December 28

It Must Be of the Spirit

On September 2, 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur made a radio broadcast to the American public from the site of the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay. Always eloquent, the great general conveyed his deep concern about the destructiveness of modern war and the need for a spiritual resurgence to prevent even worse conflicts in the future.

Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won… The holy mission has been completed and in reporting this to you, the people, I speak for the thousands of silent lips, forever stilled among the jungles and the beaches and in the deep waters of the Pacific which marked the way… A new era is upon us…

We have had our last chance. If we do not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advance in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past 2,000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.543

The apostle Paul pleaded with the Galatians for the same kind of spiritual revival within their society. He perfectly contrasted for all time the difference between a life of the flesh and a life of the Spirit:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

—Galatians 5:16–25