No. 39. >> I've heard Galatians 5:16 through 24 are called the catalog of vices and virtues. What is Paul really saying here about the world in which we live? Is he talking about communities which are marked by either works of the flesh or fruit of the Spirit? Or does he have something else in mind? And when Christians produce fruit of the Spirit is that the dynamic result of Christ living in them? >>DR. ARTHUR A. JUST, JR.: Josh, these are profound questions. And good ones. And ones that Paul wants us to ask about this section. Because this is a very, very misunderstood part of Paul. And I think you're going to see here in the way in which Paul is presenting the argument that if we just twist his words a little bit and actually look at these as the ancient world perhaps would have as catalog of vices and virtues, then I think we're going to miss the point. This isn't about moral behavior. That is not what Paul is talking about. Even though it might give birth to behavior that is moral. But he is talking about what is it that constitutes a community in Christ. And he's talking about really in many ways how a community is formed in Christ. This is the language that Paul has been using throughout this epistle. And here he is now giving concrete expressions of it. Now, remember what I said before: Paul is being accused by his opponents of being a seminary professor who doesn't get it. Who doesn't know what real life is like. I can identify with that because I'm a seminary professor. And I oftentimes hear that. More often than I would like to. And I always tell people: Hey, listen I was School Board chairman of a school for four years and seven years on the School Board. I think I know what real life is like. I teach in the high school occasionally. I have high school kids. I deal with the same problems everybody does. I work with students who have real life problems. I get out into the church. One of the things I think we can say of Paul is that even though Paul may have been an intellect actual and a theologian par excellent, Paul understood that the only world that is real is the world in which Christ is present. Everything else is false. And that's a very hard thing for some people to recognize. Especially in our culture. I mean our world is a world that is without Christ. And they think that they've got the whole thing going. Just turn on the tele, watch the morning shows. Watch the talk shows. Look at the movies, look at the newspapers in the culture in which we live, the political culture. They think that's real life. But real life, real life is found when Christians gather together around the real presence of Jesus Christ. Where his love is being giving as a gift in Word and sacrament to the people of God. That's why this is to be understood at a sermon in a liturgical context. In which Christ is being given as gift. And his love is being spread among the members as they commune with him and his body, his bodily presence. In the hearing of the word and the receiving of the Holy Supper. Now, for Paul, that's real life. And that creates community. And that community has certain characteristics. And what he does here very simply is says that this community is a community in which the Spirit is alive and well. The communities that are not of the Spirit are communities of the flesh. Or as we're going to see, communities of the law. But for Paul a community of the flesh and a community of the law are one and the same thing. Now let's see if we're going to find that in the text. Look at how Paul begins in Verse 16 of this second section of this pastoral, very pastoral part of Chapter 5. He says in Verse 16: But I say -- and I'm going to translate this literally because I love the word -- walk around in the Spirit. And so do not bring to completion the impulsive desires of the flesh. Now, I've taken a little liberty there with that word. We would have simply translated that as desires. But it's impulsive desires. It's a desire that we cannot help. And what he's saying is daily conduct in the Galatian congregation, in a Christian congregation, that is formed in Christ by his Spirit is a community in which the Spirit reigns. Because of the divine invasion, this Apocalyptic invasion of the son into the cosmos in the incarnation and his Spirit that comes along with him and now reigns in the church by which he is present in the church. That is what constitutes the Christian community. And so if you are -- if you are walking in the Spirit and you are -- this is -- you know this is how you have to translate this -- walk around in the Spirit. And you are. Then you will not -- you will not bring to completion the impulsive desire of the flesh. Now, that's hard for us. Because we do. We do sin. The impulsive desire of the flesh sometimes gets a hold of us. And when that happens to a Christian, it's always a great tragedy. Paul is going to actually refer to this in the next chapter. So we'll wait for him to talk about what happens when the impulsive desire of the flesh breaks out in a Christian community. But here