Galatians 5:17 Meaning

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Galatians 5:17, ESV

Here’s our Christian conundrum.

Paul tells us that there’s a battle going on inside of us between the flesh and the Spirit. And they both desire opposite things.

The flesh desires that you live like the old man. The Spirit desires that you live like the one that you’ve been saved and called to be.

So, there’s this battle taking place inside of us.

The flesh is like an old wicked friend

I liken the flesh to an old friend you had prior to your conversion — with whom you’d mutually commit sinful acts.

And then you came to saving faith and you no longer want to do those things with that friend anymore.

But that friend knows that you used to enjoy doing that sinful thing with him. So he calls you — maybe he’s going to the bar and getting drunk — and he says “let’s go out to the bar tonight. Let’s go have some fun!“

That’s what the flesh is like.

James 1:14-15 says, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.“

The flesh lusts for the things that will lead you to death.

But like those old friends that we used to have who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer — who wouldn’t respect the fact that you no longer did those things — what did we have to do with with those friendships?

We had to put them to bed. We had to cut those friendships off. We had to let those friendships die.

So too we must do with sin and the flesh.

The Spirit is our new and perfect friend

Because now we have we have a far greater Friend and a true friend — a friend who doesn’t seek to work death in us — but one who seeks to work life in us.

He doesn’t seek to get us to disobey God but to obey God — and to serve him faithfully.

He’s the friend who always looks out for you — who always has the best of intentions for everything that you do in this life.

He would never suggest anything that would cause you to hurt your relationship with God.

That’s the friend we ought to always treasure. That’s the friend that we ought to take advice from and listen to and follow after — not the friend who tries to get you to repress godliness — but the friend, the true friend, who wants you to repress ungodliness — the friend who only suggests things that are in keeping with the will of God — the friend who always seeks to bring you nearer and nearer to Christ — the friend who stirs us up to pray because he wants that relationship to continue to form ever so intimately with our Lord.

The Spirit likewise is our friend and our comforter. He comforts us even amidst the battle and the turmoil and the combat.

And the Spirit knows that as long as we live, the lust of the flesh will not be dead in us.

Sin has been defeated in the Christian

And yet it’s that indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside of us that ought to be a reminder to each one of us that sin has been decisively defeated.

It’s that indwelling of the Holy Spirit that’s a great reminder that one day sin forever will be dealt with and be gone from us. And we will be free from it.

The Spirit’s presence working in us against the flesh is a reminder that he who is in us is greater and stronger than he who is in the world.

The Spirit helps us in our continued spiritual battle

And so we ought to be confident that the Spirit is our general leading us through the battle. He will not allow us to succumb to — or be overcome by — the enemy. Because he supplies the strength that God’s army needs — even in those times you don’t feel like he’s doing that.

But that’s when you know there’s a battle going on inside of you — when you want stronger faith but you can’t seem to grow in your faith.

That’s the battle going on inside of you — when someone suggests you do something that’s sinful, and you take time to debate it in your mind.

That’s the battle going on inside of you when you want to get up on Sunday morning and come to church but something inside of you is telling you that the bed’s comfy today — “there will always be church next next Sunday.“

That’s the battle going on inside of you.

How to think of your works as a Christian

It’s the flesh that says, “Your works will never be good enough, so just sin! Have at it! Go for it.“

It’s the Spirit inside of you though who says, “Yes, you are a sinner. And your works will never be enough. But Christ’s works are — and because you are in him, his works are yours.“

And so because you are in Christ, Christian — your works do matter! Don’t let the devil deceive you into thinking that they don’t.

They matter because you who are doing them are doing them in Christ.

And so your works that you do are good works. They’re not perfect works but they’re good works.

The works that you do are pleasing to God because they are done in Christ. And so he accepts the obedience of the work. And he covers over the defect of it on account of Christ.

What impact our sin should have on us

That should cause each one of us to experience the great joy and the rich blessings of our salvation — to continue throughout the whole course of our life constantly beating upon the door of Heaven — asking, begging, pleading, desiring that God would grant to us the ability to serve him — and not the flesh.

Because we desire to please God and not the flesh.

Remember even as a believer, sin is still sin. Psalm 130:3 is still true: “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?“

As we hear that, it ought to drive us back to Christ — who does not impute or mark sin.

But he only does not impute sin to the one who repents and lays hold of the merits of Christ. It is they — and they alone — who will be able to stand before God on Judgment Day — not the one who takes sin lightly, but the one who is displeased by his sin — the one who hates his sin.

And your constant failures cause you to want to part with sin for good.

But the one who wallows in the filth of their sin is the one who ought to be terrified and afraid. 1 John 3:8 says, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil…“

The Spirit is greater than the flesh

If you’ve been born of God, you don’t belong to your sinful flesh. You belong to God. You are the property of Jesus Christ.

And so remember this — there are not two equal powers inside of you. It’s not “flesh and Spirit” as if they are equals.

The power of the Spirit is so vastly greater than the flesh.

We can trust that the Spirit will make his desire for us our own desire for ourselves as he draws us nearer to our Savior — and as we mortify the deeds of the flesh.

And so let’s not relish in our sin. But let’s also rejoice in the battle — knowing that the battle has already been won! That our enemy has already been defeated!

Trust God that he will continue to sustain you until the end and cause you to prevail in the conflict.