Walking by the Spirit and Holding to the Scriptures

by Matthew Chapman

 

 

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

(Galatians 5:25)

 

  I want to open what, for many, is a "can of worms" for the sake of taking a hard and honest look at a foundational issue that desperately needs to be addressed in our day: that we, as Christians, are called to walk by the Spirit of God. For many of you who know your Bible, it may seem as if I just stated the obvious, yet this wonderful reality is tragically lacking among so many Christians today, including many that home school. While you may know and agree with the scriptural charge to "walk by the Spirit," what is your practical day-to-day experience of doing it? Let me ask you straight up, do you walk by the Spirit? As you go through your day, are you aware of when you are walking by the Spirit and when you are not? And if you see that you are not, is it alarming to you such that you quickly repent and return to walking by the Holy Spirit? If your gut-honest initial response is that you don't know or you are uncertain what it even means to walk by the Spirit, you have unfortunately proven my earlier point. But be encouraged. Honestly facing and embracing our lacks and weaknesses, and then humbly presenting them to the Lord, is the critical first step in the process of seeing Him establish His abundant life and strength in these very areas.

  As Christian homeschooling parents, we are especially aware of the way our children identify with us, emulate us, and are shaped by us. This of course is not limited to academics, but applies to their experience of us in all the day by day situations and circumstances of life. Are your children being home educated by your example of walking by the Spirit, or are they being shaped by other things due to the lack thereof? Are you leading your home in walking by rules? Is your quest each day to walk by your predetermined schedule? Or is the "compass" of your heart set upon walking by the living indwelling Person of the Holy Spirit, in all your moments of life? When you pray and seek the Lord for direction during the day, do you wait, watch, and listen for Him, believing He hears you and will answer and lead you? Or do you simply pray because that is what you are supposed to do, and it serves as an official way of expressing hope in a distant God who may potentially decide to somehow respond? However we live in regard to walking by the Spirit-whether we are and are increasing, or are not and abide in death-is teaching volumes to our children and is training them in "a" way to go. Hopefully we are exemplifying "the way they should go," but we cannot give away what we do not have (Prov. 22:6). If they are given all the academics but get handed a void in our modeling walking by the Spirit, we have failed to impart to them what is most important (cf. Acts 4:13).

  Before I go on, it may help some of you to hear me say that what I am about to present is not a pitch for Pentecostalism or the charismatic movement, so you can put that to rest. I will, however, say that I am unashamed of the Person of the Holy Spirit whom the Lord has given to us. Of necessity, this means that I am also not ashamed of any of the "gifts.ministries.effects.[and] manifestation" that He distributes "to each one...for the common good" of the body of Christ, and I know the joy of being a vessel through which He has expressed all of these manifestations (1 Cor. 12:4-14). What I am going to talk about is something lived out quite well by saints who don't, for example, speak in tongues. On the other hand, I have met a lot of people who do, for example, speak in tongues and yet are inept at "walking by the Spirit." As a side note, I think it is a tragic commentary on our day that the very mention of the Holy Spirit puts many Christians on the defensive. Having said this, let's dive in and search out this matter.

 

Walking by the Spirit

  What does it mean to "walk by the Spirit"? Walking by the Spirit is the key to how we are to live the Christian life. In Galatians 5, Paul made two very powerful declarations to this end. The first is the one I quoted at the beginning of this article where he said, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (v. 25). The significance of this verse is that it differentiates between the Holy Spirit being the Source of our life in Christ and the Holy Spirit being the means by which we choose to walk out our daily moments of time. To "live by the Spirit" is the result of the free regenerating gift of God to those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and has to do with who we are spiritually (Titus 3:4-6). We know that "if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature" and "the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (2 Cor. 5:17, 1 Cor. 6:17). But, as Paul also said, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels," and our physical, human "earthen vessels" are still under "the sentence of death," aren't they (2 Cor. 1:9, 4:7)? Even though spiritually we are "alive together with Christ," we all still have to deal with the "no good thing that dwells in [our] flesh" (Rom. 7:18).

