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ELVIS DUODU - 0159753

Day 4 introduced us to what faith meant in the bible as well as in the modern era. Faith in the

bible is belief, confidence or trust/ faithfulness in God, however, in the modern era. Faith is a

mental idea. The Judaizers had faith, but the continues trust was in their ability to follow the law.

They thought that by obeying their own understanding of the law, they will please God and

remain in his love. The discussion also considered slavery and freedom in Christ. I understood

slavery as giving up Christ for any other thing.

Galatians 5:16-21 centered on Paul’s sixth argument against Judaizers that without the law,

people cannot produce good works. This argument was an effort to push Galatians to observe the

law. Paul advised the churches in Galatia to walk in the Spirit rather in the flesh. By implication,

the Spirit and the flesh are in constant competition. His counter argument meant that by walking

in the Spirit you can produce good deeds. If the Spirit is producing good, then we don’t need the

law to prevent us from sinning. The law was to prevent us from breaching the boundaries of

death, self-indulgence or remaining neutral. Therefore, by walking in the Spirit, your behavior

should not include sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,

Jealousy, fits of range, selfish ambition, factions’ discord and dissensions which will disqualify

you from the kingdom. The behaviors in other words proves that we are either walking in the

Spirit or the flesh. When we walk in the Spirit, we are empowered to love God and others. I

asked myself if Paul indicates that there is a fight between the Spirit and the flesh, did he mean

that the Spirit and the flesh is equal in power with the flesh? In other words, which one is

stronger in this struggle? I also understood that flesh represents human physical abilities to obey

the law. I would want to understand why Paul’s preaching about crucifixion was detestable to the

Jews who preached circumcision? In chapter 6:14 of Galatians, Paul indicates that the world has

been crucified to him. This verse shows how Paul relates to the world. I understood Paul to mean
ELVIS DUODU - 0159753

that the world has no honor, as such he needs not honor from it. Paul had seen the world

degraded to the extent that there was no honor it. But Paul showed that he was ready to lose his

honor to become a new creation in Christ. The rule of Paul was that those who are dead to the

world have no honor it, therefore, peace will be their portion.

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