And they who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:24–25). How does one crucify the flesh? We should notice that Paul uses the term “crucified,” which is in the past tense. The Apostle does this because every single Believer crucified the flesh when he came to Christ. That’s what Romans 6:3–5 means. When the believing sinner comes to Christ, he is first of all baptized into the death of Christ, then buried with Him by Baptism into death, and then raised with Him in newness of life. This is what Paul is referring to. At that time, every single sin in the heart and live of the Christian is defeated, and the Sin Nature is made ineffective (Rom. 6:6). But if the new Believer then transfers his Faith from the Cross of Christ, which is the way he came into Redemption, to other things, then the Sin Nature comes to life, and the person is once again ruled by that evil nature (Rom. 6:13), all because his faith has been transferred to something other than the Cross. The Believer must understand that the only way “the flesh with the affections and lusts” can be overcome is by trusting Christ and what Christ did at the Cross. This is what Paul means by the word “crucified.” Now that the believing sinner has come to Christ, he “lives in the Spirit,” meaning that everything he has from the Lord is imparted to him by the Holy Spirit, Who—as we have been saying over and over again—works exclusively within the parameters of the Christ and the Cross (Rom. 8:2). In view of the fact that every one of us who is a Believer has this Divine Life operating within us, we then should “walk in the Spirit,” which refers to the manner in which we conduct our life or our lifestyle. The word “walk” is from the Greek “stoicheo,” which means “to walk in a straight line, to conduct one’s self rightly.” Thus, the exhortation to the Galatian Believers, who have Divine Life resident in their beings, is to conduct themselves under the guidance, impulses, and energy of that life. Here we have the possibility of a total victory over the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Consequently, the responsibility of the Saint is to desire to live a Christlike life, and to depend upon the Holy Spirit for the power to live that life, which we obtain by registering our Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross. Fulfilling this will bring all the infinite resources of Grace to the aid of the Saint and put in operation all the activities of the Holy Spirit, all on our behalf. Without one’s Faith registered and anchored in Christ and the Cross, and remaining in Christ and the Cross, it is literally impossible to “walk in the Spirit.” As a result, the Sin Nature will begin to rear its ugly head, with unholy “affections and lusts” becoming predominant in the life of the Believer. It doesn’t really matter who the Believer is, whether the Pastor of the largest Church in the country, or the Evangelist drawing the largest crowds. The Lord has one way of victory, and one way alone, because that is all that is needed. As we have said in Devotion after Devotion, that one way is “Christ and the Cross.” That’s why Paul also said, “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ be made of none effect” (I Cor. 1:17). Paul wasn’t demeaning Water Baptism, only that the theme of our Faith must be “Christ and Him Crucified.”
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 13:25:06 +0000
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