‘But I am saying, Be walking around Breath, and absolutely do not bring flesh-desire to end completion, 17 because the flesh is set upon passionate desire and lust, down opposite the Breath, and the Breath down opposite the flesh. For these are lying opposite one another in order that if you are desiring or intending these things, you are not constructing., 18 And if you are being led by Breath, you are absolutely not under law’, (Galatians 5 v 16 – 18).
How do Christians live a godly life? That is the fundamental question that is being asked in Galatians. Christian and Jewish legalists would have Christians turning backwards. They turn things upside down by directing Christians to the external written codes of Covenant law. ‘Are you stealing? What do the Ten Commandments say? You shall not steal!’. That is what they say. But what does the Apostle say? ‘Be walking around Breath’. The phrase ‘walking around’ refers to how we speak and behave moment-by-moment in our daily lives. ‘Walking’ signifies the direction of our speech and behaviour day-by-day. Walking also denotes activity. The metaphor is very common in the writings of both Paul and John - walking in truth, in darkness, according to the flesh and so on are familiar examples.
The grammar used in reference to ‘Breath’ – ‘in’ or ‘by’ Breath, refers to
The sphere or realm of Breath, and/or
The governing principle of the Breath, along with
The enabling power of the Breath
Paul exhorts Christians to conduct their daily lives, moment-by-moment, ‘breathfully’ if you like. The meaning is, Walk around within the current, movement and disposition of the Breath deep within as your guide, and the free gift of the Breath as your strength, moment-by-moment in the course of your life. Paul later expresses this as being ‘led by the Breath’, (verse 18), and as an ‘orderly walking by means of the Breath’, (verse 25).
The exhortation implies two things. First, that Christians have received the gift of the set-apart Breath. Second, that the Breath alone will not succeed in the actual setting apart of their life in cleanliness and godliness without diligent endeavours on the Christian’s own part as they co-work with God ‘and absolutely do not bring flesh-desire to end completion’. The idea is that it is impossible for someone who is walking within the sphere of the Breath to carry into full effect any desire or raw passion within their flesh. Why? ‘Because the flesh is set upon passionate desire and lust, down opposite the Breath, and the Breath down opposite the flesh’, (verse 17). These are two opposing currents, movements or impulses existing within Christians. Unbelievers do not possess the opposing movement of the set-apart Breath within their deep inner core.
These opposing movements exist within Christians ‘in order that….’ Paul gives two reasons why Christians possess the gift of the set-apart Breath when it comes to living a godly life.
First, ‘if you are desiring or intending these things, you are not constructing’. Christians still retain their ‘vessel of clay’, their ‘earthy, fleshly body’ at this present time, a fleshly body that has impulses, energies and raw-passions that are opposed to God. So Christians sometimes find these passions and desires coming down from the fabric of their flesh, inclining them to intend to speak and/or behave in ways that God disapproves of.
But if a Christian is walking around within the sphere or realm of set-apart Breath, they find an opposing current and energy within them that opposes these fleshly impulses. By co-working with God and paying attention to the set-apart Breath dwelling within their deep inner core, they absolutely do not bring flesh-desire to end completion
Second, ‘if you are being led by Breath, you are absolutely not under law’, (verse 18).
The phrase ‘being led’ is a primary verb that indicates a dynamic process.
Christians are being brought, guided or inclined down from the set-apart Breath dwelling in their deep inner core or heart, at the ground or foundation of their thoughts, emotions and intentions. This movement is in opposition to the impulses and energies of their fleshly constitution
That is the dynamic process by which Christians live a godly life moment-by-moment. And if they are ‘walking around within the sphere of the Breath’ in this way then they ‘are absolutely not under law’, (verse 18). ‘Flesh’ and ‘law’ are correlated: to be free from one is to be free from the other. Flesh is human nature, and law is the standard to which human nature has to strive to observe to obtain divine approval. But if Christians are led by and walk around moment-by-moment within the sphere of the set-apart Breath, then they are not under the ruling authority of the external written codes of Sinai Covenant law. They are under a different Covenant, the New Covenant of the blood of the Messiah, and are engaged in a different dynamic process. They are free from enslavement to flesh as well as Sinai Covenant law, and are under the influence of the set-apart Breath of God and His Messiah. The movement and activity of the Breath of Life, dwelling within their heart, enables them to perceive and know the will of God, and through their co-working with God, to walk within divine approval and bring to completion the fundamental principles of the law, (II Corinthians 3 v 6 - 11).
