Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Man's nature presents two sides. On the one hand the body, with all its physical needs, desires, impulses; on the other hand that spiritual nature which distinguishes him from the animal creation. These two sides are often found in collision, warring against each other; the question is, how shall they be adjusted, and which ought to rule? The two extremes of crushing out one or the other entirely, are both wrong. The Christian method does no violence to any true part of human nature. It respects all parts; but gives special emphasis to the highest, not by crushing out the lower, but by bringing it into proper subordination, so that there shall be harmony, due proportion, and complete unity. I. THE SPIRITUAL NATURE MUST HAVE THE FIRST PLACE. It is the most noble, and therefore the most worthy of attention. II. THE SPIRIT IS TO BE THE DIRECTING AND RULING ELEMENT. It is to sway the body, not the body to sway it. III. THE PHYSICAL NATURE IS TO BE ALLOWED TO EXERCISE ITS NATURAL RIGHTS, BUT UNDER THE GUIDANCE AND CONTROL OF THE SPIRITUAL. How practical is all this! St. Paul does not content himself with taking up a merely negative attitude. To have simply forbidden this or that, or to have told his readers that they were to exercise a restraint upon their passions, would have been at best only a partial and an unsatisfactory way of dealing with their danger. He was far too true a master of the human heart to fall into the error that nothing more than prohibition was needed. If man is to be saved from evil thoughts, habits, passions, he must be given definite and positive duties to fulfil. This is true both of (a) the body, and (b) the mind, as well as (c) the soul.Be up and doing. Don't be idle. Let your life have definite aims; your heart and mind definite impulses, desires, principles. In this way will you be better able not only to resist what is evil but to grow in what is best. (A. Boyd Carpenter, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.WEB: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. |
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