Galatians 5:16: Interpretive Key

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Well well, well, here I sit once again in front of a microphone, and once again I am not happy with what I did the last time I was in front of this microphone. In fact, I was very frustrated by it. I went way too long. Oh man, I could have organized it better. I'm bothered by it. But at the same time, even though I'm not happy with it, I still think what I was trying to do is of the utmost importance because I'm trying to correct how people constantly misuse and I'm going to go so far to say abuse people with how they use Galatians chapter five, verse sixteen. So what I'm going to do, what I'm going to try to do in this epid So don't know if I'll do any better. In fact, I may do worse. I'm going to try to somehow justify what I was attempting to do with Galatians five sixteen through seventeen. Bye, I think providing what may be the interpretive key, the key to interpretation. Maybe if I give you the key, you'll then maybe go you know what I think? Maybe you're right, or you may still think I'm wrong. I don't know either way. We're gonna try this. We're going to do our very best. I don't know why I'm saying we or we're going to do our best. It's just to me.

1:35 It's just me sitting in an empty room in the middle of nowhere, Texas. I'm going to try. I hope you're a part of it, like I'm going to pretend that you are working with me. But here we go. All right, So let's go ahead and start this way. Good evening everyone. It is Wednesday, April second, twenty twenty five. It is currently six eighteen pm Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I said earlier today when I did the seventy minute plus broadcast that Galatians five sixteen and seventeen to me Galatians five sixteen through seventeen.

2:20 In fact, let me just read it, Galatians five sixteen through seventeen. This I say, then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that ye would. All right, I said it earlier, and I'll say it again that verse sixteen, verse seventeen. Put them together. Just look at verse sixteen alone, these verses, that verse. It is a massive migrain, it is an aneurysm, it is five hundred seizures, it is it is strokes, it's a heart attack, it's high blood pressure, it's premature death, all rolled up into one verse. And I know you're saying, no, it's not. It's beautiful. It's an amazing verse. It's so encouraging.

3:11 I think you can only be encouraged by it if you are just absolutely living in complete denial. Or maybe it's encouraging if my interpretive hypotheses is even remotely correct. If it's not, there's nothing encouraging about it in any way, shape or form, because it denies reality. So let me try to once again remind you of kind of what we attempted to do, or what I attempted to do with Galatians five sixteen through seventeen earlier. And then we're gonna look, I'm gonna try to you know, just let's try to pretend I was out searching and I was digging, and I'm like, wait, wait, what is this. It's the key, It's the key. I found the key to Galatians five.

3:54 So maybe that will work. I don't know, but here we go. I believe that one of the most common, one of the most confusing, possibly one of the most maybe the verse not the most maybe theverse that is used to I believe, in some ways actually abuse Christians is Galatians chapter five, verse sixteen. Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the luss of the flesh. Now, at first glance, I'm willing to admit this to everyone. It seems simple. It seems very simple. It seems extremely simple. If I can get their correct words, tonight, I agree with you. I don't disagree with that, And I don't like when a verse appears to be simple to go and make it more complicated. But if simple flies in the face of every known reality that you and I experience twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, then we have to do something or we're left with some very unpleasant choices. And I went through those unpleasant choices in the last episode, like either the verse is just not true, or maybe none of us are saved.

5:03 Those don't work very well. So it seems very simple, right, Hey, just walk in the spirit and you will not sin. But what happens when you do sin? What happens when you realize that you are in a perpetual state of sin twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Again, you know what I'm going to say. The Bible says, be holy as God is holy. You're never going to do that. You're never going to be that, the Bible says. The Bible says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You're never going to do that. You're never going to be that. The Bible says to love your enemy, turn the other cheek, love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You are constantly in sin, you constantly fall short.

5:48 What happens when you still feel envy, pride, lust, fear, or selfishness? I mean, am I the only one who feels any of those things? Am I the only one? Does that mean I'm not walking in the spirit ever? I mean if I because even if you say, well, you stopped that sin for that minute. But even though I stopped, maybe one sin, I'm still in a perpetual state of sin. And remember, if I'm guilty at one point of the law, im guilty of all. So even if you say that I did not sin there, I'm still guilty of that sin, because I'm guilty of all sin, of breaking all the law. If I'm if it, it just becomes a meaningless statement. So does that mean that the promise just failed? Does that mean that I'm not even saved? Well, that we mean nobody is saved. This verse is typically turned into a kind of a spiritual transaction.

