The Heart Of Paul’s Theology: Paul And The GalatiansSample

Power of the Spirit: Galatians 5:16-26

Having established this two-fold orientation toward the importance of freedom in Christ and righteous living, Paul addressed the importance of the power of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:16-26. How could the Galatians be empowered to resist sin if not by legalism and human effort?

In a word, Paul answered that every believer must rely on the Holy Spirit for leading and empowerment rather than on the flesh. Consider the way he put it in 5:16 and 25:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature…Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25).

From Paul’s point of view, the only way to live a holy life in Christ was to depend on and follow the Spirit of God. 

Now, it is always important to remember that Paul never set the Holy Spirit over or against the Scriptures. For Paul, living by the Spirit could not be divorced from written revelation. The Spirit of God always led God’s people to live according to the written Word of God, as it had already been revealed in the Old Testament and as it was progressively being revealed in Paul’s letters and in other writings that would become the New Testament. But living by the Spirit was not merely to conform to the teaching of written texts. It also involved a conscious dependence on the power of the Spirit to fulfill what God had commanded. Christians have nothing to fear from God if they rely on the Spirit to produce the fruit of righteousness in their lives.