The Principles and Method of Christian Life
Galatians 5:16
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.


I. THE PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

1. The virtues which are God-derived and God-ward.

(1)  Love, the tie which binds us to God as a Father.

(2)  Joy, the glad emotion which makes music in the renewed soul.

(3)  Peace, the summer calm which settles upon the conscience.

2. Those which refer to our fellow-men — "longsuffering meekness."

(1)  They are the counterpart of the Divine virtues.

(2)  Are derived from the same spring.

3. These belonging to the general disposition and habit of the soul, "Faith temperance."

II. THE METHOD BY WHICH WE APPROPRIATE THESE PRINCIPLES AND MAKE THEM EFFECTIVE IN OUR CHARACTER.

1. Negatively: the apostle does not

(1)  throw us back on our own will;

(2)  hold up minute regulations and restrictions.

2. Positively: he tells us to "walk in the Spirit."

(1)  Not simply after a spiritual manner,

(2)  by a mere Divine influence; but

(3)  by personal power of the Holy Spirit.

III. REMEMBER THE TRUE ORDER OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AS HERE UNFOLDED.

1. The bad is not overcome by mere abstinence from evil.

2. Be filled with the Spirit and evil will be overcome.

(S. Pearson, M. A.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

WEB: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh.




The Positiveness of the Divine Life
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