"This is one of the most important and helpful verses on Christian living in the Bible" (Constable)

"This verse states the great principle of Christian living—walk by means of the Spirit." (J Vernon McGee)

The RSV rendering is misleading. Read the RSV and see if  you can discern the subtle twist in meaning by this translation before you read the following comment.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Gal 5:16RSV)

Comment: This verse makes the point that every translation has the potential to add their bias to the passage. In other words, ever translation is to some degree an "interpretation" of the original Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic, and this is a good reason one should use one of the more literal translations as their primary text (NAS, ESV, KJV - see Bible Versions compared). Now, did you see the subtle twist the RSV gives this verse. Look again -- how many "commands" are suggested by the RSV rendering? Two, right? One positive ("Walk") and one negative ("Do not gratify"). The Greek has only one -- walk. Why is this significant? The RSV reading might give someone the false impression that they need not only to walk by the Spirit but also not gratify their desires. That is not what the verse says -- it commands us to walk by the Spirit (a command that frankly we can only obey as the Spirit gives us the desire and power -- we need to learn continually to surrender to His leading, filling, empowering presence.) When we obey that command and walk by the enabling power the Spirit of grace supplies, then and only then will we not carry out the desire of the flesh. If the first part of the verse is "oil" so to speak, the second part is "water." They don't mix! The former (Spirit) in a sense negates the power of the later (the flesh). The danger of the RSV rendering is to that one might seek to not gratify the desire of the flesh in their own strength. I hope you do not think I am being picky. The point is that not gratifying the flesh is a supernatural result or product or fruit of walking by the Spirit and it simply cannot be accomplished in by fleshly effort. If you are still somewhat unclear about this important spiritual principle, it is discussed again in the comments below.

Proverbs says that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Pr 23:7)  Dear reader, you will find that the following discussion has a considerable amount of repetition to help you think rightly about the truth of what it means to walk by the Spirit, so that you might come to continually experience the supernatural life of the Spirit. That is my prayer for you (and for myself).

THE HOLY SPIRIT:
THE FORGOTTEN GOD!

Ray Pritchard writes that...

To many Christians, the Holy Spirit is a mystery. He is the “hidden” member of the Trinity. The Father we know; the Son we know; but what about the Holy Spirit? Few believers understand Who He is, why He came, or what He does in the world today. Fewer still understand the vital (Ed: crucial, basic, fundamental, essential, cardinal, indispensable, necessary, key, dynamic, urgent, important, energetic, critical, requisite, radical) role He plays in the Christian life.

I don’t think I’m going overboard in saying that a proper knowledge of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is absolutely essential to finding peace, joy, and victory as a Christian. Many believers live far below their potential because they have never discovered the Holy Spirit. They know nothing about His power, His indwelling, His anointing, His intercession, His gifts, and the fruit He longs to produce in them.

But living without the Holy Spirit is like trying to drive a car with an empty gas tank. While we may not understand all the secrets of internal combustion, if we don’t understand the need for gas, the car isn’t going to get out of the driveway. (Names of the Holy Spirit by Ray Pritchard)

I believe Francis Chan would "amen" Pritchard's comments, for Chan has a similar lament in his new book "The Forgotten God" writing that...

There is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers and churches operate today. In many modern churches, you would be stunned by the apparent absence of the Spirit in any manifest way. And this, I believe, is the crux of the problem. If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit. The degree to which this has happened (and I would argue that it is a prolific disease in the body of Christ) is directly connected to the dissatisfaction most of us feel with and in the church. We understand something very important is missing. The feeling is so strong that some have run away from the church and God’s Word completely. I believe that this missing something is actually a missing Someone—namely, the Holy Spirit. Without Him, people operate in their own strength and only accomplish human-size results (Ed: In the context of Galatians 5:16, this would be like focusing on the last half of the verse, trying desperately to curtail the strong impulses of our flesh, instead of depending wholly and humbly on the Holy Spirit!). The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation. And the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. (Forgotten God - Book - Table of Contents, Sample Chapter - Read this book! It's a quick but pithy, provocative, poignant, personal and powerful - you won't walk away unchanged -- you'll either be mad or glad!)

But when believers live in the power of the Spirit (Ed: E.g., "walk by the Spirit"), the evidence in their lives is supernatural. The church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice. (Bolding, italics and color mine)

The apostle Peter declared that Jesus left His brethren "an example...to follow in His steps"(1Peter 2:21-note). Peter's charge begs the question...

HOW CAN SAINTS
"WALK THE TALK?"

A common saying is that "What you don't know won't hurt you." That is not true in the spiritual realm, where what you don't know will hurt you. In other words, if you do not know the promised provision of the presence and power of the Person of the Holy Spirit, you will be "hurt" in the sense that you will not be able to live this Christian life as God intended and desires for you to live...abundantly (Jn 10:10b)...as more than a conqueror through Him Who loved us! (Ro 8:37KJV-note)

May God open the eyes of our heart that we each may come to know experientially the surpassing greatness of His power (resurrection power thru the ministry of the Holy Spirit) toward us who believe (Eph 1:19-note) and may He do so for His glory (Ro 11:36-note, cp 1Cor 10:31) and on the basis of the finished work of His Son (Jn 19:30-note), Christ Jesus our Redeemer and Lord. Amen

Paul teaches us that in the incarnation of Jesus...

although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (Phil 2:6, 7-note)

Comment: While Jesus clearly did not cease being God (He was still fully God), He did take on the limitations of humanity. In the following passages from Luke's Gospel we see that one component of His becoming a Man was that He walked by the Spirit, leaving us an example to follow (1Peter 2:21-note)

Luke teaches us how Jesus walked...

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days; and when they had ended, He became hungry....14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power (dunamis = inherent ability to accomplish a task or perform a function) of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. (Luke 4:1, 2, 14)

Comment: Jesus as the God-Man was (1) filled with the Holy Spirit, (2) was led by the Holy Spirit and (3) conducted Himself in the power of the Holy Spirit. Filling speaks of control, for what fills you controls you. In Eph 5:18-note, if wine fills you, it controls you (cp "rage" noting the result of this "filling" in Lk 4:28, 29, 6:11), but if the Spirit fills you, He controls you. Jesus gives us the perfect example of a Man controlled by the Holy Spirit. In being led by the Spirit, Jesus gives us the example of submitting one's will to the will of the Spirit. The power Jesus depended on was not His own, but was the inherent ability of the Holy Spirit, Who enabled Him to carry out His ministry. In sum, Luke teaches us that Jesus functioned on earth as the God-Man by allowing Himself to be controlled by the Spirit, led by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit. This same Holy Spirit is available to every believer today!  Paul commands us to "Be imitators of me (present imperative = command calling for this to be our lifestyle, continually seeking to imitate Paul who imitated Jesus) just as I also am of Christ." (1Co 11:1, cp 1Co 4:16, Jn 13:15). It follows that if we are to imitate Paul who imitated Jesus, we too must allow the Holy Spirit to control us, lead us and empower us.

John MacArthur writes that....

WHAT WE MUST KNOW & ACT UPON...
SIN'S POWER HAS BEEN BROKEN
GOD'S POWER HAS BEEN PROVIDED

Kenneth Wuest commenting on Romans 6 helps us associate the truths in that great chapter with Paul's command to walk by the Spirit in Galatians 5:16. Wuest writes that the believer (note that Scriptures and comments in parentheses are added for amplification)...

is to take these facts into his reckoning (Ed: Reference is to Ro 6:11-note which is a present imperative or a command to continually consider or recall to mind the truth that as believers we are now dead to the power of Sin as a ruling force in our lives and alive to God. Paul's command for continual reckoning counters our human tendency to continually forget the great things God has accomplished for us through Christ's death on the Cross!) as he deals with temptations that confront him (cp Heb 2:18-note where "are tempted" is present passive = we are continually being tempted. Compare Jesus' present tense command calling for continual watching and prayer in face of temptation - Mt 26:41-note)  or evil impulses that come from within (James 1:13-note). His attitude should be that, in view of the fact that the power of the evil nature (flesh) is broken, he is under no obligation to obey its behests (Ro 8:12-note). He has been emancipated (freed) from sin (the power of Sin), and the proper procedure is to read God's emancipation proclamation to the insistent demands of the Adamic nature (flesh). The believer must also realize that whereas before salvation, he could not help it when he sinned, yet since God saved him, should he sin, it is because of his free choice (Ed: The believer now commits sins because he wants to not because he is forced to!), since Sin's power has been broken. He is responsible for the sins he commits. This should make him think twice before he contemplates an act of sin at the demand of the evil nature (flesh). (Ed: The evil nature can still "bark" demands but it can't "bite", unless we choose to let him off his chain so to speak. As someone once quipped "Before salvation I chased after sin. Now that I am saved, sin chases after me!" But now I have a choice to say "Yes" to the Spirit of Christ, which enables me to say "No" to Sin.)

Then, he must also count upon the fact of his possession of the divine nature (cp Col 1:27b-note Christ is now in us in the form of the Spirit of Christ - for that Name see Ro 8:9-note). This will keep him from depending upon himself and his own strength in his effort to live a life pleasing to the Lord Jesus, and will cause him to throw himself upon the resources of God. He will be trusting the Lord Jesus to fill him with the Holy Spirit (John 7:37, 38), with the result that the Holy Spirit will do two things for him. He will suppress the activities of the evil nature (Gal. 5:16-note) and He will produce in the believer a Christ-like life (Gal 5:22-note, Gal 5:23-note). Paul says in Galatians 5:16, 17, "This I say then, Walk by the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the cravings of the flesh, for the flesh has a strong desire to suppress the Spirit, and the Spirit has a strong desire to suppress the flesh, and these are entrenched in a permanent attitude of opposition to one another, so that you should not do the things that you would desire to be doing;" and in Galatians 5:22, 23, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control."

Contrast this adjustment of the intelligent Spirit-taught saint, with that of the believer who is not aware of the fact that God has broken the power of sin in his life, with the result that he is more or less under its compelling power, try as he may to live free from sin.

Since he is ignorant of the fact that God has placed within him His own nature, he depends upon himself and his own strength in an effort to defeat sin in his life and live a life pleasing to God. This believer is living a defeated life because he is not in proper adjustment to the new mechanical set-up of his spiritual being...The translation of Ro 6:11 follows

Thus also, as for you, constantly be taking into account the fact that you are those who are dead with respect to sin, and indeed those who are living ones with reference to God in Christ Jesus.

A paraphrase may make things clearer yet.

Thus also, as for you, constantly be taking into account the fact that you are those who have had the power of Sin broken in your lives and those who have had the divine nature implanted.

The words in Ro 6:12, "let not sin reign," are in a construction in the Greek (present imperative + negative) which forbids the continuation of an action already going on. The word "reign" is in the Greek "reign as king." The present tense speaks of habitual action. "That you should obey" is literally, "with a view to habitually obeying." The word "lusts" (epithumia) is literally "cravings." "Therefore" (term of conclusion) does not go back to "sin" but to "body."..."Lusts therefore" refers to the cravings of the human body, which cravings come from the sinful nature. The translation reads,

Therefore, stop allowing sin to reign habitually as king in your mortal bodies, with a view to your habitually obeying the cravings of that body.

God is never unreasonable in His demands upon His own. What He asks of us is always within our ability to fulfill as we appropriate the divine resources of grace. Since the power to sin is broken and the divine nature is implanted (The Holy Spirit is within us), we are well able to keep sin from reigning in our bodies (Treasures from the Greek New Testament, pp. 96-98).

Jerry Bridges adds...

There is deep mystery, no doubt, in the great double fact of God is working in us to will (Phil 2:13), and on the other hand, of our choosing His will, moment by moment (Phil 2:12). We can only affirm that both are taught in Scripture, and we ourselves know both to be blessedly true....

How wonderful, how limitless, the patience of the blessed Spirit of God! Moment by moment, day by day, month by month, year by year, through all the conscious and unconscious processes of tens of thousands of believers, the Spirit acts with a uniformity that is called “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” (Ro 8:2) In the newest convert, in the oldest saint, He gives freedom from the law of sin and of death! “Sin in the flesh, which was my torment, is already judged, but in Another (Christ); so that there is for me no condemnation on account of the flesh (Ro 8:1)...We lose communion with God, and dishonor the Lord by our behavior, in not walking, according to the Spirit of life, worthy of the Lord. But we are no longer under the law of sin, but, having died with Christ, and become partakers of a new life in Him and of the Holy Spirit, we are delivered from this law.” (From his comments on Romans 8: Romans Verse by Verse)

To establish the context, of the letter to the Galatians you might first read slowly and meditatively through the entire letter in your chosen version. Then you might read through a second time using the Amplified Version which is a relatively literal version to which has been added notes that function much like a "mini-commentary". (In the Amplified Version Brackets [...] signify clarifying or explanatory words or phrases not found in the original language.  Parentheses (...) signify additional phrases of meaning of the words or phrases in the original language). Once you have established the context,  you will better able to profit from the following resources (including the notes on this page)...

Kistemaker sums up Galatians 5:16...

Keep the context of this epistle in mind as you study "Walking by the Spirit" - This epistle to the Galatians is unlike most of Paul's other epistles because it lacks a commendation section and instead has a severe admonitory tone.  Many of the readers had obviously succumbed to the teaching of the Judaizers who taught that one must rigorously follow the Old Testament law in addition to Christ in order to be pleasing to God. These false teachers added that one must add circumcision and therefore in essence were teaching that one needed to add law to the grace of Christ which was not the true Gospel. The law was like a yoke which gives some guidance to an ox but which provides no power. And like a yoke, no external law can give one a desire to obey. And so Paul writes Galatians in an attempt to correct these heretical teachings which cut off those new converts who were "running well" in their Christian life.

Early in this epistle, Paul explained the necessary requirement for walking by the Spirit, emphasizing that one must "begin" in the Spirit (regeneration, justification) before "continuing" in the Spirit (sanctification)...

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit  (regeneration, justification) are you now being (present tense) perfected (this describes sanctification - bringing to an end [we will never perfectly attain the goal of Christ likeness in this life but are to continue on this journey]) by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1-3)

PERFORMER
VERSUS
TRANSFORMER

All believers do well to never forget that our fallen flesh that is ever the performer while the Spirit is our heavenly "Transformer." (See Gal 5:17 which describes this lifelong war!)

Clearly Paul's rhetorical question in Galatians 3:3 demands a resounding "No". Spiritual maturity (or progressive sanctification, growth in Christ likeness, present tense salvation) is accomplished by the same faith that allowed the saints to begin in the Spirit. The problem in Galatia was that they had been bewitched and were foolishly and futilely seeking to "grow in grace" by keeping the law, which is like trying to mix oil with water! Grace and law do not mix! Now in Galatians 5:16 Paul proceeds to give the answer to how one attains true spiritual maturity, first by issuing a command, but adding a promise to that command.

