{"id":29122,"date":"2022-09-24T13:08:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T18:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-galatians-519\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T13:08:07","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T18:08:07","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-galatians-519","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-galatians-519\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 5:19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

19 23<\/strong>. St Paul supplies a test whereby men may ascertain whether they are under the curse of the law or heirs of the promise.<\/p>\n

First, the Apostle gives a list of the works of the flesh<\/em> not complete but comprehensive the commission of which excludes men from the inheritance. They cannot plead the promise. It is not for such as they. They shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Then follows, not an enumeration of the works of the Spirit, but a statement of its fruit. Vital Christianity is not a set of acts a list of good deeds it is a disposition of the heart a character<\/em>. If the tree is good, the fruit will be good; and by its effects ‘a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit’, Art. XII.<\/p>\n

19 21<\/strong>. A fourfold classification of the sins here mentioned has been suggested; (1) sins of sensuality; (2) sins connected with heathenism as a religion<\/em> (idolatry and sorcery); (3) violations of the law of love, in feeling and in act; (4) sins of intemperance.<\/p>\n

which are these<\/em> ] ‘such as, for example.’ The catalogue does not pretend to be complete.<\/p>\n

adultery<\/em> ] Omitted in the best MSS. Jerome, after observing that in the Latin copies ‘adulteries’ and ‘murders’ are contained in St Paul’s catalogue, adds, ‘but it should be known that only fifteen works of the flesh are specified’. It is included in the general term ‘fornication’, which here denotes all improper relations between the sexes<\/em>, married or single. (Mat 5:32<\/span>.)<\/p>\n

uncleanness<\/em> ] Impurity generally, but with special reference to those unnnatural vices to which many heathen were addicted.<\/p>\n

lasciviousness<\/em> ] Rather, ‘open, shameless profligacy’.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Now the works of the flesh – <\/B>What the flesh, or what corrupt and unrenewed human nature produces.<\/P>

Are manifest – <\/B>Plain, well-known. The world is full of illustrations of what corrupt human nature produces, and as to the existence and nature of those works, no one can be ignorant. It is evident here that the word <\/SPAN><\/span> sarx, flesh, is used to denote corrupt human nature, and not merely the body; since many of the vices here enumerated are the passions of the mind or the soul, rather than of the body. Such are wrath, strife, heresies, envyings, etc., which cannot be said to have their seat in the body. If the word, therefore, is used to denote human nature, the passage furnishes a sad commentary on its tendency, and on the character of man. It is closely parallel to the declaration of the Saviour in Mat 15:19<\/span>. Of the nature of most of these sins, or works of the flesh, it is unnecessary to offer any comment. They are not so rare as not to be well known, and the meaning of the words requires little exposition. In regard to the existence of these vices as the result of human nature, the notes at Rom. 1<\/span> may be examined; or a single glance at the history of the past, or at the present condition of the pagan and a large part of the Christian world, would furnish an ample and a painful demonstration.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19<\/span>; Gal 5:21<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the works of the flesh are manifest.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The works of the flesh our own<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the same with all the passions and appetites. No one of them ever leaves a man, who indulges them, just where he was before. No one of them is a mere dry, isolated fact, that drops into his record and stops there. If a bank-clerk steals his employers money, we do not put our funds in his hands, as if that were a simple fact, and he the same as before. If a woman loses her purity by a single act, no sensible man seeks her in marriage, on any theory that he can afford to condone the fall. Such is the nature of the soul that it lives in its own issues, or dies in its own empoisoned evil deeds. They are all our works–ours only. God has no part in them; good angels have no part in them; yea, that thing in us, which is truest self, the conscience, resists and struggles against them. As the eye weeps and inflames at the irritation of a grain of sand, so the conscience resists and inflames before the works of the flesh–before adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and such like. I do not wonder at the despair, the black despair, which, like a dark night in winter of clouds and sleet and chill, settles down on such souls as are victims to bodily lusts, namely, hatred, envyings, murders, drunkenness, and such like; and men hear the howling of fiends, and see lurid lights, and moan of a hell of fears, horrible to think of, as yawning before them. These things are the inheritance of their election. (C. H. Hall,<\/em> D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The works of the flesh<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>What is flesh? It is taken for–<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>The whole man (Gen 6:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>The mortal body (2Co 7:1<\/span>; Gal 2:20<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>The ceremonies of the law (Gal 3:3<\/span>; Gal 6:12<\/span>; Php 3:3<\/span>), because performed by the body.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>The human nature of Christ (Rom 1:3<\/span>; 1Pe 3:18<\/span>; 1Pe 4:1<\/span>) as spirit for the Divine (Rom 1:4<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>All mankind (Gen 6:12<\/span>; Isa 40:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>The human nature, as corrupt, or a state of sin (Eph 2:3<\/span>; Rom 7:5<\/span>). This denotes the corruption of soul as well as body (Rom 8:6<\/span> Col 2:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>The unregenerate part in the regenerate man (Rom 7:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>What are works? Whatsoever proceeds from the body of death.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>How are they manifest?<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>By the light of nature.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>They cannot be hid (Heb 4:13<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Take notice of them.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> The power of the flesh in your heart.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> The works of the flesh in your life,<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Labour against them. They are<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> pleasing to Satan,<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> offensive to God,<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> tormenting to the conscience,<\/p>\n

(4)<\/strong> injurious to religion,<\/p>\n

(5)<\/strong> destructive to the soul. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Though some have all flesh and no spirit, none have all spirit and no flesh. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Adultery<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Its nature. It is a vice opposed to chastity, and may be committed–<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> In the heart (Mat 5:28<\/span>); and therefore<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong>look not oh yourselves as innocent because not actual idolaters.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Repent of unchaste thoughts.<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> Labour against them.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>In the act.<\/p>\n


II.<\/strong> its greatness as a sin.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It is frequently forbidden.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>It is destructive to self and others.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>It is the occasion of many sins.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>It is a punishment as well as a sin (Pro 22:14<\/span>; Rom 1:24<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>It consumes a mans estate (Pro 5:10<\/span>; Pro 6:26<\/span>; Job 31:12<\/span>).<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>The body also (Pro 5:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>It defiles the body (1Co 6:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

8. <\/strong>It darkens a mans judgment and understanding Hos 4:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n

9. <\/strong>It destroys the whole soul (Pro 6:32<\/span>).<\/p>\n

10. <\/strong>It brings irreparable is grace (Pro 6:33<\/span>).<\/p>\n

11. <\/strong>Ordinarily it is punished in this life (Num 25:6<\/span>; 1Co 10:8<\/span>).<\/p>\n

12.<\/strong> Certainly in the life to come (Heb 13:4<\/span>; 1Co 6:9-10<\/span>).<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Its prevention.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Avoid the occasions.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Idleness (Eze 16:49<\/span>; 2Sa 11:2<\/span>);<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Bad company (Pro 7:25<\/span>);<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> All other sins (Pro 1:25<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Make a covenant with thine eyes (Job 31:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Watch over thy thoughts (Mal 2:16<\/span>),<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Keep in with God (Pro 22:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Delight in the Word of God (Pro 2:10-16<\/span>).<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>Be much in prayer and meditation (Psa 119:37<\/span>). (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fornication<\/strong><\/p>\n


I.<\/strong> What It Is. When two single persons come together out of the state of matrimony (Deu 22:28<\/span>).<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Its Sinfulness.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Contrary to Gods command (1Co 6:18<\/span>; Eph 5:3<\/span>; 1Th 4:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Provokes Gods anger (Col 3:5-6<\/span>; Jer 5:7<\/span>; Hos 4:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>God will judge it (Heb 13:4<\/span>; 1Co 3:9<\/span>). (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Uncleanness<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Inward.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>The desire of strange flesh, with a resolution to enjoy it if he could (Col 3:5<\/span>; 1Th 4:5<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Sinful lusts and affections (Jam 1:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Unclean thoughts.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Outward. Adultery, fornication, incest or nameless infamies. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Lasciviousness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wantonness, whereby the soul is inflamed to the other sins, expressed:<\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>In apparel.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Excess.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Lightness (Pro 7:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Singularity (2Sa 13:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Of a contrary sex,<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Gestures.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Wanton looks, etc. (2Pe 2:14<\/span>; Job 31:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Wanton walking, etc. (Isa 3:16<\/span>).<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Meat and drink.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>The quantity (Eze 16:49<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>The quality (Luk 16:19<\/span>).<\/p>\n


IV. <\/strong>Words.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Foolish (Eph 5:3-4<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Obscene talking (1Co 15:33<\/span>). (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Idolatry<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Its nature. The worshipping of anything besides God, so as–<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>To pray to them (Isa 44:17<\/span>),<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>To sacrifice to them (2Ki 17:35<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>To build temples and altars to them (Hos 12:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Asking counsel of them (Hos 4:12<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Thanking them (Jdg 16:23-24<\/span>; Dan 5:4<\/span>).<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Those who are guilty of it.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Heathens, who worship–<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Men; as Jupiter, Saturn, etc.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Devils.<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> Beasts.<\/p>\n

(4)<\/strong> Stars.<\/p>\n

(5)<\/strong> Images.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Christians.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Popish, who worship the sacramental bread, saints, images, relics.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Protestants: the covetous (Col 3:5<\/span>; Eph 5:5<\/span>); voluptuous (Php 3:19<\/span>); ambitious; sinful.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>the greatness of the sin.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It is frequently forbidden (Exo 20:3-4<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Severely punished (Exo 22:20<\/span> : Deu 17:3-5<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>No sin can bring greater dishonour to God (Jer 2:13<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>It will certainly bring thee to hell (Rev 21:8<\/span>; Rev 22:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Witchcraft<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>The biblical estimate of it.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>As a stern and diabolical reality (Lev 20:27<\/span>; Deu 18:19<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>As unlawful trafficking with the unseen world (Lev 19:31<\/span>; Isa 8:19<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>As sometimes trickery and imposture (Isa 8:19<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>As filthy defilement (Lev 19:31<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>As deserving death (Lev 20:6<\/span>; Exo 22:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>As one of the crimes for which the Canaanites were destroyed.<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>As inconsistent with a trust in God (Isa 8:19<\/span>).<\/p>\n

8. <\/strong>As frustrated by God (Isa 44:25<\/span>).<\/p>\n

9. <\/strong>As a power from which the godly have nothing to fear.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Its prevalence.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Amongst the heathen. Pythagoras, Plutarch, Pompey, Croesus, Caesar, were all under its spell.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>The progress of modern civilization has not exterminated it.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>But whilst it assumes the form of astrology, with its star-gazing; palmistry, with its handwriting; or spiritualism, with its media and trances and dark seances; it is the same abomination reprobated in the Word of God.<\/p>\n

Hatred (of God)<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>What is this? (Rom 1:30<\/span>).<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>God is the chiefest good (Luk 18:19<\/span>): the essential, original, universal, infinite, satisfying, necessary, and eternal good.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Therefore He ought to be loved supremely.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>The want of this love is accounted as hatred.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Who are guilty of it.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Those who wish there were no God (Psa 14:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Who hate the knowledge of Him (Psa 50:17<\/span>; Job 21:14<\/span>; Pro 8:36<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Who hate His ways and ordinances.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Who love other things more than God (2Ti 3:4<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Who love sin.<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>Who break His commandments (Exo 20:5-6<\/span>; Joh 14:15<\/span>). (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Hatred (of man)<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Its <\/strong>nature: the transgression of the commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Its sinfulness.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It is contrary to the law.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>It is the cause of many sins, as–<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Anger (Eph 4:26<\/span>; Eph 4:31<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Envy (Jam 3:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(3)<\/strong> Unmercifulness (Rom 1:31<\/span>; Amo 6:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(4)<\/strong> Cruelty (Psa 5:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(5)<\/strong> Pride (Pro 13:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(6)<\/strong> Desire of revenge (Rom 12:19<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(7)<\/strong> Uncharitable suspicions (1Co 13:5-7<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(8)<\/strong> Refractoriness (Rom 1:31<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>It is the breaking of the whole law (Rom 13:9<\/span>; Gal 5:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Who are guilty of it? All who–<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Wish their neighbours evil, or not good.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Who do not what good they can.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Who do not reprove of sin and excite to good (Lev 19:17<\/span>; Heb 10:24<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Who bear any secret grudge and malice. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Variance<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Its nature. A sin opposed to amity.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>In opinion (Eph 4:13<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Affection (Eph 4:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Its sinfulness.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It is contrary to Gods law.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>It springs from–<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Pride and ambition (Pro 13:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Want of true love.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Its effects are sinful.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Vexation and trouble to self and others.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Hatred.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Those guilty of it.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Infidels.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Such as fall out for trifles.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Such as being fallen out refuse to be reconciled. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Emulation<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>What is it? Twofold.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Good (Gal 4:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Evil.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> To grieve for anothers excelling us.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> To desire to excel him.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>IT IS A SIN.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It proceeds from an evil root.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Error.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Pride.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>It brings forth sinful fruit.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/strong> Contention.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/strong> Envy.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Who are guilty of it.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Such as are zealous in a bad cause.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>In a good cause in a bad manner (Rom 10:2<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>More for themselves than God.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Such as love to see nobody above them. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Anger<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is sinful when with–<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>The providence of God.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>The laws of God.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>The doctrines of the gospel.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>The good we see in others.<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Those who differ from us in religious sentiments.<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>Reproof.<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>Our reprover, wishing him evil.<\/p>\n

8. <\/strong>When we use unlawful means to avenge ourselves. (J. Beaumont, M. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>What is it? A passion raised up in the mind against some present evil that cannot easily be removed.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Whether a man may be ever lawfully angry? Yes (Eph 4:26<\/span>).<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>When it proceeds from a lawful cause (Mar 3:5<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>When it is placed on a lawful object (Exo 11:8<\/span>; Exo 32:19<\/span>; Lev 10:16-17<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>In a lawful manner (Mat 8:22<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>To a lawful end.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Who sin in their anger? Such as are angry–<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Not so much at the offence as the offender.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>At anything rather because it dishonours them than God.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Without a cause (Mat 5:22<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Excessively, though in a good cause (Gen 49:7<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>And hateful.<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>And curse (Psa 106:33<\/span>).<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>And therefore indisposed to duties.<\/p>\n

8. <\/strong>From sinful causes.<\/p>\n

9. <\/strong>For a wrong end.<\/p>\n

10. <\/strong>And continue long in their auger (Eph 4:26<\/span>).<\/p>\n


IV. <\/strong>Motives against it.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>God forbids it (Eph 4:31<\/span>; Col 3:8<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>It disturbs soul and body.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>It is not only a sin but a folly (Ecc 7:9<\/span>; Pro 14:17<\/span>; Pro 14:29<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>It may prove thy ruin.<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>It may keep thee out of heaven. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Strife<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Lawful.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Which should bring the most glory to Gods name.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Perform the exactest obedience to His precepts (Php 3:10-13<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Believe the firmest in His Son.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Grow the fastest in His grace (2Pe 3:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Make our calling and election surest (2Pe 1:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Sinful.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>When proceeding from anger and malice.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>About trifles.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>In opprobrious terms.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Ending in hatred and revenge. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Seditions<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>To oppose lawful governors (Rom 13:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>To consent to and connive at those who do it.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>To raise tumults in a kingdom, commonwealth, or parish. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Heresies<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no heresy in the long list of heresies which have invaded the Church, like the heresy of negativeness, of inaction, of death. The dead man is the great heresiarch. (H. W. Beecher.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Envyings<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>In what consists the sinfulness of envy.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It is contrary to Gods command (Rom 13:13<\/span>; 1Pe 2:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Repining at Gods providence and goodness.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>The fruit of pride.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>The root of confusion and evil (Jam 3:16<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>The cause of hatred.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Have a care of it.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Thou <\/strong>art never the worse for others being better.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Envy makes him never the worse, nor thee the better.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Thou hast more cause to rejoice than to be troubled at anothers goodness.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Thy envying Gods goodness to others may hinder it to thyself. (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Its nature.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Its object is something good, natural, or acquired, even religious excellence.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Something in the possession of another which is grudged and desired,<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Something not altogether unattainable.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Its properties.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It is common.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Odious.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Destructive.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Its cure.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>A scriptural estimate of the objects which excite envy. They are not so valuable as they appear to be.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>A just opinion of ourselves. We do not deserve as <\/strong>much as we imagine.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>An entire change of heart.<\/p>\n

Application:<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Do not needlessly provoke envy.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Do not wickedly indulge it.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Do net basely fear it.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Do not angrily resent it. (G. Brooks.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Envy is the daughter of pride, the author of revenge and murder, the beginning of sedition and the perpetual tormentor of virtue. (Socrates.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Murders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life is threefold of the body, mind, and spirit; and murder against each may be deliberate or careless, resulting from action or inaction.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Deliberate murder is life taken by malice aforethought.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Careless murder, resulting from careless or culpable ignorance; e.g.,<\/em> the builder who neglects the drains; the parent who spreads an infectious disorder through sending his children to school while tainted with it.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Inactive murder (Jam 4:17<\/span>), e.g.,<\/em> a man who allows another to commit murder, or who neglects to save life physical or moral. (C. A. Goodheart.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Murder is not mere blood-shedding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Anger without cause is murder.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>So is oppression of the weak.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>So is depriving a man of the means of getting his livelihood to gratify revenge.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Whosoever hateth his brother in his heart is a murderer. (J. Parker,<\/em> D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Drunkenness<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>What is it? An immoderate use of any liquor (Eph 5:18<\/span>).<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>Its sinfulness.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>It transgresses the law (Eph 5:18<\/span>; Rom 13:13<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Abuses the creature.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Destroys the body (Pro 23:29<\/span>).<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Disturbs the soul (Hos 4:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Spends time.<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>Unfits for employment (Luk 21:34<\/span>).<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>Entails woe (Isa 5:11<\/span>). (Bishop Beveridge.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Evil of hatred<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you hate your enemies, you will contract such a vicious habit of mind as by degrees will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you. (Plutarch.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

All sin is seen by God<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Mr. Ralph Wellss school the other day, the lesson was about Gods all-seeing eye. On the blackboard, Mr. Wells placed the words, Thou God seest me. He then held up a vase of water, in which a gold-fish was swimming about. Now, children, said Mr. Wells, see this fish hide. Do you see him now? Yes, sir, the children shouted. Do you see him now? Yes, sir. Now do you see him? Yes, sir: yes, sir, they all said. Cant he hide from you? No, sir. Why? Because we see <\/strong>right through the glass. So, said Mr. Wells, God sees right through our hearts. We cannot hide from Him. (Picture<\/em> Paper.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fleshly sins<\/strong><\/p>\n

The list of fleshly sins here given is not an exhaustive one; merely samples. Seventeen distinct sins are specified, which may be roughly grouped in four classes.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>Sensuality–viz., adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Idolatry, or unlawful dealing in things spiritual; consisting of idolatry, or the open recognition of false gods, and sorcery or witchcraft, the secret tampering with the powers of evil.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Malice, or violation of the principle of brotherly love; such as hatreds, strife, rivalry, outbursts of wrath, cabals, dissensions, heretical factions, envyings, murders.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Intemperance–viz., drunkenness and riotous revelry. These vices are probably named by St. Paul as being those to which the Galatians had been specially addicted, and to which they might now be tempted. From early habit a Gentile Church would be exposed to sins of the first two classes, sensuality and idolatry. Sins of the third class, consisting of breaches of brotherly love, would be a probable consequence of their religious dissensions. Vices of the fourth class, when once established, are not easily shaken off, and, as we know from the example of the Corinthian Church, may even find their way into the holiest services of the Christian religion. But we must not confine this catalogue of sins to the Galatians, as though it had no application to ourselves (1Co 10:11-12<\/span>). (Emilius Bayley, B. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The old life<\/strong><\/p>\n

As St. Paul looks back at that bad life out of which he had snatched the souls of his Gentile converts, it is its bitter brutality that he most vividly remembers and recalls. It was a jarring life, in which there was no tenderness, no courtesy, no kindliness, no peace. It was full of collisions, of frictions, of wounds, of sores. It was a loud and violent life, in which men fought, and hit, and swore. As he runs over his list of old habits once familiar to them, his picture is as of some back alley in our crowded towns, in which all is shrill, rough, boisterous, with women screaming, with children shrieking, a nest of noises, a swarm of jangling cries. This is what they have left behind, this which had made life one long quarrel, pitiless and brutal. They had left it, mastered and enthralled by the <\/strong>sweet vision of Him, the Man of peace, and meekness, and lowliness, who had been led, quiet and patient, as a lamb to the slaughter, and, as a sheep before its shearers, had never opened His mouth; who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; and when He was threatened, threatened not; One who never gave back railing for railing, but only blessing. You all remember it, he keeps crying to them, those old days, so merciless, so angry, so cruel; how you grated on one another, how you rasped one another, how you bit and devoured one another like snarling dogs. It had been one long quarrel, a life of wrath, full of bitterness, clamour, evil speaking; they knew it all but too well what he meant, for the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these–hatred, etc. Works of the flesh, he calls them His keen eye sweeps over the whole range of this loud quarrelling; to him, it is no senseless storm that rages on without rhyme or reason. Nay! it has, all of it, a story and a cause; it is the witness, on the surface of life, to inner disorder. These rough oaths, these venomous taunts, this bitter tumult–these are the natural issues of the root from which they spring. They are works–normal, and anticipated, and legitimate deeds, which appear in obedience to a law of rational production. They are fruits–results that grow out of certain creative activities, as accurately and inevitably as grapes from vines and figs from fig-trees. And what is this root which so legitimately flowers into these uncomfortable blossoms? The flesh, St. Paul names it; the flesh is as much the seat and home of this passionate violence as it is of those other passions and appetites with which we commonly identify it. This petulance, this savagery, this hail of malice, this outcry of rage, this havoc of revenge, this recklessness of cruelty–all this finds its principle, its origin, its motive-cause in that same activity of the flesh. Set the law of the flesh in action, and you must have quarrels. Out of the flesh they fly, these oaths and screams, just as sparks out of a smitten flint. It would be a miracle if men who lived after the methods of the flesh failed to envy and to hate one another. (Canon<\/em> Scott<\/em> Holland.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

St. Pauls conception of the flesh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try to enter into the solid and broad meaning which St. Paul attaches to this, his favourite term for the root-principle of human sin–the flesh. Obviously, it is much more to him than the mere matter of animal passions. It expresses to him the typical nature, the essential form, of all that can be set in antithesis to spirit. It includes the pride and the falsity of intellect. It embraces the disorder and stubbornness of the will. What, then, is this flesh? How can we describe and define it? The flesh represents all that a man is, when he is his own aim, his own end. His power of self-observation, that Divine gift, in possessing which he is the image of his God, has about its use this terrible risk–that he may cease to observe himself as he is in God, as he is in Gods ordered world, set to fulfil an office in combination with his fellows, the member of a vast body, pledged to a peculiar or disciplined service; he may forget all this, and only observe himself, himself just as he stands, with his own private appetites, likes, gifts, feelings. And, so observing, he may separate himself off from all else, hold himself up before his own eyes, and fasten upon himself all his interest, all his thought, and his imagination, and his pains; and may spend his every effort in scheming how best to serve, in richness of pleasurable experience, this self, who has become his idol, and before which he bows himself to minister as to a god. This he may do; and that which a man has then in front of him as his aim or end whether it be low and gross, or whether it be delicate and intellectual–that is the flesh. And the life that he lives in obeying its behest, that is the life after the flesh; that is minding the things of the flesh; that is walking after the flesh. And the end of that walk is Death. (Canon<\/em> Scott<\/em> Holland.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Result of walking after the flesh<\/strong><\/p>\n

