Galati 5:16

CARATTERISTICHE DELLA CAMMINATA CRISTIANA

'Questo dico allora, cammina nello Spirito.'

Galati 5:16

È importante osservare che qui non si intende lo spirito dell'uomo, ma lo Spirito Santo di Dio. Il contrasto non è tra la carne e lo spirito nell'uomo, come ad esempio nel brano "Lo spirito è pronto, ma la carne è debole" (St. Matteo 26:41 ), ma tra la carne, la natura peccaminosa dell'uomo e lo Spirito Santo, la Terza Persona nella Divinità. Pensiamo ad alcune caratteristiche di un cammino nello Spirito? Quali sono?

I. Un cammino nello Spirito è un cammino umile e umile. —Non conosco nessun segno della presenza dello Spirito Santo in un cuore umano così indubitabile come questo, uno spirito affranto e contrito.

II. Un cammino nello Spirito sarà un cammino retto e diretto. —Sono parole sorprendenti nella prima di Ezechiele, dove ci è data la meravigliosa visione dei cherubini. Si legge che 'ognuno andarono dritto in avanti: dove doveva andare lo Spirito, andarono; e non si voltarono quando andarono' ( Galati 5:12 ). C'è un'immagine della Chiesa redenta sotto la potenza dello Spirito Santo: non gira come va.

III. Un cammino nello Spirito sarà un cammino tenero e sensibile. —Credo, se possiamo osare dire così con riverenza, che non ci sia essere così sensibile come lo Spirito Santo di Dio. È paragonato alla dolce colomba, che può essere facilmente spaventata e spaventata; alla rugiada, che viene facilmente assorbita dal calore e spazzata via dalla mano incurante. Non c'è niente da cui dovremmo cercare più gelosamente di guardarci che addolorarLo.

IV. Un cammino nello Spirito sarà un cammino fecondo e utile. —'Il frutto dello Spirito è amore, gioia, pace, pazienza, mansuetudine, bontà, fede, mansuetudine, temperanza' ( Galati 5:22 )—questi sono i segni che lo Spirito Santo sta facendo nella nostra opera benedetta anime, queste sono le prove sicure che il beato Consolatore è venuto e che sta diffondendo le sue grazie nelle nostre anime.

—Rev. EW Moore.

Illustrazioni

(1) 'Quella era una vera testimonianza data a un povero marinaio dai suoi compagni: "Non sa leggere, ma noi possiamo leggerlo". Era un'epistola vivente, «conosciuta e letta da tutti gli uomini» ( 2 Corinzi 3:2 ). Il suo passo era eretto e coerente davanti agli uomini. Questa sarà senza dubbio la caratteristica di un cammino nello Spirito Santo».

(2) ‘It is a solemn reflection that a man may grieve the Spirit long before any inconsistency is perceptible in his conduct. Outwardly his life may seem to be blameless, and yet God, Who knoweth the heart, may see that the communion he once enjoyed is lost; that heart-sin has separated between him and his God; that an inward declension has begun. “Quench not the Spirit” is a warning needed by us all.

A little earth upon the fire will soon wellnigh extinguish it; a little neglect of fuel will soon weaken the flame; a little unfaithfulness in our lives will soon deprive us of that light and comfort of the Holy Ghost on which all our knowledge of Christ, all our understanding of heavenly things, all our progress in the Divine life depend.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

NECESSITY OF THE CHRISTIAN WALK

Why is this walk in the Spirit so necessary?

I. It is necessary for continuance.—It is a blessed thing to begin well, but it is not enough to have begun. We are called to a walk. It is not enough to have taken a step or two in the way; we must learn to continue, and it is the continuance which is the test of reality. The blossoms on the trees in early spring give promise of fruit; but many of those blossoms are shed; they do not all grow to maturity and perfection. And so it is in the case of professing Christians. There are some who begin and who appear to be running well, but ‘Time will show,’ says the proverb, and the proverb is right.

II. It is necessary for conquest.—‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.’ There is a terrible enemy who will seek to hinder this progress in the Divine life and knowledge, and the only way to meet him is by obedience to this injunction, ‘Walk in the Spirit.’ It is not enough merely to be on your guard against evil; you must be occupied with good. It is not by negatives, but by positives that you will ‘escape the corruption that is in the world through lust’ (2 Pietro 1:4).

III. It is necessary for communion.—I believe all backsliding begins with neglect of secret prayer, secret communion with God, and we shall never pray as we should unless we are living in the Spirit. ‘The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities’ (Romani 8:26).

Rev. E. W. Moore.

(THIRD OUTLINE)

HOW THE CHRISTIAN WALK IS TO BE PURSUED

How is this walk in the Spirit to be pursued and enjoyed? There are three conditions.

I. Life.—You must be born of the Spirit. You cannot walk in the Spirit unless you have life in the Spirit. That is obvious. This injunction is addressed to those who have the new life. ‘If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit’ (Galati 5:25, R. V.).

II. Death.—There is a deep verse here, the twenty-fourth verse—‘They that are Christ’s crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,’ the flesh which lusts against the Spirit to prevent you doing the things that you would. But here, in Galati 5:24, that enemy is crucified. It is the aorist tense. It points to a definite transaction, a definite time when the flesh was crucified with its affections and lusts.

III. Faith.—Deliverance can only come through faith. Life, death, and faith—these are the Divine conditions. Take it by faith that when Christ died those sinful affections and lusts and evil things were crucified with Him. Claim deliverance from them on the ground of His death, and you shall not claim it in vain. Christ’s crucifixion is great and deep; wondrous things were accomplished by it, which things the angels desire to look into.

Rev. E. W. Moore.

Illustration

‘Christianity, it has often been said, is not a thing of rules. It is comparatively poor in rules for conduct in particular cases; but it covers the whole field of human action by the maxim of the text. What disguises it tears off! what hypocrisies it unveils! It is a net of far finer mesh than the mere letter of the Ten Commandments. There is many a man who could say with the young man in the Gospel, “All these have I kept from my youth up,” but who will find himself hopelessly caught and convicted of imperfection and of sin by the finer texture of the law “Walk in the Spirit.” ’