“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:25)
If walking in the Spirit through faith is the key to a victorious Christian life, then what is the key to walking in the Spirit? Obviously, it has to do with faith, but how is this faith to be applied? The answer lies in the first part of the verse quoted above, “if we live by the Spirit”. This life of the Spirit only begins when we believe unto salvation. Then it is expressed in our natural life through our soul. The process for walking is the same as for salvation. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” (Col. 2:6,7). We must be established in the death of Christ to be established in His life. This was Paul’s main aim in establishing people in the faith. “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1Cor. 2:1,2). You may be familiar with all these scriptures and if you are already walking continuously in victory, then you have no need to hear them again. But, if like most of us, you sometimes stumble, then you will benefit from what I say here. Even if you think you are standing strong, take heed lest you fall (1Cor. 10:12).
There is always a danger for Christians to begin in faith and then fall back to human effort. This is the problem Paul was addressing in his letter to the Galatians. “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law of by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:2-3). In the Early Church, we saw this problem manifested in the call for the circumcision of Gentiles. In our days, it finds expression in religious legalism. “These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” (Col. 2:23). We must be careful not to confuse devotion with sacrifice, nor presumption with faith. There is a need to bear our cross and follow the Lord, but it must not be attempted in the flesh. It is an act of faith that begins in surrender. I think always of the Lord’s surrender to the will of the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, before He took up His cross. There is suffering that comes with surrender, but it is borne in grace through faith, not in human effort for grace.
It is in this context that Paul said: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20). It is very important that we continue in Christ the same way that we received Him. By faith, we identified with Christ in His death and submitted to His rule over our lives. By faith and submission, we continue to identify with His death and to live in Him. Our death in Christ is a past event: “I have been crucified with Christ”. To walk in victory over sin, it is imperative that we believe in this fact, as Paul clearly states in the sixth chapter of Romans. But faith is also a present reality. Although I died with Christ, I continue to die daily (1Cor. 15:31). This is not because my old nature keeps coming back to life, but because my death and resurrection in Christ is in stages. It occurred for my spirit when I first believed; then for my soul as I walk with Him; and finally, for my body at His appearing. If His resurrected life come in stages, then so must His death.
To bear our cross and follow Jesus, then, has the two-fold meaning of having been crucified and being crucified. We must stand by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross for victory over the power of sin. We must also put to death the patterns of this world that still demand attention from our soul. It is this process of daily putting to death the works of the flesh that I have described as the Process of Transformation (Rom. 12:1,2). It is carried out by the Spirit through faith. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Rom. 8:13). Have you ever wondered why some people can become so overtaken by an ungodly cause that they even give up their lives for it, yet Christians struggle with the thought of having to suffer for Christ? The difference is in the root of our beings. People can die physically for a cause if they do not have to give up their selfish nature. Living for a cause invigorates that old nature. Christians, on the other hand must die to self; they must allow the ax to be laid to the root of the tree of “self” (Lu. 3:8).
The path to victory became clear to me when the Lord showed me that my old nature was crucified with Christ when I was born again. There are not two natures in me. “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…” (Col. 3:9,10). Why then is there still a conflict in my soul if my old man is dead? It comes from “sin” that still dwells in my body (Rom. 7:17). Instead of always trying to put off the old man, I resist sin. I take a stand in faith that the power of sin was broken because my old man was crucified in Christ (Rom. 6:6). When I deny myself, I do not deny my old nature, but I deny selfishness. I now live by faith in Christ. Since I died and was born again, I now set my mind on things above and put to death those behaviors that are of this world (Col. 3:1-5). My soul still has some thoughts that need renewing, some emotions that need healing, and some decisions that need renouncing. These are changed by the renewing of the mind as I offer my members a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1,2). The path to victory is through surrender and faith.
Highway in the Wilderness 