Galatians 5:25-26 Walk by the Spirit so that You Do not Boast

Galatians 5:25-26 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Since you have crucified your flesh, consider it as dead, for it is no longer to be your master. You are now alive in the Spirit, assuming that you have crucified the flesh. Thus, Paul says, “If we live by the Spirit,” grounding your life in the Spirit upon your death to life ruled by the desires of the flesh. If you have died to the flesh, then you “live by the Spirit,” as there is no in-between. You have either been born again or you have not been born again. Either you have received the Spirit of God and His regenerating work or you are still “dead in your transgressions and sins” (cf. Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13).

If you have received Christ as Lord and have His Spirit living inside of you, dear Christian, walk by the Spirit. Do not resist the Spirit and so grieve Him. Heed His desires and obey Him. There is only one way which you will learn the desires of the Spirit: hearing the Word of God (cf. Romans 10:17). Only by hearing, both in God-centered preaching and reading the Word of God in public and private, will you grow in the faith. Only the Word of God, the Bible, can be described as “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrew 4:12). Only the Bible is “God-breathed [inspired by God] and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). That is exactly what a person who lives by the Spirit is: a man or woman of God. And as Paul says, only by knowing and obeying the Word of God can such a person be adequately equipped for loving God and his neighbor and to serve God. Do not belittle your time reading the Scriptures, or you will find yourself unable to “walk by the Spirit.”

Paul then exhorts you with a point of application (though many points of application could easily be made at this time). This is a negative application, aimed at letting you know what evil you are to cut out of your life. The application is do not become boastful. If you become boastful, Paul reveals, you will challenge one another and envy one another. Because you are claiming your own rights, abilities, and merits when you become boastful, you will easily fall into one of two states: a state of judging, or challenging other Christians, or a state of envying other Christians.

In judging other Christians, you will provoke them to either evil or self-righteousness. You will try their patience by your arrogance, giving them temptation to sin against you by despising you. If this does not occur, you may provoke them to seek to attain to some self-righteous standard you have set for them in order to qualify for your affections (or your legalistic standard). Both of these are evil.

If you envy other believers, because out of your pride you believe that you can or should have what they have, you will be tempted in much the same way as those whom you “challenge.” You will be tempted to hate them, seeing your inability to master in your own strength the godliness or gifting they have received, or you may view yourself as unlovable to God, believing you have to meet some legalistic standard necessary for God to love you. This will inevitably dishearten you and cause you to fall into a state where you believe God’s grace has been insufficiently granted unto you.

The remedy to becoming boastful is to recognize the root of the problem: pride, and ultimately the sinful desires of the flesh. When you do not walk by the Spirit, it is easy to believe that you have obtained what you have by your own doing. You thus believe that you have achieved measures of godliness (such as bearing the fruit of the Spirit) by your own doing, or that you have merited the spiritual gifts that you possess. This could not be further from the truth. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (NIV) This rhetorical question has only one obvious answer: God is who sets you apart; you cannot make yourself any different from anyone else. As Paul insists, you were saved by God’s grace, through His granting you both faith and repentance as a gifts, “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast,” both before God and men (Ephesians 2:9).

Thus, recognize your sinfulness. You were dead in your transgressions and sins: completely helpless to save yourself or even to believe (cf. Ephesians 2:1-10). You have not earned anything that you possess: whether gifts, godliness, or grace. God has changed your heart (cf. Ezekiel 11:19) and has made you as you are. Christ has purchased all that you have at the cross. It is the work of His Spirit; and this is true of every believer, from those who seem to be the most pious (though are yet utterly destitute without God, and so have no room to boast), such as John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon, to the most ordinary everyday Christians throughout the history of the Church—including you and me. We are all sinners, set apart by God’s gift of grace and faith—we have no room to boast. When you see this, you will be able to grow in godliness without comparing yourself to others, but rather only to Christ.