We can easily understand why life in the flesh is a life of jars and quarrels, as much as a life of passion and lust. The man who walks after the flesh is absorbed in self-interests. He has dropped his eyes from their outward gaze at that busy and social world which encompasses him. That world is calling to him with all its voices, but he hears them no longer; it is appealing to him to act, to hope, to aspire, to give, but he pays no heed to its invocations. He has forgotten its wants and its movements; he is dead to its touch and to its cry. His brothers look to him for help, but they have ceased to interest him: his sisters turn to him for tenderness, but he is chill as a blind stone. All this crowded scene of our human story has lost for him its charm, its colour, its warmth, its neighbourly friendliness. He has turned his eyes within; he has bent all his gaze in upon himself; it is his own feelings that alone have an interest to him, his own needs that alone entice. He is busy night and day in considering himself; he is picturing his own success; he is planning his own pleasures; he is brooding over his own possibilities; he is filled with his own imaginations. Round and round himself he is always weaving the ever-thickening web of his own fancies, and his own schemes; and fainter and more distant grows the sound of outward things. He walks abroad, brimming with self-interests; and he is bent on things fulfilling themselves according to his fostered expectations; and so, walking, he must of necessity jar at once against a world that he has not taken the pains to study, or understand, or revere. He clashes against it, as against a wall; he is pushed and squeezed by the crowd of bustling men, who have no time to give to his breedings, and are at variance with his designs, and upset his favourite plans, and traverse his ambitions. He is disappointed, as he must be; for this earth demands of us a social temper,.and he is hopelessly and helplessly individual; it asks us to give, and he is proposing only to take. He is wholly out of tune with a world that exists only through self-sacrifice, and is bonded together by the grace of humility; he must be repudiated by it, he must be disregarded, he is bound to be checked at every turn, and he gets cross, angry, bitter. The world ignores him, laughs at him, brushes him aside, bowls him over. And the man, so treated, grows more and more wounded, hurt, indignant. Perhaps he rails and storms at the world that he finds so hard, at the men whom he thinks so unsympathetic and so cruel. Perhaps he retreats into sulky silence, and shuts himself up in clouds of vaporous passion, and fumes out his angry soul in secret breedings, and hugs himself the closer, and vents his grudge against life in spite, and scorn, and uncomfortable depression. (Canon<\/em> Scott<\/em> Holland.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Remedy for selfishness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Self-pre-occupation, self-breedings, self.interest, self-love–these are the reasons why you go jarring against your fellows. Turn your eyes off yourself; forget your own pet schemes, the hopes you are always nursing to yourself, the self-importance that you hug. Forget them, throw them aside, push through them. Look up, and out! There is a larger world outside you, brimming over with far other hopes than yours, illumined by a vaster sun, travelling to some far historic goal. Look up, and out upon it! It has its interests, its purposes, its ends, which it is your glad privilege to learn, and, by learning, to obey and follow. Give it your heart, and it will show you its own. Take its road, and it will, then, take yours. Look up, and out! There are men, your brothers, and women, your sisters; they have needs that you can aid. Listen for their confidences; keep your heart wide open to their calls, and your hands alert for their service. Learn to give, and not to take; to drown your own hungry wants in the happiness of lending yourself to fulfil the interests of those nearest or dearest. Break through your own moody musings, and run out abroad, from these closed and darkened chambers of self-consideration–out into the wide and teeming earth, where not your scheme, but Gods great hope, is working out its world-wide triumph. Look up and out, from this narrow, cabined self of yours, and you will jar no longer, you will fret no more, you will provoke no more, you will quarrel no more; but you will, to your own glad surprise, find the secret of the meekness and the gentleness of Jesus; and the peace of God which passeth all understanding will drop down like dew upon your happy-hearted days; and the fruits of the Spirit will all bud and blossom from out of your life–love, joy, peace, <\/strong>gentleness, meekness, goodness, long-suffering, faith, temperance. (Canon<\/em> Scott<\/em> Holland.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The spirit above nature<\/strong><\/p>\n


I. <\/strong>Natural desires are never to rule, always to be ruled.<\/p>\n


II. <\/strong>By the help of the Spirit of God they are kept in subjections.<\/p>\n


III. <\/strong>Unrestrained, they produce all kinds of wickedness.<\/p>\n


IV. <\/strong>Present goodness and happiness are the fruit of the Spirit of God.<\/p>\n


V. <\/strong>Self-denial and suffering are requisite for the highest good.<\/p>\n


VI. <\/strong>By faith in Christ men follow Him and become like Him. (J. H. Godwin.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Drunkenness, revellings<\/strong><\/p>\n

The apostle is not speaking merely of the habit and custom of drinking; therefore it is a false excuse if any one thinks that a debauch is no sin if one does not make a business of it. The devil invented this excuse. When any one so overfills himself that he is unfit for prayer and the business of his calling, that is drunkenness. What, then, are we to think of the respectable world with its sinful and damnable Christian drinking bouts? and what, too, of this continual drinking of healths, but as of a temptation to swill down liquor? (Starke.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The list of vices<\/strong><\/p>\n

These works of the flesh have often been divided into four classes. Any classification or system, however, is scarcely to be expected; but each term of the catalogue may have been suggested by some law of association, especially as some of the terms are similarly arranged in other places. In the first class are sensual sins–fornication, impurity, wantonness; in the second class are sins of superstition–idolatry and sorcery; in the third class, sins of malice and social disorder–hatred, strife, jealousy, wraths, caballing, divisions, heresies, envying, murders; and in the fourth class-are sins of personal excess–drunkenness and revellings. In the first class, the first term, which has a distinct meaning, may have suggested the other and allied vices–miscellaneous and grosser aspects of forbidden indulgence. The two terms of the second class are somewhat similar–the first more precise in meaning, and the second more comprehensive–all occult dealings with the powers of evil. In the third class there is a climatic enumeration–hatreds ripening into strife; jealousy venting itself in passionate outbursts; cabals yet darker and more selfish; divisions, the result of deepening hostility; envyings quite fiendish in nature; and murders–the extreme result, and no uncommon thing in such countries, to obtain an end and consummate an intrigue by the removal of a rival. In the fourth class are first the simple term drunkenness, and the more inclusive term after it, referring either to scenes of dissipation so gay and wanton, or to orgies so gross <\/strong>and sensual, that they may not be described. (John<\/em> Eadie,<\/em> D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest<\/B><\/I>] By flesh<\/I> we are to understand the evil and fallen state of the soul, no longer under the guidance of God’s Spirit and right reason, but under the animal passions; and they are even rendered more irregular and turbulent by the influence of sin<\/I>; so that man is in a worse state than the brute: and so all-commanding is this evil nature that it leads men into all kinds of crimes; and among them the following, which are manifest<\/I>-known to all, and most prevalent; and, though these are most solemnly forbidden by your law<\/I>, the observance of its ordinances gives no power to overcome them, and provides no pardon for the guilt and condemnation produced by them.<\/P>

<\/P>

Adultery<\/B><\/I>] . Illicit connection with a married<\/I> person. This word is wanting in this place in the best MSS., versions, and fathers; the next term often comprehending both.<\/P>

<\/P>

Fornication<\/B><\/I>] . Illicit connection between single<\/I> or unmarried<\/I> persons; yet often signifying adultery<\/I> also.<\/P>

<\/P>

Uncleanness<\/B><\/I>] . Whatever is opposite to purity<\/I>; probably meaning here, as in Ro 1:24<\/span>; 2Co 12:21<\/span>, unnatural<\/I> practices; sodomy, bestiality.<\/P>

<\/P>

Lasciviousness<\/B><\/I>] . Whatever is contrary to chastity<\/I>; all lewdness<\/I>.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

The works of the flesh; <\/B>the products of the natural inclinations and propensions in the heart of man. <\/P>

Are manifest, which are these; <\/B>he saith, these are manifest, <\/I>the filthiness of them appears by the light of nature, by the checks of conscience men meet with for them; or else, it is manifest that these actions are not from the Spirit of God, (because of their contrariety to the Divine rule), but are from the corrupt part of man. These (he saith) are adultery, <\/I>or the defiling of our neighbours bed; fornication, <\/I>which is the uncleanness of single persons each with other; and all other species of uncleanness, <\/I>or unclean conjunctions: lasciviousness; <\/I>whatsoever wanton carriage, gestures, or behaviour lead to these acts. <\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

19-23.<\/B> Confirming Ga5:18<\/span>, by showing the contrariety between the works of the fleshand the fruit of the Spirit. <\/P>

manifest<\/B>The hiddenfleshly<\/I> principle betrays itself palpably by its works, sothat these are not hard to discover, and leave no doubt that theycome not from the Spirit. <\/P>

which are these<\/B>Greek,<\/I>“such as,” for instance. <\/P>

Adultery<\/B>omitted in theoldest manuscripts. <\/P>

lasciviousness<\/B>rather,”wantonness” petulance, capricious insolence; it maydisplay itself in “lasciviousness,” but not necessarily orconstantly so (Mar 7:21<\/span>; Mar 7:22<\/span>,where it is not associated with fleshly lusts) [TRENCH].”Works” (in the plural) are attributed to the “flesh,”because they are divided, and often at variance with one another, andeven when taken each one by itself, betray their fleshly origin. Butthe “fruit<\/I> of the Spirit” (Ga5:23<\/span>) is singular, because, however manifold the results, theyform one harmonious whole. The results of the flesh are not dignifiedby the name “fruit”; they are but works<\/I> (Eph 5:9<\/span>;Eph 5:11<\/span>). He enumerates thosefleshly “works” (committed against our neighbor, againstGod, and against ourselves) to which the Galatians were most prone(the Celts have always been prone to disputations and internalstrifes): and those manifestations of the fruit<\/I> of the Spiritmost needed by them (Gal 5:13<\/span>;Gal 5:15<\/span>). This passage showsthat “the flesh” does not mean merely sensuality,<\/I> asopposed to spirituality:<\/I> for “divisions” in thecatalogue here do not flow from sensuality. The identification of”the natural (Greek,<\/I> ‘animal-souled<\/I>‘) man,”with the “carnal” or fleshly<\/I> man (1Co2:14<\/span>), shows that “the flesh” expresses human natureas estranged from God.<\/I> TRENCHobserves, as a proof of our fallen state, how much richer is everyvocabulary in words for sins, than in those for graces. Paulenumerates seventeen<\/I> “works of the flesh,” only nine<\/I>manifestations of “the fruit of the Spirit” (compare Eph4:31<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Now the works of the flesh are manifest<\/strong>,…. By “flesh” is meant corrupt nature, as before, and by the works of it, not only external acts of sin, but inward lusts; for such are here mentioned among its works, as “hatred”, “wrath”, “envyings”, c. and both external and internal acts are so called, because they spring from the flesh, or corrupt nature, and are what that urges and solicits to, and are wrought thereby, and are what denominate and show men to be carnal: these are said to be “manifest” not that they are all, and always publicly done, and are open to the sight of men; for they are works of darkness, and often done in secret, though they are always manifest to God the searcher of hearts, and will be brought to light in the day of judgment; but they are known to be sins in some measure by the light of nature, and especially by the law of God; and a clear case it is, that they are contrary to the Spirit, both to the Spirit of God, and to the principle of grace he forms in the heart; and that such who live in the commission of them are not led by him, nor are under the influence of his grace:<\/p>\n

which are these<\/strong>; though all are not mentioned, only some of the chief, by which judgment may be made of the rest:<\/p>\n

adultery<\/strong>; this is left out in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, and in the Alexandrian copy; it is a defilement of the marriage bed, and is the sin of uncleanness committed by two persons, one of which at least is in a married state, is condemned by the law of God and light of nature:<\/p>\n

fornication<\/strong>; which though by many of the Gentiles was reckoned no sin, or a very small one, stands here among the works of the flesh, that are manifest and to be avoided; it is the sin of uncleanness committed by persons in a single state;<\/p>\n

uncleanness<\/strong>, it is a general name for all unchastity, in thought, word, or action; and may here design more especially all unnatural lusts, as<\/p>\n

sodomy<\/strong>, self-pollution, c.<\/p>\n

lasciviousness<\/strong> or wantonness, all lustful dalliance, everything that leads on to acts of uncleanness, or attends them, as impure words, filthy gestures, and the like.<\/p>\n

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Manifest <\/B> (<\/SPAN><\/span>). Opposed to “hidden” (<\/SPAN><\/span>). Ancient writers were fond of lists of vices and virtues. Cf. Stalker’s sermons on The Seven Cardinal Virtues<\/I> and The Seven Deadly Sins<\/I>. There are more than seven in this deadly list in verses 19-21<\/span>. He makes the two lists in explanation of the conflict in verse 17<\/span> to emphasize the command in verses 13f<\/span>. There are four groups in Paul’s list of manifest vices: (I) Sensual sins like fornication (<\/SPAN><\/span>, prostitution, harlotry), uncleanness (<\/SPAN><\/span>, moral impurity), lasciviousness (<\/SPAN><\/span>, wantonness), sexual vice of all kinds prevailed in heathenism. (2) Idolatry (<\/SPAN><\/span>, worship of idols) and witchcraft (<\/SPAN><\/span> from <\/SPAN><\/span>, a drug, the ministering of drugs), but the sorcerers monopolized the word for a while in their magical arts and used it in connection with idolatry. In N.T. only here and Re 18:23<\/span>. See Ac 19:19<\/span> <\/SPAN><\/span>, curious arts. (3) Personal relations expressed by eight words, all old words, sins of the spirit, like enmities (<\/SPAN><\/span>, personal animosities), strife (<\/SPAN><\/span>, rivalry, discord), jealousies (<\/SPAN><\/span> or <\/SPAN><\/span>, MSS. vary, our very word), wraths (<\/SPAN><\/span>, stirring emotions, then explosions), factions (<\/SPAN><\/span>, from <\/SPAN><\/span>, day labourer for hire, worker in wool, party spirit), divisions (<\/SPAN><\/span>, splits in two, <\/SPAN><\/span> and <\/SPAN><\/span>), heresies (<\/SPAN><\/span>, the very word, but really choosings from <\/SPAN><\/span>, preferences), envyings (<\/SPAN><\/span>, feelings of ill-will). Surely a lively list. (4)<\/P>