Pastor Steven Cole encourages each of us to honestly ask ourselves...

If God were to withdraw His Holy Spirit from me,
would I even notice the difference?

Would my week have gone any differently
if the Spirit had pulled out?

To walk by the Spirit means to depend on Him consciously for everything we do. We depend on Him to resist temptation. We ask Him for insight into His Word. We rely on Him for the right attitude in the midst of our trials. We seek Him for wisdom in difficult decisions. When we live in the power (dunamis) of the Holy Spirit (cp Acts 1:8), our life is marked by hope in God. Paul wrote (Ro 15:13-note), “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power (dunamis) of the Holy Spirit.” Joy and peace and hope are the opposite of depression and anxiety and despair. That verse does not just apply to certain personality types, or to those who are in relatively trouble-free situations. As you learn to live in the fullness of God’s Spirit (Ed: See Ep 5:18-note. Compare how the God-Man Who had emptied Himself [Phil 2:5, 6, 7-note] walked/conducted Himself in Luke 4:1, 2, 14! Then Walk in His steps! 1Pe 2:21-note), the God of hope will fill you (Ed: How>? By His Spirit Who indwells every believer [1Co 6:19-note], the Spirit of Christ [Ro 8:9-note]) with His joy, peace (Gal 5:22-note), and abounding hope! If you lack these things, don’t get more depressed in hearing me say this. Get on your knees every day and ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. To hope in Christ means to live righteously and expectantly in the power of the Holy Spirit.

LIBERTY...
LICENSE?
or
LEGALISM?

But - Remember that whenever you encounter a contrast word like "but" in a passage, always pause and ponder with the 5W/H'S - "What is the author contrasting?" (Why?, Why now?, How?, etc). These questions will "force" you to go back and re-read the preceding text (thus you are establishing the context which is key to accurate Interpretation). As this discipline becomes a habit, you will find that the practice of slowing down will allow your Teacher, the Spirit (1Jn 2:20, 27) to illuminate the text. You will be amazed at the insights you will glean. And I would submit that as you practice pondering the text, you are in fact beginning to practice the blessed discipline of Biblical Meditation. (E.g. see the promises associated with meditation - Ps 1:1-note, Ps 1:2-note, Ps 1:3-note, Joshua 1:8-note). As an aside the little conjunction "but" is found 4327 times ("yet" is found 489 times) (NAS77) which will give you many wonderful opportunities to hone your skill of interrogating the text and engaging in Biblical meditation.

But I say - In the context of this section, Paul has been warning his readers of two great dangers in the spiritual life - license and legalism. License in this context is to demonstrate by disregard for standards of personal conduct (cp licentiousness). License conveys the idea of freedom (grace) which is abused (e.g., as was happening in Jude 1:4). Legalism on the other hand is a strict or conformity to laws or rules. Legalism is preoccupation with form at the expense of substance. Legalism is the attempt of the fallen flesh to please God by obeying laws or rules. Paul condemns both extremes and instead offers a middle path, the only path that guarantees true freedom in Christ - walking by the Spirit.

In Galatians 5:1 Paul declares...

It was for freedom (eleutheria) that Christ set us free (eleutheroo); therefore (term of conclusion) keep standing (present imperative = Make this your habitual practice! It speaks of the general direction of your life - not perfection but direction!) firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

In Galatians 5:13 Paul alludes the danger of license or of turning freedom in Christ into a "freedom" to freely commit sins.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom (eleutheria - freedom is not the power to do as you wish, but the power to do as you should) into an opportunity (idea is a "foothold" or a "beach head" from which to launch wartime operations - see aphorme) for the flesh, but through love (agape) serve (douleuo in the present imperative= Make this your lifestyle - something that is only supernaturally possible! As you walk by the Spirit! See His fruit in the surrendered saint -Gal 5:22) one another. (Galatians 5:13)

Comment: The Galatian saints might have reasoned that since they were no longer under the heavy yoke of the Law (which is in fact true = Gal 5:18) but were under grace (which is also true) they were free to behave however they were led by their fallen flesh! What Paul is teaching the Galatians and all saints is that the believer's new freedom in Christ is not freedom to sin but freedom from sin. There is a world of difference!  Paul says the rule of thumb that should guide their (and our) behavior in this new freedom in Christ is this "Do my thoughts, words and deeds genuinely demonstrate love to others? Am I loving others as I would love myself?"

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." (Galatians 5:14)

Paul warns them, that if they do not show supernatural, Spirit empowered love to one another, they will be biting and devouring one another and be in danger of destroying each other.

But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. (Galatians 5:15)

Having presented the perverted polar opposites of legalism and license in Galatians 5:16, Paul begins with the important contrast word but, which signifies that instead of biting and devouring one another, by contrast, the Galatians needed to practice "preventative maintenance" so to speak by continually living the Christian life in the power of and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Then, and only then, could they cease to gratify the desires of their fallen "rotten" flesh. Paul explains that it is the Spirit Alone Who can keep the believer truly free and allow him or her "through love to serve one another."

Illustration - Five-year-old Jason announced that he wanted to grow carrots in a corner of the garden. He dutifully watered his carrot patch, and his mom bought fertilizer. But no carrots emerged. As they puzzled over the absent carrots, his mom asked, “Jason, when did you put the seeds in?” “I forgot about seeds!” he exclaimed. “But–I thought if I watered and fed it right, the carrots could still grow!” Just as the ground doesn’t spontaneously produce carrots, our hearts cannot spontaneously produce obedience without fundamental change. (Today in the Word)

Barton adds that the phrase but I say...

ties in with Gal 5:13-15. The strategy for removing the divisiveness that marred the Galatian church was to serve one another in love, but that too was humanly impossible. People cannot, in their own power, show love to all people at all times. But God has provided the means to meet his commands—the Holy Spirit. (Barton, B. B., et al. Life Application Bible Commentary. Romans: Tyndale House Publishers or Logos)

Richison agrees writing that...

In contrast to letting the flesh form a base of operations in our soul by devouring one another with words, we are to let the Holy Spirit control us. (Galatians 5:16)

Findlay writes that in context Paul has just explained the Galatian believers had been called to freedom and that they could keep from biting and devouring one another only as they learned to "walk in love" (see Gal 5:13,14, cf Eph 5:2-note). He then explains how it is now possible to "walk in love" writing that...

LOVE is the guard of Christian freedom. The Holy Spirit is its Guide. These principles accomplish what the law could never do. It withheld liberty, and yet did not give purity. The Spirit of love and of sonship bestows both, establishing a happy, ordered freedom, the liberty of the sons of God.

From the first of these two factors of Christian ethics the Apostle passes in Galatians 5:16 to the second. He conducts us from the consequence to the cause, from the human aspect of spiritual freedom to the Divine. Love, he has said, fulfils all laws in one. It casts out evil from the heart; it stays the injurious hand and tongue; and makes it impossible for liberty to give the rein to any wanton or selfish impulse. But the law of love is no natural, automatic impulse. It is a Divine inspiration. ”Love is of God.” It is the characteristic “fruit of the Spirit” of adoption (Gal 5:22-note), implanted and nourished from above. When I bid you “by love serve each other,” the Apostle says, I do not expect you to keep this law of yourselves, by force of native goodness: I know how contrary it is to your Galactic nature; “but I say, walk in the Spirit,” and this will be an easy yoke; to “fulfil the desire of the flesh” will then be for you a thing impossible. (Galatians 5:16-26 Christ's Spirit and Human Flesh)

Walk by the Spirit is translated as follows...

walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; (Amplified)

 let your walk and conversation be dominated by the Spirit (Barclay)

let the Spirit direct your lives (Good News Bible)

Let your steps be guided by the Spirit (Montgomery)

Live by following the Spirit (NCV)

be guided by the Spirit (New Jerusalem Bible)

live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. (NLT)

Live your whole life in the Spirit (Philips)

let the Spirit direct your lives (TEV)

obey only the Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do (TLB)

Let your lives be guided by the Spirit (Weymouth)

In the Spirit walk ye (Young's Literal)

Note some translations and commentaries do not take Spirit as the Holy Spirit but I think that is an incorrect interpretation. For example God's Word Translation is "Live your life as your spiritual nature directs you". Surely they mean to imply that the spiritual nature is that which is empowered by the Spirit, for otherwise we would have no ability to walk counter to the strong desires of the flesh.

Boice comments that...

Life by the Spirit is neither legalism nor license - nor a middle way between them. It is a life of faith and love that is above all of these false ways. (Ed note: Life in the Spirit is a brand new manner of supernatural living.)

Walk by the Spirit - Obviously this is not a literal walk (see more discussion below), but speaks of our day to day conduct. Walking was a common figure in the Old Testament for one's conduct ("How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked..." Psalm 1:1). As Spurgeon notes "It is a rich sign of inward grace when the outward walk is changed, and when ungodliness is put far from our actions." (Ref) As we conduct ourselves each day, we are to do so by allowing the Spirit to guide, lead, control and empower our every thought, word and deed. This is vital for "victorious" Christian living. Positionally every believer is victorious because of Christ's work on Calvary and the truth that we are all in Him. But Paul desires that our daily practice match our secure, eternal position and that we daily live out what we really are - victors over sin, the flesh and the devil. Believers however cannot achieve victory over the flesh by adherence to a set of rules or by self effort, as many of those in Galatia were doing. To do so is like asking the flesh to cast out the flesh, something it will never do! To the contrary, just as we received Jesus by faith, we are charged to walk in His Spirit by faith. The same faith that saved us initially, now sanctifies us daily. Those variegated, manifold "pop tests" which God allows into our life each day will provide plenty of opportunities (not obstacles as we too often see them) to practice "walking" so that we might learn what it means to experientially and practically walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

One aspect of walking in the Spirit is to have our daily lives under His control, and this in turn is optimized when we are in the Word of God daily and allowing His Word and Spirit to direct us throughout the day. Meditation is to the heart what digestion is to the body and thus is the taking in of the Word of God and making it a part of the inner being. As the heart and mind think on the Word all day long, the Spirit guides the life. This is what it means to walk in the Spirit.

As an aside remember that it is the Holy Spirit Who is the energizer of new life in the believer. Therefore even though His Name may not be mentioned in a specific passage, a proper understanding of His role in the sanctification process of believers indicates that He is the ultimate "power Source". For example, in the well known passage Galatians 2:20, "Christ lives in" Paul in the form of the Spirit of Christ (His Name in Ro 8:9, cp Acts 16:7 = "Spirit of Jesus"). Similarly in Phil 4:13 Paul is able because of the empowering ministry of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. There are countless similar passages one could reference, but the main point is that every believer should be motivated to have a firm doctrinal understanding of the Holy Spirit Who is the One Who energizes their spiritual life. On the other hand we do well to remember that while the Spirit is vitally important to the life of every saint, His great objective is always to glorify Christ (Jn 16:14).

John MacArthur...

Walking by the Spirit is basic to holiness. We can have holiness in our lives without legalism as we walk by the energy of the Holy Spirit, yielding to Him. That is essentially the same concept as being "strengthened with might by [the] Spirit in the inner man" (Eph. 3:16) or being "filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18) (Ed: Although it may be semantics, "Filling" is slightly different in that in order to walk by the Spirit one must be filled with or controlled by the Spirit). The Christian does not set up a list of dos and don'ts to live a holy life. If he concentrates only on external things, he is much like the Pharisees, of whom Jesus said, "You might be careful that you don't do this or that, but your thoughts are foul. You might not murder, but you hate. You might not commit adultery, but you lust after women. The evil intent of your hearts makes you guilty of murder and adultery." I've seen situations where Christians did not do specific things, but their thoughts were so corrupt that God must have been as grieved as if they had actually done them. They knew nothing of walking by the Spirit; they were experts on being circumscribed to an external ethic. They were unaware that faithfully walking by the energy of the Spirit produces the holiness of God.

If I had my choice of being obedient to an external list of rules, or simply walking by the energy of an internal power, I would choose the latter. I am glad I live under the New Covenant, where practical holiness is the product of living by the energy of the indwelling Spirit, who empowers me to do the things that I couldn't force myself to do, no matter what the outside rules were.  (Walking by the Spirit, Part 1)

"DEPENDENT
RESPONSIBILITY"

Jerry Bridges explains that

To walk by the Spirit is to live under the controlling influence of the Spirit and in dependence upon Him…Practically speaking, we live under the controlling influence of the Spirit as we continually expose our minds to and seek to obey the Spirit’s moral will for us as revealed in Scripture. We live in dependence on Him through prayer as we continually cry out to Him for His power to enable us to obey His will.

There is a fundamental principle of the Christian life that I call the principle of dependent responsibility; that is, we are responsible before God to obey His Word, to put to death the sins in our lives, both the so-called acceptable sins and the obviously not acceptable ones. At the same time, we do not have the ability within ourselves to carry out this responsibility. We are in fact totally dependent upon the enabling power of the Holy Spirit (see Php 2:12, Php 2:13). In this sense, we are both responsible and dependent.

In the Old Testament God's promise of the New Covenant clearly describes "dependent responsibility"...

And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Comment: Observe the first part of the verse describes what God promises to do in the New Covenant -- He will place His Holy Spirit within believers. His Spirit will cause us to walk in His statutes. That is God's part of the "equation." Our responsibility (in dependence on and empowerment by His Spirit) is to obey His ordinances. This is God's clear description of the supernatural life in Christ, a life only possible by dependence on the indwelling Spirit of Christ (see this phrase in Ro 8:9). In the Garden of Eden God gave Adam one prohibitive commandment, but he did not force Adam and Eve to obey. Instead He gave them the freedom of choice. In the New Covenant we have that same choice. God through Paul commands us to walk by the Spirit but we still have to choose daily, moment by moment to yield to His sweet Spirit. And as we do so, we begin to experience a Christian life on a higher plane, life as God always intended to be. Why? Ultimately that He might be glorified before the lost world. When saints live a supernatural, Spirit filled life, such a life is in a sense a "good work" ("God work") because it is in truth a supernatural life. This Spirit filled, controlled, empowered life is put on display and in every sense fulfills Jesus' command

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in heaven." (Mt 5:16)

In a parallel passage Jesus explained that "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples." (Jn 15:8). And so by the visible, audible words and deeds of God's Spirit filled saints, the world (lost and saved) sees a visible picture of the invisible God. Paul said the same thing in a different way writing that...

we (Spirit filled believers who are walking, living, behaving by in dependence on and empowerment of the Holy Spirit) are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? (2Cor 2:16, 17)

John MacArthur alludes to this concept of "dependent responsibility" of believers writing that...