  This is precisely why Paul went on to distinguish "walking by the Spirit" as a wholly different matter. It requires us to make conscious, deliberate, moment-by-moment choices ("let us also.") to humbly draw from His grace and life and then take the added step of walking (i.e., proceeding through daily life and "doing") according to another Person-the Holy Spirit. This inherently requires us to let go in childlike trust and abandon to the One who dwells within us as we go about life (Gal. 5:16-18). It requires our learning to "do life" from a different center-the Person of the Spirit of God-rather than according to our flesh and human understanding.

  This brings us to the second declaration: Paul said, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16)! Do you get what he is saying here?! When we walk by the Holy Spirit, something happens automatically: we "will not" carry out the desire of the flesh! It doesn't say that we "hopefully won't" or that we "probably won't." It says that we "will not." How many of us foolishly turn this around and exert monumental efforts to try and "not fulfill the desire of the flesh" in an attempt to "walk by the Spirit," which only leads to striving, weary frustration, and defeat? That is "putting the cart before the horse." When we walk by the Spirit the result is guaranteed: the lusts of the flesh will not be fulfilled and the Holy Spirit will express Himself and His fruit through us (Gal. 5:22-23). Any other result is impossible-as long as we are walking by the Spirit. Now, of course, when we revert back into walking according to the flesh, its odious fruit then gets expressed instead (Gal. 5:19-21, Rom. 8:5-8). So the aim for the rest of our time upon the earth should be to learn to spend more and more of our moments walking according to the Spirit, and less and less of our moments walking according to the flesh, which, in a word, is what sanctification is all about (1 Thes. 4:1-8, Heb. 12:14, Matt. 25:4).

  The Lord Jesus spoke of this very same reality when He called us to abide in Him as a branch abides in the vine (John 15:1-11, 16). And how do we abide in Jesus, the "True Vine"? By the Holy Spirit who indwells us (John 14:16-18, 16:7-15). When we let go to His life and allow Him to flow through us, His fruit is automatically borne through our lives. But if we walk any other way, we can do absolutely "nothing" that is of eternal value or worth (v. 5). He provides the Life ("If we live by the Spirit."), but we must do our part and cooperate by abiding in Him as we go through our moments (".let us also walk by the Spirit"). This is the only way this wonderful reality in Christ works.

  We all know the scripture in Isaiah that says "all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (64:6). Notice that this is the condition of our righteous deeds-actions that have their origin in us. We can be doing the right things, we can even be doing the biblical things, but if they are done by means of our own human strength and ingenuity, and thus are not issues of the Spirit of Life through us, they are what the scriptures refer to as "dead works" that we are to repent from (Heb. 6:1). Conversely, when we walk by the Spirit and allow Him to express Himself through us, the result is "the righteous acts of the saints" that are the "white and clean" wedding garments in which the bride of Christ is adorned (Rev. 19:7-9). In either case, we may be doing the same things, but the means by which we do them are a world apart. One is "filthy," the other is "white and clean." One is an issue of the Spirit, the other is an issue of the flesh. One is pleasing to God, the other is not (Rom. 8:8). One is as "gold, silver and precious stones" that will go into New Jerusalem, the other is as "wood, hay, and stubble" that will not withstand the scrutiny of God (1 Cor. 3:11-15; cf. John 15:16 , 1 Tim. 6:17-19, Rev. 14:13, 21:1-22:16).

  Here are some practical examples of what I mean. Let's say someone said something very cutting and hurtful to me. In myself, I can choose to forgive them and let it goand rise above and make it not matter. Or, as I am drawing off of the Lord's life within me ("If we live by the Spirit."), and the Spirit of God shows me that I need to forgive that person, I can proceed and join with Him in forgiving that person (".let us also walk by the Spirit"). In both cases I forgave the person, but the means by which I forgave (i.e., the source of the action) were completely different. One was done by the will of the flesh for fleshly reasons ("Life will go better for me if I forgive and do not allow myself to become bitter," or "I should because the Bible says to and I want to do what is right," or "I don't want any more conflict and it will end quicker if I let it go," etc.). There may be truth in all of those human reasonings, but the Lord, who looks not merely at the outward but at the heart, is looking at the source (1 Sam. 16:7, 1 Cor. 4:5, 2 Cor. 5:10). The other is done by the Spirit simply because that is who He is and how He is leading and we are following and corresponding to Him, and His love is "shed abroad in our hearts" (1 Cor. 13:5, Rom. 5:5).