Drunkenness <\/B> (<\/SPAN><\/span>, old word and plural, drunken excesses, in N.T. only here and Luke 21:34<\/span>; Rom 13:13<\/span>), revellings (<\/SPAN><\/span>, old word also for drinking parties like those in honour of Bacchus, in N.T. only here and Rom 13:13<\/span>; 1Pet 4:3<\/span>).<\/P>

And such like <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). And the things like these (associative instrumental <\/SPAN><\/span> after <\/SPAN><\/span>, like). It is not meant to be exhaustive, but it is representative. <\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Manifest. You have a clearly defined standard by’ which to decide whether you are led by the Spirit or by the flesh. Each exhibits its peculiar works or fruits. <\/P>

Adultery [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. To be dropped from the text. <\/P>

Uncleanness [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. See on 1Th 2:3<\/span>. <\/P>

Lasciviousness [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. See on Mr 7:22<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) “Now the works of the flesh are manifest,”<\/strong> (phonera de estin ta erga tes sarkos) “Now the works of the flesh are disclosed or manifest,” appear clearly, as in the following manner or forms, 1Co 3:3<\/span>; Eph 5:3<\/span>; Col 3:5<\/span>; Jas 3:14-15<\/span>. These may also be considered fruits of the carnal flesh nature, dogging man’s steps till death.<\/p>\n

2) “Which are these:”<\/strong> (hatina estin) “Which exist or appear openly as …. in seventeen (17) forms:<\/p>\n

a) “Adultery,”<\/strong> (porneia) The same root word is used in the original for fornication. It is used to describe carnal sex relations between one married person with another person to whom the said person is not married. Mat 5:28<\/span>; Mar 10:11<\/span>; Spiritual Adultery, Jer 3:9<\/span>; Eze 23:37<\/span>; Exo 20:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n

b) “Fornication,”<\/strong> (porneia) Carnal sex relations between unmarried persons, or infidelity of a believer by consorting with other religions, other gods, and worldliness, Mat 5:32<\/span>; 1Co 7:2<\/span>; 1Co 5:2<\/span>; Isa 23:17<\/span>.<\/p>\n

c) “Uncleanness,”<\/strong> (akatharsia) “Moral uncleanness or moral corruption”; which is unholiness, abhorred of the Lord, Lev 5:3<\/span>; Lev 7:21<\/span>; Lev 22:5<\/span>; Mat 23:27<\/span>; Rom 1:24<\/span>; Rom 6:19<\/span>; 2Co 12:21<\/span>; Eph 4:19<\/span>; Eph 5:3<\/span>; 1Th 2:3<\/span>; 1Th 4:7<\/span>.<\/p>\n

d) “Lasciviousness,”<\/strong> (aselgia) “Lewdness”, insolent contempt for public opinion, shameless outrages on public decency.<\/p>\n

A WARNING<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a journal written by Mr. William Seward, a gentleman who accompanied Mr. Whitefield in his travels, is found the following notice: — “Heard of a drinking club that had a negro boy attending them, who used to mimic people for their diversion. The gentleman bade him mimic Mr. Whitefield, which he was very unwilling to do, but they insisted upon it. He stood up and said, “I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not; unless you repent, you will be damned! This unexpected speech broke up the club, which has not met since.”<\/p>\n

-Gray-Adams<\/p>\n

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest. To obey the spirit and to oppose the flesh, are two great objects which have been set before Christians, and for the attainment of which they have been urged to make the most strenuous exertions. In accordance with these views, he now draws a picture both of the flesh and of the spirit. If men knew themselves, they would not need this inspired declaration, for they are nothing but flesh; but such is the hypocrisy belonging to our natural state, we never perceive our depravity till the tree has been fully made known by its fruits. (Mat 7:16<\/span>; Luk 6:44<\/span>.) <\/p>\n

The apostle therefore now points out to us those sins against which we must fight, in order that we may not live according to the flesh. He does not indeed enumerate them all, and so he himself states at the conclusion of the list; but from those brought forward, the character of the remainder may be easily ascertained. Adultery and fornication are placed first, and next follows uncleanness, which extends to every species of unchastity. Lasciviousness appears to be a subsidiary term, for the Greek word ασέλγεια, which is thus translated, is applied to those who lead wanton and dissolute lives. These four denote sins forbidden by the seventh commandment. The next mentioned is idolatry, which is here employed as a general term for services grossly superstitious and openly practiced. <\/p>\n

Seven classes which immediately follow, are closely allied, and another two are afterwards added. Anger and hatred differ chiefly in this, that anger is short, and hatred is lasting. Emulations and envyings are the occasions of hatred; and the following distinction between them is stated by Aristotle, in his second book on Rhetoric: — He who emulates is grieved that another should excel him, not because the virtue or worth of that person, in itself considered, gives him uneasiness, but because he would wish to be superior. The envious man has no desire to excel, but is grieved at the excellence of other men. None, therefore, he tells us, but low and mean persons indulge in envy, while emulation dwells in lofty and heroic minds. Paul declares both to be diseases of the flesh. From anger and hatred arise variance, strife, seditions; and he even traces the consequences so far as to mention murders and witchcraft (90) By revellings, (91) he means a dissolute life, and every kind of intemperance in the gratification of the palate. It deserves notice, that heresies are enumerated among the works of the flesh; for it shows clearly that the word flesh is not confined, as the sophists imagine, to sensuality. What produces heresies but ambition, which deals not with the lower senses, but with the highest faculties of the mind? He says that these works are manifest, so that no man may think that he will gain anything by evading the question; (92) for what avails it to deny that the flesh reigns in us, if the fruit betrays the quality of the tree? <\/p>\n

(90) “The original word φαρμακεία sometimes denotes ‘poisonings,’ which were frequently practised among the heathens. Sometimes it signifies incantations or magic arts, or witchcraft, by which impostors and cheats endeavoured to impose on ignorant and credulous people, and which were carried on by poisonous intoxicating draughts and ointments, by which they did great mischief to the bodies of men. As it is here immediately placed after idolatry, I should imagine that the apostle intended those cursed arts of incantations and charms, those various methods of imposture and cheats, which were made use of by the heathen priests, to promote the idolatrous reverence and worship of their false gods. (See Rev 18:23<\/span>.)” — Chandler. <\/p>\n

(91) By κῶμοι are denoted those nocturnal revellings usually attendant on an evening of debauchery, consisting of licentious singing, dancing, and parading the streets with drunken riotings.” — Bloomfield. <\/p>\n

(92) “ En volant nier, et usant de tergiversation.” “By wishing to deny it, and by shuffling.” <\/p>\n

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES<\/em><\/p>\n

Gal. 5:19<\/span>. The works of the flesh.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Sensual vices<\/em>adultery [omitted in the oldest MSS.], fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. <\/p>\n

2. Theological vices<\/em>idolatry, witchcraft. <\/p>\n

3. Malevolent vices<\/em>hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders. <\/p>\n

4. Vices of excess<\/em>drunkenness, revellings.<\/p>\n

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.<\/em>Gal. 5:19-21<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Works of the Flesh<\/em><\/p>\n

I. Are offensively obtrusive.<\/strong>Now the works of the flesh are manifest (Gal. 5:19<\/span>). Sin, though at first committed in secret, will by-and-by work to the surface and advertise itself with shameless publicity. The rulers of the civilised world in the first century of the Christian era, such as Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, are the execration of history as monsters of vice and cruelty. Their enormities would have been impossible if the people they governed had not been equally corrupt. It is the nature of evil to develop a terrible energy the more it is indulged, and its works are apparent in every possible form of wickedness. Every man blameth the devil for his sins; but the great devil, the house-devil of every man that eateth and lieth in every mans bosom, is that idol which killeth allhimself.<\/p>\n

II. Furnish a revolting catalogue.<\/strong>The sins enumerated may be grouped into four classes:<\/p>\n

1. Sensual passions<\/em>.Adultery [omitted in the oldest MSS.], fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (Gal. 5:19<\/span>). Fornication was practically universal. Few were found, even among severe moralists, to condemn it. It is a prostitution of the physical nature which Jesus Christ wore and still wears, which He claims for the temple of His Spirit, and will raise from the dead to share His immortality. Uncleanness<\/em> is the general quality of licentiousness, and includes whatever is contaminating in word or look, in gesture or in dress, in thought or sentiment. Lasciviousness<\/em> is uncleanness open and shameless. It is the final loathsome analysis of the works of the flesh.<\/p>\n

2. Unlawful dealing in things spiritual<\/em>.Idolatry, witchcraft [sorcery] (Gal. 5:20<\/span>). Idolatry and sensuality have always been closely related. Some of the most popular pagan systems were purveyors of lust, and lent to it the sanctions of religion. When man loses the true conception of God he becomes degraded. Sorcery<\/em> is closely allied to idolatry. A low, naturalistic notion of the divine lends itself to immoral purposes. Men try to operate upon it by material causes, and to make it a partner in evil. Magical charms are made the instruments of unholy indulgence.<\/p>\n

3. Violations of brotherly love<\/em>.Hatred [enmities], variance [strife], emulations [jealousies], wrath [ragings], strife [factions], seditions [divisions], heresies [keen controversial partisanship], envyings, murders (Gal. 5:20-21<\/span>). A horrible progeny of evils having their source in a fruitful hotbed of unreasoning hatred, each vice preying upon and feeding the other. Settled rancour is the worst form of contentiousness. It nurses its revenge, waiting, like Shylock, for the time when it shall feed fat its ancient grudge.<\/p>\n

4. Intemperate excesses<\/em>.Drunkenness, revellings, and such like (Gal. 5:21<\/span>). These are the vices of a barbarous people. Our Teutonic and Celtic forefathers were alike prone to this kind of excess. The Greeks were a comparatively sober people. The Romans were more notorious for gluttony than for hard drinking. The practice of seeking pleasure in intoxication is a remnant of savagery which exists to a shameful extent in our own country. With Europe turned into one vast camp, and its nations groaning audibly under the weight of their armaments, with hordes of degrading women infesting the streets of its cities, with discontent and social hatred smouldering throughout its industrial populations, we have small reason to boast of the triumphs of modern civilisation. Better circumstances do not make better men (Findlay<\/em>).<\/p>\n

III. Exclude the sinner from the kingdom of God.<\/strong>They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:21<\/span>). How poor life seems outside that kingdom! How beautiful and glorious inside its gates! If I tried to tell you how Christ brings us there, I should repeat to you once more the old familiar story. He comes and lives and dies for us. He touches us with gratitude. He sets before our softened lives His life. He makes us see the beauty of holiness and the strength of the spiritual life in Him. He transfers His life to us through the open channel of faith, and so we come to live as He lives, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How old the story is, but how endlessly fresh and true to Him whose own career it describes (Phillips Brooks<\/em>). Exclusion from the kingdom of God is mans own act; it is self-exclusion. He will not<\/em> enter in; he loves darkness rather than light.<\/p>\n

Lessons.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Sin is an active principle whose works are perniciously evident<\/em>. <\/p>\n

2. Sin is the primal cause of every possible vice<\/em>. <\/p>\n

3. Sin persisted in involves moral ruin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES<\/em><\/p>\n

Gal. 5:19-21<\/span>. Biblical Account of Sin<\/em>.A mournful catalogue of words, based on a great variety of images, is employed in Scripture to describe the state of sinfulness which man inherits from his birth. Sometimes it is set forth as the missing of a mark or aim<\/em>; sometimes as the transgressing of a line<\/em>the word occurs seven times in the New Testament, and is twice applied to Adams fall (Rom. 5:14<\/span>; 1Ti. 2:14<\/span>); sometimes as disobedience to a voice, i.e.<\/em> to hear carelessly, to take no heed ofthe word occurs three times (Rom. 5:19<\/span>; 2Co. 10:6<\/span>; Heb. 2:2<\/span>); sometimes as ignorance of what we ought to have done<\/em> (Heb. 9:7<\/span>); sometimes as a defect or discomfiture<\/em>to be worsted, because, as Gerhard says, A sinner yields to, is worsted by, the temptations of the flesh and of Satan; sometimes as a debt<\/em> (Mat. 6:12<\/span>); sometimes as disobedience to law<\/em>the word occurs fourteen times in the New Testament, and is generally translated by iniquity. The last figure is employed in the most general definition of sin given in the New Testamentsin is the transgression of the law<\/em> (1Jn. 3:4<\/span>).Trench and Maclear<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Works of the Flesh<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I. Sins against chastity.<\/strong>Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness. <\/p>\n

1. We must stock up the root of these things, mortify the passion of concupiscence.
2. All occasions of these sins must be cut off, two especially, idleness and the pampering of the body.
3. All signs of these vices must be avoided, any speech or action that may give suspicion of incontinent disposition, as light talk, wanton behaviour, curiousness and excess in trimming of the body, suspected company.<\/p>\n