6:46 If I do my part walk in the spirit, then the Spirit will make me victorious. If I do my part, then the spirit will give me the ability to no longer sin. But I've got to do my part. But if I'm doing my part without the spirit, if I've got to do my part to walk in the spirit, then the spirit gives me the victory. Then how am I doing all those things without the spirit in the first place? And what did we reviewed a sermon very from a very famous pastor that I got to do five things if I want to walk in the spirit. Remember, I got to read, read, read, and study the Bible, read, read, read, and study the Bible. Have to pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. But no, not only just reading and studying. Not just praying.

7:29 I've got to spend time meditating, meditating deeply on scripture. Oh not, what else do I have to do? I have to take heed, I have to obey, I have to listen to the spirit. I have to follow the spirit. And then I have to plan. I have to have a purpose, have to have kind of a strategy. I've got to do all of that stuff. And if I do all of those things, we not really told how much of these things I have to do to what percentage. But if I can reach the level of Okay, boob, you did it, You're now walking in the spirit, then boom, Now I don't sin. But I got to do all of this stuff without walking in the spirit. See, I've got to do this in order to walk in the spirit.

8:10 That means I'm doing these things without walking in the spirit, because this is the step to get to walking in the spirit. So how can I be doing all of these things without walking in the spirit. And if I can do all of these things without walking in the spirit, then why do I even need to walk in the Spirit. It just it's sins. But you see, here's the problem with all of this. Every honest Christian knows they continue to fulfill the loss of the flesh and thought word desire. Indeed, and they do so daily. And if this verse is about achieving behavioral victory, then we're failing and the Gospel becomes just another form of law. Do this, do this, do this. But I don't believe that's what Paul is teaching.

8:54 As I try to outline, not in a very good way, not in a very succinct way, not in a not in a very good way from a speaking perspective, or even in a presentation. I mean, I should not have gone seventy minutes. I know I went too long. I'm mad at myself for I didn't even realize I'd gone seventy minutes until I look down. I'm like, oh man, I went way too long. This was I could have cleaned this up so much, but I was trying to take everyone through the struggle, through the process. But I feel that as I try to outline, Paul is describing a gospel promise, not a spiritual technique. Walking in the Spirit is not about moral success it's about living by faith in Christ. It's about my positional standing. It's not about my performance. It's a declaration that the Spirit opposes the flesh in me, not to remove sin entirely, but to ensure positionally that I, positionally I don't sin. It doesn't rain over me, it doesn't define my identity, it does not condemn me. So then the key question is is that a correct way of understanding it? Is that consistent with what Paul has said earlier? And where did Paul get this idea originally? Or where did he put forth this idea originally? I think the answer is found earlier in the letter of Galatians to the letter to the Church at Galatia, and what I think. This is

10:26 what I believe and one of the most profound I think it's one. I think it is maybe the most profound Gospel summaries and all of scripture. Galatians two nineteen through twenty. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. That's the beginning of it. Galatians two nineteen through twenty. I believe Galatians Galatians nineteen through twenty may be the key. It may be the key to understanding everything because this is not just a personal testimony. I believe it's a doctrinal anchor. I think it's the philological engine that drives everything Paul says about the Spirit, the flesh, and the Christian life. And I believe if we miss Galatians two, then we will misread Galatians five. But if we understand it, we'll see that the Christian life isn't about striving towards victory, but living from the victory already won for us in Christ.

11:24 So here we go. We're going to work on Galatians two nineteen through twenty, hopefully in a very clear, succinct way. I'm going to try to stay not deviate too far from what I worked on and putting these notes together, just as I always have to remind everyone I did utilize artificial intelligence a lot. And putting this together and shaping this all right, I believe that maybe the single most profound summary of a gospel centered positional understan standing of the Christian life is found in Galatians two nineteen through twenty. I think it's maybe the most profound summary of a gospel centered, not law centered, positional understanding, not practical understanding of the Christian life. So we're going to try to understand why Galatians two nineteen through twenty is critical for rightly interpreting Galatians five sixteen through seventeen, and why if you fail to root Galatians five in Galatians two, you end up with theological disaster. And I think that's what we have, theological disaster in church after church after church that sits there and tells everyone, if you'll just do this, you will stop sitting. And I guess the pastor preaching that doesn't ever bother to say, well, wait a minute, I don't do it either. But everyone in the church convinces themself that they're doing it, even though anyone who knows them knows they're not doing it, because you're in a perpetual status in I don't even need

