Wisdom Wednesday: Paul’s Teaching on Wisdom
Part 4 – Wisdom for the Believers in Galatia
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh”…” If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
(Galatians 5:16, 25) NASB 95
In the past weeks, we have seen how Paul developed the theme of walking in God’s wisdom as he wrote his epistles to the churches. In his early letters we have reviewed so far, he wrote to the believers in Thessalonica, Corinth and at Rome. He emphasized:
- There is a distinction between the wisdom of the world and God’s wisdom – and that God’s wisdom is revealed in the gospel message that is seen as foolishness by the world. (I Cor. 1:21; 2:6-7)
- As believers, we walk by faith – not by sight or the flesh (2 Cor 1:12; 5:7; 10:2)
- Our walk must be worthy of our calling to please God, so that we will reveal His character in our lives and glorify Jesus Christ (1 Thess 2:11-12; 4:1; 2 Thess 1:11-12)
- And our walk is in newness of life, and guided by the Spirit (Rom 6:4; 8:4) – by renewing our mind daily (Rom 12: 1-2)
Writing to the churches in the district of Galatia, Paul focused on defending the gospel message of grace and his own authority and apostleship. The believers in Galatia were being influenced by Judaizers – teachers who insisted on the conformity of new Gentile believers to the Jewish law and customs. Paul warned that this was not the gospel of grace (Gal 1:6-10) and that the emphasis was not on Christ, but on following these false teachers. (Gal 4:17).
In chapter 5, Paul turns to describe how to live after receiving the gospel of grace: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1) He used the term associated over and over again with wisdom to refer to living – “walk”. In verses 16-25, Paul describes the life of the wise believer by instructing to “Walk in the Spirit” (walk by means of the Spirit) which is repeated in both the first and last verse.
In verses 16-25, Paul contrasts the foolish life with the wise life that walks in the Spirit. The contrast is in the outcome of these two ways of living. The chart below provides the behaviors of each life, enumerating the words Paul used to describe each, and the expanded definition of the Greek words that Paul used.
Here is a good checklist to compare our behavior as we seek to walk by means of God’s Spirit. This is the way of wisdom – to walk by means of the Spirit and shun the behaviors of a foolish life that produces the deeds of the flesh.