Sunday 10 August 2008

To walk after the Spirit

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Definition of 'to walk after the Spirit':
To be guided by the counsels and influences of the Spirit, and by the word of God. - The Free Dictionary


This is a very practical take on the biblical phrase to walk after the Spirit. Acting from the teachings and commands in the Word of God rather than from self-will and life in general.

Note: modern versions of the Bible (i.e. versions other than the Authorized King James Version) delete the second half of Romans 8:1 "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This has been done on the authority of a scholar named Griesbach. If I fear and revere man more than God I may want to follow Griesbach as well; or, I could follow God and what the Holy Spirit has given all of us to be His Word.

John Calvin's commentary on this verse: After the Spirit. Those who walk after the Spirit are not such as have wholly put off all the emotions of the flesh, so that their whole life is redolent with nothing but celestial perfection; but they are those who sedulously labor to subdue and mortify the flesh, so that the love of true religion seems to reign in them. He declares that such walk not after the flesh; for wherever the real fear of God is vigorous, it takes away from the flesh its sovereignty, though it does not abolish all its corruptions.

John Calvin of course didn't have the benefit to live in the enlightened "Age of Griesbach" and the "new and improved" modern versions of the Bible...

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