II. Sins against religion.<\/strong>Idolatry, witchcraft, heresies.<\/p>\n

III. Sins against charity.<\/strong>Enmity, debate, emulations, anger, contention, seditions.<\/p>\n

IV. Sins against temperance.<\/strong>Drunkenness, gluttony. <\/p>\n

1. We may use meat and drink not only for necessity, but also for delight.
2. That measure of meat and drink which in our experience makes us fit both in body and mind for the service of God and the duties of our calling is convenient and lawful. To be given to drinking and to love to sit by the cup, when there is no drunkenness, is a sin. Drunkenness:
(1) Destroys the body.
(2) Hurts the mind.
(3) Vile imaginations and affections that are in men when they are drunk remain in them when they are sober, so being sober they are drunk in affection.Perkins<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

TEXT 5:19, 20<\/strong><\/p>\n

(19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n

PARAPHRASE 5:19, 20<\/strong><\/p>\n

19 Now, the works produced by the lust of the flesh are manifest: namely, adultery, fornication, and all kinds of uncleanness; such as incest, sodomy, bestiality, the indulging lascivious thoughts, and the reading of lascivious books;
20 The worshipping of idols, sorcery, or a pretended communication with the invisible malignant powers; enmities long kept up; quarrels issuing in unreasonable law-suits; ambitious emulations; violent anger; brawling; causeless separations; the forming of sects in religion, for the sake of gain, in opposition to conscience;<\/p>\n

COMMENT 5:19<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now the works of the flesh are manifest (order and expression differs in King James)<\/p>\n

adultery<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Illicit relationships with a married personit ruins families, alienates children from parents and causes parents to neglect children.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

This word is missing in some manuscripts: It is not in the American Standard.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

In the Old Testament such a person was to be stoned to death. Lev. 20:10<\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

Adultery will keep one out of heaven. 1Co. 6:9<\/span>; Heb. 13:4<\/span><\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

In Hollywood it seems to add to ones box office appeal.<\/p>\n

fornication<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Illicit relationship of single or unmarried persons.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Fornicators will not be in heaven. Rev. 22:15<\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

If adultery is not included in all Greek manuscripts, we may consider it included under fornication. See Mat. 5:32<\/span>.<\/p>\n

uncleanness<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

This word covers a wider range of sensual sin than fornication.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Eph. 4:19<\/span> speaks of all uncleanness.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

In Rom. 1:24<\/span> it refers to unnatural practices.<\/p>\n

c.<\/p>\n

In 2Co. 12:21<\/span> it is connected with sexual perversion.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

There are other sensual sins that must be included.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Tobacco is unclean.<\/p>\n

1)<\/p>\n

It leaves a stain upon fingers that handle it.<\/p>\n

2)<\/p>\n

It leaves a deposit in the lungs of the smokers.<\/p>\n

3)<\/p>\n

It makes the breath smell unclean.<\/p>\n

4)<\/p>\n

Wrappers, ashes, butts, litter streets and public houses.<\/p>\n

5)<\/p>\n

It makes the clothes, the house, the car smell foul to the non-smoker.<\/p>\n

6)<\/p>\n

Homes, cars, buses, banquet halls, and even some churches are made to smell from the smoke exhaled from the lungs.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Liquor is unclean.<\/p>\n

1)<\/p>\n

Wherever men indulge there is vomit, men in gutters, automobile wrecks, blood and death.<\/p>\n

2)<\/p>\n

It brings men to poverty and cheap, dirty hotels.<\/p>\n

lasciviousness<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

This word is also translated wantonness.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

It comes from the Greek.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

The Pulpit Commentary: It is scarcely an adequate translation in this connection. It appears to point to reckless shamelessness in unclean indulgences.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

The Pulpit Commentary: In classical Greek the adjective form describes a man insolently and wantonly reckless in his treatment of others, but in the N.T. it generally appears to point more specifically to unabashed open indulgences in impurity.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

There are other uses of the word.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Used with uncleanness and fornication in 2Co. 12:21<\/span>.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Used with uncleanness in Eph. 4:19<\/span>.<\/p>\n

c.<\/p>\n

Is used with men of Sodom in 2Pe. 2:7<\/span>.<\/p>\n

d.<\/p>\n

Compare 2Pe. 2:18<\/span>; 1Pe. 4:3<\/span> and Jud. 1:4<\/span>.<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

In Mar. 7:22<\/span> it may appear in its classical sense.<\/p>\n

WORKS OF THE FLESH 5:1921<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the flesh? What is it to walk after the flesh? We must be very careful here. There is ever the danger that we will equate flesh with the material body, and like modern gnostics, assume that matter is evil. That the flesh cannot always refer to the physical body, its natural cravings and desires, is evident from Rom. 8:9<\/span>, which says, You are not in the flesh. All of us are in the physical body even when we walk in the Spirit.<\/p>\n

The word flesh stands for the human nature weakened, vitiated, tainted by sin. The flesh is man as he is apart from Jesus Christ and the Spirit.<\/p>\n

Flesh as used here is not limited to sexual perversion for many other things not directly related to sexual passion are also a part of the flesh, as one may learn by reading the works of the flesh as listed in Gal. 5:19-21<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Flesh is unsanctified human nature and represents all of us that is not given over to godliness.
The word flesh refers to the human nature corrupted by sin and selfishly concerned only with its gratification.
The fleshly man is under a power whose control manages his existence and possesses the mans soul and body into a perverted activity.
Paul refers to mans behavior as works because it reveals in society as an unbridled self-indulgence, greediness. It creates insecurity, cruelty, terror and at last heartaches of the bitterest kind.<\/p>\n

COMMENT 5:20<\/strong><\/p>\n

idolatry<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

The worshipping of idols could be considered a fruit of the flesh for pagan religions are lustful.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Temples have had their male and female prostitutes.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

The most shameful practices have been done in the name of religion.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Paul warns about idolatry in 1Co. 8:1-13<\/span> and also 1Co. 8:10<\/span>.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

Idolatry is not limited to pagan worship, but church members may be guilty.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Put to death . . . covetousness, which is idolatry. Col. 3:5<\/span><\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Stubbornness is as idolatry. 1Sa. 15:22-23<\/span><\/p>\n

sorcery<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

This word is translated witchcraft in the King James version.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

It is from the Greek word denoting the use of drugs, but this sense is not used here.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

The word in some forms was often used in reference to the employment of drugs in charms and incantations.<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

This sin is in bad company.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

murders . . . sorceries . . . fornication. Rev. 9:21<\/span>; Rev. 21:8<\/span>; Rev. 22:15<\/span><\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

The sorcerers and magicians of Egypt. Exo. 7:11<\/span><\/p>\n

c.<\/p>\n

Magical books. Act. 19:19<\/span><\/p>\n

d.<\/p>\n

Imposters. 2Ti. 3:13<\/span><\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

Art Baker on a television program in February, 1951, had a spiritualist expose the work of mediums and announce that Americans pay $125,000,000 annually for this deceit.<\/p>\n

enmities<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

This is translated hatred in the King James.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Differences over issues and differences in the churches sometimes make enemies out of brethren.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

Brethren should have love rather than hatred in their hearts.<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

How can the church member condemn Russia if he has enmity within his heart for those in the church?<\/p>\n

strife<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

This is translated variance in the King James.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

This is the outward conflict of persons.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

When hatred goes to work and appears in the open it is strife.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Hatred stirreth up strifes. Pro. 10:12<\/span><\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

A wrathful man stirreth up contention. Pro. 15:18<\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

Strife comes from other sources than hatred.<\/p>\n

A proud heart stirreth up strife. Pro. 28:25<\/span><\/p>\n

Strife gendered between herdsmen. Gen. 13:7<\/span><\/p>\n

Strife arose among disciples over greatness. Luk. 22:24<\/span><\/p>\n

Carnality causes strife. 1Co. 3:3<\/span><\/p>\n

False teaching causes strife. 1Ti. 6:4<\/span><\/p>\n

Foolish questions gender strife. 2Ti. 2:23<\/span><\/p>\n

jealousies<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Emulations is the translation of the King James.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

The meaning is ambitious or envious rivalry.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

In this case it has the idea of resentment.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

In the original Greek it has the idea of zeal.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Zeal is good until corrupted.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Most vices are corrupted virtues.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

The word is often connected with strife.<\/p>\n

Not in strife and jealousy. <\/span>Rom. 13:13<\/span><\/p>\n

Among you jealousy and strife. 1Co. 3:3<\/span><\/p>\n

I fear . . . I should find . . . strife, jealousy. <\/span>2Co. 12:20<\/span><\/p>\n

wrath<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Wrath here is uncontrolled angerpassionateprobably with physical harm in mind.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Self-control is a requirement for an elder.<\/p>\n

The bishop must be . . . no brawler. 1Ti. 3:3<\/span><\/p>\n

Not to be contentious. Tit. 3:2<\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

Wrath or anger has its place if controlled.<\/p>\n

Be ye angry, and sin not. Eph. 4:26<\/span><\/p>\n

O ye that love Jehovah, hate evil. Psa. 97:10<\/span><\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

This does not mean that we should be hateful to those who are sinful.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

See Mat. 5:44-48<\/span>.<\/p>\n

factions<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

The Pulpit Commentary challenges this word being translated strife as it appears in the King James.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

The verb from which it is derived means to act the part of a day-labourer, then scheming or intriguing for a post of employment.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Next, it means party actionthe contentious spirit of faction.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

There are six other passages where the word appears.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Unto them that are factious. Rom. 2:8<\/span><\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife. Php. 1:15<\/span><\/p>\n

c.<\/p>\n

Doing nothing through faction. Php. 2:3<\/span><\/p>\n

d.<\/p>\n

See also 2Co. 12:20<\/span> and Jas. 3:14-16<\/span>.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

In writing to Titus, Paul gives a warning about such people. Tit. 3:10<\/span><\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

A factious man after a first and second admonition refuse. Tit. 3:10<\/span><\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

This word here is translated heretic in the King James, but appears as factious in the American Standard.<\/p>\n

divisions<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Seditions is the King James translation.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Sedition means going aside.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

It carries the idea of insurrection, tending to excite, arousing to the point of going aside.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

This is, distinctly formed parties standing apart from each other.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

Division is the result of carnality. 1Co. 3:3-5<\/span><\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Divisions indicate a lack of perfection. 1Co. 1:10<\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

The Lords way is oneness, for that is the content of His prayer in Joh. 17:1-26<\/span>.<\/p>\n

parties<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

The King James translates this word heresies.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

The word in the original had the idea of choice of views.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

The Pulpit Commentary has a thorough discussion of this word.<\/p>\n

a.<\/p>\n

The gospel is a revelation, it is not an opinion.<\/p>\n

b.<\/p>\n

Opinions about the gospel makes heresies or parties.<\/p>\n

STUDY QUESTIONS 5:19, 20<\/strong><\/p>\n

711.<\/p>\n

Why does he use the word works in connection with the flesh?<\/p>\n

712.<\/p>\n

Is this the word used when he speaks of the spiritual life?<\/p>\n

713.<\/p>\n

What is the difference in works and fruit?<\/p>\n

714.<\/p>\n

Define adultery.<\/p>\n

715.<\/p>\n

What was the penalty for it in the Old Testament?<\/p>\n

716.<\/p>\n

What is the penalty for it in Hollywood?<\/p>\n

717.<\/p>\n

Can we get to heaven and be guilty of adultery?<\/p>\n

718.<\/p>\n

Define fornication.<\/p>\n

719.<\/p>\n

Are guilty ones to be included in heaven?<\/p>\n

720.<\/p>\n

Can we be guilty even though we do not commit it in the flesh, according to Jesus?<\/p>\n

721.<\/p>\n

If filthy literature is read and suggestive shows are seen, are we guilty?<\/p>\n

