The conflict (vv. 16–17). Just as Isaac and Ishmael were unable to get along, so the Spirit and the flesh (the old nature) are at war with each other. By “the flesh,” of course, Paul did not mean “the body.” The human body is not sinful; it is neutral. If the Holy Spirit controls the body, then we walk in the Spirit; but if the flesh controls the body, then we walk in the lusts (desires) of the flesh. The Spirit and the flesh have different appetites, and this is what creates the conflict.
These opposite appetites are illustrated in the Bible in different ways. For example, the sheep is a clean animal and avoids garbage, while the pig is an unclean animal and enjoys wallowing in filth (2 Peter 2:19–22). After the rain ceased and the ark settled, Noah released a raven, which never came back (Gen. 8:6–7). The raven is a carrion-eating bird and found plenty to feed on. But when Noah released the dove (a clean bird), it came back (Gen. 8:8–12). The last time he released the dove and it did not return, he knew that it had found a clean place to settle down; therefore the waters had receded.
Our old nature is like the pig and the raven, always looking for something unclean on which to feed. Our new nature is like the sheep and the dove, yearning for that which is clean and holy. No wonder a struggle goes on within the life of the believer! The unsaved man knows nothing of this battle because he does not have the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9).
Note that the Christian cannot simply will to overcome the flesh: “These two are opposed to each other, so that you cannot do anything you please” (Gal. 5:17, Williams). It is this very problem that Paul discusses in Romans: “I do not know what I am doing. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.… For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Rom. 7:15, 19 niv). Paul is not denying that there is victory. He is simply pointing out that we cannot win this victory in our own strength and by our own will.
The conquest (v. 18). The solution is not to pit our will against the flesh, but to surrender our will to the Holy Spirit. This verse literally means “But if you are willingly led by the Spirit, then you are not under the law.” The Holy Spirit writes God’s law on our hearts (Heb. 10:14–17; see 2 Cor. 3) so that we desire to obey Him in love. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Ps. 40:8). Being ‘“led of the Spirit” and “walking in the Spirit” are the opposites of yielding to the desires of the flesh.
The crucifixion (vv. 19–21, 24). Paul now lists some of the ugly “works of the flesh.” (You will find similar lists in Mark 7:20–23; Rom. 1:29–32; 1 Tim. 1:9–10; 2 Tim. 3:2–5.) The flesh is able to manufacture sin, but it can never produce the righteousness of God. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). This list in Galatians can be divided into three major categories:
The sensual sins (vv. 19, 21b). Adultery is illicit sex between married people, while fornication generally refers to the same sin among unmarried people. Uncleanness means just that: a filthiness of heart and mind that makes the person defiled. The unclean person sees dirt in everything (see Titus 1:15). Lasciviousness is close to our word debauchery. It speaks of a wanton appetite that knows no shame. It goes without saying that all of these sins were rampant in the Roman Empire. Drunkenness and revellings (orgies) need no explanation.
The superstitious sins (v. 20a). Idolatry, like the sins named above, is with us today. Idolatry is simply putting things ahead of God and people. We are to worship God, love people, and use things, but too often we use people, love self, and worship things, leaving God out of the picture completely. Jesus tells us that whatever we worship, we serve (Matt. 4:10). The Christian who devotes more of himself to his car, house, or boat than he does to serving Christ may be in danger of idolatry (Col. 3:5).
The word witchcraft is from the Greek word pharmakeia, which means “the use of drugs.” Our English word pharmacy is derived from this word. Magicians in Paul’s day often used drugs to bring about their evil effects. Of course, sorcery is forbidden in the Bible as are all activities of the occult (Deut. 18:9–22).
The social sins (vv. 20b–21a). Hatred means “enmity,” the attitude of mind that defies and challenges others. This attitude leads to variance, which is strife, the outworking of enmity. Emulations means jealousies or rivalries. How tragic when Christians compete with one another and try to make one another look bad in the eyes of others. Wrath means outbursts of anger, and strife carries with it the idea of “self-seeking, selfish ambition,” that creates divisions in the church.
Seditions and heresies are kindred terms. The first suggests division, and the second cliques caused by a party spirit. Divisions and factions would be a fair translation. These are the result of church leaders promoting themselves and insisting that the people follow them, not the Lord. (The word heresy in the Greek means “to make a choice.”) Envyings suggests the carrying of grudges, the deep desire for what another has (see Prov. 14:30). Murders needs no elucidation.
The person who practices these sins shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul is not talking about an act of sin, but a habit of sin. There is a false assurance of salvation that is not based on the Word of God. The fact that the believer is not under law, but under grace, is no excuse for sin (Rom. 6:15). If anything, it is an encouragement to live in obedience to the Lord.
But how does the believer handle the old nature when it is capable of producing such horrible sins? The law cannot change or control the old nature.
The old nature must be crucified (v. 24). Paul explains that the believer is identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6). Christ not only died for me, but I died with Christ. Christ died for me to remove the penalty of my sin, but I died with Christ to break sin’s power.
Paul has mentioned this already in Galatians (see 2:19–20), and he will mention it again (6:14). He does not tell us to crucify ourselves, because this is impossible. (Crucifixion is one death a man cannot inflict on himself.) He tells us that the flesh has already been crucified. It is our responsibility to believe this and act on it. (Paul calls this “reckoning” in Rom. 6; you have the same truth presented in Col. 3:5ff.)
You and I are not debtors to the flesh, but to the Spirit (Rom. 8:12–14). We must accept what God says about the old nature and not try to make it something that it is not. We must not make “provision for the flesh” (Rom. 13:14) by feeding it the things that it enjoys. In the flesh dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18), so we should put no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3). The flesh is not subject to God’s law (Rom. 8:7) and it cannot please God (Rom. 8:8). Only through the Holy Spirit can we “put to death” the deeds that the flesh would do through our body (Rom. 8:13). The Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2; Gal. 5:25), but He is also the Spirit of death: He helps us to reckon ourselves dead to sin.
We have seen two ministries of the Spirit of God: He enables us to fulfill the law, and He enables us to overcome the flesh. He has a third ministry as well.