If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
(Cf. Galatians 5:16; Galatians 5:18.)
I. The supposition.
1. We have been born of the Spirit.
2. We are living in the continual exercise of faith in Christ who is our life.
II. The obligation.
1. Living a life of spirituality in opposition to one of formalism.
2. Being addicted to the spiritual contemplation of Divine things.
3. Making progress in all that constitutes religion. (W. Cowan, M. A.)
Walking in the Spirit
I. Suggests that a new birth will invariably be followed by a new life, and conversation (Matthew 7:16-20; Matthew 13:33). The conviction of the inseparable connection between regeneration and sanctification will save us from--
1. Practical antinomianism,
2. The error that morality is sufficient without a spiritual change.
II. Implies that not only the commencement but the continuance of spiritual life depends on the gracious operation of the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9). The Spirit works in us--
1. Encouragement.
2. Help.
3. Watchfulness.
III. Prescribes a practical duty. To walk consistently with our past experience and present profession. This walking in the Spirit consists in--
1. The habit and exercise of faith in Christ.
2. Maintaining a constant conflict with indwelling sin.
3. A spiritual frame of mind.
4. The cultivation and exercise of all the graces of Christian life (Galatians 5:22-23). (J. Buchanan, D. D.)
Walking in the Spirit
1. Life. Walking in the Spirit implies living in the Spirit. There must be a principle of spiritual life, before there Can be any spiritual motions and exercises. And living in the Spirit implies walking in the Spirit. What is a man’s walk? It is his whole life, his whole conduct, outward and inward--all he thinks, feels, desires, speaks, does, suffers. To walk in the Spirit is to have the Holy Ghost originating, directing, controlling, and governing all these.
2. Progress. A walk is a progress, it has an end in view, and it is a going towards that end, more or less steadily--more or less rapidly.
(1) The man who walks in the Spirit has the same end in view which his Master had; he looks for the joy which is set before us, the glory which is to be revealed.
(2) He has a guide--Christ, whom the Spirit reveals to him, that he may follow in the footsteps of Him who is our example in all things.
(3) He has a rule or map of the way--the Word of God, which the Spirit opens up and makes plain to his soul.
(4) He has a motive or gracious spring urging him on--love.
3. The benefit. The old nature is checked, kept down, and not permitted to ripen its bitter fruit. Its nature and tendencies are unchanged, unchangeable, but it is checked and restrained at every point. But the new nature is cultivated, and so it bears its peaceable fruits. The man who walks in the Spirit has less outward stir and bustle than others, but he has more success, for he works in God, and God works in and with him. But why this long, tedious, fluctuating conflict between flesh “and spirit? It is to show the evil and deceitfulness of sin, to humble, to make watchful, to make us dependent, and make us long for heaven. (John Milne.)
A Christian’s walk
“That man’s been in the army,” said a gentleman to his friend, the other day, as a stranger passed them in the street; “I know a soldier by his walk.” Men ought to know Christ’s soldiers by their walk. But how many are there of us who profess to march under His banner, who compel the world to take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus? Often the community in which a man lives first learns that he was a Christian at his funeral.