722.<\/p>\n

Define uncleanness.<\/p>\n

723.<\/p>\n

Is this limited to a failure to bathe?<\/p>\n

724.<\/p>\n

What common sins could be classed as sensual?<\/p>\n

725.<\/p>\n

Is it limited to sexual perversion?<\/p>\n

726.<\/p>\n

Are dirty habits to be included in the category of uncleanness?<\/p>\n

727.<\/p>\n

Define lasciviousness.<\/p>\n

728.<\/p>\n

What kind of company does it keep?<\/p>\n

729.<\/p>\n

Are people proud of their impurity?<\/p>\n

730.<\/p>\n

Do night club entertainers capitalize on this sin?<\/p>\n

731.<\/p>\n

Can you be guilty and be saved?<\/p>\n

732.<\/p>\n

Should Christians today be warned against idolatry?<\/p>\n

733.<\/p>\n

Did Paul warn us against it?<\/p>\n

734.<\/p>\n

What was Pauls definition of it?<\/p>\n

735.<\/p>\n

Could church members be guilty of it?<\/p>\n

736.<\/p>\n

Is a stingy church an idolatrous one?<\/p>\n

737.<\/p>\n

Define sorcery.<\/p>\n

738.<\/p>\n

What other terms are used in various translations?<\/p>\n

739.<\/p>\n

Is it in bad company, according to other scriptures?<\/p>\n

740.<\/p>\n

Is its use limited to heathen witch-doctors?<\/p>\n

741.<\/p>\n

Define enmities.<\/p>\n

742.<\/p>\n

Can the church condemn politics in Russia if it is guilty of enmity?<\/p>\n

743.<\/p>\n

Does your congregation have any enmity in it?<\/p>\n

744.<\/p>\n

Define strife.<\/p>\n

745.<\/p>\n

What are its sources?<\/p>\n

746.<\/p>\n

Could false teaching be guilty?<\/p>\n

747.<\/p>\n

Are denominations striving against one another?<\/p>\n

748.<\/p>\n

Is it better to have silent enmity than outward conflict?<\/p>\n

749.<\/p>\n

Define jealousy.<\/p>\n

750.<\/p>\n

Is it a corrupted zeal?<\/p>\n

751.<\/p>\n

Were Christs apostles guilty?<\/p>\n

752.<\/p>\n

Are musicians, teachers, etc., in the church guilty of this sin?<\/p>\n

753.<\/p>\n

Define wrath.<\/p>\n

754.<\/p>\n

Is it wrong to have anger?<\/p>\n

755.<\/p>\n

How can we have anger, and sin not?<\/p>\n

756.<\/p>\n

Find verses that condemn angry outburst.<\/p>\n

757.<\/p>\n

Define wrath.<\/p>\n

758.<\/p>\n

Is God a God of wrath?<\/p>\n

759.<\/p>\n

Can a person have controlled anger?<\/p>\n

760.<\/p>\n

Is this sin sufficient to disqualify an elder?<\/p>\n

761.<\/p>\n

What does wrath lead to?<\/p>\n

762.<\/p>\n

Explain the value of anger.<\/p>\n

763.<\/p>\n

Define factions.<\/p>\n

764.<\/p>\n

Is it a common sin?<\/p>\n

765.<\/p>\n

How many times does the Bible condemn it?<\/p>\n

766.<\/p>\n

Are we to be patient and longsuffering with the factious man?<\/p>\n

767.<\/p>\n

How do we know when we are dealing with such a person?<\/p>\n

768.<\/p>\n

Define divisions as used in the New Testament.<\/p>\n

769.<\/p>\n

Did the Corinthian church have this problem?<\/p>\n

770.<\/p>\n

What was Pauls condemnation for it?<\/p>\n

771.<\/p>\n

If it was wrong to name the church and thus divide it then, how about naming the church after men today?<\/p>\n

772.<\/p>\n

Is denominationalism the same as divisions?<\/p>\n

773.<\/p>\n

Is it against Christs prayer for oneness?<\/p>\n

774.<\/p>\n

What does the New Testament mean by oneness?<\/p>\n

775.<\/p>\n

What does the New Testament mean by parties?<\/p>\n

776.<\/p>\n

Do we have the right to a choice of views?<\/p>\n

777.<\/p>\n

Is modernism a choice between Gods view and mans views?<\/p>\n

778.<\/p>\n

Do opinions versus revelation make parties?<\/p>\n

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

SPECIAL STUDY
THE WORKS OF THE FLESH AND THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gal. 5:19<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Adultery is found only in the KJV, since it is missing in the oldest and best Greek manuscripts. The sin itself is prohibited by the more general word fornication.
Fornication (porneiapor NY ah) includes all forms of unlawful sexual activities, from adultery to homosexuality to prostitution. In New Testament times sexual standards among the Greeks and Romans were quite low. The Roman author Seneca noted that Chastity is simply proof of ugliness, and that innocence is not rare, it is non-existent. Gibbons has recorded that of the first fifteen Emperors, Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct. Among the Greeks, especially the philosophers, homosexuality was the great national disease.<\/p>\n

Uncleanness (akatharsiaah kah thar SEE ah) means general filth or defilement of ones moral being. It points to a dirty mind, dirty actions, a dirty life.<\/p>\n

Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, used this word of the ugly accumulation around a festering sore or wound. The Greek Old Testament used the word in connection with the defilement that makes a man or woman unfit to come before the presence of God. In the New Testament it refers to a foul indecency of mind, a spirit soiled and stained by the world.
Lasciviousness (aselgeiaah SEL guy ah) is the strongest and most inclusive term for moral indecency. Also translated licentiousness or indecency, it names a reckless abandonment of what is decent and right.<\/p>\n

Josephus (Antiquities, XX, 5, 3) tells of a Roman soldier standing guard at a Temple ceremony in Jerusalem about 45 or 46 A.D. As if his very presence were not defiling enough, he publicly dropped his clothes and relieved himself, outraging public decency and recklessly defiling the sacred grounds.<\/p>\n

When a person is so corrupt that he neither cares about public respect, nor fears divine wrath, he has aselgeia.<\/p>\n

Gal. 5:20<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Idolatry (eidololatriaeye doh loh Iah TREE ah) is literally the worship of what can be seen. William Barclay says that to the ancients the idol had two functions: To localize and to visualize the god it represented. While some superstitious reverence was attached to the stone of wooden image, the people recognized that it was only a representation of an unseen force. What they wanted was to tap the power of that god for their own benefit. In order to gain good crops and fertile herds, one should worship the idol which represented the goddess of fertility.<\/p>\n

Their worship, then, was actually a selfish greed to gain things for themselves. In this sense, Col. 3:5<\/span> says idolatry and covetousness are the same sin. The Lord of God despises the sin of idolatry for two reasons:<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

It is a rejection of the true God, Rom. 1:23<\/span>.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

It is a worship prompted by greed, Col. 3:5<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Sorcery (pharmakeiafar mah KY ah) began as the use of drugs, whether good or bad. Our modern pharmacy traces back to this word in its better sense. The word was always used in its evil sense in the Greek Old Testament, being closely associated with witchcraft (Cf. Exo. 7:11<\/span>; Exo. 7:22<\/span>; Isa. 47:9<\/span>; Isa. 47:12<\/span>.) Sorcery is an attempt to gain mastery over another persons life by occult means, especially the ues of incantations and drugs.<\/p>\n

Enmity (echthraiEK thry) is the exact opposite of agape love. In another form (echthros) this same word is the common term for enemy. It refers to an attitude of automatic hostility, such as Jews felt toward all non-Jews, and Greeks felt toward non-Greeks. While love ignores the faults and reaches out, enmity ignores the virtues and shrinks back.<\/p>\n

Strife (erisAIR iss) is the outward result of inner hostility or enmity. It involves quarreling, squabbling, and general conflict. This word was very aptly used to describe the situation of the church at Corinth (1Co. 1:11<\/span>; 1Co. 3:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n

In Greek mythology, Eris was the goddess of discord and strife. Enraged because she was the only deity not invited to a certain marriage feast, she threw into the midst of the guests a golden apple inscribed to the fairest. The resulting jealousy and self-seeking of the gods was the initial cause of the famous Trojan war.
Jealousy (zelosZAY loss) was a word with both a good and a bad sense. In the good sense it was zeal, a passionate desire or devotion to a noble end. However, this fervor is easily perverted into selfish desire. A competitive spirit may produce excellence, but it may also produce jealousy toward the success of someone else. Then the competitor no longer wants to achieve his own glories, but wants to take those achieved by another.<\/p>\n

Wraths (thumoithoo MOY) once meant such noble virtues as courage and spirit. By the time of the New Testament, however, the meaning had focused on the passionate side of mans spirit. Here it refers to anger and wrath in a sudden outburst of bad temper. The fact that this wrath explodes quickly and then may be over in no way makes it a virtue.<\/p>\n

The person who has vomited up all his rage on everyone around him will usually feel better for getting it out of his system. But how do those feel upon whom he has spewed his wrath?
Neither is the solution to try to bottle up the anger. In this case the pent-up rage will eat like an acid. The only solution is to let Jesus drink that bitter cup for us. He alone can convert our bitter wrath into better love.
Factions (eritheiaier i THIGH eye) would be better understood as selfish ambition. The word originally meant to work for pay. It soon came to mean the willingness to do practically anything, solely for what one could get out of it for himself. Aristotle used the word in reference to politicians who sought power and prestige, rather than true service. The KJV also uses the translation factions, which points to the element of party pride, in addition to personal pride.<\/p>\n

Divisions (dichostasiaidi koh stah SEE eye) means literally to stand apart. This is the opposite of the Christian ideals of peace (eirene) and fellowship (koinonia). Division is directly contrary to Gods plan and purpose for mankind. In fact, the final plan for the end of the ages calls for the reconciliation of all things in Heaven and on earth (Col. 1:20<\/span>; Eph. 1:10<\/span>). When all things are put right with God, they will necessarily be put right with one another.<\/p>\n

Today the church of Christ is racked with divisions, which cannot be justified. When Gods children divide from one another, they are exercising the will of their former nature, which we know as the flesh.
Parties (haireseisHY reh siss) comes from the verb meaning I choose. When someone chooses a viewpoint different from what is accepted as true, he is called a heretic and his belief is heresy. However, in the New Testament, the primary meaning has to do with choosing up sides and forming a distinctive sect.<\/p>\n

Forming an exclusive party around a pet doctrine is sinful even if that doctrine is true!<\/p>\n

Gal. 5:21<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Envyings (phthonoiFTHOH noy) is always used in a bad sense. It means a genuine feeling of malice toward another, even stronger than the sin of jealousy. The jealous man wants the gain that another man got; the envious man just wants to see the other man deprived.<\/p>\n

The old dog in the manger fable well describes this feeling of malice. The dog does not want and cannot use the hay in that manger, but it is determined to keep away those who could use it. When a man is unhappy so long as his neighbor is happy, he is guilty of malice.
Jealousy says, I want what you have.
Malice says, I just dont want you to have.
Murder (phonoiFOH noy) is found only in the King James Version, since it is lacking in the oldest and best Greek manuscripts. Note the similarity in Greek between murder (phonoi) and envying (phthonoi). Both murder and adultery were probably added in the margin of an early manuscript by a scribe who wanted the list to include more specific acts of sin, in addition to the general sins of mind and attitude.<\/p>\n

Drunkenness (methaiMETH eye) appears as a plural word in the Greek, apparently referring to repeated instances of becoming intoxicated. Although wine was a universal drink throughout the Mediterranean world, drunkenness was widely recognized as wrong. Jews, Greeks, Romansall diluted their natural wine with water to avoid intoxication. If someone actually wanted to get drunk, he would deliberately leave out part or all of the water.<\/p>\n

Revellings (komoiKO moi) are orgies. They are shameful celebrations of the perversion of mans natural appetites for food and drink, and for sexual fulfillment.<\/p>\n

In II Maccabees is related the attempt of the Syrian ruler Antiochus Epiphanes to bring an end to Judaism. He made it punishable by death to observe the Sabbath or possess a copy of the Torah. He made a burnt offering of swine on the sacred altar. Then he made the Temple a house of prostitution. In 2Ma. 6:4 it says that the Temple was filled with riot and revellings.<\/p>\n

In summary of these works of the flesh, consider this possible grouping:<\/p>\n

Fornication<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Uncleanness<\/p>\n

) Sex Abuses<\/p>\n

Lasciviousness<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Idolatry<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Sorcery<\/p>\n

) Seeking Supernatural Power<\/p>\n

Enmity<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Strife<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Jealousies<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Wrath<\/p>\n

) SELF-ishness<\/p>\n

Factions<\/p>\n

) (The sin of the Big I)<\/p>\n

Divisions<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Parties<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Envying<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Drunkenness<\/p>\n

) Sensuality<\/p>\n

Revellings<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Note that over half the sins can be grouped into the Big I category. These all point to egotistical pride and hostile selfishness. These all destroy the unity which God designed and desires for mankind. One sure sign that a man is not right with God is that he is at odds with his fellow man.<\/p>\n

Gal. 5:22<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Love (agapeah GAH pay) is the first and greatest of all Christian virtues. Over 100 times this noble word appears in the New Testament, giving us the description of God and the essence of the commandments. It comes as quite a shock, then, to find this word totally absent in early secular Greek literature. While the verb form for this kind of love was used occasionally, the very first use of agape we have found was in the Scriptures of the old covenant.<\/p>\n

The Greeks actually had four separate concepts of love. They may be briefly described as follows:<\/p>\n