12:55 to know you to know you're not doing it, because I know you're not holy as God is holy. And that's just a simple command, simple as a in the sense it's just one command and it's easily understood, not easy to do, obviously. So I'm going to go with Galatians two nineteen through twenty, and I'm going to try to show that this is the heart of Paul's entire framework. Right, are you ready, Let's read Galatians two nineteen through twenty. All right, make sure you have it there so for though the law, or make sure you have it open if you can, for thrill, not though the law. For through the law I die, Eric Meanka. Let me read this here? Yes, okay? Well, for I let you read it from the king James. I got multiple translations here.

13:48 For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Let me read that together. Now, I know there's context here. Context goes back to Galatians two eleven, when Peter and Paul has to confront Peter, and I would like to get more into that, but for now, I'm just trying to give you the specific key, and then we could expand on this maybe at a later time. Well, let's go again through verse nineteen. For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live Under God.

14:37 I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I'll live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Now, this, in my opinion, it's not about behavior. It's not about personal growth. This is about our identity. It's about what is true of every believer. Right now, it's just true. It has nothing to do with any supposed transformation or if any transformation will take place. So let's try to break this down into philological pieces. Through the law, I died to the law. The law condemns me. The law condemns me, and in Christ I died to it. The law no longer defines my relationship with God. I am dead to a performance based righteousness. Right, in a sense, I'm dead. You can say it this way.

15:42 I'm dead to the I'm dead because the law kills me, it condemns me. Right. But then in Christ I died to the law. Maybe an oversimplification. We probably could expand that on a little bit more, but you get the idea, because through the law I died to the law. Well, you can look at it a couple of ways through the law. I died to the law because the law condemns me. The law declares me for the wages of sin. Is death. I'm dead. I'm condemned. I'm spiritually dead, so you could go it that way. But also and in Christ, I'm dead to the law because while I've been crucified, I no longer live. I'm dead. So either way the law kills me and my union with Christ, I'm dead.

16:24 Either way, I'm dead. When it comes to the law, I guess we could look at it a couple of different ways, so that I might live to God. This living is not about what you do, but who you are in Christ. You live to God because you're united to Christ, not because you're improved. So that I might live to God. Is I get to live well because of my union with Christ? In Christ? In my position? Now this has become more clear as we break this down. Here becomes the key phrase right verse twenty, I am crucified with Christ past tense complete action. I have been the King James, or it says I am crucified, so it's past tense completed action. So I am presently I have been. Now again we can get into an argument.

17:19 Is it do we make it past this? Do we make it present tense? Either way, I'm crucified with Christ. My sinful identity, my old self has already been judged and executed. I'm crucified. I'm dead. I'm dead, right, the old me is gone. Now this is obviously positional death. Right, It's not that I'm physically dead, but I'm dead. I am crucified with Christ. I'm crucified. I'm dead. That's just that's a reality. That's a positional reality. Obviously, it's not talking about me practically. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. This is the source of the Christian life. Not your effort, but Christ in you.

18:08 You're not living a better version of your old self. You are dead and Christ is your life. So I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. I'm living, but it's no longer me, it's Christ living in me. Now, what some people think is that's the key to power. See your dad, Christ lives in you, so now you can do something. You can do something. No, this is speaking of yet I live all right? That Uh, hang on, I'm cristified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. I am alive, but not I, but Christ liveth in me. I'm still alive, me cinner, that's me, But but it's Christ liveth in me. This is the starting to draw the distinction between the practical reality and the positional reality. Practically I'm alive. Positionally I'm dead, and it's no longer me. It's Christ who's living. Because I've been removed, I've been buried, I've been crucified, I've been raised in Christ. It's all that Christ now is my life. It's not mine positionally, Obviously it's not true.

19:20 Practically I am not living a better version of my old self because I'm dead and Christ lives in me. Now the life I now live. Look at verse twenty, and the life which I now live in the flesh, it's acknowledging the Fleshly, it's acknowledging that I'm still living in the flesh. It's still acknowledging that the life that I now live in the flesh, that's my practical life right And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith. Ongoing life is by faith, not by walking in obedience or having daily victory. The faith is in the Son of God, not in my sanctification process.

