Galatians 6:1-8 - The Law of Christ

Having proved that we are justified through faith alone by Christ alone the question becomes “How then should we live?”

Or, to put it another way, since Paul has stated unequivocally that the believer is no longer under law, but under grace, how does Paul answer the charge of antinomianism? Hasn't he just given all believers a license to sin? And if the law is not our focus, what is the principle guideline of our Christian life?

And Paul has answered by pointing out that the law points us to Christ who is all-sufficient for believers. Through faith in him, walking by the Spirit, Christ-focused, we produce the fruit of the Spirit within us against which there is no law. All of that was in chapter five.

Remember we pointed out from Jesus’ correction of the Pharisees in Mark 7 how Jesus announced the end and fulfillment of the ceremonial law in him, and at the same time re-affirmed the moral aspects of the law. God’s moral precepts are unchanging because they are derived from God’s moral character which is itself unchanging. But the ceremonial aspects of the law were temporary serving a specific people, place, and time in redemptive history. So we are now living in that phase of redemptive history known as the Messianic age, or the age of the Spirit. He has been poured out on all flesh (meaning all kinds of people, not just Jews) and all those who (not just Jews) call upon him (worship him in spirit and truth) will be saved.

In the previous chapter Paul taught us to ‘walk by the Spirit’ and promised that in doing so we would not fulfill the desires of the flesh, but rather we would produce the fruit of the Spirit. But what happens when someone falls? What happens when someone is ensnared in the traps of the devil? What happens when someone goes astray, does not walk by the Spirit, does gratify the desires of the flesh? That's where Paul begins in chapter 6.

Below you will find a link to the audio from the Bible study we did on this passage. We covered the first 8 verses of chapter 6 and discovered the Law of Christ. Take a listen to find out more and I hope you are blessed.


Click here: Galatians 6:1-8 - The Law of Christ


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Galatians 5:23 - Gentleness, Self-control

In this lesson we looked at two more virtues listed under the heading ‘fruit of the Spirit'--the last two. But before delving into them we took the time to remind ourselves of these key points about the fruit of the Spirit:

(1) These are kingdom virtues and eschatological in nature. Remember, we do not belong to this world. We are being prepared for the next. All of these virtues are grounded in the hope of the future glory and will never be perfected until then. In that world, these will be the character of everyone.

(2) These are a striking description of the character of Christ who excelled in and exemplified all of these virtues.

(3) These are all supernatural virtues produced by the Spirit in us when we ‘walk by the Spirit.’ While there may be something like these achieved by the natural man apart from Christ, these all go above and beyond what our sinful nature can produce by itself. When unbelievers display something like these virtues we may be assured that what we see on display is corrupt and inferior. What Paul outlines here are graces produced in believers only, and only by the Spirit of God.

In this Bible study we looked at gentleness and self-control. We discussed what they meant from a biblical context and how they would manifest themselves in our lives. I hope you will take the time to listen and grow in your faith and in your knowledge of Scripture. And I hope that you will learn to walk by the Spirit so that these virtues will manifest themselves in your life. Just click the link below to listen. God bless.

Click here: Galatians 5:23 - Gentleness, Self-control



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