Scripture is clear that, in some mystical way known only to God, a person begins to walk by the Spirit the moment he believes. But, on the other hand, he is also admonished to walk by the Spirit as he lives out his earthly life under the lordship of Christ and in the power of the Spirit. As with salvation itself, walking by the Spirit comes first of all by God’s sovereign work in the believer’s heart, but it also involves the exercise of the believer’s will. Romans 8:4-note is speaking of the first, whereas Galatians 5:25-note (“let us … walk by the Spirit”, cp Gal 5:16) is speaking of the second.

As far as a Christians life is concerned, everything that is a spiritual reality is also a spiritual responsibility. A genuine Christian will commune with his heavenly Father in prayer, but he also has the responsibility to pray. A Christian is taught by the Holy Spirit, but he is also obligated to seek the Spirit’s guidance and help. The Holy Spirit will produce spiritual fruit in a believer’s life, but the believer is also admonished to bear fruit. Those truths are part of the amazing and seemingly paradoxical tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s will. Although man’s mind is incapable of understanding such mysteries, the believer accepts them because they are clearly taught in God’s Word

We know little of the relationship between God and Adam before the Fall, except that it was direct and intimate. The Lord had given but one command, a command that was given for Adam and Eve’s own good and that was easily obeyed. Until that one command was transgressed, they lived naturally in the perfect will of God. Doing His will was part of their very being. The believer’s relationship to God is much like that. Although Christians are drawn back to the old ways by the fleshly remnants of their life before salvation, their new being makes obedience to God the “natural” thing to do.

The Christians obligations to God are not another form of legalism. The person who is genuinely saved has a new and divine nature that is, by definition, attuned to God’s will. When he lives by his new nature in the power of the Spirit, his desire is God’s desire, and no compulsion is involved. But because the believer is still clothed in the old self, he sometimes resists God’s will. It is only when he goes against God’s wilt and against his own new nature that the divine commands and standards seem burdensome. On the other hand, the faithful child of God who is obedient from the heart can always say with the psalmist, “O how I love Thy law!” (Ps. 119:97). (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos or Wordsearch)

C Norman Bartlett writes that in Galatians 5:16...

lies the key to conquest - not through the terrors of the law, but through the Spirit of the LORD will victory over the flesh (Ed: which is irrevocably, relentlessly opposed to God in every way! It is not like fine wine -- it does not become better with age.) be won. The spirit of the law and the law of the Spirit are poles apart. The injunction to walk by the Spirit implies power of choice on the part of the believer, whether to submit to the bondage of sin or to enter into that freedom in the Spirit which is rightfully his as a child of God. True, the old nature has not been eradicated, but its power over the soul which is trusting in Christ for salvation has been broken. Putting it figuratively, the dogs have been chained; they are no longer at large; but if we fail to keep our distance, and carelessly or deliberately give occasion to sin, we have ourselves to blame for the consequence. We have the privilege of walking in the Spirit; but we are not compelled to do so; it is a voluntary matter.

TRIUMPH OVER THE OLD NATURE...
NOT NEGATIVE REPRESSION
but
POSITIVE POSSESSION!

Approaching the subject from another angle, many a follower of Jesus fails of living a truly victorious life because he tries to study and prescribe for his own symptoms instead of giving the Holy Spirit the right-of-way in his life and letting Him minister as only He can in the treatment of hidden roots of moral and spiritual ailment. It is to be noted that in the main the way to triumph over the old nature is not so much a matter of negative repression as of positive possession of the boundless resources of grace available through the Spirit.

Thomas Chalmers once preached a sermon entitled "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection" (see Pdf with many pictures related to Chalmers - very interesting! The Expulsive Power of a New Affection on 1 John 2:15) and the reverberations of its challenging message still ring out. We turn the hose on dirt. We let in the pure air to drive out the foul. Tuberculosis is held at bay by a changing of climate. Need we enlarge at great length upon the application? There is no more effective way to fortify ourselves against the hurts of the flesh than to walk in the Spirit day by day and hour by hour. (C. Norman Bartlett: Galatians and You: Studies in the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, 1948)

Andrew Murray gets right to the point observing that Paul's...

words suggest to us very clearly the difference, between the sickly and the healthy Christian life. In the former the Christian is content to 'live by the Spirit'. He is satisfied with knowing that he has the new life but be does not 'walk by the Spirit.' The true believer, on the contrary, is not content without having his whole walk and conversation in the power of the Spirit. He walks by the Spirit, and so does not fulfill the lusts of the flesh....

Wuest explains that...

Paul now introduces a statement intended to counteract the erroneous impression held by the Galatians, possibly at the suggestion of the Judaizers, that without the restraining influence of the law, they would fall into sin. Instead of an attempted law obedience in their own strength motivated by the terrors of the law, Paul admonishes them to continue to govern their lives by the inward impulses of the Holy Spirit. The type of life and the method of living that life which he here speaks of, Paul had already commended to them in Gal 5:5, in the words “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness.” Thus, the secret of victory over sin is found, not in attempted obedience to a law that has been abrogated, but in subjection to a divine Person, the Holy Spirit, Who at the moment the sinner places his faith in the Lord Jesus, takes up His permanent residence in his being for the purpose of ministering to his spiritual needs. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos)

Richison explains walking in the Spirit as follows...

We as Christians do not measure up spirituality by how much prayer, witnessing or service we do but by dependence on the Spirit. We cannot live the Spirit filled life by suppression of sin or by eradicating sin but by the counteracting power of being filled with the Spirit, walking in the Spirit. Victory does not come by self but by the Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit, we are spiritual and produce the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit comes from the Holy Spirit, not from our deeds lived in the power of self (Ep 3:16, 5:18, see notes Ep 3:16; 5:18).

Walking presumes activity; it is not a defensive stand. We enter actively into God’s will by resting in the power of the Holy Spirit. We rest in His sufficiency. The Christian does not attempt to walk; he walks. He maintains a manner of reliance on the Holy Spirit. He lives daily to the glory of God (Ed: The Spirit especially points to Jesus Jn 16:14. Does your life point to Jesus? If not could it be because you have not learned the secret of "walking by the Spirit"?).

A physical walk is an incipient fall. With each step we fall until our other foot catches the fall. Thus walk by the Spirit is dependence for it is a repeated succession of faith steps. Learning to walk in the Spirit should be as common a function as learning to walk physically (Ed: This begs the question are you learning to walk in the Spirit? If not then don't be surprised that you find yourself frustrated in trying to rein in the desires of flesh? Victory in times of turbulent temptation is attained only by reliance on the power of the Spirit, not on self-reliance!). (Galatians 5:16)

Chuck Swindoll explains that...

we must “be filled (Ed: "controlled by") with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18) before we can “walk by the Spirit.” A Spirit-controlled Christian is comparable to an airplane on the runway that is pilot-controlled, empowered, and ready for takeoff. The airplane taking off and flying under the pilot’s control depicts a Christian functioning under the Spirit’s control or walking by the Spirit. If our life is Spirit-filled, we can walk by the Spirit, and then all our choices, communication, and conduct can be controlled by Him. Our responsibility to walk by the Spirit correlates with the principle that Christians “walk by faith, not by sight” (2Cor 5:7). Walking by faith means we continually and consciously rely on God and His provision for all our needs. Walking by the Spirit means we continually and consciously rely on the Spirit’s control to prevent sin and to progress in Christlikeness (Ed: Progressive sanctification. "Present tense" salvation). Thus walking by faith and walking by the Spirit are two essential principles in the Christian life that enhance each other. How much the Spirit controls and changes your life depends on how much you respond to these commands (Ed: Both "be filled" and "walk" are in the present imperative. But remember God never commands what He does not also enable! You have no excuses for not being filled with the Spirit and not walking by the Spirit). Christians serious about sanctification will obey these commands immediately and consistently. (Understanding Christian Theology or Logos)

John Walvoord on Learning to Walk by the Spirit writes that...

In exhorting the believer to walk by the Spirit, the concept is advanced that the Christian life can be accomplished only by the power of the Holy Spirit. Walking implies progress and direction. Each step is an incipient fall, as the body is supported by one limb and then the other. The verb “walk” in Galatians 5:16 is in the present tense and has the thought of “keep on walking” or continuously walking by the Holy Spirit. The Greek for “by the Spirit” is the dative, pneumati, best translated as “by the Spirit” instead of “in the Spirit,” as in the Authorized Version. While it is true that the believer is walking in the sphere of the Spirit, the thought is rather that it is by the Spirit’s enablement that the believer is able to accomplish the high standard of the Christian walk. As the life of a Christian unfolds step by step, each foot of progress must be marked by the sustaining power and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Learning to walk by the Spirit is realized when one walks in dependence on and is supported by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Why Walk by the Spirit? In the light of the New Testament standards for the Christian life which are far beyond anything which the natural man could attain, it is obvious that only by the grace of God and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit can a measure of attainment be achieved in keeping with the will of God for the believer. Accordingly, the believer is exhorted to be as holy as God is holy (1Pe 1:16), and to love as Christ loved (Jn 13:34). As both experience and Scripture demonstrate, man beset by constant temptation (Ed: or "tests" depending on how we respond!) and opposition to the holy life could never even partially attain this high standard of conduct apart from the grace and power of the Holy Spirit

The obstacles confronted by the Christian in the Christian walk are massive and frontal. A Christian is living in a world system which is utterly contrary to the things of God. He is under constant influence to love the world (1Jn 2:15-17), to compromise with the world (James 4:4) and to conform to the world (Ro 12:2). In himself a Christian does not have the resources to confront such a formidable foe and needs the power and presence of the Holy Spirit

In addition to the world itself, the Christian also encounters Satan (devil) as his arch enemy. The warfare with Satan is very real for anyone who attempts to lead a Christian life, and Paul bears witness to wrestling not with flesh and blood but with satanic powers in Ephesians 6:11–18. Satan not only blinds the minds of unbelievers (2Co 4:4), but like a roaring lion is seeking whom he may devour (1Peter 5:8). He is deceptive (Ge 3:1-5, 13, 1Ti 2:14, Rev 12:9), often appearing as an angel of light (2Co 11:14), and according to Christ is both a liar and a murderer (John 8:44). Against such an enemy whose wisdom and power far exceed the resources of an individual Christian (2Cor 2:11), there could be no victory apart from the power and grace of God.

In addition to the confrontation of both the world and Satan, a Christian is faced with his own inner weakness. Although a Christian has a new nature and a new life in Christ (Ro 6:4, Ro 7:6), the old nature (the sinful flesh) is still there trying to reassert itself and gain control (cp Ro 6:12). As Paul makes clear in Romans 6 and Romans 7, in his own resources he was helpless to contend against such an inner betrayer and needed the power of the Spirit to gain victory (Ro 6:12, Ro 7:18, 19, 20).

It is a marvelous testimony to the grace of God that believers with all these problems can nevertheless have a life that is glorifying to God if they are empowered by the Spirit....

The Christian life as a whole is so constituted that not only our salvation is completely dependent upon God and His grace, but also our daily victory is moment-by-moment possible only as the reservoirs of divine power are released in the life of the Christian. This is what is meant by walking by the Spirit, letting the Spirit empower and direct and control. 

(READ THESE COMMENTS BY DR. WALVOORD) It is the walk by the Spirit that produces contagious Christian experience, holiness of life, and a glorifying of God. It is only thus that holiness can be achieved and the fruit of the Spirit realized.

Walking by the Spirit is only possible as the Christian is first of all yielded to the Spirit of God and second is walking in unhindered fellowship with the Spirit through confession of sin (Ed comment: Unconfessed sin will grieve or quench the Spirit which is why believers must keep "short accounts" by continually confessing their sin - "confess" in 1Jn 1:9 is present tense = "confession" should be our daily, habitual practice lest we subvert the Spirit's  the power to walk supernaturally!).

Walking by the Spirit, however, is a positive moment-by-moment dependence upon the Spirit of God and what the Spirit of God can empower the Christian to do.

The walk by the Holy Spirit includes dependence upon the holy Word of God (cp Col 3:16, Mt 4:4, 1Pe 2:2) as providing the necessary standards of life and instruction in holy living.

As one walks by the Spirit, he must be guided by the Spirit of God (Jn 16:13). Many moral issues are not dealt with explicitly in the Scriptures, and the personal direction of an individual life into a proper sphere of service is possible only as the Spirit guides.

Walking by the Spirit also implies dependence upon prayer, and spiritual power often is directly related to the prayer life of the believer.

Walking by the Spirit is also aided by fellowship with other believers who also are seeking the work of the Spirit in their lives. While the Spirit of God directly empowers, He also uses means in effecting in the individual life a perfect will of God. (Contemporary Issues in the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Part V: Spiritual Power Today - Bibliotheca Sacra. Volume 131. Issue 521. 1974. Page  40.)

Jack Hayford...

walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) means that one is able to obey the spirit of the Ten Commandments (“the law”) and experience powerful new freedoms to be the person God originally intended (Word in life study Bible)

Ryrie says that to walk by the Spirit means to...

walk; i.e., take each step of the Christian life in dependence on the Spirit to have victory over the flesh and its works. The sinful nature is received at birth and never eradicated in this life. But it can be controlled by the Spirit. (The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody Publishers or Wordsearch)

Robert Gromacki...

Just as justification is not possible through the efforts of self, so sanctification cannot be achieved through one’s own energy either. Both come from the provision and power of God....

Paul wanted the Galatians to realize that obedience to the law was not necessary for progressive sanctification. The sinner is not only justified by faith, but he is also sanctified by faith (Rom. 1:17). (Stand Fast in Liberty: An Exposition of Galatians)

Johnson unfortunately refers to the Holy Spirit as an "it" writing...

Under its (Ed correction: The "it" is a Person, and should be designated "He"!) guidance, as it directs. We have its directions in the words of Christ and the apostles. (The people's New Testament)

The Preacher's Commentary Series...

The miracle of justification and the new birth is that fleshly persons become Spirit-persons. Throughout Christian history, every claim that the Holy Spirit is especially present leads to controversy. But controversy should not cause us to avoid some of the strongest messages of the Bible. These verses (16–26) convey such a strong message. Not only Paul, but countless Christians witness to the fact that the Holy Spirit can become so real that the Spirit is a far more intimate part of our being than some dimensions of the flesh. This is what happened to Paul (Gal. 2:20)....

For Paul, the Spirit is more than the manifestation of a supernatural power, more than the giver of dramatic gifts, more than an explosive force erupting in the believer now and then. The Spirit is the daily sustaining, inspiring, and guiding power of the Christian’s life. The Spirit is the domain of power, the sphere of influence which replaces the flesh as the energy force of our lives.

John Darby...

It is not by putting oneself under the law that one has power against sin. It is the Spirit (given in virtue of the ascension of Christ, our righteousness, to the right hand of God) who is the Christian’s strength.

John Trapp

(Gal 5:16 is) an antidote against abuse of Christian liberty. Set the Spirit, as Pharaoh did Joseph, upon the chief chariot of your hearts, and let all be at his beck and check. (Trapp's Commentary on the New Testament)

Radmacher...