Eros (EH roce)Passionate sexual love<\/p>\n

Storge (stor GAY)Family love and devotion<\/p>\n

Philia (fih LEE ah)Friendship and affection<\/p>\n

Agape (ah GAH pay)(Used only as a verb) To show concern for.<\/p>\n

The main school of philosophy in New Testament times was the Stoics. They taught that it is dangerous to love. Epictetus said a man should teach himself not to care if he lost a pottery cup, or a dog, or even a piece of land. Eventually he could lose his health, his children, his wifeand not care! This would be the totally unshakable happiness that men sought.<\/p>\n

Aristotle taught that love is diluted when widely shared. One must draw a tight circle about himself and a chosen few to know real love.
Jesus totally reversed these concepts. He demonstrated that real love is willing to risk everything, and that real love cannot be restricted. The highest kind of love draws the most inclusive circle.
An interesting contrast can be drawn between the three major concepts of love. Whether ancient or modern, these forms of love can be found:<\/p>\n

Eros says, I love you if you make me happy.<\/p>\n

Philia says, I love you because you are so lovable.<\/p>\n

Agape says, I love you in spite of your doing nothing for me, even if you are very unlovely.<\/p>\n

Thus a very neglected and colorless Greek word became the vehicle for the grandest concept of all. The kind of love depicted in the New Testament has these characteristics:<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Agape loves even when love is not deserved (Rom. 5:8<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Agape loves without restrictions. It reaches out to meet the need wherever a need arises.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

Agape loves by choice and by will, not just by feeling and emotion. It is the only kind of love that can be commanded.<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

Agape loves without counting the cost, and without calculating the profit.<\/p>\n

Joy (charakah RAH) is at the heart of the Gospel message. In the beginning, the angels at Bethlehem heralded the good news of great joy. At the end, the risen Lord appeared to his disciples, who disbelieved for joy. The Gospel is such joyful good news that it really is hard to believe!<\/p>\n

Joy is a happiness that is spontaneous, radiant, and most of all, clean. The shrill, jaded laughter of the world cannot compare with the exuberant joy of the Spirit. Real joy is not prompted by happy circumstances, but triumphs over any circumstances. Always rejoice! (Cf. 1Th. 5:16<\/span>; Php. 4:4<\/span>)<\/p>\n

Peace (eireneeye RAY nay) comes into the New Testament with a rich background. The Greek word refers to an absence of alienation, a state of reconciliation and oneness. The philosophers were constantly seeking peace, but always saw it in a negative light. For them peace meant removing pain, eliminating desire, and killing emotion. The resulting vacuum did not, however, produce peace.<\/p>\n

It is the Hebrew use of the word, though, that gives it a distinct and productive sense. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is much more than the absence of conflict. It is the presence of all that is needed for mans highest good. For instance, when Joseph asked about the well-being of his father back in Palestine, he actually said, Is it shalom with him? (Gen. 43:27<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Peace is an inner sense of well-being. While joy is the mountaintop of happiness, peace is the plateau of contentment. Even if the Christian comes down at times from the highest peaks, he need not go into the valley of despair, for he can stay on the plateau of peace.
Longsuffering (makrothumiamah kro thoo ME ah) means literally long-tempered. It refers to the quality of patience which does not quickly flare up and explode. The Apocalypse of Baruch says, wrath is restrained by long-suffering, as if by a rein.<\/p>\n

Two different words are often translated patience in the New Testament. Our word here means especially patience to put up with people. The other word, hypomone (hoo poh moh NAY), means endurance to outlast unpleasant circumstances (Rom. 5:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Our perfect example of longsuffering is God, Himself. In the days of Noah, God restrained His wrath while the ark was being prepared (1Pe. 3:20<\/span>). In these present days, God is again restraining the wrath and punishment which the world deserves. The only reason He has not already destroyed this world is that He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish (2Pe. 3:9<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Kindness (chrestoteskray STOT ace) comes from a word meaning virtuous, excellent, and gracious. It is an inner beauty of spirit which blooms into sweet and loving Christian character. This kindness, however, is not only a sweet dispositionit is an active benevolence. It is not just the gentle voice briefly stopping by the bedside, it is the tender hand that stays to feed, to wash, to heal.<\/p>\n

Goodness (agathosuneah gah tho SOO nay) means moral uprightness. It is concerned with measuring up to the standards of right and wrong. The distinction between kindness and goodness can be found in Christian writers all the way back to Jerome (4th Century). Goodness is Jesus cleansing the Temple and rebuking the Pharisees; kindness is Jesus reaching out to the woman at the well and to the little children.<\/p>\n

Just think, though, how rarely these virtues are combined! One man is morally and doctrinally straight, but is harsh and cold in his faith. Another man is full of understanding and kindness, but finds no deviation from morality or truth ever serious enough to be rebuked. We should find in Jesus our perfect example of the perfect blenda generous goodness and a wholesome kindness.
Faithfulness (pistisPISS tiss) was a common word among the ancients. One papyrus fragment describes a slave as faithful and not given to running away. A good synonym for the word would be loyalty, or trustworthiness.<\/p>\n

The KJV has simply faith, which to many people means merely the exercise of the mind in believing a certain fact. However, the word faith itself must include the element of loyalty. This can be seen even in English. To be faithful equals to be full of faith. Just think, though, how many people claim to be full of faith and yet are admittedly not faithful! What they are full of is not faith (loyal commitment based on trust and belief), but simply ideas about whether God probably exists or not.<\/p>\n

Gal. 5:23<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Meekness (prautesprah OOH tace) is one of the least understood words in the Bible. Meekness is not weakness or lack of couragein fact, it is just the opposite. Meekness is great strength or strong spirit held under control.<\/p>\n

Two uses of prautes in classical Greek illuminate its meaning. Xenophon said that horses which had been wild, but were then trained to obey the reins, were meek. Aristotle said that meekness was the golden mean between excessive anger and excessive apathy or spinelessness.<\/p>\n

In the Bible only two men are called meek. In the Old Testament, it is Moses who is very meek, more than all men who are upon the face of the earth (Num. 12:3<\/span>). Yet this same Moses had marched in before the most powerful man on earth and demanded, Thus says the Lord, let my people go! The man who led perhaps two million slaves to freedom was no weakling, no coward.<\/p>\n

In the New Testament it is Jesus himself who is called meek (Mat. 11:29<\/span>; Mat. 21:5<\/span>). Yet Jesus was strong in every way. One need only see him cleansing the temple, confronting the Pharisees, or setting his face toward Jerusalem, to know his strength.<\/p>\n

In many ways meekness is like our yield right-of-way signs. Even when we have superior force and could bully our way through, we often yield our rights to our fellow man. He who is meek has yielded his reins to God and his rights to the well-being of others. He is gentle, teachable, and submissive.
Self-control (enkrateiaen krah TY ah) is the last of the fruit of the Spirit. The word temperance used in the KJV gives the erroneous idea that this is merely to abstain from alcohol.<\/p>\n

The root of this word means to hold, to grip, to have power over. In this form it means mastery over the bodys appetites, especially in the area of sex. The human body has appetites which are totally ignorant of right and wrong. Ones stomach may crave food, regardless of whose food it is, what his diet may require, or whether the time is appropriate. The stomach is simply hungry; the reasoning mind must control. When a man is able to deny wrong desires and satisfy right desires, he has self-control.
The Christian ought not to expect desires to go away; he ought simply to gain mastery over them through the Spirit.<\/p>\n

Fruit of The Spirit Christians Are Different<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

In faith, he is a believer.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

In heart, he is obedient.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

In character, he is a saint.<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

In relation, he is a son.<\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

In conflict, he is a soldier.<\/p>\n

6.<\/p>\n

In the world, he is a pilgrim.<\/p>\n

7.<\/p>\n

In a vine, he is a branch.<\/p>\n

8.<\/p>\n

In life, he is a servant.<\/p>\n

9.<\/p>\n

In his walk, he is a living epistle.<\/p>\n

10.<\/p>\n

In expectation, he is an heir. At all times, out and out for Christ.<\/p>\n

Fruit of The Spirit Christians Behave Differently<\/p>\n

Obedience instead of disobedience
Hope instead of hopelessness
Giving instead of getting
Purity instead of profanity
Forgiveness instead of vengeance
Trust rather than terror
Tithing rather than tipping
Faith rather than fear
Prayer instead of passion
Kindness instead of cruelty
Love rather than hate
Nurtures rather than neglects
Witnesses rather than wasting
Kneeling rather than knocking
Undergirding instead of undermining<\/p>\n

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest.<\/strong>It needs no elaborate disquisition to show what is meant by fulfilling the lust of the flesh. The effects which the flesh produces are plain and obvious enough. The catalogue which follows is not drawn up on any exact scientific principle, but divides itself roughly under four heads: (1) sins of sensuality; (2) sins of superstition; (3) sins of temper; (4) excesses.<\/p>\n

It has been said that all our sinfulness may be resolved into two elementary instincts: the instinct of self-preservation and the reproductive instinct. The third class of sinssins of temperwould be referred to the first of the heads; sins of sensuality and excessthe one immediately, the other more remotelyto the second. The sins of superstition mentioned are of a more secondary character, and arise out of intellectual errors.<\/p>\n

Adultery.<\/strong>This word is omitted in the best MSS.<\/p>\n

Uncleanness, lasciviousness.<\/strong>The first of these words signifies any kind of impurity, secret or open; the second flagrant breaches of public decency.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

19<\/strong>. <\/strong> Works of the flesh are manifest<\/strong> Are made by God obvious to the human conscience; yet St. Paul gives them both to show the shape of the new Christian morality and to impress it upon the newly-converted Galatians. He doubtless selects those transgressions to which the Galatians were most prone. This verse gives that list of vices that specially belong to the sensual nature. <\/p>\n

Adultery<\/strong> The lawless intercourse of the married. Omitted by the best readings. <\/p>\n

Fornication<\/strong> Of the unmarried. <\/p>\n

Uncleanness<\/strong> General impurity, and violations of sexual nature. <\/p>\n

Lasciviousness<\/strong> Wantonness, recklessness of consequences in sensualities.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

‘Now the works of the flesh are openly revealed, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, fits of anger, factions, divisions, party feeling, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of which I forewarn you that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.’<\/p>\n

Paul now lists some of the ‘works of the flesh’. They come in groups. Sexual longings wrongly expressed in immorality, impurity of thought and life, and being sexually out of control; spiritual longings debased into idolatry, the worship of earthly things or people (such as pop stars or sportsmen when they are given reverence beyond their due), the seeking of familiar spirits through mediums, involvement in the occult (with ouija boards, crystal balls, tarot cards and so on); attitudes of enmity and hostility towards others, division and strife; envy and jealousy, bad temper, living for self, bickering and dissension; getting into cliques, drunkenness, wild partying, and such like. Thus he takes it much further than just sex, violence and drunkenness. It affects attitudes of minds and hearts. But they are not described as ‘the fruit’ of the flesh. They are the fruit of man’s evil heart. It is man who chooses to do such things. The flesh simply provides him with his excuse.<\/p>\n

Then he adds a strict warning so that he cannot be misunderstood. ‘I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God’. For how can men say they are living under the Kingly Rule of God when they so flagrantly disobey Him? And if they do not live under His earthly Rule how can they hope to live under His heavenly Rule? And they can be sure they will not enter His kingdom, whatever their claims, for if they behave like this they have clearly not received the  Holy<\/em>  Spirit and are not being led by the Spirit.<\/p>\n

‘Inherit.’ This may look back to the ideas in Gal 3:15-18<\/span>. It is both a present and a future inheritance, inheriting the promises now and the final blessing in the future.<\/p>\n

‘The kingdom (kingly rule) of God.’ In Rom 14:17<\/span> the kingly rule of God ‘is not eating and drinking, but is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, for he who therein serves Christ is well pleasing to God and approved of men’. It is thus a present Kingly Rule of God, in the world but not of it. It is the Rule of Christ the king, which will, of course, find its ultimate fulfilment in Heaven. So those who indulge themselves in the works of the flesh, and refuse to be led by the Spirit, have clearly no part in the present ‘kingdom’ and will therefore have no part in the future kingdom.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Now the works of the flesh are manifest;<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> If flesh <\/em>be taken for the irregularities of the appetite,for that natural corruption which infects the faculties of every man by nature; it extends to the mind, as well as to the appetites of the body; and there will be no difficulty in ascribing each of the particular crimes here enumerated to the flesh, <\/em>as they all proceed from that corruption, by means of which even the mind and conscience is defiled. <\/em>Tit 1:15<\/span>. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19<\/span> . . . .] Manifest, however<\/em> (now to explain myself more precisely as to this ), open to the eyes of all, evidently recognisable as such by every one, are the works of the flesh<\/em> , that is, those concrete actual phenomena which are produced when the flesh, the sinful nature of man (and not the Holy Spirit), is the active principle. The (in opposition to Hofmann’s objection) is the explicativum<\/em> , frequently used by Greek authors and in the N.T. (Winer, p. 421 [E. T. 553]; Khner, ad Xen. Mem<\/em> . ii. 1. 1). That one who is led by the Spirit will abstain from<\/em> the which follow, is obvious of itself; but Paul does not state this, and therefore does not by make the transition to it, as Hofmann thinks, who gratuitously defines the sense of as: “well known to the Christian without law<\/em> .” On , lying open to cognition, manifestus<\/em> , see van Hengel, ad Rom<\/em> . I. p. 111. The list which follows of the contains four<\/em> approximate divisions: (1) lust:<\/em> , ., .; (2) idolatry:<\/em> ., .; (3) enmity:<\/em> ; (4) intemperance:<\/em> , .<\/p>\n