20:07 Even my Christian living is entirely dependent on someone else's work Christ. So uh uh. And the life that which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm alive in the flesh in practice, But that life, it's about Christ. It's about the faith. It's about faith in the reality that I I'm putting my faith in what reality that I'm dead, I'm dead to the condemnation of the law. I am in Christ, I am crucified with Him, and that He he is now my life. That is that is what, That's the what I'm living. I'm living on the I'm living a life of believing that that I'm dead, I'm crucified in Christ, and that the life that I'm now living here in the flesh I'm living in the in in Christ I'm living.

20:58 I'm living in I'm living believing that reality that I'm dead and that Christ is my life. I'm living that in faith. Now, how does this then become the key or we could call this in hermonutics the hermeneutical control Galatians. Galatians two nineteen through twenty becomes the hermeneutical control for Galatians five sixteen through seventy. All right, So if we read Galatians five sixteen through seventeen apart from the framework we just tried to explain as fast as I could, then we're gonna conclude that walking in the spirit will just simply give me now supernatural ability to avoid sin.

21:45 And we know that that doesn't work out practically. If we don't have Galatians two nineteen through twenty, we're gonna think that victory over the flesh is a practical achievement, that you can do it in your can you can literally have victory over the flesh and your life practically. That we're going to see that growth and holiness is the true measure of whether the spirit is active. Hey, if you're sinning, then you're not walking in the spirit, so the spirit is not active, So that possibly means you're not saved. If we read Galatians five sixteen through seventeen without Galatians two in mind, those are the conclusions we'll come to. But Galatians two nineteen nineteen through twenty should shut all of that down. Why, Because you're already dead.

22:31 Your flesh is no longer the core of your identity. Christ lives in you. So your righteousness is in a sense external, or it's imputed, it's not internal. So I'm righteous externally. I'm righteous because of an imputed righteousness, not internally. I live by faith, not by moral management or trying to accomplish something morally. And all of this is because of what Christ has done, not what I'm becoming. So, in other words, Galatians five sixteen through seventeen must be read through the lens of Galatians two nineteen through twenty.

23:12 Otherwise we're not walking in the spirit. We're walking in a spiritualized law. See, if you read it the way other people read it, then I'm not really walking in the spirit. I'm walking in a new Hey, here's basically a new law. We're just gonna spiritualize the law. I've got to do eight. I gotta do this, I gotta do this, I gotta do this, I gotta do this. I gotta do this. And if I do this, then I get to stop sinning. It's just more law. Well that if walking in the spirit is just obeying a new law. Well, then everything in Galatians seems to fall apart. See, if you miss Galatians two, you miss the gospel in Galatians five. Without Galatians two, Galatians five becomes a spiritual growth technique, a test of whether you surrender enough, a performance metric disguised as a promise. But when you look at Galatians two through twenty, then it becomes a positional truth.

24:12 You are in Christ. It is a gospel promise. Right, I'm walking in the spirit. I'm not going to fulfill this. How am I not going to fulfill it? I'm not going to fulfill the luss of the flesh and my identity and my position. I'm not going to fulfill it in the sense of it's no longer going to condemn me. It's a declaration of freedom that I'm not under law because Christ already fulfilled it. So if we stay, if I want to try to summarize it, we could say this Galatians two nineteen through twenty is the interpretive key to the entire Christian life. It declares that righteousness, life, and identity are found in the union with Christ by faith, not in sanctification or sin management without it, Galatians five sixteen through seventeen is an inevitably misread as a behavioral command rather than a gospel promise. So I think it's the key, but not only that. I just want I'm going to kind of just now double down here. I'm trying to go as fast as I can because I don't want to go seventy minutes. I'm gonna double down here.

25:21 I believe Galatians two twenty draws a crucial distinction. I already tried to point this out, but I'm gonna really now emphasize this, the distinction between position and practice, And it's that distinction that becomes critical for interpreting Galatians five sixteen through seventeen. I think it's not only appropriate, but exogetically and philologically necessary to connect that language, especially the phrase the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. To walk in the spirit in chapter five, I think it's appropriate.

26:01 I think it's appropriate, not only exegetically but philologically. I believe it's necessary to connect that language. The life I now live, I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, is connected to walk and the spirit. If you don't connect those two, it all falls apart. So let me break this down. Then, I live yet not I. This is the position practical distinction. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I yet live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Paul is expressing two realities that exist at the same time. Positionally, I've been crucified with Christ. My old self, my flesh, my status under the law all dead, all dead right. My old self, my flesh, my what I was under the law, that's all dead right. I have been crucified with Christ.