The only consistent way to overcome the sinful desires of our human nature (the flesh) is to live step-by-step in the power of the Holy Spirit as He works through our spirit (v. 25). Shall not is a striking promise. Walking each moment by faith in God’s word under the Spirit’s control assures absolute victory. (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. The Nelson Study Bible: NKJV.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson)

Warren Wiersbe...

Life, not law, changes behavior; and as you yield to the Spirit, Christ’s life is manifest in the fruit of the Spirit. Law works by compulsion from without, but grace works by compassion from within. J B Phillips says “Every time we say, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit,’ we mean that we believe there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.”  (Wiersbe, W: With the Word: Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Handbook. Nelson or Logos or Wordsearch)

Longenecker...

The truly unique feature of Pauline ethics is the role assigned to the Spirit. Here in Gal 5:16 Paul states his thesis regarding how the Christian life is to be lived, viz., “by the Spirit.”...The statement of Gal 5:16 consists of two parts: the first, an exhortation, “live by the Spirit”; the second, a promise, “and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” This statement is then elaborated on in Gal 5:17–24, exhorted again in Gal 5:25, and applied directly to the Galatian situation in Gal 5:26–6:10....

Yet behind the individual believer Paul sees two ethical forces that seek to control a person’s thought and activity: the one, the personal Spirit of God; the other, the personified “flesh.” What, in such an ethical dilemma, does the Christian do? The promise of the gospel, as Paul proclaims it, is that life in the Spirit negates life controlled by the flesh. In fact, that promise is stated emphatically by the use of the double negative ou me (“no never”) with the aorist subjunctive telesete.  (Word Biblical Commentary: Galatians)

Steve Zeisler has some pithy but practical exhortational comments on what it means to walk in the Spirit noting first that it...

is not referring here to the high moments of our Christian life or to emotionally charged circumstances: taking communion in a candle lit room, praying for hours over some critical decision, etc. He is not talking about serious Bible study, about evangelistic enterprises, about the times when we are quite obviously interested in and concerned with the things of God. He is referring to our walk, the everyday experience of putting one foot in front of the other, the morning to night, inhale-exhale, normal process of living life.

Walk by the Spirit is the command.

Don't bypass today's seemingly mundane circumstances.

Take time to listen to the Lord in today's business.

Be willing to judge the double standards that are so frequently ours, where we expect others to live under stricter standards than we ask of ourselves.

Allow the Lord to have access to the tone of voice you use when you speak to people: judge the little prejudices you have carried around with you all of your life.

That is what this command is referring to: all of these ordinary things, the daily course of events.

Walk by the Spirit, so that when momentous occasions come, or great difficulties arise, when our walk leads us into the "valley of the shadow of death," even--then we are ready to face whatever comes. The choices we make all along to walk in this way have prepared us for the worst the flesh can do to win us to its desire. (Steve Zeisler - Fight the Good Fight)

Chuck Swindoll explains that...

In physical walking each new step we take depends on the previous step if we are to maintain our balance. So the metaphor Paul used here tells us we are to “walk” (i.e., conduct our lives) in complete dependence on the Spirit of God. (Understanding Christian Theology. Page 599-600. - Good resource to give you a grasp of "systematic theology" without being too technical. Recommended)

THE COMMAND:
WALK

Walk (4043) (peripateo from peri = about, around + pateo = walk, tread) means literally to walk around, to go here and there in walking, to tread all around.  The  39 uses in the Gospels always refer to literal, physical walking. Seven of the 8 uses in Acts are also in the literal sense (except Acts 21:21). In contrast, Paul uses peripateo only in the metaphorical sense (32 times) meaning to conduct one's life, to order one's behavior, to behave,  to make one's way, to make due use of opportunities, to live or pass one’s life (with a connotation of spending some time in a place).

Peripateo "was used for a school of philosophy in Athens, Greece, in which the founder walked up and down as he taught." (McGee)

Walking is used in both the Old and New Testaments to represent a person’s way of life, manner of conduct, or lifestyle (Ge 17:1; Ps 1:1; Eph 2:2; 1Jn 1:7).

Walking is a metaphor for our conduct, behavior or lifestyle and conveys several pictures.

(1) Walking indicates you are going somewhere and thus indicates a destination, the will of God and the glory of God.

(2) Walking implies dependence because when you walk you place all of your weight on one leg allowing  you to place the other leg forward. In the same way, when you walk by the Spirit, you must put all of your weight (so to speak) on Him, relying on and depending on His power (not your own) to take the next step in your spiritual walk. Depending on your legs means you are trusting them to hold you, and walking by the Spirit means you are trusting Him, believing He can hold you up spiritually. God wants us to understand that we cannot walk this supernatural walk in our power and in fact He never said we could. On the other hand, He delights to hear us declare (by faith - believing that God's command to walk includes His enablement to walk) we can walk this supernatural walk in dependence on the Holy Spirit's power. Tony Evans gives us the following picture of walking in dependence on the Spirit writing that...

when you start saying, “Holy Spirit, I can’t love that person in my flesh, but You can give me the ability to love him. So I am going to depend on You to give me the love I don’t have in my own strength.” How about this one? “Holy Spirit, I don’t have patience. But You do. So rather than trying to work up the patience I don’t have, I am going to rest in Your ability to express Your patience through me.” See the difference this makes? You can take that same prayer and fill in your particular need, whether you need to control your temper, your passions, or whatever. Then when God does through you what you could never do on your own, guess what? He gets all the glory and all the praise. But you don’t get this kind of Holy Spirit authority by tossing a few mumbled sentences God’s way every couple of days. If you want His power, you start your day with prayer and you call on Him throughout the day. That’s true dependence. (The Promise : experiencing God's greatest gift, the Holy Spirit)

(3) Walking is generally (unless you have broken leg) a continuous activity. Very few people take just one step and stop, but they repeat the process over and over. By the same token a believer is called to walk by the Spirit continually (see present imperative below). Tony Evans adds that walking...

means you keep going. If you fall down, you get up and start walking again. Can you imagine how long it would take you to learn to walk if you only practiced on Sunday and then sat around the rest of the week? A lot of Christians do that spiritually and then wonder why they can’t seem to stay on their feet. (Ibid)

Here in Galatians 5:16 Paul uses the present imperative which is a command to habitually walk or conduct your life by the Spirit. Paul's use of the present (continuous) tense also implies that believers have a continual need to walk in the Spirit. The fact that it is an imperative or command, indicates the necessity of believers to make a choice to obey. The metaphor of a walk merely consists of two simple steps, repeated over and over again and thus Paul is not commanding a complicated exercise but a necessary thing in order to be able to resist the pull of the flesh toward legalism (in the context of Galatians).  Note that to walk by the Spirit is what we do when the holy desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the fallen flesh. It follows that walking by the Spirit is not something we do in order to get the Spirit’s help, but rather it is something we do by the enablement of the Spirit. Note also that any good, godly and holy desire we have is a reflection of the effect of the Holy Spirit, because apart from the Spirit we are mere flesh and as Paul said in our flesh, there dwells no good thing. It is painful to realize that apart from the grace imparted by the indwelling Spirit, none of our inclinations or desires are holy and good. Paul makes that clear in Romans 8 writing that...

the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so (see note Romans 8:7) (Comment: This verse primarily describes the unregenerate but it also describes what the flesh that still resides in a believer is capable of doing!)

Henrietta Mears comments that...

Children begin to walk by someone holding on to their hand. We begin our walk by the Spirit holding on to us. But He is not only a help outside as in the case of a child, but He helps within. Think of walking arm in arm with the Holy Spirit! This means no running ahead or lagging behind (Galatians 5:16). (What the Bible is All About)

When we were born again the Holy Spirit took up residence in our physical bodies and imparted an entirely new array of desires, yearnings and longings. It is when these desires are stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, that we are walking by the Spirit. Why is this true? Because we act or "walk" according to our strongest desires. Compare the OT explanation of the effect of the Spirit's coming to indwell believers in Ezekiel 36, where God promises (to Israel but applicable to all Gentiles who are "grafted in" and become partakers with believing Jews of the rich root of the olive tree)...

I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:27)

Notice what the role of the Holy Spirit is in every believer -- He produces strong desires in us that are according to God's will and which enable us to walk in God's statutes. God does this without making us robots, for He goes on to declare that we have a choice, a choice to be careful and to observe His ordinances. When we are careful and we choose God's way, we are walking by the Spirit and are fulfilling this OT prophecy! But we must not lose sight of the balance in this verse. We walk by the Spirit because the Spirit is in us, giving us the desire to walk that holy path, rather than the path of fleshly independence. As every believer is so painfully aware, we can still choose to walk the latter path but when we do, we are countering the urges and desires of the Spirit and this creates an internal struggle that is "uncomfortable" and lacks the internal peace of God (Gal 5:17-note). On the other hand Paul explains that "the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6- note)

John MacArthur study guide...

Are you really walking by the Spirit? The word walk implies step-by- step progress. Are you accepting your responsibility to follow His leading one step at a time, or are you waiting for the Spirit to hurl you into a quantum leap? Many people want others to solve their problems for them because of their lack of discipline and determination. That philosophy is not uncommon in Christian circles. Don't expect the Spirit to miraculously make you holy. Holiness is a joint effort: The Spirit leads, but you must follow. Scripture teaches that we are involved in the growth process. We must discipline ourselves to work toward greater holiness on a daily basis. Make prayer and meditation of Scripture a regular part of your Christian walk as you let the Spirit lead you to the throne of grace and through the Word of God. As you are led, remember to follow. (Walking by the Spirit, Part 1)

Charles Simeon illustrates walking by the Spirit versus the flesh...

I cannot give a more just idea of this new principle, which the Spirit of God imparts to us in our conversion, than by comparing it with the modern invention of the compass. Before the invention of the compass, mariners, in a dark night, were unable with any precision to direct their course. Whilst they were in sight of land, or had a view of the sun or stars, they could proceed with some degree of certainty: but, in the absence of these, they were altogether at a loss. But it is not so with mariners at this time. By the help of the compass they can by night steer the ship, as well as in the day; having constantly at hand, as it were, a sure directory. Now this is the difference between the natural and the spiritual man: the natural man has reason and conscience, which, to a certain degree, are capable of directing his path. But numberless occasions arise whereon they fail him utterly. The spiritual man has, superadded to these, a new and living principle abiding in him (Ed: Ro 8:2 is a clear parallel passage where the word "law" conveys the idea of "principle"); a principle infused into him by the Spirit of God, and in exact accordance with his mind and will: and by this principle the Spirit Himself guides him in all his way. The spiritual man, therefore, in every doubt or difficulty, should consult this divine principle within him; and see its bearings, and follow its directions. And as the mariner, whilst he observes his compass, consults also his chart and maps; so must we, whilst attending to the motions of this principle, consult also the directory which God has given us in the Holy Scriptures: and by means of these observations we shall be kept from any great aberrations from the way of truth. This process, however, must be continued throughout all our way: we must not only live in the Spirit, but must “walk in the Spirit,” every step we take....

The new principle within us may suggest what is right; but it cannot enable us for the performance of it: for all power to do the will of God, we must be indebted altogether to the Spirit of God. Our blessed Lord expressly says, “Without me ye can do nothing.” There is no surer cause of failure than self-confidence and self-dependence. Peter, and with him all the other Disciples, declared that they would follow their Lord even unto death: but no sooner did the trial come, than “they all forsook him and fled.” And we, too, if we make resolutions in our own strength, shall learn, by bitter experience, that “he who trusteth in his own heart, is a fool.” We must be careful, too, not to make any difference between matters of greater or lesser difficulty, as though we were competent for the one any more than the other. We must, in the whole course of our journey, depend on God alone: we are never, for a moment, to feel strong in ourselves, but “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might:” and in every step that we take, we must cry, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe" (Ps. 119:117)...

God will “strengthen us by his Spirit in our inward man,” (Eph 3:16-note)... Weak as we are in ourselves, “nothing shall be impossible to us,” (Mt 17:20) if we trust in Him: he will “give us more grace (Jas 4:6-note),” and “strength according to our day.” (Dt 33:25KJV) Whatever be our temptations, “the grace of Christ shall be sufficient for us (2Cor 12:9-note);” and “we shall be enabled to do all things through Christ, who strengthens us.” (Phil 4:13-note)...

The old principle, as has been observed, still remains within us: and, if we be not constantly on our guard, it will regain its former ascendency over us. A stronger army, if the sentinels fall asleep, may be surprised and vanquished by troops that are far inferior: and we too, notwithstanding the power given us by the indwelling Spirit, shall surely be overcome, if we be not constantly on our watch-tower. We must be prepared to meet our adversary at his first approach. Our blessed Lord says, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” and the sad consequences of sleeping on our post may be seen in the Disciples, when they failed to observe this important admonition (Matt. 26:41, 43, 56-note). Corruption will often put on the appearance of virtue, and Satan assume the garb of an angel of light (2Cor 11:14): but if we be on our guard, we shall detect his devices; and “if we resist him manfully, he will flee from us (Jas 4:7-note).

God assures us of success, if only we follow his directions. “If we sow to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap corruption: but if we sow to the Spirit, we shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal 6:7-note,Gal 6:8-note) In two respects shall we be placed on a totally different footing from that on which we stood before: we shall not be judged according to the perfect law, which condemns us for the smallest act of disobedience; for, “if we walk in the Spirit, we are not under the lawz:” on the contrary, our imperfect obedience shall be eternally rewarded: for God would deem himself “unrighteous, if he were to forget” any thing that we do for his sake (Heb 6:10). With boldness, then, I say to every one amongst you, “Be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and you may rest assured that your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord (1Cor 15:58) (Galatians 5:16 Walking in the Spirit)

Rob Morgan makes an excellent point emphasizing what Paul is not saying in Galatians 5:16...

I had a professor once, Otis Braswell, who talked about this verse one day in class, and he made an interesting comment. He said that many Christians read this verse backward. They think that if they are not fulfilling the lust of the flesh, they can walk in the Spirit. And so they try with all their might to overcome their addictions and lusts, and they try to do it in their own energy. They turn over a new leaf. They make a new resolution.

But we can never overcome our besetting sins by ourselves. We must come in full surrender to Jesus Christ, confessing our sins, and yielding ourselves to Him so that by His grace we can walk in the Spirit. And as we walk in the Spirit, the indwelling Jesus Christ, by the power of His Spirit, begins to live His own life--the Christ-life--through us. And when that happens we find that we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us (Ro 8:37-note).  (see sermon entitled Seven Ways To Break Bad Habits). (Bolding added for emphasis)

Guzik comments that ...

if we walk in the Spirit (instead of trying to live by the law), we naturally (Ed note: I would add "supernaturally") shall not fulfill the lust (desire) of the flesh. Again, the fear of the legalist - that walking in the Spirit gives license to sin, and that only legalism can keep us holy - is just plain wrong.