  Another example is that I can preach by human energy and ability, or I can preach by the unction and anointing of the Holy Spirit. In both cases, I may be using the same scriptures and sharing things that are true, but "where I am coming from" is completely different, not to mention the spiritual effect. Or let's say I go mow a widow's lawn. I can do it by the flesh or I can do it by the Spirit. Consider Paul. Before he came to Jesus, he knew the scriptures and did all the right things to the point he could truthfully say "as to the righteousness which is in the law, [I was] found blameless" (Phil. 3:6-8). Yet Paul said this was all "rubbish.dung." Why? Because none of these works had their origin and expression in the Spirit of God. "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." This is the glorious how of the Christian life!

 

Being Led By the Spirit

  Some of you may be saying, "I hear you, brother. I recognize the truth in what you are saying and I see it in the scriptures, but I just don't know how to do it. I keep trying, but somewhere in the process I'm breaking down. I can't seem to find that gear and get traction and go forward." There is one more essential element the Lord provides that takes care of this problem. I alluded to it a few paragraphs back. That is, He continually leads us. Think about it. Humanly speaking, which is easier: To walk beside someone who is following you when you yourself have no idea where you are or which way you need to go, or to walk alongside someone who knows exactly where to go and what to do? The latter, of course. Walking "by" them is almost mindless because you are trusting that they know where to go and what to do and all you are doing is corresponding to their lead each step along the way. The same is true in walking by the Spirit, except that He is in you. When someone gives you a lead, it is very easy to let go to it and proceed. Well our Lord has not left us alone, He has given us the Holy Spirit (John 14:16 -18)!

 

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)

 

The "earmark" of the sons of God is that they are people who go about life being led by the Person of the Holy Spirit. I hear Christians often say, "Being a Christian isn't a religion, it's a relationship-a relationship with the Living God." Amen! It is a relationship with the Living, Risen Lord. But let me ask you: What is a relationship if it isn't interactive? If there is no relating one with another, there is no relationship, is there? The same is true with us and the Lord. Sometimes we forget He is a Person too (have you noticed I keep emphasizing this?). But He is not just any Person, He is God, Lord, Master, Bridegroom, and King. And He lives in us by the Holy Spirit. And He fulfills His role perfectly-He leads! There is not a moment of the day He does not have His thoughts, His mind, His will, and His directives, as pertains to our lives. He sees it all with complete accuracy, His assessment and wisdom is without flaw, and thus how He leads us to proceed at any given time in any situation is perfect. Our part is simply to abide in Him by the Spirit, listen for His voice, watch for His lead, and then respond and act upon it in faith when we hear it and/or discern it.

  Isn't the Lord Jesus our example for how we are to walk in this life? Aren't we to be "conformed to His image"? Well, how did He walk in this life? What was His image?

And then what does the Lord say about us and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

 

  This is how we are called to walk through this life until we die or the Lord Jesus returns. We are to live by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit, following His leadings in whatever He says and does. We all know the scripture, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Deut. 8:3, Matt. 4:4). In the original, the word "proceeds" is in the present active tense, meaning it is present and continual action. Our Lord Jesus modeled this so perfectly in how He related to and interacted with the Father, and we are called to correspond to Him in like manner.

 

Living in the Kingdom of God

  What we are actually talking about here is living in the kingdom of God-abiding in the realm and reign of the Lord Jesus. And where is the kingdom of God? What is its location? It is in Him!

  Throughout the scriptures, we are exhorted and commanded to "abide in Him," which again, we do by the Holy Spirit who lives in us. And when we do, we too become partakers of the kingdom of God . This is the place where we interact with our King, where we lay hold of His mind, hear His voice, discern His leading, etc. This is why Jesus said, ".behold, the kingdom of God is within you" [or, in your midst ], and why it is essential that we "seek first the kingdom of God " (Luke 17:20-21, Matt. 6:33). The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and it is not a part of this world or this world's systems, as the Lord Jesus told Pontius Pilate:

 

