Daily Bread – June 16, 2021 (The Fourth Day – Genesis 1:14-19) Galatians 5:17 – For fleshly desires are against the Spiritual, and the Spirit is against the fleshly desires; and these are opposed to each other, so that you would never do your will. Part 2 ~ Two Opposing Forces There are those who would make Galatians 5:17 a corollary scripture to Romans 7:17-21. However, such is not the case. For in Romans, Paul confesses that those who are bound to the law are also bound to sin, and there is no good thing in them (Romans 7:4-5,18). However, if Galatians 5:17 was referring to what is on the inside of the saints, then we would have progressed from having nothing good to being half good. Furthermore, he is not addressing the issue of being under the law; but rather being, as it were, caught between two opposing forces. The truth is that Galatians 5:17 is no more talking about two natures within a person than 1 John 2:15-17. These passages of Scripture contrast two different realms: all that is in the world, and all that is in the realm of the Kingdom of the dear Son (Colossians 1:13). We have to choose whose side we are on because if we do not stand with the Kingdom of God, then the power of darkness will surely take over and rule our lives with its dominion of sin. Each person may choose whether they want to regard this as an internal conflict or an external one. I believe Scripture teaches us this is an external conflict for all of those who have been made a new creation by the miracle work of salvation. Now, the greater One lives on the inside of us because we have been made one with Jesus (1 John 4:4, 3:24; John 17:21-23, 15:1-5; and Colossians 1:27, 2:12, 3:4; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:6, 4:15; Philippians 1:21; and 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 5:17-18, 21; Romans 8:1). Now that we have been begotten of God and born of the Spirit, we are a new creation. All of the old things are destroyed and passed away, and everything is new. We belong completely to God, having been given a new heart and a new spirit. Furthermore, we are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives in us. We have also been baptized with the Holy Spirit so that He not only lives in us, but also surrounds us. He has given us His glory so we can be one with Him, and of His fullness we have all received (John 1:16; Ephesians 3:19)! We must be willing to be conformed to the image of Christ in our thinking and in our conduct (Romans 8:28, 12:2; 13:14; Ephesians 4:23-24; Colossians 3:10; Galatians 3:27) Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 6/16/2021