Walk is a common picture of traveling the “road of life” and making progress upon it. How are you progressing in life? Also, many people have a distinct walk, and can be identified by the way they walk. So, how do you walk? What can others tell by your walk? It should be a walk in the Spirit.

What does it mean to walk in the Spirit?

First, it means that the Holy Spirit lives in you.

Second, it means to be open and sensitive to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Third, it means to pattern your life after the influence of the Holy Spirit. (Ed note: Or stated another way, you yield, surrender or submit to His desires rather than the desires of your old flesh nature.)

How does the Holy Spirit influence our life?

First, He reveals His will to us through the message of the Bible. (Ed note: Application question - are you in the Bible daily and better yet is the Bible in you daily? If not, you will be less prone, less likely to walk in the Spirit! The Spirit of truth takes the Word of truth and enables us to walk in the truth, cp Ps 86:11 - Spurgeon adds that "When taught I will practise what I know, truth shall not be a mere doctrine or sentiment to me, but a matter of daily life. The true servant of God regulates his walk by his master's will, and hence he never walks deceitfully, for God's way is ever truth. Providence has a way for us, and it is our wisdom to keep in it. We must not be as the bullock which needs to be driven and urged forward because it likes not the road, but be as men who voluntarily go where their trusted friend and helper appoints their path." [cp 3John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth"])

Second, He influences us through others who walk in the Spirit.

Third, He influences us through an inner direction that we become more sensitive to, and respond to better, as we mature in Jesus.

How can you tell if someone walks in the Spirit? They look a lot like Jesus! Jesus told us that the mission of the Holy Spirit would be to promote and speak of Him (John 14:16, 17, 14:26, 15:26, 16:13, 14, 15). When someone walks in the Spirit, they listen to what the Holy Spirit says as He guides us in the path and nature of Jesus. (Galatians 5)

The Holy Spirit is received by an act of faith (at the time of the new birth), and by the continued exercise of this receptive faculty, faith, the blessings He brings are appropriated. Thus the whole spiritual life of the Christian is a life of faith, life through the Holy Spirit... the sphere of the operations of the Spirit of God is the human spirit, (Romans 8:16-note). Every impulse along the line of obedience to the will of God in the spirit of a man is the result of His operations. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

How saints walk in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation is important to Paul. In his letter to the Colossians Paul used peripateo in his charge to the believers...

To walk in Christ is to live a life patterned after His life (eg, see Peter's discussion of in His steps) and empowered by His Spirit. In Colossians 1 Paul explained how this this is possible...

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20-note).

When you awaken each morning with a desire to submit your will to His, and walk step by step as He guides and enables, then you are learning to walk in the Spirit, a walk which is worthy of the Lord.

be (present imperative = command calling for this "divine imitation" to be a believer's way of life) imitators of God, as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." (Comment: Note that walk is again the verb peripateo in the present imperative commanding a way of life and daily conduct continually in the sphere of unconditional, sacrificial love, the love that God is, the love that is a fruit of His indwelling Spirit in the yielded, obedient saint. This is walking in the Spirit for there is simply no other way to "imitate" the Holy God and His Holy Son, unless we do so by the Holy Spirit.) (See note Ephesians 5:1; 5:2, cf Ephesians 4:1)

Next, for religion's sake, strive to be like Jesus... especially for Christ's own sake, imitate His example. Christian, lovest thou thy Saviour? Is His name precious to thee? Is His cause dear to thee? Wouldst thou see the kingdoms of the world become His? Is it thy desire that He should be glorified? Art thou longing that souls should be won to Him? If so, imitate Jesus; be an "epistle of Christ, known and read of all men." (as you walk in the Spirit) (from Morning and Evening)

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING...
HOW CAN I WALK IN THE SPIRIT?

The key words to a worthy walk (a so-called "victorious" walk) by the Spirit are...

Dependence
Submission
Obedience

John Piper gives us some practical guidelines to help every believer make walking by the Spirit their continual practice rather than their occasional experience...

What, very practically, is involved in obeying the command, “Walk by the Spirit”?

Five Steps Toward Walking by the Spirit

Let me conclude by mentioning five things that I think we must do so that it can be truly said that we are walking by the Spirit.

1. Acknowledge - First, we must acknowledge from our hearts that we are helpless to do good apart from the enablement of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Romans 7:18 (note),

“I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.”

What did Jesus mean when he said in John 15:5,

“Without me you can do nothing”?

Of course we can do something without Jesus: we can sin! But that’s all we can do. So, the first step of walking by the Spirit is: admit this fact and let it have its devastating effect on our pride. We cannot do anything pleasing to God without the constant enablement of the Spirit.

2. Pray - Second, since it is promised in Ezekiel 36:27 that God will put his Spirit within us and cause us to walk in his statutes, pray that He do it to you by His almighty power. Many of you know the glorious, liberating experience of having an irresistible desire for sin overcome by a new and stronger desire for God and His way. And as you look back, to Whom do you attribute that new desire? Where did it come from? It came from the merciful Holy Spirit. Therefore, let us pray like Paul did in 1Thes 3:12  (note) for that chief fruit of the Spirit:

“Now may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men.”

And let’s pray like the writer to the Hebrews did in Hebrews 13:20; 21 (note),

And now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 13:20; 21)

If it is God alone Who works in us what is pleasing in His sight, then above all, we must pray.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

3. Trust - The third step involved in walking by the Spirit is faith. We must believe that since we have come under the gracious sway of God’s Spirit, “sin will no longer have dominion over us” (Romans 6:14-note). This confidence is what Paul meant by “reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God” (Romans 6:11-note). We simply count on it that the Spirit Who made us alive when we were dead in sin wills our holiness and has the power to achieve what He wills. You may remember in one of my sermons on prayer I said that one of the things we believers can pray for with undoubting faith that God will do it is our sanctification, which is the same as being led by the Spirit. The reason we can is that we know that God will cause His children to be led by the Spirit. And the way we know this is because of Romans 8:14  (note), where Paul says you can’t even be a child of God unless you are led by the Spirit.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”

If you are a child of God, you have a solid and unshakable promise that God will give you victory over those powerful desires of the flesh. One word of caution: do not prejudge the timing of the Holy Spirit’s work. Why He liberates one person overnight but brings another to freedom through months of struggle is a mystery concealed for now from our eyes.

4. Act - The fourth step in walking by the Spirit after you have acknowledged your helplessness without Him, prayed for His enablement, and trusted in His deliverance is to act the way you know is right. Notice: this is not step number one. If this were step number one, all our actions would be works of the flesh, not fruit of the Spirit. Only after we have appealed for the Spirit’s enablement and thrown ourselves confidently on His promise and power to work in us, do we now work with all our might. Only when we act with that spiritual preparation, will we be able to say with Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10,

"By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me."

Or in Galatians 2:20 (note),

“I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20 -note; Ro 15:18; 19 - see notes Ro 15:18; 19).

A person who has acknowledged his helplessness, prayed for God’s enablement to do right, and yielded himself confidently to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit has this astonishing incentive to do righteousness, namely, the confidence that, whatever righteous act he does, it is God almighty Who is at work in him giving him the will and the power to do it (Php 2:12; 13- see notes 2:12; 13). It is a sign of hasty prejudice when a person says,

“Well, if the Spirit is sovereign and I can’t do any good without his enablement, then I may as well just sit here and do nothing.”

There are two things wrong with that statement: it is self-contradictory, and it is unbiblical. It is a contradiction to say, “I’ll just sit here and do nothing.” If you choose to sit in your chair while the house burns down, you have chosen to do something, just as much as the person who chooses to get up and save himself and others. Why should you think the one choice any more inconsistent with the sovereignty of God than the other? And such a statement is also unbiblical because Philippians 2:12; 2:13 says,

"Beloved, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (get out of the chair, the house is on fire!) because (not “in spite of” but “because”) God is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

It is a great incentive, not discouragement, that all our effort to do what is right is the work of almighty God within us. At least for myself, I am greatly encouraged when the going gets rough that any effort I make to do right is a sign of God’s grace at work in me.

“Let him who serves serve in the strength which God supplies, that in everything God may get the glory” (see note 1 Peter 4:11).

To God be the glory!

5. Thank - The final step in walking by the Spirit is to thank God for any virtue attained or any good deed performed. If without the Spirit we can do no right, then we must not only ask his enablement for it but also thank Him whenever we do it. Just one example from 2Corinthians 8:16. Paul says,

“Thanks be to God Who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.”

Titus loved the Corinthians. Where did that come from? God put it in his heart. It was a fruit of the Spirit. So what does Paul do? He thanks God. And Titus should, too. Thanks be to God Who puts love in our hearts!

“If we live by the Spirit, then let us also walk by the Spirit.”  (See note Galatians 5:25)

Let us acknowledge from our heart that we are unable to please God without the Spirit’s constant enablement. Let us pray for that enablement. Let us trust confidently in the Spirit’s power and promise to give that enablement. Then let us do what we know is right. And having done it, let us turn and say with all the saints,

“Not I, but the Spirit of Christ within me.”

Thanks be to God! To Him be glory for ever and ever! Amen. (See Dr Piper's sermon Let Us Walk by the Spirit or even better download it to your Ipod and listen to the full message - Right click Audio (Mp3) and select "Save target as" - save to your ITunes)

Don Anderson describes walking by the Spirit...

The command of the apostle is very clear in Gal 5:16: “But I am saying, walk by means of the Spirit and you will by no means fulfill the desire of the flesh.” We can say that it is victory through dependence upon the Spirit. Within the child of God there is this tug-of-war going on between our flesh, our old nature, and the Spirit who energizes the new nature. To live for yourself is to walk after the flesh. To live for God is to walk after the Spirit....When we are living by the law or after the flesh, the focus is off dependence (Ed: off "being") and on doing. It is on performing. It is carrying out the curriculum. It is doing the demands of the law (Ed: In my natural strength, not by the Spiritual supernatural energizing).... To take that which is beautiful and so deform it that it is ugly. To take the finest things and to make them avenues for sin....When we are abiding in Christ, we are depending upon all that He can do, drawing upon all that He provides, and developing into His likeness (Ed: Just as Jesus described in Jn 15:5). (Reference)

Spirit (4151) (pneuma from pneo = to breathe or blow, Hebrew = ruach [07307], Latin = spiritus)  primarily denotes the wind, the air, breath, or life.  Pneuma later came to refer to the spirit,  which, like the wind, is invisible, immaterial and powerful. It also refers to the incorporeal part of man, which like breath leaves him at death and which has God-consciousness. In this latter sense the animal creation does not have a pneuma or spirit. With the spirit, man has to do with the things of God. He worships God by means of his human spirit when that spirit is energized by the Holy Spirit and He serves God in the same way.

Pneuma can refer to the attitude or disposition of a man or  “a disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of anyone.” Pneuma can also refer refers to the rational spirit, the power by which a human being feels, thinks, wills, decides (Mark 2:8). Finally, spirit refers to incorporeal beings such as angels or demons. 

See related topic: Chart contrasting in the flesh versus by the Spirit

In most of the biblical texts, and certainly here in Galatians 5:16, the meaning of the spirit is the Spirit of God (although the reader should be aware that a small percentage of commentaries interpret this as the renewed human spirit). God breathes His spirit or breath into man giving him life. Since the Christian life begins with the Spirit, the only way to continue the Christian life is by the power of the Spirit (which has been Paul's argument earlier - Gal 3:2, 3, 5; 4:6, 29, 5:5). The third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the Source of a supernatural life (justification - past tense salvation) and the only power Who can to sustain supernatural life (sanctification - present tense salvation - see Three Tenses of Salvation). The Spirit is the only source of power to love in a way that fulfills the whole law which is Paul's charge in Gal 5:13, 14. So the power is really a Person, the third Person of the Trinity, Who produces love in our heart, and it is this love which motivates us to obedience to the law. So far from making a believer lawless, the Spirit of grace" (His Name in Heb 10:29), empowers us to keep the law, which is fulfilled in loving our neighbor as ourselves. The only way to love our neighbors is by continual reliance on a power outside ourselves (although strictly speaking He is now within us - 1Cor 6:19 and is there forever Jn 14:16 - Hallelujah! Thank You Lord!). Jesus explained that real love was not mushy lip service but was a life of obedience.

(Jesus declared) If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15) (see John 14:21, 23, 24)

Comment: Now pause and think about that verse for a moment. What if Jesus had stopped there? The Pharisees may have been pleased (that is conjecture). But Jesus did not stop with that all encompassing declaration of love. In the very next passage He promises One Who will Help us carry out this quality of love, which is supernatural because it is unconditional...

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. (Jn 14:16, 17)

Findlay adds that...

Love is the guard of Christian freedom. The Holy Spirit is the guide. These principles accomplish what the law could never do. It withheld liberty and yet did not give purity. The Spirit of love and of sonship bestows both, establishing a happy, ordered freedom, the liberty of the sons of God. From the first of these two factors of Christian ethics the Apostle passes in ver. 16 to the second. He conducts us from the consequence to the cause, from the human aspect of spiritual freedom to the Divine. Love, he has said, fulfils all laws in one. It casts out evil from the heart; it stays the injurious hand and tongue; and makes it impossible for liberty to give the rein to any wanton or selfish impulse. But the law of love is no natural, automatic impulse. It is a Divine inspiration. "Love is of God." It is the characteristic "fruit of the Spirit" of adoption (Gal 5:22), implanted and nourished from above. When I bid you "by love serve each other," the Apostle says, I do not expect you to keep this law of yourselves, by force of native goodness: I know how contrary it is to your Galatic nature; "but I say, walk in the Spirit," and this will be an easy yoke (cp Mt 11:28, 29, 30); to "fulfill the desire of the flesh" will then be for you a thing impossible.

The word Spirit (pneuma) is written indefinitely; but the Galatians knew well what Spirit the Apostle meant. It is "the Spirit" of Whom he has spoken so often in this letter (Gal 3:2, 3, 5, 14; 4:6, 29; 5:5), the Holy Spirit of God, Who had entered their hearts when they first believed in Christ (Ro 8:9) and taught them to call God Father (Gal 4:6). He gave them their freedom: He will teach them how to use it. The absence of the definite article in Pneuma does not destroy its personal force, but allows it at the same time a broad, qualitative import, corresponding to that of the opposed "desire of the flesh." The walk governed "by the Spirit" is a spiritual walk. As for the interpretation of the dative case (rendered variously by, or in, or even for the Spirit), that is determined by the meaning of the noun itself. "The Spirit" is not the path "in" which one walks; rather He supplies the motive principle, the directing influence of the new life. Gal 5:16 is interpreted by Gal 5:18 and Gal 5:25. To "walk in the Spirit" is to be "led by the Spirit"; it is so to "live in the Spirit" that one habitually "moves" (marches: Gal 5:25) under His direction. (Galatians 5:16-26 Christ's Spirit and Human Flesh)

Findlay goes on to add that...