he's talking in general terms. Walk around in the Spirit and so do not bring to completion the impulsive desire of the flesh. And here is why. Verse 17 states is very, very clearly. And I want you to see now that we have two orbs of power: Flesh and Spirit. They are at war with one another. They are fighting one another. These are two supra human Apocalyptic powers that are in this war of liberation. And I haven't used this language yet but I'm going to now. I think one of the ways Paul is portraying this war is in this way: When you're baptized, you become a foot soldier on the front line of this Apocalyptic battle. Now, oftentimes we think it's the flesh that's desiring war on the Spirit. But it's just the other way around. It's the Spirit that's declaring war on the flesh. The flesh has it all. The flesh is in control of the world. It's having a grand time. But it's the invasion of the Son to come in and take on the flesh. It's the invasion of the Spirit into us that changes us. And we are now by the Spirit there on the front lines of the Apocalyptic war fighting that war by the Spirit in Christ, clothed in Christ, with his Apocalyptic armor on us. It's not our armor. Remember what Paul says later on: we have the breast plate of righteousness, et cetera, et cetera. You know the helmet of salvation. We're out there fighting the battle in Christ. And we're doing it because that's who we are. That's who we have become in baptism. And so this -- I think this sense of Apocalyptic war are is very much here. And these soldiers, these Galatian soldiers would get it. They know what war is like. But this is a war unlike any war they've fought. This is a cosmic war. This is a war that Christ fought on the cross against Satan. Killed him. But he triumphed. He triumphed in his weakness just as Paul preached the Gospel in his weakness. It's one of my favorite images from the fathers. You probably know that Christ was crucified naked on the cross. And the fathers say that they are in his nakedness, in his weakness, in his shame and humiliation, he despoiled the principalities and powers of this world. He conquered them in his nakedness. Now, that's the images Paul wants us to have in our minds as he goes forward here. Now, look at what he says in Verse 17. He says very clearly here: For the desires of the flesh, the impulsive desires of the flesh, are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. Now, see, they are at war with one another. These evil desires and the Spirit. And then he goes on: For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Now, does that sound like Romans 7? The things I don't want to do, I do and -- you know, this is Romans 7. Here Romans 7 is a sense of kind of expanding this. Here you can see that the war between the evil desires in the flesh and the Spirit begin with the Galatian�s baptism. And as I said, the Spirit is declaring war. And we are from the moment we are baptized engaged in a war that is -- that is painful. This is something that I think a lot of people don't recognize when people are newly baptized. They think that their life is going to be better. That things -- now that they are in Christ, everything is going to be good. And oftentimes and pastors I think can testify to this. When a person is baptized, all of a sudden things seem to go back for them. That Satan is out after them. And pastors and congregations need to support them fully. I mean, it is an extraordinary thing. Because once these people have been snatched out of the kingdom of Satan. He's angry. And he's going after them. And as I said, they are soldiers on the front line of the Apocalyptic war now. And Satan is there trying to win them back. So the imagery here is very, very powerful. And I think you can see that it's not -- it's not easy. We need Christ. We cannot do it on our own. And we certainly can't do it by means of our works. Now, look at what he says in Verse 18. And here he's now -- he's now going to move forward towards the catalog of vices. If you are led by the Spirit, and you are -- you always have to add that. And you are. Then you are not under the power of the law. Now, this may not surprise you. But it does me now. Because he hasn't mentioned law up until this point. Now it's under the power of the law. Before it was flesh. But now it's law. And look at what he does then in 19: For the works of the flesh are evident. Now, these works of the flesh I'm going to get to in a minute. But before we go there, I want to make a comment about what Paul is doing. If you're under the power of the law or if you're under the power of the flesh, works of flesh, it amounts to the same thing. Now, I want to give you an illustration of this but I want to give the general principle first. And I may actually give you a couple of illustrations here. People who are living under the law who are trying to keep the law will oftentimes experience gross outbursts of sin. That's what living under the law does to them. One of my favorite examples of this is a movie called "Chocolat." I don't know if you