Spirit. Once again he discusses the Holy Spirit in this passage. I would like to draw your attention to two aspects of the text: 1) v.25: A life-giving Spirit; 2) v.26: a life-taking spirit.
1) Life-giving Spirit (v.25)
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
How does Paul start this verse? Paul starts with a conjunction-“if.” If we are born again, if we have new life in Christ, if we have been given life. Who was Paul’s original audience? Paul was speaking to believers; he was speaking to people who had converted from a pagan/spiritual life into Christianity.
The people of Galatia were very spiritual. They worshipped the Greek mother-goddess, Cybele. These people worshipped her through drunken orgies. Again, they were spiritual people.
Does that sound familiar? Yes. We live in a day and time when people say they are spiritual. They acknowledge the spiritual world. They might say there is a higher being or a flowing life force. They may even speak of good spirits and sometimes bad spirits. They, however, refuse to be specific.
Paul, nonetheless, forces the Galatians to think and to think specifically about their new life in the Spirit. That is a capital “S” Spirit. He means the Holy Spirit or Paul refers to Him as the Spirit of Christ (cf. Romans 8.9). If we live (ζάω-supernatural life without man-made laws) by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit breathes new life into us, because “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17.28), and He causes us to behave in such a way that it brings life to other people. How?
Paul said: If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Paul started with an indicative and finished with a subjunctive “keep in step” (contingent). We must keep in step with the Spirit. The Greek word for “keep in step” is στοιχέω and it is military term for drawing up in line or stand on a row. What was Paul saying? March behind your Leader. March with the Spirit. The Spirit is our life. The Spirit guides our living. Submit to the Spirit.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is a humble Leader. Why? What is the humble work of the Spirit? Look at Jesus and what Jesus has done for you. He saved you by grace.
Why does that matter? Well, what has been the number one reason for this letter? What’s the truth in Paul’s context? We are justified by faith in Christ alone and not Christ plus circumcision. Christ Jesus humbled himself so that he could give us eternal exaltation-eternal life.
Consequently, we march in step with the Spirit. That is a “we” plural and not just “I” individually. Walking in the Spirit is not some private, mystical experience of our own. Walking in step with the Spirit has relational and communal implications. Walking in step with the Spirit affects how we relate to one another. Why? What is the first fruit of the Spirit? Love.
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