The walk governed by the Spirit is a spiritual walk...The Spirit is not the path in which one walks; rather He supplies the motive principle, the directing influence of the new life. Galatians 5:16 is interpreted by Gal 5:18 (note) and Gal 5:25 (note). To walk in the Spirit is to be “led by the Spirit”; it is so to “live in the Spirit” that one habitually “moves” (marches: Galatians 5:25 [note]) under His direction.  (Ibid)

To reiterate, at the time of regeneration the Spirit of God takes up residence in believers (cp 1Cor 12:13) to enable us to understand spiritual truth (1Cor 2:14), to call God "Father" (Romans 8:15-note; Gal 4:6), and develop a Christian personality. The Spirit is the presence of God in regenerate men making fellowship with God possible and giving power for winning the warfare against Sin ("Sin" personified by Paul in Romans 6-7 as a "King" or "Slave master") which is still resident in the every redeemed person's mortal (physical) body. In Galatians 5:16, clearly it is the Holy Spirit Who makes victory possible but only to the degree that the believer learns to "walk" by His motivating, enabling power.

Channels Only, Blessed Master,
But with all Thy wondrous power,
Flowing through us, Thou canst use us,
Every day and every hour!
--Mary Maxwell

Richison rightly quips that...

Every Christian has the Spirit, but the Spirit does not have every Christian. (ref)

Comment: Do you understand what Richison is saying? He is saying that when a person is born again, entering into the New Covenant by grace through faith, one of the promised gifts of God inherent in the New Covenant is the Holy Spirit sent from His throne to indwell everyone who is regenerated into a new creature in Christ. (eg, see Ro 8:9). What Richison is alluding to is that now believers are faced with a choice daily to die to self (the desires of our old, fallen godless flesh nature) and to make a conscious choice to listen to and depend on the Spirit. The mystery of this spiritual transaction (at least in my mind) is that absolutely no one would desire to die to self in their own energy or strength, so that even this initial "spiritual movement" leading us make the conscious choice to walk in dependence on, faith in, submission to, prayer for the Spirit is actuated by God (as in Php 2:13, Ezek 36:27). As we carry out the latter "spiritual transaction", we in effect are allowing Him to "possess" us. And yet He does so without destroying our personal identity or our free will. Mysterious? Absolutely! But absolutely necessary for us to experience the Spirit filled/controlled victorious life available to all God's children!

J B Phillips wrote that...

Every time we say, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit,’ we mean that we believe there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.

Spurgeon explains that Paul calls us to...

Walk under the Spirit’s power, following his guidance. The Spirit never leads a man into sin. He never conducts him into self-indulgence and excess.

If your life is guided by the Spirit of God, — if you are spiritual men, and your actions are wrought in the power of the Spirit, “ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Comment: I would add that wherever the Spirit leads and guides us will be into thoughts, words, actions and deeds which glorify (give a proper opinion and ultimately "point to" the Son) Jesus (Jn 16:14) This truth provides us a reasonably good "benchmark" to enable us to evaluate whether we are genuinely walking in the Spirit. A question we might want to ask from time to time (but not to put anyone under law) is "Is my life glorifying Jesus or me?" I am convicted even as I write those words!

John Eadie explains walk by the Spirit this way...

Their whole course of life in thought and act, in all its manifestations, was to be in the Spirit Who is the source of all good and gracious impulse. He is within believers the living, ennobling, and sanctifying power; and susceptibility of influence—of check and guidance—from Him, in all points of daily life, was to characterize them. (Eadie, John: Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians)

To walk by the Spirit is to allow Him to have His way. It is to remain in communion with Him. It is to make decisions in the light of His holiness (Ed: if what I just said or did is not holy, I can be assured that I was not walking in the Holy Spirit at that moment). It is to be occupied with Christ, because the Spirit’s ministry is to engage the believer with the Lord Jesus (Jn 16:14). When we thus walk in the Spirit, the flesh, or self-life, is treated as dead (cp Ro 6:11-note where Paul commands us to continually reckon ourselves as "dead to sin" but "alive to God" including His Holy Spirit - our regenerate nature can "receive" the Spirit's energizing and empowering input so to speak because we are now alive to God.). We cannot be occupied at the same time with Christ and with sin. Scofield says

“As you leave the whole burden of your sin, and rest upon the finished work of Christ, so leave the whole burden of your life and service, and rest upon the present inworking of the Holy Spirit.”

“Give yourself up, morning by morning, to be led by the Holy Spirit and go forth praising and at rest, leaving Him to manage you and your day. Cultivate the habit all through the day, of joyfully depending upon and obeying Him, expecting Him to guide, to enlighten, to reprove, to teach, to use, and to do in and with you what He wills. Count upon His working as a fact, altogether apart from sight or feeling. Only let us believe in and obey the Holy Spirit as the Ruler of our lives, and cease from the burden of trying to manage ourselves; then shall the fruit of the Spirit appear in us, as He wills, to the glory of God.” (February 10th Devotion - Truths to Live By)

When God saved us, He did not eradicate the old nature (Ed: often referred to as the flesh), neither did He reform the old life; He gave us an absolutely new life (Jn 3:6). The old nature is “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Ro 8:7-note). The Christian can conquer the self-life and have continual victory (Ed: ONLY) by walking by the Holy Spirit! (Dobson, E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible Commentary: Nelson or Logos)

Walk in (by) the Spirit (i.e., “live by the Spirit”): Christians are to live with the Spirit’s help (Our "Helper" Jn 14:16).

How does one “live by the Spirit”?

We could translate the Greek present tense imperative “Keep on walking.” To the extent that we do this we will not at all (Greek = ou me, the strongest negative) carry out our fleshly desires. This is a promise.

This does not mean that one must be constantly thinking about his or her dependence on Him to be walking in the Spirit (Ed comment: Although it would not be unreasonable to begin each day by admitting to God we can't live a supernatural life in our strength and therefore asking Him to strengthen us with power through His Spirit in the inner man - Eph 3:16. I think He would answer this prayer beloved! And our day might just be a bit different!). It is, of course, impossible to be thinking about this all the time. Nevertheless we should be trusting in Him all the time. The more we think about our dependence on Him the more consistent we will be in trusting in Him and in walking by the Spirit....This is one of the most important and helpful verses on Christian living in the Bible. (Galatians Expositional Commentary)

Walking is excellent exercise, my doctor says! (Ed: And so does the "Great Physician" regarding spiritual walking!) Walking by the Spirit demands active determination (Ed: "active acquiescence" - command to walk is in the active voice = a volitional choice - a choice of my will - but even my will is energized in a Godward direction by the Spirit in Php 2:13-note! This is to mysteriously divine!) to follow the direction of the Spirit in the power of the Spirit. (Galatians 5 Commentary)
 

The Christian should walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16, Gal 5:25-note) by reading the Word, praying, and obeying God’s will. If he disobeys God, then he is grieving the Spirit (Ep 4:30-note), and if he persists in doing this, he may quench the Spirit (1Th 5:19-note). This does not mean that the Holy Spirit will leave him, because Jesus has promised that the Spirit abides forever (Jn 14:16). But it does mean that the Spirit cannot give him the joy and power that he needs for daily Christian living. Believers should be filled with the Spirit (Ep. 5:18-note, Ep 5:19, 20-note, Ep 5:21-note), which simply means “controlled by the Spirit.” This is a continuous experience, like drinking water from a fresh stream (Jn 7:37, 38, 39).  (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos)

Steven Cole...

Assuming that you are a believer, the main requirement for being filled with the Holy Spirit is to be cleansed from all sin and to be yielded to the Spirit. A Spirit-filled person is not self-willed, but rather is submissive to God’s will. Also, being filled with the Spirit implies a moment-by-moment dependence on the Spirit, pictured in the metaphor, “walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16). Since the Holy Spirit’s main ministry is to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:14), a person who is filled with the Spirit will seek to glorify Jesus....

We walk by the Spirit by faith. A walk is a step by step process in which you commit your weight to your legs and trust them to sustain you. A walk in the Spirit is a step by step dependence on the indwelling Spirit of God. You rely upon Him in every situation for power to overcome temptations that stem from the world, the flesh, or the devil. You yield control of your life to Him, rather than being self-willed. As that walk becomes a daily habit, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are gradually formed in your life. Your good deeds, then, are not something that you do for God, but rather, something that God does through you. (Sermons on Acts)

To walk by the Spirit means to live in moment-by-moment submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit, saying no to self and yes to the Lord. It means to trust in the sufficiency and power of the Spirit because you distrust your own ability (see Pr. 3:5). As we learn to walk by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, including joy, will grow in our lives. (Sermons on Philippians)
 

When you walk by the Spirit, you nip the desires of the flesh in the bud. New God-centered desires crowd out old man-centered desires. Verse 16 promises victory over the desires of the flesh—not that there won’t be a war, but that the winner of that war will be the Spirit. In fact, I think what Paul means in Galatians 5:24  (note), when he says the flesh has been crucified, is that the decisive battle has been fought and won by the Spirit. The Spirit has captured the capital and broken the back of the resistance movement. The flesh is as good as dead. Its doom is sure. But there are outlying pockets of resistance. The guerrillas of the flesh will not lay down their arms, and must be fought back daily. The only way to do it is by the Spirit, and that’s what it means to walk by the Spirit—so live that He gives victory over the dwindling resistance movement of the flesh. So the first reason why we must walk by the Spirit is that when we do the flesh is conquered. (See the full sermon The War Within: Flesh vs Spirit)

In another sermon Piper asks...

What is the instrument with which I appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit? And the answer is faith. The Spirit flows in the channels of faith. Paul cries out in Galatians 3:2, 3,

“Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” 

And our answer should be a resounding, NO! I am not trying to overcome my bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander and malice in the power of the flesh! I am looking to the Holy Spirit to bear his fruit in my life. How am I looking? What am I doing? I am doing what I did to receive him in the first place: I am believing. I am trusting. (See the full sermon Be Kind to One Another)

John Calvin comments

If we would obey the Spirit, we must labor, and fight, and apply our utmost energy; and we must begin with self-denial. (Ed: Be careful though lest your "self denial" puts emphasis on what the self can do in the spiritual realm. The truth is we can do absolutely nothing pleasing to God in our own strength. We must choose to deny self motivated by and even empowered by the Holy Spirit. See comment below.)

Tabletalk - Walking by the Holy Spirit is the denial of the self and one’s fleshly desires and turning to Christ to follow His example (1Pe 2:21, 1Co 11:1), asking the Spirit to enable us to do so. Consider today where you might be following the desires of the flesh and not the way of the Spirit. Repent and ask the Spirit to help you follow Jesus....

Living in the Spirit is incompatible with living in the flesh—with being dominated by sin—since the flesh and the Spirit are at odds with one another (Gal 5:17). It is not a life free from all sin, for we will fall into transgression on occasion until death (1John 1:8, 9). But it is a life in which evil does not reign because the Holy Spirit Himself compels us to follow God’s will (Jer 31:31–34). We who walk by the Spirit uphold the Law, not in our own power but in putting to death any idea that we can keep our Creator’s law in our own strength and drawing upon the Spirit’s might to make us please the Lord (Eph. 5:18).
 

S Lewis Johnson writes...

The marvelous third alternative in the Christian way of life comes before us now. It is this that eliminates Judaizing, biting and devouring of one 'another (cf. Ga 5:15).There is a beautiful promise attached to the command to walk in the Spirit. It is, "and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." He does not say that believers shall never have the lust of the flesh. He rather says that they shall not "fulfill" the lust of the flesh. Christians are not, to use Luther's memorable words, "stocks and stones." They do have desires and passions. There is an inner conflict and struggle in the believer's inner man as long as he lives, but there is a way of deliverance for the Christian man through the enabling power of the Spirit of God. The Spirit is fully able to bring victory in the experiences of life. (Galatians 5:13-26 Freedom in Christ.) (Listen to his Mp3 Message)

Ray Pritchard explains walking by the Spirit noting that

Pritchard goes on to explain walking either to the light or the darkness

if you want to know how to walk by the Spirit, study walking. Have you ever noticed how babies learn to walk? They don't theorize, they don't sit in their high chair and look and see father and analyze what he's doing. You won't find any child who said, "Walking is rather easy, I've analyzed it philosophically. What you do is you put one foot out, transfer your weight to that foot, then move the next foot out, transfer your weight to that foot. Keeping them apart so that you have good balance."...This happens over a period of time. Finally he can walk, but of course he never reaches the place where he cannot fall...he learned to walk by walking...That's the way we learn to walk by the Spirit, by walking. It's to wake up in the morning and say, "Lord, this is your day, I want to walk by the Spirit. Give me some indication of what your will is for me today." It's expressed in the word of God. Lord, I'm going with the help of the Holy Spirit to trust the Word of God today...through the process of listening for the Spirit's guidance, for His leading, as He leads and directs you, you will come to understand what it is to walk by the Spirit and (thereby) you shall no longer fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And you shall have the joy and happiness of which the apostle speaks when he says, "Brethren, you were called to freedom (eleutheria)." (Gal 5:13) The freedom to be under the Holy Spirit and no longer under Moses code, I commend to you this way, for...it is the way of life, the way of joy (Ed: Walking by the Spirit is the way of freedom and fruitfulness! Gal 5:22-note, Gal 5:23-note). (Life By the Spirit)

WALKING BY THE SPIRIT by William Newell

The great lesson which each of us must lay to his own heart is that those in Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, are not under law as a principle, but under grace, full, accomplished Divine favor, that favor shown by God to Christ! And the life of the believer now is (1) in faith, not effort: as Paul speaks in Gal 2:20: "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God" (and) (2) in the power of the indwelling Spirit; for walking by the Spirit has taken the place of walking by external commandments (Newell, William: Romans 8: Expository Notes Verse by Verse)

The Spirit is not a leader like the pace car in the "Daytona 500." He is a leader
like a locomotive on a train. We do not follow in our strength. We are led by his power. So 'walk by the Spirit' means stay hooked up to the divine source of power and go wherever he leads. (Read the full sermon The War Within)

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UNDERRATED VALUES - Why is it that some of the best things in life can sound so unappealing to us -- things like holiness, obedience, Spirit-control, and faith, for instance? Why do they so often trigger a sudden yawn rather than wet eyes of thankful emotions? Could it be that we've underrated their value?

Think how much these values can do for us. A truly Spirit-controlled person won't cheat on a spouse, abuse a child, or fudge on an income tax return. A Christ-controlled person isn't even likely to kick the family dog, or watch the best of intentions evaporate while lounging in front of a television.

