
Wisdom of Paul: Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16
@bernie2002xp
Posted 6d ago · 2 min read
The Galatians were a people evangelized by Paul during his first and second missionary journeys, and he probably wrote his letter to them during his third missionary journey to clarify some issues regarding the teaching of God's word.
The first issue addressed by Paul in his letter is the problem of circumcision in the Christian faith, and the oneness of the instruction of the gospel at a time when the teaching of the word was fundamentally oral. Paul clarified to the churches of Galatia that one of the provisions of the first council of Jerusalem was that circumcision was not mandatory.
And after this, Paul wrote about justification by faith and the need to live out the gifts received from God. Perhaps Paul was the theologian of the first-century who best interpreted the thought of Jesus, because Paul was always insistent on one thing: masks and appearances like circumcision have no value in themselves; what matters is the circumcision of the heart through the fear of God (constancy, firmness, devotion), which is the good soil on which the seed of faith is sown.
Paul's theology, which is closely related to sapiential literature, expresses that the spirit and the flesh are thoughts that oppose each other in the mind of man, and that every believer must choose between righteousness and sin because they are ways of living each day. This is why the apostle explained to the Galatians that accepting Jesus means living according to the dictates of the Spirit, and with these words he wrote to them about the matter: "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh" Galatians 5:16-17.
Finally, the apostle Paul, with wisdom, ended his spiritual letter by teaching about the law of sowing and reaping, a law of balance and retribution, since the spirit and the flesh lead to different rewards; righteousness reaps blessing, and sin brings ruin and destruction.
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