In the beginning of Scripture, we are told, "Enoch walked with God..." (Genesis 5:24). What does it look like to walk with God? Scripture is chock-full of precisely how this is done. It is no small task to cover everything that Scripture has to say, but we can do so in steps. With this entry, I have decided to see what Scripture has to say about "walking." What does God reveal to us through His holy and infallible Word in regard to how we should walk?
"Walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17:1). This is the first time in Scripture where someone is told how they should walk. The English Standard Version (ESV) renders it, "Walk before me and be blameless." In other words, walk in such a way that reflects Me, your God in whom you were created in My image, that no one can find fault with you. Later, God expands on this much more with Israel because they were meant to be the nation that was to represent God to all other nations. Essentially, Israel said to God, "Tell us how to walk in perfection and we will do it." Thus, God laid down the 10 Commandments, the moral law, and a plethora of other laws for Israel to follow. James later tells us that if you break the law in one point, you're guilty of breaking it all (James 2:10).
Sadly, Israel never seemed to get it, as many of us today never seem to get it. Israel was given 613 commandments to obey. It has been said that those 613 commandments can be summed up in the 10 Commandments. I do not know if this is true or not because I have not sat down to examine them all. However, the 10 Commandments can be summed up perfectly in the two commandments that Jesus Christ left us with: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself" (Luke 10:27). It is of great note that 9 of the 10 Commandments were repeated in the New Testament. The moral law has never been done away with. It cannot save us (Galatians 2:16), but it is a mirror (Romans 7:7) to show us how dirty we are in order to act as a schoolmaster and lead us unto Christ (Galatians 3:24). The law stops our mouths and shows us that we are guilty before a holy and righteous Judge (Romans 3:19).
In the New Testament, Jesus states, "Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness" (John 8:12). Paul tells us, "...walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8). If we jump over to the book of 1 John, we are told, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another..." (1 John 1:6-7). If we are professing the name of Jesus Christ, claiming that we belong to Him and that we are Christians, then we had best not be walking in darkness, in the ways of this world. Otherwise, we are liars.
"So we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). If we are true, biblical, born-again Christians, we have been changed. Our lives ought to reflect that change and we should walk in that "newness of life." "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Is there a newness to your life? Are you growing in holiness? Examine yourself (2 Corinthians 13:5). If nothing has changed in your life, if Jesus Christ is not precious to you, then you are not a Christian. "...Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:4). "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).
We are to walk sacrificially and in submission: "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 13:4); "...walk humbly with thy God" (Micah 6:8); "...walk after His commandments" (2 John 1:6). "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him" (Colossians 2:6). If we belong to Jesus, it is imperative that we walk in Him. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). If that verse is true in our own lives, then our lives will be marked by a "newness of life." If Jesus does indeed live in me, would Jesus watch the trash I watch? listen to the trash I listen to? enter the places of entertainment that I enter into?
"Let us walk honestly..." (Romans 13:13); "Walk in love..." (Ephesians 5:2); "Walk in wisdom..." (Colossians 4:5); "...walk in the truth" (3 John 1:4). We are to no longer walk in the deceitfulness wherewith we once did. Our eyes have been opened and we have been made to see and know and understand. We are also to walk worthy: "...walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Ephesians 4:1); "...walk worthy of the Lord..." (Colossians 1:10); "...walk worthy of God..." (1 Thess. 2:12). As image bearers of God and children of God, to walk worthy of God would be to "be ye holy, as I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). We were created to do good works, "which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
"We walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). This is probably the summation of what it means to walk with God. I don't need to see Him face-to-face in order to know that He exists. He has given me a huge universe to look at that just screams His existence to me, as Romans 1 tells us. We are but insignificant specks of vapour in this vast expanse of a cosmos, and yet we so often think we are the center of the entire universe. How pathetically wretched we are.
So there is our brief look at what Scripture says about what it means to "walk" with God. But that is not all that it means. We have barely scratched the surface. This, at least, gives us something to meditate on and to conform our lives to the image and likeness of Christ Jesus our Saviour.
"Walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17:1). This is the first time in Scripture where someone is told how they should walk. The English Standard Version (ESV) renders it, "Walk before me and be blameless." In other words, walk in such a way that reflects Me, your God in whom you were created in My image, that no one can find fault with you. Later, God expands on this much more with Israel because they were meant to be the nation that was to represent God to all other nations. Essentially, Israel said to God, "Tell us how to walk in perfection and we will do it." Thus, God laid down the 10 Commandments, the moral law, and a plethora of other laws for Israel to follow. James later tells us that if you break the law in one point, you're guilty of breaking it all (James 2:10).
Sadly, Israel never seemed to get it, as many of us today never seem to get it. Israel was given 613 commandments to obey. It has been said that those 613 commandments can be summed up in the 10 Commandments. I do not know if this is true or not because I have not sat down to examine them all. However, the 10 Commandments can be summed up perfectly in the two commandments that Jesus Christ left us with: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself" (Luke 10:27). It is of great note that 9 of the 10 Commandments were repeated in the New Testament. The moral law has never been done away with. It cannot save us (Galatians 2:16), but it is a mirror (Romans 7:7) to show us how dirty we are in order to act as a schoolmaster and lead us unto Christ (Galatians 3:24). The law stops our mouths and shows us that we are guilty before a holy and righteous Judge (Romans 3:19).
In the New Testament, Jesus states, "Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness" (John 8:12). Paul tells us, "...walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8). If we jump over to the book of 1 John, we are told, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another..." (1 John 1:6-7). If we are professing the name of Jesus Christ, claiming that we belong to Him and that we are Christians, then we had best not be walking in darkness, in the ways of this world. Otherwise, we are liars.
"So we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). If we are true, biblical, born-again Christians, we have been changed. Our lives ought to reflect that change and we should walk in that "newness of life." "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Is there a newness to your life? Are you growing in holiness? Examine yourself (2 Corinthians 13:5). If nothing has changed in your life, if Jesus Christ is not precious to you, then you are not a Christian. "...Walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:4). "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).
We are to walk sacrificially and in submission: "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 13:4); "...walk humbly with thy God" (Micah 6:8); "...walk after His commandments" (2 John 1:6). "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him" (Colossians 2:6). If we belong to Jesus, it is imperative that we walk in Him. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). If that verse is true in our own lives, then our lives will be marked by a "newness of life." If Jesus does indeed live in me, would Jesus watch the trash I watch? listen to the trash I listen to? enter the places of entertainment that I enter into?
"Let us walk honestly..." (Romans 13:13); "Walk in love..." (Ephesians 5:2); "Walk in wisdom..." (Colossians 4:5); "...walk in the truth" (3 John 1:4). We are to no longer walk in the deceitfulness wherewith we once did. Our eyes have been opened and we have been made to see and know and understand. We are also to walk worthy: "...walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Ephesians 4:1); "...walk worthy of the Lord..." (Colossians 1:10); "...walk worthy of God..." (1 Thess. 2:12). As image bearers of God and children of God, to walk worthy of God would be to "be ye holy, as I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). We were created to do good works, "which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
"We walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). This is probably the summation of what it means to walk with God. I don't need to see Him face-to-face in order to know that He exists. He has given me a huge universe to look at that just screams His existence to me, as Romans 1 tells us. We are but insignificant specks of vapour in this vast expanse of a cosmos, and yet we so often think we are the center of the entire universe. How pathetically wretched we are.
So there is our brief look at what Scripture says about what it means to "walk" with God. But that is not all that it means. We have barely scratched the surface. This, at least, gives us something to meditate on and to conform our lives to the image and likeness of Christ Jesus our Saviour.