27:08 It's a done deal. It's done. I have been and I am crucified with Christ. I am in a position of death. I have to see that. I have to recognize that this is true. Positionally, it's not true of you. Practically, practically you're still living, You're still walking around. But positionally I'm crucified. I'm dead. I'm dead. There's it's it's all done. This is a fixed, unchanging truth. It's grounded in your union with Christ. That's your positional reality. But wait a minute. Practically, so I have been crucified with Christ. Most translations says I have been the King James. I am either way, it's past present, it's a reality, it's a it's a past reality with ongoing implications. And we could go with that idea that I'm still dead. I'm still but practically nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth than me.

28:08 Paul is saying, Hey, I'm still physically alive. I still sin, but even his ongoing life is not sourced in him. It's Christ living through him. See. I'm alive physically, but positionally my life is in Christ. It's Christ living. My positional life is Christ perfect forgiven? I mean, well, I'm perfect, all my sins are gone. It's Christ. I'm not saying that Christ needed to be forgiven, but you're saying that in Christ. My life is now Christ. I'm perfect, holy, righteous, all my sins are gone. This distinction between who I am in Christ and how I now live is central to understanding the Christian life. You've got to know that distinction.

28:59 Who you are, you're crucified, you're dead, you're not condemned. Your identity is now Christ. And how do you live practice? You're still living in the flesh, but that practical life I'm to see, I'm to understand that even though I'm living in the flesh and I sin, I'm still I'm still crucified, dead, buried, no longer condemned. I still see Christ. Now this Paul tries our attempts to resolve the tension by saying, the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. That is, I'm not living by law. I'm not living by moral effort. I'm not living by behavioral perfection. But I'm living by faith in the Son of God, even while still in the flesh. Living I'm in the flesh, but i am living by faith in the Son of God. Now, depending on your translation, is by the faith of the Son of God. And this could go with the idea that faith is given to me by God. God. My faith is given to me by God. I'm living that's the faith. I've been given God's faith and a sense has been given to me. It's a gift. It's a gift that's not of myself. I've been given a and it says, a divine faith. That is well, it will persevere to the end. I will continue to believe because God gave me that faith. But that's how I'm living now,

30:31 live by the faith of the Son of God. Now, this is the core of walking in the spirit. Now, if we connect this to Galatians five sixteen, walk in the flesh and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If Galatians two twenty tells us that the life that you're now living is by the faith in Christ, not it's not based on anything you do. You're living your life on your faith in Christ, well, then Galatians five sixteen must be read in the same light. Walking in the spirit equals living by faith in the Son of God, not fulfilling the flesh. Is not being ruled by sin positionally, even while it still exists practically I'm walking in the spirit. I do not fulfill the luss of the flesh positionally, just like positionally I have been crucified positionally, I am dead positionally. I don't sin positionally, but practically I'm still living in the flesh, meaning I'm still going to sin and fall. Why is this connection valid? Well, I believe Paul uses spirit and faith interchangeably. Galatians three to two. Do you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Faith and spirit are connected Galatians three. Three. Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Right, begun in the spirit, begun by faith Galatians five to five. For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by fe faith.

32:00 That there's a correlation, I think to some level. So to walk in the spirit equals to live by faith and the life I now live by the faith and the Son of God. They are two different models of the Christian life. They are not two different models of the Christian life. They are identical. So to walk in the spirit equals to live by faith and the life I now live by the faith and the Son of God. These are not different models. They're the same. They're identical. Walk by faith the life I now I live, I live by the faith of the in the Son of God. It's walk in the spirit. It's to live by faith the life I now live by faith in the Son of God. It's the same concept. Now, why why does this matter? Well, this connection protects us from misreading Galatians five p. Sixteen. See, if we don't have this connection, we're going to end up reading Galatians five sixteen as a performance command, as a method to stop sinning or somehow a sanctification technique. Instead. Galatians two twenty grounds our interpretation of Galatians five sixteen through seventeen and the following and Christ's death and life on our behalf the ongoing presence of the spirit and a posture of continual dependence.

