But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
To be led by the Spirit is to walk in the Spirit, for flesh and Spirit lust against each other and are contrary, so that the lust of the flesh is not fulfilled and sensual appetites do not rule the being. The verse sets life led by the Spirit against the rule of the flesh and its works, with the Spirit opposing the desires of the flesh and leading away from its works toward the Spirit's fruit. It belongs to an appeal to walk in the Spirit rather than give way to sinful desires.
Being led by the Spirit means yielding the heart to God, loving to follow Jesus, letting the Spirit of God rule in the heart, and giving the Spirit perfect control influencing every action and the whole life. This perfect control influences every action and produces righteousness, purity of character, and growth in grace in opposition to a world of defilement, corruption, deformity and sin. The grace of God is needed to change natural ways and habits.
Not under the law means not under the condemnation of the law and not under bondage to the law, with no law to condemnation against those who bear the fruit of the Spirit. Those led by the Spirit are not under the law because the Spirit produces a Christlike character and life, proved by the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, longsuffering or patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there is no law. Freedom in Christ is liberty to live in harmony with God's will and to love His commandments, not freedom from obedience.
Love, the first fruit, is pure, unadulterated love proceeding from the heart of Christ, not love-sick sentimentalism nor a beastly defiling element that destroys all that is pure in mind or body and is death to both soul and body. The Spirit-led life stands opposite the manifest works of the flesh — adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like — which are the evil fruit of an evil tree. Those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, and uncontrolled fleshly desires and evil passions lead to sin and encourage skepticism about Christianity.
Being led by the Spirit requires that those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts, purify the mind by obedience to the truth, and receive the life-giving power of the gospel and the quickening power of the Holy Spirit to remedy souls enfeebled by selfish, degrading passions and restore the moral image of God in man. Christ has bought the souls, minds, and bodies of all His creatures and is dishonored when mind or body is corrupted. Those who trust Christ and follow the Spirit's leading are not enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency and are not held in bondage to the lower nature, but rule every appetite and passion. They overcome tendencies to wrong not in finite human strength but through the power God is ready to impart, producing righteousness, purity of character, and growth in grace.
The verse belongs to an appeal to walk in the Spirit rather than give way to sinful desires, to stop harming and provoking one another, and to remove division and discord that come from separation from Christ. Union with Christ as the center joins believers to one another in the same mind and judgment, shown in refusing vainglory, provoking one another and envying one another, in restoring one overtaken in a fault in meekness while considering oneself, in bearing one another's burdens to fulfill the law of Christ, and in humble self-knowledge that does not think itself to be something when it is nothing. In these last days just previous to receiving the gift of immortality, God's elect must by the Spirit's control stand untainted amid the corruptions teeming around them, with bodies made holy and spirits pure, and this work must be undertaken at once, earnestly and understandingly. The same grace is needed to change natural ways and habits, including alienation between family members such as a mother and daughter-in-law.
To be led by the Spirit is to walk in the Spirit, for flesh and Spirit lust against each other and are contrary, so that the lust of the flesh is not fulfilled and sensual appetites do not rule the being. The verse sets life led by the Spirit against the rule of the flesh and its works, with the Spirit opposing the desires of the flesh and leading away from its works toward the Spirit's fruit. It belongs to an appeal to walk in the Spirit rather than give way to sinful desires.
Being led by the Spirit means yielding the heart to God, loving to follow Jesus, letting the Spirit of God rule in the heart, and giving the Spirit perfect control influencing every action and the whole life. This perfect control influences every action and produces righteousness, purity of character, and growth in grace in opposition to a world of defilement, corruption, deformity and sin. The grace of God is needed to change natural ways and habits.
Not under the law means not under the condemnation of the law and not under bondage to the law, with no law to condemnation against those who bear the fruit of the Spirit. Those led by the Spirit are not under the law because the Spirit produces a Christlike character and life, proved by the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, longsuffering or patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there is no law. Freedom in Christ is liberty to live in harmony with God's will and to love His commandments, not freedom from obedience.
Love, the first fruit, is pure, unadulterated love proceeding from the heart of Christ, not love-sick sentimentalism nor a beastly defiling element that destroys all that is pure in mind or body and is death to both soul and body. The Spirit-led life stands opposite the manifest works of the flesh — adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like — which are the evil fruit of an evil tree. Those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, and uncontrolled fleshly desires and evil passions lead to sin and encourage skepticism about Christianity.
Being led by the Spirit requires that those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts, purify the mind by obedience to the truth, and receive the life-giving power of the gospel and the quickening power of the Holy Spirit to remedy souls enfeebled by selfish, degrading passions and restore the moral image of God in man. Christ has bought the souls, minds, and bodies of all His creatures and is dishonored when mind or body is corrupted. Those who trust Christ and follow the Spirit's leading are not enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency and are not held in bondage to the lower nature, but rule every appetite and passion. They overcome tendencies to wrong not in finite human strength but through the power God is ready to impart, producing righteousness, purity of character, and growth in grace.
The verse belongs to an appeal to walk in the Spirit rather than give way to sinful desires, to stop harming and provoking one another, and to remove division and discord that come from separation from Christ. Union with Christ as the center joins believers to one another in the same mind and judgment, shown in refusing vainglory, provoking one another and envying one another, in restoring one overtaken in a fault in meekness while considering oneself, in bearing one another's burdens to fulfill the law of Christ, and in humble self-knowledge that does not think itself to be something when it is nothing. In these last days just previous to receiving the gift of immortality, God's elect must by the Spirit's control stand untainted amid the corruptions teeming around them, with bodies made holy and spirits pure, and this work must be undertaken at once, earnestly and understandingly. The same grace is needed to change natural ways and habits, including alienation between family members such as a mother and daughter-in-law.