The importance of the Spirit

Something tells me the apostle Paul is somewhat annoyed. We can tell that he felt strongly about the issue at hand due to his willingness to first personally then publicly attack Peter and his thoughts and actions regarding justification, let’s not forget this guy has previously walked on water with Jesus….

So after publicly rapping Peter on the knuckles in Galatians ch2, Paul sharply turns his attention back towards the recipients of his letter “the foolish Galatians” (Paul’s words not mine) in chapter 3.

So much of chapter 3 is parcelled up by teaching regarding Jewish law and its role in our reconciliation with God. Paul is explicit in his argument that justification comes through faith and faith alone. I find it very interesting that in pointing back to the Old Testament in defence of his argument, Paul recalls that it is Abram’s act of belief in God rather than any participation in Jewish law which brings about his righteousness in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 15v6). I think we can safely say Paul is teaching us that if we want to enter into a right relationship with God and receive the promise of Spirit we do it by having faith in Jesus Christ.

What really interests me, other than the obvious, being - the assurance of my salvation through believing in Jesus Christ, is God’s ‘promise of the Spirit’ to all who believe. What is the promise of the Spirit and what exactly does it involve. Is it more than an impartation from God, where all we have to do is sit back and say “ok now it’s over to you”.

I think our job is much bigger than this. Paul explains in verse 23 that one of the main reasons for the law (before the arrival of Jesus) was to lead those who followed it to the promised Messiah. On the flip side then, one of the main reasons for God promising the Spirit must surely be to help in our process of becoming more like Christ, therefore leading us to a greater understanding of the character of Jesus and how we apply this to the way we live.

For the devout Jew, the law was their life, which gets me thinking that in the new covenant, the promise of the Spirit and how we interact with the Spirit must be an incredibly large part of our lives, or in fact maybe it is to be what God wishes we devote our entire lives to.

For me, now, i think i am going to go and have a litle look at my daily inter-action with the Spirit, i think i need to pay this area a little more attention. Ill let you know how i get on.