What Does It Mean to Walk in the Spirit?

I was preparing to begin a four-month series on the Holy Spirit and one of my older pastor friends said, “That’s great. How many people do you think you’ll lose?” He wasn’t entirely joking, and I knew we had important but challenging conversations ahead.

It’s an unfortunate reality that division, confusion, and disunity exist around our views on the Spirit. But one of the Spirit’s primary roles is to bring unity to believers and churches. Over and over in Scripture, there’s a direct connection between the Spirit and unity.

Learning to walk in the Spirit is essential for the individual Christian and for the local church. As J. I. Packer wrote in Keeping in Step with the Spirit, “Apart from [the Spirit], not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all. But in fact the church continues to live and grow, for the Spirit’s ministry has not failed, nor ever will, with the passage of time.”

We need to be willing to engage the Bible and see its vision for a truly supernatural lifestyle—a “walk by the Spirit” kind of life (see Gal. 5:25).

Introducing the Spirit of God

On the night of his arrest, Jesus said these words to prepare his followers for his death:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. (John 14:15–20)

Put yourself in the disciples’ sandals. Imagine you’ve been walking with Jesus for three years. What have you seen? Miracles. His teachings. Healings—so many incredible healings. This man, you’re sure of it now, is the true Son of God. But now, he looks around the table and essentially says, “I’m going away. I’m leaving. I’m going back to the Father.”

Imagine the confusion. Imagine the immensity of your grief. What do you mean you’re leaving us? Later, he says, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (16:7).

Trinitarian Identity

Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God. He is the third member of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit. Gregg Allison in The Holy Spirit writes,

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, equal in terms of nature, power, and glory with the Father (the first person) and the Son (the second person). Thus, whatever we may affirm of the Father, we may equally affirm of the Son, and we may equally affirm of the Holy Spirit: he is all-powerful, everywhere present, all-knowing, eternal, independent, loving, just, unchanging, truthful, faithful, wise, holy, good, and more.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, equal in terms of nature, power, and glory with the Father and the Son.

Consider how the Scriptures describe the Spirit of God:

• He is God (Matt. 12:22–32; Acts 5:3–4; 2 Cor. 3:12–18).
• He is eternal (Gen. 1:1–2).
• He is our Advocate—our comforter or helper who strengthens and sustains and empowers us and advocates on our behalf before the Father (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).
• He rested on Jesus at his baptism (Matt. 3:16) and empowered him for his ministry (Luke 4:14).
• He understands God’s thoughts and teaches us to understand (1 Cor. 2:10–13).
• He gives us new life (John 3:3–8; Rom. 8:11).

Further, the Spirit is called “the breath of the Almighty” (Job 33:4), “the power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35), “the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2), “the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29), “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17), “the Spirit of wisdom” (Eph. 1:17), “the Spirit of holiness” (Rom. 1:4), and “the Spirit of glory” (1 Pet. 4:14).

Holy Spirit’s Work

Too often, we think of the Spirit as an impersonal force, not a person. We sometimes accidentally refer to the Spirit as an “it” instead of a “he.” But over and over, the Scriptures show us the Spirit’s personhood in referring to all he does. He speaks (in 16 places, mostly in Acts). He teaches or testifies (five instances, including three in John 14–16). He can be sinned against (John 15–16), lied to (Acts 5), and insulted (Heb. 10), and he encourages (Acts 9) and strengthens (Eph. 3).

Perhaps we might consider one final way to understand and appreciate the Spirit and his work. What would be missing without the Spirit? Here’s a summary of Allison’s list from God, Gift, and Guide:

• The existence of the world and everything it contains
• Awareness of our sin and need for Jesus to save us
• New birth and conversion (i.e., becoming a Christian)
• Being united with Christ, justified, and adopted by God
• Sanctification (our progressive maturity in the Christian life)
• Understanding and applying the Bible
• Prayer to God for help, wisdom, and depth of relationship
• Unity in the church
• Effectiveness in evangelism, mission, and preaching
• Spiritual gifts for building up the church
• Our future resurrected bodies
• The new heaven and new earth

The Spirit is involved in everything needed for creation, salvation, growth, and the renewal of all things. But in all these activities, one thing is at the center of his essence and activity. The Spirit is God’s empowering presence. He isn’t merely omnipresent in a general sense; he’s present with us. The Spirit’s presence means not simply that “God is there” but that “God is here.”