33:17 Not that I have arrived without this connection. We risk treating Galatians five as a how to manual rather than the gospel implications of our crucifixion and resurrection in Christ. So Galatians two twenty makes an essential distinction between positional death to the law and practical life in the body, And that very distinction, living by faith in Christ, not by effort, is the philological backbone of what it means to walk in the spirit and Galatians five. So let me read that again. Galatians two twenty makes an essential distinction between positional death to the law and practical life in our body. And it's that distinction living by faith in Christ, not by effort, that's the theological backbone for what it means to walk in the spirit in Galatians five sixteen through seventeen. All right, so let's draw a side by side comparison of Galatians two twenty and Galatians five sixteen through twenty. All right, so let's first consider the primary command or statement Galatians two twenty. I am crucified with Christ. I live by the faith of the Son of God. Galatians five sixteen through seventeen. Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I'm crucified with Christ. I live by the

34:48 faith and the Son of God. That's the same thing as walking in the spirit. Right, and guess what now, I shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and that positional reality right the core I y statement, crucified with Christ. My old self is dead. Flesh still exists, but the spirit wars against it. I will say, the flesh still exit, the flesh still exists. The spirit, or walking in the spirit or putting my faith in Christ, wars against it against in a positional perspective, because I'm not ever going to be condemned. I'm not going to ever be dominated by it in a positional in a practical way. You see, the minute you say the spirit wars against the sin in a practical way, then it becomes confusing because if the spirit is warring against sin or your flesh in a practical way, Well, then why can't you be perfect? The spirit, then, is is not raging much of a war if I'm going to continue to sin? Is it so then that? See it falls apart once you move it into a practical realm. Christ in me, not my doing, but Christ's presence. Walk in the Spirit. Basically, it's the same thing. Not effort, but spirit led faith. Christ liveth in me. Not my doing, but Christ's presence. Walk in the Spirit. It's the same thing.

36:15 It's it's his presence, it's the spirit. It's not effort. I live by the faith of the Son of God. Walk in the spirit, living by faith, not law. It's the same thing. I live by the faith of the Son of God. Walking in the spirit. It's the same concept the life. I now live in the flesh, honest about our mortal condition I live. I still live in the flesh. It's being honest with that. The flesh and the spirit are in conflict. Sin remains present right now. I think Galatians five is more about if I walk in the spirit, then I don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. Has to be in a positional sense. Right, life is lived by faith, not effort or sanctified behavior.

37:05 Spirit led life is not lawkeeping but faith driven. All right, Walking in the spirit, it's not about me keeping law. It's about it's Walking in the spirit is about faith. It's about believing dead in Christ positionally, though still present in the flesh practically. All right, again the flesh and Galatians five, the flesh is still there, but again, I'm not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh positionally. All right, Christ died for me. I live in his righteousness. And again, some people will try to say the spirit in Galatians five is opposing the flesh, and sin's rule is broken, but not sin's presence. I disagree with that.

37:57 Galatians five is the spirit. The spirit is there, and because I'm walking in the spirit, I do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's not saying sins rule is broken practically. It's broken positionally. It's not broken practically. How do I know this? If sins rule is broken practically, then I can stop sinning. Since I can't stop sinning, then sins rule is not broken. You can't tell me it's not. In dominion and it's broken when I can't be perfect. I am justified. This is what's basically implied in Galatians too. I'm justified because Christ lives in me. Well, basically the same concept, because I walk in the spirit. Well, then guess what. Then, I'm not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh. I am positionally perfect and obedient.

38:50 Galatians five sixteen must be read through the lens of union with Christ and living by faith five p. Sixteen becomes a positional promise. It's a moral technique. So again, there's no way. So let's let's look at it all right. So I'm dead to the law. That's just, that's the positional reality. I'm dead to the law. I'm not condemned by it. Right. The law is not the means to sanctification. The law is not the means to anything. I'm dead.

39:33 I'm dead to the law right now. The law still serves a purpose to constantly show me my disobedience. But I'm dead to the law. It doesn't save me. It's not my identity. It's not the way to sanctification. The law is there just to continue to condemn, right, and I'm dead so that I may live under God. Right now, what do I How do I live under God? I live unto God by faith. I live under God by faith and by putting my faith in God. Then what happens that all of it? Then the righteousness of the obedience of Christ is imputed to my account. So I live unto God by faith, and then the law is completely fulfilled perfectly for me. You say, well, the law is still there for you to do. Christ did it for me because I can't do it. I am crucified with Christ. I am. I am. I'm dead. I no longer the old me, no longer exist. Nevertheless, I live, yet I still live. I'm crucified. I've been killed, I've been murdered, but I'm still alive. That's the positional. I'm practical.