saw it. It's a wonderful movie. You should see it if you haven't seen it. I know some Christians get a little upset because the woman in it appears to be kind of like a witch. But it's a wonderful movie about -- that illustrates this very well. It takes place in France. I think it's the early 20th Century or late 19th Century probably. In a very kind of Puritanistic kind of context. It happens to be a Roman Catholic context. But she's kind of a free spirit. She makes this chocolate. It kind of enhances people's lives. And she's a great threat to kind of the Mayor, the major kind of control person in this French town who finds her to be against his kind of very stern, very legalistic way of looking at the world. And he really tries to kind of keep her from making her chocolates. And having the influence that she clearly is having in this town. You can see she brings in a freedom, kind of a refreshing breath of fresh air. And people are living a fuller life because of her. Well, anyway, he does everything he can to try to shut her down. And at the end of the movie there, there's this extraordinary moment where he's so living under the law that it causes this impulsive desire of the flesh to break out in him. And so what does he find himself doing? Breaking into her chocolate store in the front window and just absolutely gorging himself in this chocolate. And he passes out there in the front of the store. Now, here is an extraordinary expression of mercy and love. She doesn't go: Ah-ha look at you. You Puritanical idiot. She embraces him in mercy and love and forgiveness. And it's an extraordinary expression of the Gospel. And then they have this kind of Easter celebration. You can see he's a different man. Well, there the impulsive desire of the flesh broke out in this man who is living under the law. That's what happens. That's what happens to Pharisaical behavior. It either goes into the closet or it's outbursts. I mean there are examples of this. Look at all of those TV evangelists who are preaching this law, law, law, law, law all the time and then we find out they've lived a life that isn't necessarily that righteous. Now, for Paul's opponents, they are going to hear what he's saying. And what he's saying is this: If you live under the law like these Pharisaical Christians are telling you to do, or if you live like a pagan with all these gross outbursts of sin, it's basically the same thing. There is no difference. And if you go in one, you're eventually going to get to the other. Now, basically Paul is saying that his Pharisaical opponents are no different than gross pagan sinners. Now, I mean, he did say earlier that he wishes that they would castrate themselves. But in some ways, this is even more indicting of them than that statement. Now, look at Verses 19, 20 and 21. This is the flesh run wild. This is the marks of a community who are under the influence of sin/flesh. And look at the categories here. He says the works of the flesh are evident. And these are what they are. They are indecency. You know really pornographic living is really what it is. And this catalog is disorganized. The one on the fruits of the Spirit is not. But look at this. Pornographic living, indecency. Lewdness. Rites of holy prostitution. Sorcery. Enmity. Contentious rivalry. Jealousy. Fits of rage. Selfish ambition. Now, I'm translating it in a fuller way here. Dissension, factions. You know, sects, heresies kind of thing. Envy. Drunkenness, orgies. And things like these. Now, this kind of fleshly outburst, this impulsive desire of the flesh that's expressing itself in the context of the community, these are powers that destroy community of life. And what you see here is a total loss of control. Chaos. Now, we live in a fairly civilized environment. Most of the world -- history of the world has not had that. I know when we talk of Luther for example, you should have gone back into those post medieval towns and late medieval towns and seen the absolute chaos and craziness. The barbarians who were absolutely out of control. The Romans were fairly civilized compared to them. If you look over the history of the world, this kind of behavior is the kind of behavior you see in a world gone wild. You can still see evidences of this in our world. Many times, many places. Think of what happened when the hurricanes hit. When there's a disaster how the flesh runs wild. People just lose control. Paul says in Verse 21 -- and this is how he summarizes it -- I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who engage in this regular practice of these outbursts of sin will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, that's very, very unusual language for Paul. First time he's used kingdom of God. It's not a popular expression in Paul's writings. It's not a common one I should say. That's the language of Jesus. And that somewhat surprises us here because we don't expect it. It comes unexpectedly. And it shows us that what Paul is doing here is he's talking about a reference here to the teaching of Jesus. And all the