What did John the Baptizer come proclaiming? The kingdom of heaven (Matt. 3:1-2). What was the Lord Jesus continually proclaiming and speaking of and telling parables about so that we would understand it? The kingdom of God (Matt. 4:17, et al.). What did the Lord Jesus spend 40 days talking about to the apostles after His resurrection? The kingdom of God (Acts 1:1-5). What did Philip preach about in Samaria? The good news of the kingdom (Acts 8:12, cf. Matt. 13:18-19). What did Paul write of in his epistles and proclaim and testify of right up until his execution? The kingdom of God (Acts 28:30-31, et al.). What are we to "seek first"? The kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33). What does the Lord want proclaimed to "the whole world for a witness to all the nations" before the end comes? "This gospel of the kingdom" (Matt. 24:14). We could go on and on. We are to be consumed, obsessed, captivated by, and singularly focused on the King, our Lord Jesus, and His kingdom.

  So back to walking by the Spirit, and entering and living in the kingdom of God , and how we do this. The Lord Jesus plainly spoke of these things in His conversation with Nicodemus:

Most of us have missed what the Lord is saying here because we have been trained to read this scripture through the lens of modern-day theology with an "evangelical bias" (my term). In other words, we read the words exactly as they appear in the scriptures, but what we hear in our brain is:

Now I ask you, where is their any mention of dying in this passage? There is none! The Lord Jesus was telling Nicodemus (and, in turn, us) what qualifies a person to be able to "see" and "enter into," and thus participate in, the kingdom of God. What if I said, "Unless you are at least 18 years old, a US citizen, and registered to vote, you shall not see a voting booth"? And again, "Unless you are at least 18 years old, a US citizen, and registered to vote, you shall not enter into a voting booth"? Would you go home and tell your family that you encountered someone who said that unless you are at least 18 years old, a US citizen, and registered to vote, you will not go to a voting booth when you die? Of course you wouldn't! You would clearly understand that I was telling you the prerequisites for participating right now in an election. The same is true for this passage about the kingdom of God as well.

  So are you born of the Spirit? If not, please drop this magazine and run and go find someone who is, so they can tell you how you can be! But if you are, and the Holy Spirit lives in you, you are qualified to "see" and "enter" the kingdom. So are you looking for it? Are you stepping in to abide in it when you see it? There's more. In the very next verse, the Lord Jesus makes the most incredible observation and statement:

Do you get it?! When we see and enter the kingdom of God, we flow with the Spirit of God in "where [He] wishes." In other words, we walk by the Spirit. It may interest you to know that the Greek work for "Spirit" and the Greek word for "wind" are the exact same word (pneuma), and the only way you know which way to translate it is by examining the context in which it is used. Wind is what "everyone who is born of the Spirit of God" is [supposed to be] like! We are to be flowing with Him, non-resistant and fluid. As we wait upon the Lord, listen for the Lord, and watch for how He leads, we are ready to flow with Him, as the wind, at any given time. We may not know where the Holy Spirit is coming from (i.e., why He is leading the way He is), or where His leading is ultimately going to take us or what the outcome will be, but that's okay, our part is to walk by childlike trust and faith in Him.

  My wife, Maranatha, and I diligently homeschool our children in necessary acedemics and skills for home life, but we even more so seek to disciple our children in the Lord using the same "classroom" the Lord Jesus did with His disciples: daily life. We live our lives in the Lord openly before our children, and have them with us as we proceed through the day whether we're eating, reading, gardening, gathering with the saints, working the burn piles on part of our land, building or making something, or whatever. And as we watch and listen for the Lord in the process, continual opportunities arise for dealing with heart motives, letting our schedule go for the sake of helping a brother or sister in the Lord who has a pressing need, learning scripture and seeing how it applies to the very situation we happen to be in, singing and worshipping, disciplining and chastening, learning to work hard and persevere and see something through, engaging in prayer, dealing with hurt feelings and forgiving, etc.