Every believer in Christ faces a constant challenge to live a pure life (Gal 5:17). Has that moment- by-moment walk under the Holy Spirit's guidance
seemed too difficult lately? It's possible we've been underrating what should be of greatest value  to us. The cost to ourselves and our loved ones may be tremendous.

If we find ourselves yielding to temptation again and again, perhaps we need to take stock of what's  really important. It's time to learn to walk in the Spirit instead of sacrificing life's best for  the shortsighted, self-destructive desires of  the flesh. -- Martin R. De Haan II (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Help me, Lord, to live my life
Free from selfishness and strife
So that others clearly see
Changes You have made in me.-- Sper

If we take a stand for Christ, we're not likely to fall for the devil

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A FATHER of two teenagers told me it was the worst purchase he ever made. A pastor, writing in a major Christian magazine, told how it fed his desire for pornography. A missionary spoke of the shocking fare her son was exposed to at the home of a Christian family. My children sat through the same surprises while visiting Christian friends. What am I talking about? VCRs. (Ed note: And now add to that list DVD's, Internet, etc)

There is nothing inherently wrong with VCRs. They can be a tool for parents to use in taking control of what their children watch on television. And many fine Christian and non-Christian tapes are available to watch. There's no evil in a box that plays videos, but there is a real danger. The letters V C R should stand for Very Controlled Resource.

The warnings in Galatians 5 give excellent guidelines that we can apply to VCRs. First, "Walk in the Spirit" (Gal 5:16). Allow the Holy Spirit to guide our choices. Second, don't use the VCR to "fulfill the lust of the flesh" (v. 16). Third, avoid giving in to fleshly desires, because by giving in we fail to "do the [good] things" that we wish (Gal 5:17). And fourth, never watch anything that fills our minds with sinful thoughts (Gal 5:19, 20, 21).

These are sensible guidelines to use in determining what we allow our children to watch. But they will be even more useful (and more powerful) if we use them to determine what we watch. —J D Branon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

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FARMER Johnson smiled as he strolled out of the hardware store with a new chainsaw guaranteed to cut five big oak trees an hour. Twenty-four hours later, however, his smile was gone. With obvious frustration, Johnson was back at the store complain­ing that the saw would never cut five trees an hour. "Why, it only cut five trees all day long!" he said.

Puzzled, the store owner took the saw outside, gave the cord a rip, and fired up the steel-toothed beast. The deafening roar of the saw startled Johnson so badly that he stumbled trying to get away. "What's that noise?" he gasped.

Johnson's attempt to cut down trees without starting the chainsaw is like our foolishness when we try to do the work of Christ in our own strength. We get frustrated and spiritually exhausted when we try to make life work on our terms and by our schedule.

The spirit of Christ, who lives within all believers (Ro 8:9, 10, 11-note), often seems silent when we try to live by our own strength. Yet His presence can become real and powerful when we trust Him for the life we cannot live. —M R De Haan II (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

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During his term as President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson was somewhat overweight. One day his wife challenged him with this blunt assertion: "You can't run the country if you can't run yourself." Respecting Mrs. Johnson's wise observation, the president lost twenty-three pounds.

As believers in Christ, we are challenged by the author of Hebrews to rid ourselves of "every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us" (Hebrews 12:1-note). This includes anything that encumbers our spiritual effectiveness. By discipline and self-con­trol, we must shed any habit, practice, or attitude that hinders our spiritual welfare and service for the Lord. Such self-discipline is necessary if we are to "run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Heb 12:1).

The way to achieve this self-control is to place ourselves under the Holy Spirit's control. In Galatians 5:16, the apostle Paul admonished, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." And according to Gal 5:23, the fruit of the Spirit includes self-control.

If there are sinful excesses in our lives we need to lose "weight" by submitting ourselves to the Spirit's control and thereby exer­cising self-control. —R W De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

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AN elderly man who grew an amazing amount of food in a small garden said, "I have little trouble with weeds because I leave them no room. I fill the ground with healthy vegetables."

I tried his formula a few years ago when I found the weeds out-growing my impatiens in a five-by-five-foot area. After pulling out the weeds, I added another box of flowers and watered them well. Soon the flowers took over, leaving no room for unsightly vegetation.

This principle works not only in keeping weeds out of our gar-dens; it also works in keeping sin out of our lives. Paul put it like this: "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). Peter said that we would neither be "bar­ren nor unfruitful" if we supplement our faith with virtue, broth­erly kindness, and love (2Peter 1:5, 6, 7, 8-note). And in the Old Testament, Isaiah promised the Israelites that the nation would become like a watered garden if they would fill their lives with good deeds (Isaiah 58:11).

Are spiritual weeds taking over your life? If so, pull them out. Confess your sins. Trust God to forgive you. Become account-able. Then fill your life with good things. You'll soon find your garden fruitful and productive, with no room for weeds. —H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

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Our Daily Bread has an illustration which emphasizes that walking in the Spirit requires a conscious choice of our will...

When we go the wrong way spiritually, we do so, in one sense, on purpose. Douglas Corrigan became known as "wrong-way Corrigan" in 1938 when he took off in his plane from Brooklyn, New York, on an announced flight to Long Beach, California. A little over twenty-three hours later, he touched down in Dublin, Ireland, and asked officials, "Is this Los Angeles?" For years people laughed at his "miscalculations," but finally in 1963 he admitted that his trip across the Atlantic had really been planned. Unable to get clearance to cross the ocean, he went ahead and made the flight "by mistake" on purpose.

There's a striking parallel between Corrigan's action and much of our own experience as Christians. Romans 1 declares that fallen human nature is self-willed and resents God (flesh). Although it describes the unregenerate man, it helps us understand how the sin principle (flesh) still operates in the believer's life. Even though we are new creatures in Christ, the strong, willful tendency remains in us. Some people might think that a Christian would not intentionally choose to do wrong. But the Bible clearly indicates that every believer experiences a struggle between the flesh and the indwelling Spirit (Gal 5:16, 17). That's why we must determine to submit to Him, for He gives us a desire to follow righteousness.

Such deliberate surrender will keep us from going the wrong way "by accident" on purpose. —M. R. De Haan II (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Those who are fully surrendered to the Lord
will never deliberately surrender to the enemy.
(Ed note: And our worst enemy lives within us - our flesh)

THE PRECIOUS
PROMISE

AND YOU WILL NOT CARRY OUT THE DESIRE OF THE FLESH: kai epithumian sarkos ou me telesete (2PAAS): (Gal 5:19, 20, 21; Romans 6:12; 13:13,14; 2Co 7:1-note; Ep 2:3; Col 2:11; 3:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; 1Pe 1:14; 2:11; 4:1, 2, 3, 4; 1Jn 2:15,16)

The "actualization" of this promise is by the believer's choosing to walk in the power of the Spirit. And notice that Paul does not say we will no longer have desires of the flesh, but that we will not carry them out. He does promise continual "victory" over the flesh as long as we walk by the Spirit. The way to achieve the victory is by obedience to God's command that we walk by the Spirit.

As we have emphasized many times on this website, the Bible translation you use is very important, and it will affect the way you interpret Scripture. A case in point is the Revised Standard Version's rendering of this passage...

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

What do you observe that distinguishes the RSV? What does the second clause appear to be in this translation? Obviously, it comes across as a command, when to the contrary it is a promise. The point is that one must be aware that every English translation has some degree of translator "bias" which is unavoidable when you recall that we are translating 11,000 plus words from their original language (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek) with only 6000 English words! If you are serious about wanting to know what God spoke when He inspired the original authors, your goal should be to make it a practice to study Scriptures in a version that is as close to the original Greek and Hebrew as possible. We recommend the NASB, the ESV, the KJV (especially the NKJV), Young's Literal (although this is not good for general reading but is useful to compare to the other versions). The NIV is popular but is definitely more interpretative than the other more literal translations, and is not as useful for serious, in depth Bible study. (See Bible Versions compared for how literal they translate the Hebrew and Greek - and note that the RSV is generally a more literal version.)

Findlay notes that...

This antithesis of Flesh and Spirit presents the following consideration: —

(1) the diametrical opposition of the two forces;

(2) the effect of the predominance of one or the other;

(3) the mastery over the flesh which belongs to those who are Christ’s. In a word, Christ’s Spirit is the absolute antagonist and the sure vanquisher of our sinful human flesh.

“I say, Walk by the Spirit, and you will verily not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

On what ground does this bold assurance rest? Because, the Apostle replies, the Spirit and the flesh are opposites (Gal 5:17- note). Each is bent on destroying the ascendancy of the other. Their cravings and tendencies stand opposed at every point. Where the former rules, the latter must succumb. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16-26 Christ's Spirit and Human Flesh)

Note that believers cannot simply will to overcome the flesh, but we can submit to the control of the Spirit Who Himself overcomes the flesh! Many believers read Galatians 5:16 backward. In other words, they reason that if they are not fulfilling the lust of the flesh, then they can walk by the Spirit. So what do they do? They try with all their will power to overcome their addictions and lusts, but what they are doing is trying to do it in their own power. How often have we heard people say "I've turned over a new leaf." or "I've made a new resolution"? Paul's point is that we can never overcome our besetting sins by ourselves, in our own power. We must come to the point of full surrender to Jesus Christ, confessing our sins, and yielding ourselves to Him so that by His grace we can walk in the Spirit. And as we walk in the Spirit, the indwelling Jesus Christ, by the power of His Spirit, begins to live His supernatural life, the Christ-life, in and through us. And when that happens we find that we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. The upshot is -- don't "try", just "die", die to self effort, self improvement, etc, making the continual choice to surrender to the divine desires and "holy urgings" of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Alan Cole gives us a good reminder...

This promise of deliverance from the ‘flesh’ (Gal 5:16b) is not automatic or magical. Failure to realize this has caused much disillusionment among young Christians, as perhaps it did also among the Galatians. Indeed, as suggested, it may have been one of the reasons for their lapse into legalism (Gal 3:2, 3, 5:1). As Betz well says, ‘the promise depends upon the previous imperative—and its result”

Barnes writes that...

Never was a better, a safer, or a more easy rule given to overcome our corrupt and sensual desires than that here furnished...the only way to overcome the corrupt desires and propensities of our nature, is by submitting to the influences of the Holy Spirit. It is not by philosophy; it is not by mere resolutions to resist them; it is not by the force of education and laws; it is only by admitting into our souls the influence of religion (Ed note: I like the word "relationship", as in relationship to the Father through the Son, better than "religion"), and yielding ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. If we live under the influences of that Spirit, we need not fear the power of the sensual and corrupt propensities of our nature. (Notes on the New Testament)

Will not carry out - Some versions render this as gratify (to yield to, to indulge) or fulfill. This statement clearly implies that there is a conflict between the Spirit and the flesh, the believer’s new, Spirit-indwelt, nature and his old, sinful, self. And so the promise that we will not gratify the desire of the flesh is not a guarantee of cancellation of sins or the sin nature (flesh). Believers will struggle with the flesh as long as we are alive in non-glorified bodies.  Christ crucified sin judicially on the cross as Paul taught...

our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with (made ineffective, but not annihilated), that we should no longer be slaves to Sin (see note Romans 6:6)

And yet this body of sin still stimulates us to actively oppose God’s will. The solution for victory over the flesh is not rules and regulations but living a life empowered by the Holy Spirit. And the reason we must continually walk in the Spirit is because the flesh will influence us until we die.

Only as we walk in the Spirit can believers rise above the limitations of the flesh and avoid fulfilling its desires. But if we walk in the Spirit,  the promise is emphatic that if we are walking by the power of the Spirit, we cannot be in the control of the other.

Jameison, Fausset and Brown write...

The best way to keep tares out of a bushel is to fill it with wheat. (Ed note: This sounds very reasonable, but one problem with "tares" Jesus explained is that they look a lot like wheat. Our self effort can "look good" to others but be dead works in God's eyes.)

It is promised, not that we should have no evil lusts, but that we should "not fulfil" them. If the spirit that is in us can be at ease under sin, it is not a spirit that comes from the Holy Spirit. The gentle dove trembles at the sight even of a hawk's feather.

Wiersbe adds that...

Life, not law, changes behavior; and as you yield to the Spirit, Christ’s life is manifest in the fruit of the Spirit. Law works by compulsion from without, but grace works by compassion from within.

Boa cautions that...

The flesh is overcome not by resolutions or self-effort, but by walking in submission to the rule of the Holy Spirit. If we fail to appropriate these resources, we will be under the dominion of the flesh. This in turn makes us vulnerable to the other two forces in the spiritual warfare, the world and the devil. The world and its lusts appeal to the flesh and add fuel to the fire....

The power of the Holy Spirit was central in the life of Christ Jesus. He was conceived by the power of the Spirit; the Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism; He was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness; He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; He was anointed by the Spirit to preach the gospel, to heal, and to deliver people from demonic bondage; He spoke of the need to be born of the Spirit; He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit; He promised the gift of the Spirit of truth to His disciples; and He breathed on them after His resurrection saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Christ was engulfed in the Spirit of God and did all things through dependence on the Spirit’s power. This same power now indwells all of Jesus’ followers, both Jew and Gentile, and energizes kingdom living today...

Instead of focusing on “having” the Holy Spirit, we should be more concerned with the Holy Spirit having us.  (Ibid)

Not - Paul uses the strong double negative (coupling 2 Greek words both meaning "no") - ou (3756) meaning absolute negation plus me (3361) meaning relative negation. Using these two negatives (ou me) Paul is saying that when you are walking in the Spirit, there is absolutely no way you will carry out the desires of the flesh. In other words it is not even a possibility (as long as you are walking in the Spirit). The two are mutually exclusive. It is as if walking in the Spirit and fulfilling the desires of the flesh are 180 degrees apart. It follows that the best "defense" against the strong desires or lusts of the flesh which continually wage war against a believer (1Peter 2:11-note) is a good "offense". The "offense" is learning to walk in the Spirit. God guarantees or promises that we will not carry out the desires of the flesh if we walk in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives strong desire to do God’s will. Remember if God commands it (which He does), He enables it! We can truly walk in the power of the Spirit, beloved. It is God's will for His children. Are you walking in the Spirit? Is the church in general walking in the Spirit? If not, why not? Remember God's commandments always include His enablements! And walking in the Spirit is to be the normal Christian life!

Surgeon comments that...

They will never agree; these two powers are always contrary one to the other. If you think that you can help God by getting angry, you make a great mistake. You cannot fight God’s battles with the devil’s weapons. It is not possible that the power of the flesh should help the power of the Spirit.

Be obedient to that great principle of the Spirit which goes with the doctrine of grace and salvation by faith, and then you will not be obedient to that lusting of the flesh which is in you by nature.

You are pulled about by two contrary forces; you are dragged downward by the flesh, and you are drawn upward by the Spirit.

Lightfoot phrases it this way...