40:41 I'm crucified, but here I am, but not I. I'm alive, but not I because even though in my how I have to understand, I am living. But it is Christ that lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith and the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I am living a life in the flesh, but I'm living that life in faith. Meaning then spiritually speaking, my position is my identity. That's where where I think of it. This way, I'm living in the flesh and I sin, But in my position, I'm a new creature.

41:23 Old things have passed away, all things have become new. That is the positional reality. And then I take that. Okay, two, I've been crucified, and the life I live I live by the faith and the Son of God. That is walking in the spirit. I'm walking in the spirit. I'm walking a life of faith, believing that I am crucified, believing that I'm dead, that believing Christ has kept the law for me, believing His righteousness is imputed to me. And then therefore I now no longer fulfill the lust of the flesh in that positional reality. Now, some people say, no, no, no, that means you'll You'll now that life you live in the flesh, So you're now going to be able to no longer keep you You're now going to no longer fulfill the lust of the flesh because Christ is living through you. So now you have power. But that just does not make any sense because it's not true. Practically, it's not true. We just know it's not true. I wish it was true. That's see, that's the way I always understood it. Oh see I've been crucified. Now Christ lives in me. Done dunt to done? And so then what do you hear in sermons? Hey guys, The key to the Christian life is not you doing anything, it's Christ doing it through me. Okay, well then so you don't need to do anything. Well, if I don't need to do anything, then why can't I be perfect? If Christ is living through me, perfection should be the the the norm. But it's not. So. That means that Christ living in me is That's that's my positional reality, that that I'm in Christ. Christ is in me, and that

42:56 Christ being in me, even though I still sin practically is the ultimate guarantee of my glorification. But see, pastors want to turn this into no, no, no. Now it means you can do this, and you can do this, and you can do this, and you can do this, and you can do this and you can do this. No. But again, I can destroy all of that in five seconds. So the connection to Galatians five, or the answer to Galatians, or let me say it this way, The key to Galatians five is Galatians two. That you say, well, it doesn't make sense. I'll be the first to acknowledge it doesn't make a lot of sense. But the other way just doesn't work practically. And if the other way is the way that works, then I'm sorry. You're not saved.

43:46 I'm not saved. No one is saved. There's a positional and practical, positionally perfect. I'm dead, I'm crucified. I've been resurrected. I walk a new life, but I'm walking that new life positionally. In practice, I'm still the same ciner. All right, I don't have any better answers. It's forty four minutes. My head's now. My head is really pounding now, so yeah, we'll just stop there. Yeah, we'll just stop there. Yeah.

44:38 I don't know what else to say. I'm not going to say anything else now. Yeah, because I'm having all kinds of of negative thoughts, Like, you know, this is maddening, this is crazy. I'm having all kinds of negative thoughts. Yeah, yeah, nothing I can do about it now. But the day will come when I can just say I quit and I can just be done, like I just man, Yeah, it's just maddening because I can go listen to fifty sermons right now in Galatians five or Galatians two, and it would just be it would just be like, it would be insanity. It would be insanity. It would be like trying to unpack it would be it would be a nightmare. So I won't get too dark and won't get too negative. I'll save a pot when when the time comes that's appropriate. Then I can just say, all right, guys, I gave it my best. I'm done, goodbye the end.

45:48 But I can't do that now. All right, I won't do that now, But the time is coming. I guarantee you. I always say the day is gonna come, You're gonna go Wait, what happened to theology centric? It's just gonna all be gone. It's just all going to be gone. I don't know when, but I'm telling you someday, someday. But in the meantime, I'll keep trying my best. And again, I just feel like people get abused. With Galatians five, even with Galatians two twenty. I mean I was told them my whole life. See you're dead. So now Christ lives in new So now you can do it. You can do it. No, Christ lives in me. That's my positional reality, my practical reality. I'll still live in the flesh.

46:31 How do I live then in the flesh? Do I live in the flesh with some secret so that I can now do all the right things? No, I live in the flesh. By putting my faith in Jesus Christ, I live. I walk in the spirit. I live in the flesh by faith. I live in the flesh. By faith, I walk in the spirit. It's the same concept. What is then the results that? Then in Christ? I'm perfect, holy, righteous, dead. Positionally everything is perfect, and I no longer fulfill the loss of the flesh in my position, this is shit. The only thing that makes any sense. All right, thanks for listening. I give up God, bless h