  Rather than cleaving to a predetermined program and getting all flustered when the inevitable variables of life "interrupt" our set-in-concrete schedule, we instead begin each day with our "Lord willing plan," and go forward with it and yet see how He allows the day to unfold. He may have us stay right on schedule, or He may have us change course for the day altogether. He may have us add these things, drop these plans, move this job to another time slot, take these phone calls, graciously turn down this invitation and instead do this, etc. One night I got home from out of town in just enough time to eat dinner and make it to the saints' gathering at a nearby family's home. But rather than going to a meeting of the church, which is what we would normally do, I instead felt like the Lord gave me some scriptures to read and a few things to share with my family. As I followed the Lord in this, it opened up a tremendous time of sharing the Lord that even our youngest children participated in, and the Lord used what I shared to do a significant work in the heart of one of my older children that very night. I could cite countless such examples. We have found this to be living as we were made to live in Christ: like the wind. He flows, and we flow along with Him, and at the end of the day we get to see where we ended up in relation to our "Lord willing plan" and where all the Holy Spirit took us along the way. We have also found that this allows us to accomplish volumes, maintain peace and joy and a very real sense of His presence in our lives, and grow in depth and faithfulness in following Him.

  Yet when confronted with this reality of how everyone who is born of the Spirit is [supposed to be] like the wind, many Christians in our day, including prominent Christian leaders and even good home educating parents, tragically respond just like Nicodemus:
  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and you do not receive our witness. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:9-12)

  How tragic that so many are supposedly teaching the Lord's people and/or their children about the things of God and yet they "do not understand these things"! They know the Bible and certain truths that are in God, and some things of character and integrity, yet know little of walking with the Person of the Lord. And, in case you didn't catch it, Jesus referred to all He had been talking about-seeing and entering the kingdom, what those who are born of the Spirit are like (i.e., the wind), etc.-as "earthly things," and He had not said anything up to that point that He considered to be "heavenly things"! Wow! The sense in which these spiritual matters are "earthly things" is because this is how we run our race and live out our life in Christ by faith during our time upon the earth. We tend to think of walking by the Spirit as the deeper Christian life, when, in actuality, it is the basic Christian life!

 

Subjectivism, "Biblical Principles," and the Scriptures

  "Now wait a minute, brother, you're getting way on out there in dangerous waters!" some of you may be thinking. "That's subjectivism!" others may charge. "If you go too far down that road, you'll have people saying the Lord showed them or told them all kinds of things when He didn't-even sinful things!" Yes, I have certainly met such people. Every other sentence is prefaced with "God showed me." or "The Lord told me." If you go on their roller coaster ride through life and believe everything they say, you would have to conclude that the Lord is schizophrenic or has "multiple personality disorder" and changes and contradicts Himself constantly. No, I am not advocating such things. "Let God be true and every man a liar" (Rom. 3:4). Many of these types are living straight out of their own fleshly minds and emotions and are packaging it as something spiritual. But it would be unfair to fail to recognize that some of these are lambs who are genuinely trying to learn to walk with God, and they typically have no one with real maturity to help them. But let's get down to the real issue.

  Christians have become so spooked by the new agers and all the occult influences in the world today, as well as disheartened by all the deceptions and false teachings that have blown through, that they have retreated into various forms of cold, lifeless objectivism. They cling to the letter of the scriptures, picking it apart and analyzing it for every morsel of right information they can find, because they are afraid of being wrong or deceived. There is nothing wrong with seeking God and studying the scriptures, but when it is done out of fear and to the neglect of relating to and walking with the Person of the Lord Jesus, we have missed the whole point and bought into a heavy, lifeless, miserable existence. Our life with God is a relationship, remember? It is interactive. He is Spirit, and so are we, even though we still live in these "earthen vessels." And we all know how much the "earthen" part gets in the way! But even so, by the Lord's own design, there is no getting away from the fact that our life with God is relational, and thus subjective!

  Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God." How do we know when He is bearing witness to our spirit? It is subjective-we have to be listening to His voice, and when we receive His witness, we cannot objectively prove to anyone that it really happened, can we? Romans 14:17 says, "the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Is the Lord's peace something you experience? Is His joy something you experience? Yes, these things are "in the Spirit" and as we believe and trust we experience them. This too is subjective, and note that this very scripture talking about our participating in the kingdom and the Spirit. The same is true for the righteousness we have in Christ. If you drink deep here of the reality of being clean by the blood of Jesus and let the Holy Spirit have His work in you, no accusation from hell can derail you from abiding in Him. But this too is not objective-can you prove to anyone that your sin has been washed away? It is an unseen work and experience in our hearts and lives.