parables about the kingdom, all of the things about the kingdom are being expressed here by this reference. Now, if you go to the gospels, you know that the kingdom of God is all about Christ. He's the king of the kingdom. He is coronated on the cross as king of the kingdom. This is a theology of the cross. When you hear kingdom of God, you think theology of the cross. You think that things are different, are the opposite of what one expects. And what one of expects when one sees the language of the kingdom is one sees things the opposite of what the world sees. Those who engage in this behavior are exactly the opposite of what Christ came to do on the cross. This is not the life of love and humility. This is not the life of service. This is where one is turned in it on oneself serving oneself. Remember, I said these are not directed to individuals. They are directed to a community. And a community that is constituted by these fleshly outbursts are communities that are destroyed. Now the community of love. The community of Christ. Marks of the community that are led by the Spirit. Spirit filled community. Where there is life in Christ and self control. He doesn't call them works now. He calls them fruit. This is again an echo of the language of Jesus. And we know this so well. These are the fruits of the Spirit that you see you know all over the church in terms of its iconography and it's own language. And these are fruits that are all given to the community in baptism. They are all given in Christ. These aren't things that you kind of accumulate over the course of your Christian life. When you're baptized, when the community is constituted by baptism, all of these things are there immediately in Christ. And look at what they are. The first three, of course, being the first three are the most important. Love. Joy. And peace. And then you have patience or long suffering. Kindness. Goodness. Faith. Humility. Self control. I think that's Christ's faithfulness. Against such things, Paul says, there is no law. When these things constitute the community, the law -- here is the law in it's kind of negative thing, to keep the impulsive desire of the flesh from bursting out. The law does not obtain. The law is not there. Because it's brought to fulfillment in Christ he says. If the Spirit is there and Christ is there, there is no need for law. And that is exactly what Paul wants his congregation to see. That the law now is brought to its fulfillment in the first fruit of the Spirit. Love and all that flows out of love, which is joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. I think we don't spend enough p time talking about self control. A community constituted by the Spirit in love is a community that is controlled. It's not out of control. Boy, I tell you, pastors can identify with that. Voters assembly where people are fighting about something, not living -- serving one another in love. They can go out of control. And it's one of the saddest moments in a church where they can see that in fact, that the flesh is rearing it's ugly head up. Because the fruits of the Spirit are not there. Paul ends this by saying something that is profound. And I want you to see how he brings us back to the cross. I mean, Paul is a theologian of the cross. And here having talked about what marks a community in Christ, he shows that that has to always be brought back to the cross. And he says: Those who belong to Christ -- that's a very important statement. Those who are his -- have crucified the flesh. Now, that flesh is all those impulsive desires, that catalog of vices. With all of its passions and it's desires. What he's telling us is the Spirit is the Spirit of the crucified Christ. And our victory over the flesh is not our own. But it's because we have this corporate participation in Christ's suffering and death. Because we have been co-crucified with Christ, those impulsive desires of the flesh have been crucified in him. And they have now been given to us as freedom in the Gospel and the ability to love and bear the fruits of the Spirit in if community. The death of Christ makes it already possible now for us to live this way in the Spirit. Now, here baptism comes right back to us. When were we co-crucified with Christ? In baptism. When did the fruits of the Spirit become ours? When we were joined with Christ in baptism. Where we suffered -- and here Romans 6 is coming in. Where we suffered with Christ, we died with him, we were buried and rose again. We rose now to a life that never ends. A life that is constituted by Christ himself. I think you can see here that love is the dominant theme of life in Christ. And as I said at the very beginning, these fruits of the Spirit are not moral imperatives. You know, kind of laws by which we live. He says very clearly: Of such things there is no law. This is being. This is identity. This is who we are in Christ. This is our character. And we bear it joyfully because Christ is in us and Christ lives through us. This is one of the great gifts that God gives us in Christ.