We peered into 2020 from Romans 8 looking at context of who we are after being born again Spiritually! Our discussion was blended between living and walking, that is, between living in Christ and working out who we are by “walking” in Christ Jesus. We combined both doctrine and application without making distinction between living and walking;[i] we were interested in the what rather than the how!
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.” -Jesus, John 4:13-14.
The scripture above speaks to the “knowing who we are in Christ Jesus” and a Galatian’s scripture, below, speaks to “being who we are in Christ Jesus.” The scripture above puts our focus on drinking the Water of Life while the one in Galatians speaks to working it out through walking in our fleshly orientation.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
-Galatians 5:25.
Living and walking are complimentary to each other on several levels but Galatians focuses on the relationship of living and walking together; it is fusing our death with His Life; it’s a mingle.[ii]
The 2011[iii] ESV has it:
If we live by the Spirit,
let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
The reason for the difference is the word translated “walk” from the Greek. It has a different meaning than idle walking. To quote Greek scholar Harold Moulton, it means “to frame ones conduct by a certain rule.”[iv] Our translators use the word “walk” or “keep in step” to convey a need to bring into compliance our behavior with new life created within us by redemption. Our Spiritual integrity is at Issue!
This is one of a million amazing things! How little pieces all fit together when you are dealing with the Spirit of Truth! The “by a certain rule,” Dr. Moulton is speaking about, is the “law of the Spirit” we discussed in Romans 8:2. Remember, the law of the Spirit of Life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death!
We continually repeat this fact; God’s Holy Spirit is dwelling in us because we are created new in Jesus. His life in us is the resurrection Life of our risen Lord Jesus including His resurrection power. What He already started in us, HE WILL CONTINUE UNTIL IT IS COMPLETE.[v] Walking in the Spirit, in this very passage, is telling us to frame our walking into compliance to the resurrection Life God created in us; “drink the water!”
God nurtures, so that, by grace, we actually can be in flesh what God created in our spirit-soul. This is what we are talking about, “being who we are!”
“What is the difference?” some may ask. “Many people spend a life time learning who they really are, in fact, most of us do! The older we get, the more perspective we have and the clearer we see naturally. Much of our understanding about life principles comes from our own experience. This kind of “doctrine” varies based upon our information quality and our environment. A heavy reliance on experience for life principles, or doctrine, gets honed over time, sometimes producing sage wisdom.”
The difference is we are no longer in the flesh,[vi] even though it is our present address! If it is hard enough learning how to live in the flesh, now we are living in the Spirit! It is a whole different thing. Now we live by faith but it is Spiritual faith, not the Webster’s dictionary kind of faith. Spiritual faith is rooted; it is organic; it is the human side of a grace relationship!
On the other hand, our grandparents hand down to us life principles honed by generations of experience. These principles often provide a more absolute principle having already been perfected in time, such as “do not lie” or “brush your teeth every day!”
Other life principles such as “In God do we trust” and “honor your parents” also come down from a combination of experience and rules declared by culture and Biblical principle. God’s truth is being revealed into our soul through the Word by drinking living water. Hearing the Word in our soul also produces faith. God created absolute truth within us through our new identity because we are in Christ Jesus. We need to grasp and consume it!
Life is proclaiming all around us God’s invisible authority by creation. Providential orderliness shouts loudly to our senses, “The heavens declare the glory of God”[vii] and the earth shows His handiwork. Accepting man’s hypothesis of accidental life takes more faith than it does accepting the grandeur of divine breath penetrating all creation in its surrounding life.
And we know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. -1John 5:20.
Knowing and accepting are crucial! We know personally, in our own human hearts, what is created within our soul by redemption.[viii] But those without Jesus don’t have this understanding and assurance within themselves. We must be faithful to God’s life within us less those we know and love come not into God’s redemption providing glory in our “living water.”[1]
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
The greatest testimony to truth and reality of our living heavenly Father, the God of all creation, is His created life in us because Jesus entered into our flesh preparing a redemption path thru death and resurrection power into His life. We have the living testimony of this truth dwelling within us, directing our steps into His righteousness. The issue becomes hearing His Spiritual voice within us so that we “walk in it.”
