Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
One of the most precious morsels of Good News "bread" in Galatians is almost hidden there. It's a message from heaven to encourage your tempted soul. It's Galatians 5:17 (Good News Bible): "What our human nature wants [King James Version = 'flesh'] is opposed to what the [Holy] Spirit wants, and what the [Holy] Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature ['flesh'] wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do."
The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but if we read it backwards from what it says, it can be made to tell us Bad News. And that's what has happened with this text. People read it as though it says you cannot do the good things you would like to do because of this constant enmity of the flesh against the Holy Spirit. So they feel doomed to endless defeat, and sincerely believe the Bible agrees with them. For example, one may say, "I'm an alcoholic; my 'flesh' craves another drink, and the craving is so great I can't help giving in! The 'flesh' is master of my life!"
They have Galatians 5:17 exactly backwards! Look at verse 16: "Let the [Holy] Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature." Or better still, the KJV: "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." It's as if Paul says, "Go for a walk; let the Holy Spirit hold you by the hand and I guarantee you will not give in to those sinful desires of the flesh, because the Holy Spirit, the mighty Third Person of the Godhead, is stronger than your flesh!"
If you see what Paul is telling you in Galatians about what it cost the Son of God to save you from eternal hell, how He died your second death and condemned sin in your flesh, even though your flesh tries to entice you to sin, you can't do it, because the Holy Spirit is stronger! Now, that's Good News!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 17, 1998.
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