Harvesting Christ - Gospel Freedom in Galatians - November 15 Readings: Galatians 5:16-18

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Gospel Freedom in Galatians  

Background: What was the key issue in the early church? Race. Culture. Issues that are still with us today. The church at its inception on Pentecost was essentially 100% Jewish and the Apostles and the church in Jerusalem seemed content to keep it that way. Then God called a Pharisee named Saul to salvation and set him aside as an Apostle to the Gentiles. Over the next 30 years, the church became primarily Gentile with a Jewish minority, and many Jews fought it. 

Galatians was Paul's first letter, written at the end of his first missionary journey when Gentiles began to come to Christ in droves. A group, sometimes called Judaizers and sometimes the circumcision party, opposed the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. If they were to be part of the church, they needed to become Jewish - follow the law and Jewish rituals. Paul fought them tooth and nail his entire ministry. The gospel was for the whole world. 

Galatians is a powerful argument for a gospel free from the works of the law. 

As often as time allows, the reader is encouraged to read the entire book - it will not take more than a few minutes. Each day we will work our way through the book passage by passage. 


Today's Reading:  Galatians 1-6  Focus Passage - Galatians 5:16-18


I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Through the Bible Readings: Ezekiel 37, Hebrews 7:11–28, Psalm 122, Proverbs 28:2–4 

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional:  Harvesting Christ   


How many products advertise being all-natural? But if all-natural is all-good, why do we talk about natural disasters? Aren’t tsunamis and poison ivy and rattlesnakes and skunks “all-natural?” The key truth of Galatians 5:16-26 is that the last thing we want to be is natural. We want to be freed from our natural condition so that we can become spiritual and Christ can be formed in us. The Bible uses the word natural as a synonym for sinful.

The Holy Spirit, after you are saved, begins to plant a crop in you, the crop of Christlikeness. It grows, slowly at times, until the harvest comes. The Spirit sows the seed, tends the crop and works to produce the harvest of Christlikeness in each of us.

There is nothing instantaneous about this work. It would be nice, and one day it will be. One day I will breathe my last or I will hear the trumpet and the work of God will be completed immediately. Today, the process continues.

There are weeds in our souls that must be dealt with so that the harvest can come. A friend of mine once said, “We always do what we truly want to do.” Sounds great, verse 17 tells us differently. “For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other so that you don’t do what you want.” This echoes Paul’s lament in Romans 7. There are weeds of the flesh, even among the redeemed, that continue to choke out the growth of the Spirit’s fruit, and there are enemies that work against the Spirit’s progress in us. Ultimately, the Spirit will win, but on a daily basis, it is a bloody battle.

There is a strain of Christianity that makes sanctification almost automatic, deemphasizing our choices and our responsibility. Paul says differently. In verse 16, he says, “I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.” We must choose to walk in the Spirit to stand against the power of the flesh. They are at war and we must choose daily to seek God and reject the flesh.

Verse 18 reminds me that it isn’t about me anymore. It speaks of being led by the Spirit, echoing Romans 8. We hear so much about living for ourselves. “No one tells me what to do – I do what I want.” Not the Christian. We are led by the Spirit. He is in control in all things. Jesus is Lord and his Spirit is the daily enforcer of that Lordship.

We have been saved for supernatural lives, led by and empowered by the Spirit. We must settle for nothing less. May the Spirit’s crop bear fruit in our hearts!

Father, work in my by your Spirit to produce a full crop of Christlikeness in me. 


Think and Pray:

Are you choosing daily to walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh? 




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