The Old Testament sacrifice is eternally satisfied by the death of Jesus. New Testament Life, in His name, is satisfied by the resurrection of Jesus. Our new spiritual creation within us is the completion of Jesus’ work on earth by His return to the glory from where He came. He entered into our flesh so that we can enter into His Spirit. Old Testament worship includes New Testament fellowship. If we abide in His Word we are being set free and we will know the Truth[ix] which does set us free!
The Bible is God’s revelation of His plan and purpose. It is given to us so that we can receive a heavenly perspective of creation and understand something about our relationship to heavenly authority. God is outside of our creation of time. The Bible shows how we, His creation, participate, not with Him… it is deeper than that, but how we participate into andout of His Life.
Our time perspective has humanity’s bias but it is trumped by a new creation when we are born again. The whole concept of living changes because our life source changes. This becomes an issue for us all, whether we are new in Christ Jesus or if we have spent years living in His grace and mercy.
We have an option of drinking “Living Water!” This option is not available to a person not born Spiritually in Christ Jesus. But unless we drink our living water, we will not have His power for “walking” in the Spirit and shining our light for others to see!
The bias of time and flesh are continually at war with our new created life in Christ. While in flesh, we never live above or beyond its subtle influence and deception. This is why being in the flesh is such good training for our Spiritual understanding. Life in this clay vessel is Spiritual basic training. We are in a war requiring Spiritual maturity in grace and the Word of God itself. Its an unseen war, clearly, but it is effective if we are not Spiritually alert!
Living and walking in Christ requires a life of faith. But this faith is different than the faith of a person living in his own power. A person who is not born again does not have Jesus’ resurrection power; they know nothing of God’s living grace, let alone “Living Water.” This has the appearance of an oxymoron. How can a person with resurrection power, a person with access to living water not drink it? Many don’t know they have resurrection power because it takes faith to drink it, let alone use it! Too many do live in the Spirit without walking in the Spirit.
Effective faith is nurtured and grows in living water. The Word of God is living and active.[x]The Word of God gives us discernment between soul and Spirit. We perceive and understand in our own heart the thoughts of our own mind through the Word of God. Through constant practice in the Word of God, we become Spiritually trained to recognize the voice of God[xi] from disguised angels appearing to be angles of light.[xii] Jesus is the logos; Jesus is the Word of God;[xiii] Jesus is the Living Water![xiv]
Without Living Water refreshing our heart and soul, His light is dim. This has consequences!! We still live in temporal time polluted in a contaminated container of flesh. If we compromise our life in Christ, walking in temporal satisfaction, we develop Spiritual hardness causing us to drift away,[xv] not producing Spiritual fruit, not able to walk in the light as He is in the Light,[xvi] loosing our fellowship with the Spirit dwelling within our own temple of flesh.
Doctrine is a principle expressing truth. In the Bible, doctrine is an absolute quality, where as in human terms, truth is more likely a relative term. This is a huge difference because doctrine, truth or a principle originating on the human level, is likely incomplete and subject to change. On the other hand, truth originating in God does not change and is an eternal value. Living water comes out from of our eternal God.
We no longer can depend upon human resources to discover Spiritual life. The pulpit can provide direction and informed guidance. But nothing takes the place of drinking the water from the word Himself. Our pastor cannot do the work for us. He can only advise on the path and the source but he cannot drink the water we need to respond to the calling God gives to each of us personally with our own white stone.[xvii]
We are created individually with Life in Jesus. We are gifted with His eternal presence and given grace to direct us individually into maturity. We are all called to produce fruit and much fruit.[xviii]
Enter into the joy of our salvation by drinking His eternal water! This is how to merge our living into walking as a single whole!
If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
-John 8:31-32.
[i] Galatians 5:25.
[ii] Romans 6:11.
[iii] Both translations are ESV, the first one is a 2001 edition and the second one is a 2011 edition.
[iv] Στοιχεω, Harold K. Mouton, The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, 1978 edition
(Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1978) p. 377.
[v] Philippians 1:6.
[vi] Romans 6:11, 8:2.
[vii] Psalms 19:1.
[viii] 1Corinthians 1:30-31.
[ix] John 8:31-32.
[x] Hebrews 4:12.
[xi] Hebrews 5:14.
[xii] 2Corinthians 11:14.
[xiii] John 1:1-5, 14-16.
[xiv] John 4:13-15.
[xv] Hebrews 6:6.
[xvi] 1John 1:7.
[xvii] Revelation 2:17.
[xviii] John 15:4,5,8.