  Consider what First John 2:26-27 says:

  "The anointing teaches us.and just as it has taught you, abide in Him." Well now, we're right back where we started: abiding in Him. Is "the anointing teaching us" an objective of subjective experience? It is subjective, isn't it? And note that the Holy Spirit inspired John to write this so we would know how to deal with those who are trying to deceive us! He also tells us to "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1-6), another "subjective" exercise in the Spirit of God. This is the Lord's way and remedy. He never commanded us to deny the subjective element of life in Him and retreat into objective truth only. To discount and even reject the subjective quality of our relationship with God because of a fearful reaction to the excesses, sins, and deceptions of others, would be no different than throwing away the Bible because people have twisted and used it to promote all sorts of evil and perverse things.

  Now I had to ride the "subjective horse" pretty hard to make a point, but let's now pick up on a wonderful gift the Lord has given us, and that is the scriptures.

  The Lord gave us the scriptures as an objective, tangible, authoritative, inerrant, tool by which our life and walk and experience in the Spirit can be taught and corrected and trained in righteousness and the truth. This is not to imply the Spirit of Truth will ever lead us astray, that is impossible (Heb. 6:17-18, James 1:13-17). But we can certainly be swayed by our flesh, can't we? The scriptures help us to recognize when this is happening and keeps directing us to Jesus. For example, let's say I'm following along with the Lord, enjoying His life and fellowship while I'm going to check my mailbox. I open it up and, behold, there is a statement from the government saying that I owe so-many dollars in taxes. Well I don't like to pay taxes, and I cannot afford it, and I really don't like supporting much of what the government stands for. I feel strongly inside that I really do not want to pay this, and begin to go with it some, thinking this is that anointing John talked about that is bearing witness to the truth. I even begin considering that I need to tell the Lord's people that He doesn't want us to pay taxes anymore.

  But thinking I better check this out with the scriptures first, I discover that we are commanded to "pay tax to whom tax is due," and Paul was writing this to saints in the context of being governed by a godless, intrusive, abusive, and persecuting Roman Empire (Rom. 13:1-7). I also see where the Lord Jesus even paid His taxes (Matt. 17:24 -27). Well, the scriptures offered me "reproof," showing me that what I thought was the Lord was actually my flesh. The scriptures taught me and corrected me and were used of the Lord to direct me to the Lord and walking by the Spirit in the paying of my taxes. I could give an infinite number of examples of this, not to mention the fact that we in the body of Christ can go to one another in love in this way too. If things do not reconcile with the scriptures, we do not need to accept it as being of the Lord. This is why, to the consternation of some, my writings are "littered" with scripture references and quotes-I want those who are seeking the Lord to be able to see for themselves that what I am saying is backed by the scriptures.

  Receiving correction and being trained and equipped is a huge part of our growth and sanctification. But always remember that the scriptures were given to us as a help to our walking with the Person of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said:

  There are many Christian teachers today, including many among those who home school, who also wrongfully think they have life in the scriptures. They proclaim that we are called to live by biblical principles, and that "implementing biblical principles" is how we are to walk out the Christian life. The way these people talk, you would think that John 1:1 said, "In the beginning was the Bible, and the Bible was with God, and the Bible was God." There are even some misguided souls who teach that the Lord doesn't speak to people anymore like He did in the first century because now we have the Bible. What a convenient theology for someone who thinks they are one of the Lord's sheep to come up with in order to explain why they do not hear His voice (cf. John 10:3-4, 27). I confess I would enjoy seeing them try to teach this notion to the saints of some of the underground churches of China and North Korea , where Bibles are scarce and sometimes non-existent, and see how far it would fly. While these types rightly hold to the authority of the scriptures, they exalt the Bible to a place that it supplants a living, interactive relationship with the Lord by the Spirit that is by His own design!

  Now let's clearly note what Galatians 5:16 doesn't say. It does not say, "Implement the biblical principles, and you will not fulfill the desire of the flesh." Nor does verse 25 say, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by biblical principles." Nor did Jesus say, "He who abides in the biblical principles, and the biblical principles in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from the biblical principles you can do nothing" (cf. John 15:5). These passages do not say these things, do they? Yet given so much of the prominent teaching today, you would think they did. The Lord's people are given installment after installment of biblical principles to the point they have super-structures of principles to live by, yet look at the condition of the church! If principles are where it's at, where is the vibrant, abundant, victorious, life of God, overflowing out both individual believers and the church as a whole?

