And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:24
This statement is made as part of a line of clear teaching by Paul and is hard to understand outside of placing it in that line. There was evidently some church infighting in Galatia that came as a consequence of the church lapsing into legalistic practices. Paul warns them against "biting and devouring one another" (Galatians 5:15).
From this warning Paul instructs them to walk by the Spirit in order to fight fleshly desires. Legalism actually feeds fleshly pride and desire since it is dependent solely on our own efforts and not the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:16-17). It can only lead to bad fruit showing up in us and in the church. We must be led by the Spirit in order to avoid the works of the sinful flesh and to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:18-23).
It is in this life of rejecting my sinful efforts that only feed sin in me and in learning to grow in the Spirit's fruit that I can crucify fleshly desires and passions. If I claim to please God, but show the works of the flesh in my heart and actions, I have lapsed into works thinking and sinful legalism just like these Galatians did.
Spirit life is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit bearing itself out in my life and in the church. It leads to peace (Galatians 5:25-26). And being led with the Spirit's fruit on display makes my life and church life a wonderful experience!
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