Between the Spirit and the flesh there is not only no alliance; there is an interminable, deadly feud. (You feel these antagonistic forces working in you: you would fain follow the guidance of your conscience, and you are dragged back by an opposing power.) And if you adopt the rule of the Spirit, you thereby renounce your allegiance to the law.’ In this passage the Spirit is doubly contrasted, first, with the flesh, and secondly, with the law. The flesh and the law are closely allied: they both move in the same element, in the sphere of outward and material things. The law is not only no safeguard against the flesh, but rather provokes it; and he who would renounce the flesh, must renounce the law also. (Ed note: Of course Lightfoot is not advocating we live lawlessly, but just that we do not attempt to "keep it" legalistically or in the sense of having the vain thought we are meriting God's favor or are pleasing Him in any way. He is please with the Son and we are in the Son and when we walk by the Son's Spirit, we please the Father!) We have here germs of the ideas more fully developed in the Epistle to the Romans. (Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians)

Carry out (5055) (teleo from telos = goal, an end, a purpose, an aim, a fulfillment, an achievement; See discussion of related words - Mature = teleios; Maturity [perfect] = teleiotes) means to bring to an end (e.g., Jesus finished speaking - see below) as one brings a process, a course, a task or an undertaking to the end.

Teleo means to accomplish an obligation or demand in the sense of to bring about a result by effort. The idea is to achieve a goal or to conclude it successfully.

The desire of the flesh - the fallen, perverted "lusts" of the flesh. Notice that in a believer's body there still lurks this force Paul refers to as "the flesh" and which he personifies as possessing desires. As discussed the profane desires that emanate from the flesh are diametrically opposed to the holy desires of God. From this analysis you can see that "desire" is not always evil, but can be good and holy (see notes below).

Keep in mind that Paul does more than command us not to fulfill the desires of the flesh but only to live in dependency on and sensitivity to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Saying "no" to the desires of the flesh will be the natural outcome of walking in the Spirit.

Desire (1939) (epithumia from epi = at, toward {the preposition "epi-" in the compound is directive conveying the picture of "having one’s passion toward"} + thumos = passion. The root verb epithumeo = set heart upon) is a morally neutral term denoting the presence of strong desires or impulses, longings or passionate craving directed toward an object. As discussed below, whether the desires are good or evil (in the latter case, translations often render it as "lusts")

Epithumia can be used in a good sense referring to the natural, legitimate and necessary God given desires (eg, hunger, thirst, sex, etc) which are fulfilled in a God honoring way. In Galatians 5:16 desire in the good sense refers to desires of God's Spirit Who indwells each believer. In marked contrast are the strong perverted and unrestrained desires that originate from our flesh (see meaning below) which is completely corrupt and irrevocably fallen. Lust as used in modern parlance usually refers to a strong desire for sexual gratification but in Scripture, lust usually describes any strong desire, craving or longing after that which is forbidden or which belongs to someone else or the strong desire to engage in an activity that is morally wrong.

Love can wait and worship endlessly; lust says, "I must have it at once."

Lust is like rot in the bones.

Vine adds that the phrase

As discussed, even believers are vulnerable to the attacks from the lusts of deceit. Note also that the nature of evil lusts is that they attempt to deceive us. In other words, lusts deceive us and lead us astray, promising more than they deliver and producing (spiritual, soul) rottenness when "conceived".

flee (present imperative = command to flee continually, the implication being that these lusts are continually bombarding us) from youthful lusts (epithumia) and pursue (present imperative) righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (see  note 2 Timothy 2:22)

Comment: This passage parallels Galatians 5:16 where we are called to walk in the Spirit, which is the only way we can effectively flee the lusts of the flesh and pursue what is right.

In Romans Paul commands believers to

The Jewish historian Josephus, speaking of Cleopatra, says

Flesh (4561) (sarx) is used frequently in the NT (147 times) but it has many nuances so that some Greek lexicons list as mans as 11 definitions for sarx! No wonder there is so much confusion concerning the nature of the flesh! The diligent student of the Word must carefully observe the context of each use of sarx in order to discern the intended meaning. In a literal sense sarx refers to the physical body ("flesh and blood") but Paul's use here in Galatians 5 is figurative (as are most of his uses).

The flesh does not lie dormant within us like a sleeping enemy that goes into action only when aroused. Scripture teaches and experience confirms that the flesh urges us to carry out its passions, desires, and deeds. (Understanding Christian Theology or Logos)

all the evil that man is and is capable of apart from the intervention of God's grace in his life. In this respect sarx is synonymous with "the natural man" or "the old nature." Because fallen man is only flesh apart from the intervention of God's Spirit, "old nature" or "sinful nature" (as in NIV) rather than "lower nature" (NEB, Phillips) or "animal nature" is the better translation in these passages. Sarx also contains thoughts of human limitation, both intellectually (1Cor 2:14, where, however, the term psuchikos is used) and morally (Romans 7:18-note). Thus, that which is flesh is incapable of knowing God apart from special revelation and the redemption that removes the barrier of sin.

Flesh is the Adamic principle of evil which, apart from the revelation of Scripture, we would never know exists because it continually deceives us into self-effort, self-interest, self-praise, self-pity, self-admiration, and self-centeredness of every kind. Deliverance can come only by the reintroduction into man of a new spirit, which is under the control of the Holy Spirit. The unsaved person does not have the Holy Spirit of God (see note Romans 8:9) and lives in the flesh and for the flesh. His or her mind is centered only on the things that satisfy the flesh. In contrast, the believer can live according to the flesh or in the Spirit. Paul repeatedly encourages believers to overcome the deeds of the flesh by living in the Spirit.

The mind of the flesh describes that attitude or disposition of heart and mind apart from regenerating grace. (see note Colossians 1:28)

As alluded to above, legalism appeals to the fallen flesh. The flesh loves to be “religious”—to obey laws, to observe holy occasions, to fast, etc. Certainly there is nothing wrong with obedience, fasting, or etc, provided that the Holy Spirit does the motivating and the empowering, in which situation we have nothing to boast about except God's power. On the other hand, the flesh loves to boast about its religious achievements.

Flesh-driven people are the children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3-note) and as such cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 6:9, 10; see Ga 5:19; 20; 21, Ep 2:11; 12; 5:5 see notes Ga 5:19; 20; 21; Ep 2:11; 12; 5:5).

Born again believers must remember that there is still a remnant of the fallen flesh within our physical bodies of flesh. The difference for believers, in contrast to the unregenerate , is that we now have the power of the Holy Spirit to say "yes" to God and "no" to the flesh, whereas before we were co-crucified with Christ (Ro 6:1; 6:2; 6:3; 6:4; 6:5; 6:6; 6:7; 6:8; 6:9; 10;11 -- see notes Ro 6:1; 6:2; 6:3; 6:4; 6:5; 6:6; 6:7; 6:8; 6:9; 6:10; 6:11) we had no choice but to obey the lusts of the flesh. An unbeliever can live only in the flesh, but the believer can now live in the Spirit or can fall back into living according to the flesh. It follows that it is not enough for us to have the Spirit (which every believer does possess), but the Spirit must possess and control us! Only then can He produce through us the abundant life in Christ. We no longer have any obligation to the flesh, because the flesh has only brought trouble into our lives. On the other hand as Paul commands here in Galatians 5:16, believers do have an obligation to the Holy Spirit. And because the Spirit is “the Spirit of Life” He can empower us to obey Christ, and enable us to be more like Christ.

John MacArthur addresses the issue of residual flesh still present in believers writing that...

Middletown Bible Church teaching notes (there is some repetition but this helps us get the main points about the flesh) explain that there are five things that will never happen to the flesh...

A Christian has an old nature from his physical birth and a new nature from his spiritual birth. The New Testament contrasts these two natures and gives them various names which are more or less synonyms

IN THE FLESH

It is important to clarify the meaning of the phrase in the flesh. In the flesh describes an unregenerate person, one who is continually governed by their sinful human nature. The unredeemed, unregenerate person can operate only in the sphere and influence of the flesh. As alluded to above, although we sometimes hear someone accuse a believer of being in the flesh, strictly speaking believers are no longer in the flesh. Believers may act fleshly but their entire sphere of being is no longer solely in the flesh for they now have the Holy Spirit Who indwells a "circumcised" new heart. A person who lives completely in the realm of the flesh cannot belong to Christ.

Hendricksen agrees writing that

Ephesians 2:3 (note) Among them ([those who were] dead in...trespasses and sins...sons of disobedience...) we too all formerly lived in the lusts (strong inclinations and desires of every sort - see notes on epithumia) of our flesh, indulging the desires (thelema = emphasizes strong will-fulness, wanting and seeking something with great diligence) of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (cf 1John 2:15 "the lust of the flesh", 1Pe 2:11 "abstain from fleshly [sarkikos] lusts"-see notes)

Romans 7:25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (see note)

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (see note)

Comment: Warren Wiersbe explains that

It is important that a believer remember what God says about his old nature, the flesh. Everything God says about the flesh is negative. In the flesh there is no good thing (Ro 7:18-note). The flesh profits nothing (Jn 6:63). A Christian is to put no confidence in the Flesh (Php 3:3 - note). He is to make no provision for the flesh (Ro 13:14 - note). A person who lives for the flesh is living a negative life. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor) (Ed note: And I would add that if that person lives continually and solely for the flesh, he is not just "living a negative life" but a dead life, for such a continual lifestyle does not describe a believer but an unbeliever.)

Romans 6:19 (note) I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. (cf Mt 26:41; Mk 14:38)

Romans 8:3 (note)  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (the weakness of our humanness), God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh (physical body)

Romans 8:4 (note) that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 8:5 (note) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 8:6 (note) For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. (Although some disagree, this passage describes an unbeliever)

Romans 8:12 (note) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  8:13 (note) For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (see note)

Gal 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Romans 13:14 (note) Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (If we feed the flesh, we will fail; but if we feed the inner man the nourishing things of the Spirit, we will succeed)

Phil 3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (By “flesh” Paul is referring to man’s unredeemed humanness, his own ability and achievements apart from God. The Jews placed their confidence in being circumcised, being descendants of Abraham, and performing the external ceremonies and duties of the Mosaic law—things that could not save them. The true believer views his flesh as sinful, without any capacity to merit salvation or please God. - MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word Pub)

Galatians 5:24 (note) And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

2 Peter 2:10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries (see note)

Gal 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. (see note)

Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (see note)

1 Cor 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, (related adjective sarkikos = pertaining to behavior which is typical of human nature, with focus upon more base physical desires) as to babes in Christ.

Comment: Paul explained that there are two kinds of saved people: mature and immature (carnal - note that "carnal" is not necessarily the best translation because in English "carnal" often conveys the sense of one surrendered to bodily appetites, especially of the sexual nature, a fact which may or may not be the case in an immature believer). A Christian matures by allowing the Spirit to teach him and direct him by feeding on the Word. The immature Christian lives for the things of the flesh and has little interest in the things of the Spirit. Note that although they may be controlled for a time by the flesh, they are still not "in the flesh" which is the state of an unregenerate man. Note also that Living for the flesh means grieving the Holy Spirit of God who lives in us. To allow the flesh to control the mind is to lose the blessing of fellowship with God.

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A LESSON FROM THE OAK TREE - Have you ever noticed that in winter some oak trees retain crisp, dry leaves long after the maples, the elms, and the walnuts have become bare skeletons? Even the strong winter winds and the early spring rains do not strip the oak branches completely. But as springtime progresses, something wonderful happens. Tiny little buds start appearing at the tips of the twigs, pushing off the dried remnants of the preceding season. What the winds and rain could not do from without, the forces of new life do from within.

At times, old habits cling to our lives with the same tenacity as those oak leaves. Even the winds of trial and suffering do not remove all the lifeless leftovers of our fallen human nature. But Christ, who dwells in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, is at work. His life within us continually seeks to push off the old habits, renewing us when we confess our sins, steadying us when
we falter, and strengthening us to do His will.

When every effort to cast off an old sinful habit ends in failure, remember the mighty oak. Thank God for His Spirit who lives in you. Keep saying yes to His gentle urging to be kind, loving, honest, strong, and faithful. He'll push off those "lifeless old leaves." Dennis J. De Haan

When stubborn sins tenaciously
Hold to their former place,
We must rely on Jesus' strength
And His unfailing grace. --Sper

The best way to get rid of a bad habit is to start a good habit-- rely on God.

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Illustration of the Old Flesh Nature - Several years ago we had a pet raccoon we called Jason. For hours he would entertain us by wrestling with our dog, MacTavish, a kind and gentle Scottish terrier. Jason, on the other hand, was a kind of schiz­oid terror. One minute he would snuggle up on your lap like a perfect angel and the next he'd be engaged in the most fiendish antics. If unrestrained, he would breakfast on dove eggs, raid the garbage can, or tear up the flowerbed. Although he was a delightful pet, we became increasingly aware that his destructive actions were governed by his wild instincts. Jason would always have the nature of a raccoon, and we had to watch him closely no matter how tame he seemed to be.

Often when I observed Jason's behavior, I thought of the fallen, sin­ful nature that we as Christians retain even though we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Paul referred to this as the "flesh" in which "nothing good dwells" (Ro 7:18). It may be repressed and restrained, but it is always there. Unless we are daily controlled by the Lord, our old "self" will demonstrate its destructive, pleasure-seeking capacity in some way or another.

Although we are new creatures in Christ, we still possess a tendency to sin. But we need not be governed by it, for we are united to Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. By obeying God's Word and yielding to the Spirit, we can be victorious over the flesh—the "nature of the beast" within. —M. R. De Haan II (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

The secret of self-control is to give control of ourselves to God.

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I like Grant Richison's practical summarization of Galatians 5:16...

The onus for living the Spirit-filled life lies on the believer. The Christian must exercise his volition both in salvation and sanctification. In salvation, the Christian must put faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. In sanctification, the Christian must yield to the power of the Holy Spirit to execute the Christian way of life. The Christian does this by confession of sin (1 John 1:9) and yielding everything in his life to the control of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18 -note). There is no peaceful co-existence between the flesh and the Spirit. Co-existence, yes. Peaceful co-existence, no. There is no compromise between the two domains.

Christians cannot ever be completely free from evil desires that originate in their sin capacity but they do not need to surrender to them because they have the power of the Holy Spirit available to them. God gives us strong assurance that if we depend on the Holy Spirit, He will give us victory over sin.

God puts the onus on the believer to refuse to obey the ruling of sin by placing ourselves under the power of the Holy Spirit. God chained the dogs but if we unchain them, that is our responsibility. By the power of the Holy Spirit we are free to chose the right and refuse the wrong. The Holy Spirit will not do for us what he asks him to do. The believer must cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit.

The most effective way of keeping water moisture from forming in the gas tank is to fill the tank with gas. Thus the believer must allow himself to be filled with the Spirit to preempt the passions of the soul. (Galatians 5:16; 16b) (Bolding added)