0710. Beginning in the Spirit

Beginning in the Spirit

"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the Truth? * * Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal_3:1-3).

1. We learn in this passage that we began in the Spirit–that is, we were saved through the operation of the Holy Ghost. We read in Joh_3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. We cannot understand the new birth, but we know that we are children of God, because we have been born again, born of the Spirit.

2. The question that Paul is asking, is this: If we are born by the Spirit, can we live out our lives in the flesh? The flesh "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." The flesh is enmity to God, therefore, believers are in no wise debtors to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Believers should not mind the things of the flesh.

What we should do, is to reckon our old man as dead. We should die daily to the flesh. We should crucify it with its affections and lusts.

3. But again, we should mind the things of the Spirit; we should live after the Spirit; we should be led by the Spirit; we should serve in the Spirit. Any success that we may have as Christians, and any service that we may render as saints, must be in the Spirit of God, to be either acceptable to God, or blessed of God. Young people frequently when saved, immediately imagine that God’s work in their life is finished. In truth, however, His work has but begun. The failure which marks many an earthly walk is due to the fact that the Spirit of God and His ministrations are altogether unrecognized on the part of believers.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR