But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Galatians 5:16-18

Some teach that Paul was so strong in his belief in the grace of God, that his teaching resulted in believers not taking sin seriously. Paul spent the first four chapters of Galatians decrying the legalism of religion, but he also recognized the danger of a unbalanced view of a grace-base gospel.

Paul warns that our freedom is not meant for us to wink at sin or pretend it is not there. Instead we are called to serve one another through love. How? We are to walk in the Spirit.

When Paul speaks of walking in the Spirit, he means for us to habitually seek the Holy Spirit and to be responsive to the Spirit in our lives and then he makes a point of how we cannot continually seek our own selfish desires and the Spirit at the same time.

What is described as our sinful nature in some translations is really just me being me or you being you. How that looks varies from person to person, but the sinful nature is just that – sinful – and that’s what the Holy Spirit intends to free us from in our daily ordinary lives.

Paul wrote about this topic in Romans as well where he described his own nature –

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Romans 6:18

We are called to yield our lives to the Holy Spirit. We can’t have it both ways and if we think that is possible, we are kidding ourselves.