The difference between God’s omnipresence and the Spirit’s presence with us might be compared to the difference between being in the same room as my mother and sitting face-to-face with her as we share a meal and talk about life.

In summary, the Holy Spirit is God; he’s the third member of the Trinity. We need him for absolutely everything. And thankfully, God the Father is eager to give the Spirit to those who seek him (Luke 11:13). The Father pours out the Spirit on all who believe in Jesus, giving us new birth and welcoming us into a life of joy, peace, and strength as we walk by his Spirit.

Walk in the Spirit

Paul, the apostle of the Spirit, continually calls believers to engage deeply in life in the Spirit. In Galatians 5:16–25, he references the Spirit seven times in his appeal to Christian holiness and growth. His appeal culminates in this powerful call: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (v. 25).

Of course, we “live by the Spirit,” which means the Spirit is the One who brings us out of darkness and into light by illuminating Christ and applying salvation to us. But it then calls us to “keep in step with the Spirit.” The Spirit doesn’t transform us and leave us. He’s not a momentary presence. He’s our abiding, empowering presence.

What does it mean to walk with (or keep in step with) the Spirit? Paul’s word for “walk” is stoicheo, which means walking in a line and proceeding under another’s control. To walk by or with the Spirit is to do two things: to put off the flesh and to put on a new, Spirit-filled way of life. Follow the Spirit, live under his control, and don’t walk by the flesh.

To walk by or with the Spirit is to do two things: to put off the flesh and to put on a new, Spirit-filled way of life.

First, to walk by the Spirit, according to Paul, means putting off the old way of life, “the works of the flesh” (v. 19). It means rejecting sin in all its forms. Living by the Spirit is living in the way of obedience and holiness. Where the Spirit is present, holiness abounds too.

Second, to walk by the Spirit is to put on the new way of life, to be “led by the Spirit.” It’s to be under his control and direction. It’s not just the absence of sin; it’s the presence of goodness and love and power.

Spiritual Fruit

The result of this twofold walking in the Spirit is the development of spiritual fruit. It’s to develop the character of Christ—to develop Christlike “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (vv. 22–23).

None of this happens without our participation. The giving of the Spirit comes at God’s initiative, but we must seek to be increasingly filled with the Spirit.

The giving of the Spirit comes at God’s initiative, but we must seek to be increasingly filled with the Spirit.

In Ephesians 5:18, Paul writes, “Be filled with the Spirit.” Curiously, he’s writing to a group of believers whom he has just said already has the Spirit (1:13–14). So why would he tell those who have the Spirit to now be filled with the Spirit? Almost certainly, this means we’re to seek a continuous and abiding relationship with the Spirit. We can find ongoing spiritual renewal in the Spirit, and the development of Christlike character will come as we allow the Spirit to produce fruit in us.

In summary, Paul’s letters invite us to this life: put off the ways of the flesh and walk by the Spirit, being continually filled with the Spirit, and the result will be a life of Christlike spiritual fruit.

Come, Holy Spirit

“Understanding the Holy Spirit is a crucial task for Christian theology at all times,” writes Packer. “For where the Spirit’s ministry is studied, it will also be sought after, and where it is sought after, spiritual vitality will result.”

We don’t have to be afraid of the Spirit. As C. S. Lewis wrote of Aslan, “’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

There’s nothing to be afraid of in pursuing the Spirit of God. The only thing I’m afraid of is settling for half of what God offers us—to worship him in truth but not in the Spirit (John 4:23–24).

As a pastor, I don’t want to do ministry in my own strength and intellect. I don’t want to play church for the next 30 years. I don’t want to be in control. I don’t want my congregation to be a work of human nature. I don’t want to wonder how long it would take for us to even notice if the Spirit lifted from us.

The Spirit doesn’t have to be a difficult doctrine. More truly, the Spirit is our beautiful God, the third person of the Trinity. Everything he has for us is for our good.

Therefore we pray, with believers from two millennia of church history, “Come, Holy Spirit.”