  What is a principle? It is an observable, objective truth; a rule; an equation that is consistently true. Let's go ahead and admit that a principle is synonymous with a law. But because most Christians have read Galatians, they can never bring themselves to say the "L-word." To do that would make them face something they do not want to face-they are out of touch with the Holy Spirit. Thus to "live by biblical principles" provides an out that allows them to feel good about themselves. Who can argue with what is biblical and scriptural? And "principles" is a kinder, gentler way of saying "laws."

  Those who call us to live by biblical principles package it something like this: God gave us the scriptures. He speaks to us through the scriptures. The scriptures show us the truth of what God has set into motion. These truths are immutable, like the law of gravity. Therefore, if we find out from the scriptures what is true about a particular subject, we can implement the principle. That is, we can position ourselves in this immutable cause and effect and experience the blessings of God.

  If brethren are talking about seeing the truth of something in the scriptures-a spiritual reality or a way of God-and they want to call it a "principle," I have no problem with this. But if they are going to try in their own human strength and understanding to implement a biblical law and so position themselves and live, I have to draw the line and call this the "leaven of the Pharisees" (Matt. 16:5-12). We may even be in complete agreement on what the scriptures are saying, but how we are to then live it out is by the Spirit, not by "implementing" a law. This has been a problem among believers going all the way back to the inception of the church, and Paul writing his first letter to the churches of Galatia (Gal. 3:1-7, et al.).

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. (Galatians 5:18)

Saints, I will admit that those who walk this legalistic way can and many times do experience some temporal blessings, but it is a fading glory like that of Moses (2 Cor. 3). We are not called to walk by the letter of the scriptures, we are called to walk by a PERSON-the Holy Spirit! Does the living Lord speak to us through the scriptures? Of course He does! But He also does so through other members of the body of Christ, or directly to our spirit as we are quietly seeking and waiting upon Him, or through the witness of nature and His creation, etc. But all of this simply directs us to Him. Let's look again at what our Lord Jesus declared to the masters of biblical principles:

We are called to the Person of the Lord Jesus! We are to love Him, follow Him, abide in Him, get to know Him-the Person! We do this by the Holy Spirit. Because of the oneness of the Godhead, we are told "the Lord is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:17). We are not only to live by Him, but to also walk by Him. The scriptures bear witness of Him. They direct us to Him. They lead us to Him (cf. 2 Tim. 3:14-15). But if you are merely holding to the letter of the scriptures, you are no better off than the Pharisees of Jesus' day who were "straining at every gnat" of scriptural correctness and yet were blind to the Messiah standing right before them. Walking by the Spirit does not ever contradict holding to the scriptures, but people can hold to the scriptures in a way that certainly contradicts walking by the Spirit.

  The Bible is a priceless, God-inspired tool to help direct, shape, purify, and correct our walk with Him and our perception and discernment of spiritual things, but our use of it is never to take the place of our relationship with the Living God. The scriptures, in and of themselves, can only show us "the what" of life in Jesus, they are not "the how." The how of life in Jesus is walking by the Spirit. We all start out with a small capacity when we begin our new life in Christ. Our worldly baggage and ideals so cloud our hearts and minds and skew our perception of the Lord and His kingdom. But as we are faithful with our little capacity, and embrace that "reproofs for discipline are a way of life" in our learning to walk by the Spirit (Pro. 6:23, Heb. 12:4-14), and we are humbly trained by them as we keep walking forward, no matter how many embarrassing mistakes and blunders we make, He will continually enlarge it.

Parents, does your home school curriculum prominently feature "Walking by the Spirit 101," with daily life leading you to advanced studies and life experiences? Are you concerned more with academics than with imparting to your children a life of listening to, watching for, and following the Living God, which has eternal value and worth? Are you having to face that you cannot give away what you yourself do not have, and the Lord is revealing your own lack or void in this area? May we all humble ourselves, and lay aside leaning to our own understanding, and be among "the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4).

 

 

 

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