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18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

I have said often enough above that “to be under the Law” means failing to fulfill it or fulfilling it in a slavish fashion, without a cheerful disposition. It is not the Law, however, or nature that acquires this cheerful disposition; faith in Christ Jesus acquires it. And this being led by the Spirit, this obeying the desires of the Spirit, this battle and struggle which constitutes our whole life, brings it about that God mercifully pardons us for failing to do the things we want to do.

(Luther’s Works – Galatians 1519, Volume 27, p. 365-66)

Paul cannot forget about his doctrine of faith; but he keeps on repeating and emphasizing it, even when he is dealing with good works. Here someone may raise the objection: “How can it be that we are not under the Law? After all, Paul, you yourself teach that we have a flesh whose desires are against the Spirit, a flesh that opposes, vexes, and enslaves us. And we are really conscious of our sin; nor can we be set free in the sense in which we would most like to be free. This is surely what it means to be under the Law. Then why do you say, Paul, that we are not under the Law?” “Do not let this bother you,” he says. “Only concentrate on this, that you be led by the Spirit, that is, that you obey the will which is opposed to the flesh and that you refuse to gratify the desires of the flesh; for this is what it means to be led and drawn by the Spirit. And then you will not be under the Law.” Thus Paul speaks of himself in Rom. 7:25: “I serve the Law of God with my mind; that is, in the Spirit I am not guilty of any sin. But with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” And so the godly are not under the Law, namely, by the Spirit; for the Law is unable to accuse them and to carry out its sentence of death against them, even though they are conscious of their sin and confess that they are sinners. Through Christ, “who was born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law” (4:4-5), the Law has been deprived of its legal hold on them. In the godly, therefore, the Law does not dare accuse as sin that which truly is a sin against the Law.

(Luther’s Works – Galatians 1535, Concordia Publishing House, Volume 27, p. 77)

Gal. 5:13. For you were called to freedom, brothers; only (do) not (turn) this freedom into an opportunity for the flesh . . .

When Paul warns the Galatians not to turn freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love to be serving one another, he is placing service over against selfishness, the positive over against the negative. Paul does this frequently: see Rom. 12:21; 13:14; I Cor. 6:18-20; Eph. 4:28, 31, 32; 5:28, 29; 6:4; Col. 3:5-17; I Thess. 4:7, etc. Vice can only be conquered by virtue, which is the Spirit’s gift, man’s responsibility. Continued: 14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, namely, in this: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” Paul quotes Lev. 19:18. One can also say that he is quoting the words of Jesus (Matt. 22:39, 40; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; cf. Matt. 7:12; 19:19; Rom. 13:8-10; and I Cor. 13). Love, then, is both the summary (interpretive epitome or condensation) and the realization in practice of the entire God-given moral law, viewed as a unit. True, in harmony with the immediately preceding context (“through love be serving one another”), the apostle here refers specifically to the second, not to the first, table of the law, but that first table is in the background, for the two are inseparable (I John 4:20, 21). Paul’s teaching throughout is that though it would be a gross error to say that the sinner must love God and his neighbor in order to be saved, it is entirely true that the “saint,” saved by grace, out of gratitude for (and by dint of) this salvation loves God and his neighbor.

(N.T. Commentary – Galatians, Baker Book House, pp. 211)

Gal 5:18 But if you are being led by the Spirit you are not under law.

(2) What It Is to be “led by the Spirit”?

Before giving a positive answer to this question it may be well to point out what is not meant by being led by the Spirit. Naturally, it cannot refer to being governed by one’s own sinful impulses and inclinations, nor to “being easily led” into waywardness by evil companions. Also definitely excluded here is the idea of those moral philosophers, ancient and modern, who hold that in every man there is a higher and a lower nature, and that each human being has within himself the power of causing the former to triumph over the latter. This idea is excluded even if for no other reason than this, that throughout, in Paul’s teaching, the Holy Spirit is a distinct person, of one substance with the Father and the Son. He is not “our other or better self.” See Rom. 8:26, 27; I Cor. 2:10; II Cor. 13:14. This also shows that, strictly speaking, being led by the Spirit cannot even be identified with the triumph of ‘‘the new man’’ (the regenerated nature) within us over ‘‘the old man’’ (our corrupt nature, not yet fully destroyed) That victory and that implied struggle are certainly very real; yet they are not in and by themselves what is meant by being led by the Spirit, but are rather the result of the Spirit’s active indwelling. They are certainly implied, but are not basic.

What then does the leading of the Spirit — to change from the passive to the active voice, for the sake of the definition — actually mean? It means sanctification. It is that constant, effective, and beneficent influence which the Holy Spirit exercises within the hearts of God’s children whereby they are being directed and enabled more and more to crush the power of indwelling sin and to walk in the way of God’s commandments, freely and cheerfully.

By so defining it extremes are avoided. Thus, on the one hand, to be led by the Spirit means more than to be guided by him, though, to be sure, the Spirit is also our Guide (John 16:13; cf. Matt. 15:14; Luke 6:39; Acts 8:31; Rev. 7:17) . But the very fact that, according to the passage now under consideration (Gal. 5:18), the enslaving power of the law has been broken for all those who are being led by the Spirit, indicates that this leadership which the Spirit provides implies more than “pointing out the right way.” It reminds us not so much of the Indian guide who pointed out to the pioneer white explorers the pass through the Rockies, as of the blind man of Jericho who was led to Jesus (Luke 18:40; cf. Matt. 21:2; Luke 10:34; John 18:28; Acts 6:12; 9:2). Merely pointing out the way to him would not have helped him. When the Holy Spirit leads believers he becomes the controlling influence in their lives, bringing them at last to glory.

On the other hand, however, this representation also steers clear of the opposite extreme, that of denying human responsibility and activity. The blind man of Jericho was not carried or borne (II Peter 1:21) to Jesus, but did his own walking. Warfield has said very aptly: “It is his [the Holy Spirit’s] part to keep us in the path and to bring us at length to the goal. But it is we who tread every step of the way; our limbs that grow weary with the labor; our hearts that faint, our courage that fails — our faith that revives our sinking strength, our hope that instills new courage into our souls — as we toil over the steep ascent” (The Power of God unto Salvation, p. 172). Being led by the Holy Spirit, to be fully effective, implies that one allows himself to be led. As to the interrelation of these two factors — the believers’ self-activity and God’s (the Holy Spirit’s) leading —, Paul’s own Spirit-inspired statement cannot be improved upon: “With fear and trembling continue to work out y o u r own salvation; for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12, 13).

(N.T. Commentary – Galatians, Baker Book House, pp. 216-17)