] lustful impurity<\/em> (lewdness) generally<\/em> , after the special . Comp. Rom 1:24 ; 2Co 12:21<\/span> .<\/p>\n

] lustful immodesty and wantonness<\/em> . See on Rom 13:13<\/span> . Comp. 2Co 12:21<\/span> ; Eph 4:19<\/span> ; 1Pe 4:3<\/span> ; 2Pe 2:7<\/span> .<\/p>\n

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19-23<\/span> . The assertion just made by Paul, that the readers as led by the Spirit would not be under the law, he now illustrates more particularly ( ), by setting forth the entirely opposite moral states, which are produced by the flesh and by the Spirit respectively (Gal 5:22<\/span> f.): the former exclude from the Messiah’s kingdom (are therefore abandoned to the curse of the law), while against the latter there is no law.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

DISCOURSE: 2085
THE FRUITS OF THE FLESH AND OF THE SPIRIT CONTRASTED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gal 5:19-24<\/span>. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I hare also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

THROUGHOUT this whole epistle we have mention made of two covenants, under the one or other of which all mankind are of necessity comprehended, the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace. Those who are under the covenant of works are under the curse of God as transgressors: but those who are under the covenant of grace, are delivered from that curse through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has become a curse for them [Note: Gal 3:10-14<\/span>.]. The transition from the one state to the other is effected solely by faith [Note: Gal 3:25-26<\/span>.]. But faith is an operation of the mind wholly invisible to men, and but too liable to be mistaken even by ourselves. How then shall it be ascertained either by others or ourselves to which of these covenants we adhere? We are told, that, on the transition from the one to the other, we are endued with a new and vital principle, under the influence of which we from that moment begin to live. The principle which rules in us under the former state, is called flesh; and that which animates us under the latter, is called Spirit. Not that on the transition from the one state to the other, the former principle is taken away: No; it lives, and acts, and withstands with all its might the latter principle, and prevents it from operating so successfully as we could wish: but still it is progressively weakened in its operations: and by the dominance of the better principle we know that we are no longer under the law, nor exposed to the curse which the legal covenant entails on all who are cleaving to it.<\/p>\n

Thus we have somewhat of a criterion whereby to judge of our state: but still that criterion is of no farther use than as we have a distinct view of the fruits which the two opposite principles will produce: let these be clearly marked, and then no further difficulty will arise: we have only to examine our works, of what kind they are; and then we shall arrive at a certain conclusion as to our state before God: for, as a good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit, nor a corrupt tree good fruit, we shall know the quality of the tree by the fruit which is produced by it.
This satisfaction then is afforded us by the Apostle in the words before us: in which we see,<\/p>\n

I.<\/p>\n

The works of the flesh<\/p>\n

In enumerating them, the Apostle mentions,<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Those which stand in more immediate connexion with the body<\/em><\/p>\n

[Adultery is an evil against which even heathens in all ages have felt the deepest indignation. Fornication was not regarded by them in so heinous a light: would to God the malignity of it were duly appreciated even by the Christian world! But God views these evils with the utmost abhorrence; and not the acts<\/em> only, but the dispositions<\/em> from which they spring: Uncleanness and lasciviousness, if cherished in the heart, are marked by him with the same displeasure as the acts to which they lead; because the indulging<\/em> of them, in word, in look, in thought, indisputably proves, that it is not the fear of God that keeps them from breaking out into more open acts, but some other consideration totally distinct from a regard to him: since the fear of God, if operating at all, would operate as much to the suppression of the desire, as to the non-indulgence of the act. Hence the mere looking on a woman to lust after her, is declared, on infallible authority, to be an actual commission of adultery with her in the heart. Now all these acts and dispositions proceed from a corrupt principle within us, even from that principle which is called flesh, and which is the true source of all the other evils we commit.]<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Those which more properly have their seat in the mind<\/em><\/p>\n

[Of these, some have a more immediate reference to God<\/em>, and others are called forth only in our intercourse with men<\/em>. Of the former kind are idolatry and witchcraft, which being specified as works of the flesh, clearly shew what we are to understand by flesh, namely, not merely any corporeal propensity, but that general propensity to evil which operates throughout the whole extent of our fallen nature.<\/p>\n

Idolatry is a total rejection of God; and witchcraft is an application to evil spirits, to impart to us something which we have no hope of obtaining from the true God: and both the one and the other of these is properly a work of the flesh, inasmuch as it betrays a total alienation of heart from God, and an entire subjection to that carnal mind, which, as God himself declares, is enmity against him [Note: Rom 8:7<\/span>.].<\/p>\n

The other evils which are called forth by our intercourse with men<\/em>, as hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, form such a picture of our fallen nature as may well humble us in the dust before God. It is unnecessary to enter into a distinct consideration of them: it is in the aggregate only that we can stop to notice them at this time: but what an accumulation of evil do they present to our view! Yet is it no other than what we may see in every community under heaven. Look at the seditions that agitate states; the divisions and heresies that disturb the Church; the feuds and quarrels that set man against his fellow man, and often terminate even in murder itself: whence do they all arise.? Come they not hence, even from the lusts that war in our members [Note: Jam 4:1<\/span>.]? or, in other words, from the corruption of the human heart? There are some evils which pass under the milder name of good fellowship, and conviviality; some which, like the revellings that were common among the heathen, consist of feastings, dancings, and excess of every kind: but, however we may soften them down by specious names, and plead for them as innocent amusements, they are all hateful to God, and destructive to man: insomuch that the man who finds his pleasure in them can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Often had the Apostle entered his protest against such carnal indulgences, so unworthy of a rational being, and so unsuited to persons standing on the brink of eternity. Can we conceive, that if man had retained his primeval innocence, he would have found delight in any such things as these? If the ungodly themselves saw pious people seeking their happiness in such things as these, would they see no incongruity between their professions and their occupations? Yes; they would be the first to proclaim the hypocrisy of such professors: which is itself an acknowledgment that the things themselves are adverse to piety, and inconsistent with it.<\/p>\n

Know then, that all these and such like<\/em> evils, whether arising from the body, or emanating from the mind, are decidedly to be ranked under the works of the flesh, which whosoever doeth shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Unwelcome as this declaration was to the carnal man, St. Paul hesitated not to make it repeatedly, and in the strongest terms: arid we also, if we will approve ourselves faithful to God and to the office committed to us, must proclaim the same awful truth, and forewarn all, that, if they continue under the power of any of the hateful dispositions before specified, or seek their happiness in the things of time and sense, they will inevitably and eternally exclude themselves from the kingdom of heaven.]<\/p>\n

In contrast with these, the Apostle proceeds to enumerate,<\/p>\n

II.<\/p>\n

II. The fruits of the Spirit<\/p>\n

And here he mentions,<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Those which have their sphere of action chiefly within our own bosoms<\/p>\n

[The very mention of them marks at once their nature and their originLove, joy, peace! Whence come they? Are they the offspring of our corrupt nature? No; nature never bare such fruits as these: these spring from that divine principle, which is imparted to us by the Spirit of God at the time of our regeneration and conversion. Then love springs up in the soul: love to God; love to Christ; love to man for Christs sake. Then also does a joy with which the stranger intermeddleth not, a joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, a joy in the testimony of a good conscience, a joy in the prospect of a glorious immortality, transport the soul: and its ebullitions, which, if continued, would exhaust the strength of our animal frame, subside into a peaceful composure, a sweet serenity of mind, a peace of God which passeth all understanding. These are the never-failing fruits of divine grace in the soul. A variety of circumstances may occur which may impede the exercise of these holy affections; especially the workings of a corrupt nature, still striving to bring us into captivity to sin, may occasionally prevail to damp our joy and interrupt our peace; but according to the measure of the grace given unto us, will be the fruits of that grace abounding in the soul.]<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Those which have a more immediate relation to our fellow-creatures<\/p>\n

[Towards them, both the active and passive virtues are called forth by incidents of daily occurrence. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith (or fidelity), meekness have a constant scope for exercise, as also temperance has, both in the desire of earthly things, and in the enjoyment of them. Here again it is not necessary to enter minutely into these different virtues: it is the collective body of them which characterizes the true Christian, and marks, beyond a possibility of doubt, the excellence of the principle from which they spring.
Against these there is no law. Not one word is there to be found in all the Holy Scriptures that condemns the production of these fruits. Were they condemned, our blessed Lord and Saviour must fall under condemnation; since he maintained and exercised these virtues to a degree never equalled by mortal man. It is impossible to yield these fruits too much: the more we abound in them, the more we resemble the Lord Jesus Christ, and the more do we evince a meetness for the heavenly inheritance.]
Now comes the point to be determined: namely, What is,<\/p>\n

III.<\/p>\n

The Christians state in reference to them both<\/p>\n

The description given of Christians must not be overlooked
[There is no periphrasis by which they can be more fitly described, than that given in our text, They that are Christs. This is their title universally; and it belongs to them alone. They were from eternity given unto Christ by the Father; as Christ himself says, Thine they were; and thou gavest them, to me [Note: Joh 17:6<\/span>; Joh 17:9<\/span>; Joh 17:11-12<\/span>; Joh 17:24<\/span>.]. They have been purchased by Christ himself, as his peculiar possession: and they have given up themselves to him by a willing and deliberate surrender of all that they are and have. By a vital union also are they his, being, as it were, one spirit with him. Hence in many parts of Scripture are they designated as in the words of our text: All things are yours; and ye are Christs [Note: 1Co 3:23<\/span>.]: and again, If any man trust to himself that he is Christs, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christs, even so are we Christs [Note: 2Co 10:7<\/span>.]. Blessed distinction! glorious privilege! Believer, think of thyself under this character, and then sec what obligations thou owest to God for this unspeakable mercy, and what manner of person thou shouldest be in all holy conversation and godliness,]<\/p>\n

Their state is suited to this high character
[They have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Crucifixion, it must be remembered, is a lingering death. The thieves who were crucified with Christ poured forth their venom against him, even whilst they were suspended on the cross. Thus also, the old man in believers is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin may be destroyed, that henceforth they should not serve sin [Note: Rom 6:6<\/span>.]: nevertheless it is not utterly extinct: it still lives; and still rages and rebels against Christ; and would, if suffered to come down from the cross, regain its former ascendency. But there it is fixed: and thence it never shall come down, till the body itself shall cease to live. All its affections and all its desires, though still possessed of considerable strength, are checked in their operation, and restrained in their exercise; the Spirit now reigns: the new affections now put forth a vigour, which the flesh can no longer withstand. The warfare is indeed continued: but victory declares itself on the side of the better principle; so that, whereas the believer formerly walked after the flesh, he now in his daily life and conversation walks after the Spirit, and progressively advances in his heavenly course as long as he continues in the world [Note: Rom 6:20<\/span>; Rom 6:22<\/span>. with 8:1, 4.]. His path is like the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.]<\/p>\n

See then from hence,<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

How blessed is the influence of the Gospel!<\/p>\n

[By the Gospel this change is wrought. And, to form an estimate of the change, paint to yourselves the countenances of the Jews when they met on the day of Pentecost with their hands yet reeking with their Saviours blood; and the same persons on the evening of that day, when they were eating their bread with gladness and singleness of heart, blessing and praising God: methinks, heaven and hell scarcely present a greater contrast, than those very persons within that short period. Yet such is the change which the Gospel will produce, wherever it is received in deed and in truth. Hear how the Prophet Isaiah describes it: Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off [Note: Isa 55:12-13<\/span>.]. O, beloved, see that this change take place in you: for to effect it is the glory of the Gospel; and no further than this change is wrought in you, have you any evidence that you belong to Christ.]<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

How vain are the expectations of carnal professors!<\/p>\n

[Frequently does the Apostle characterize as carnal, those who are yet under the power of unholy tempers and affections. Look, thou professor of godliness, and see what thy conduct is, in the family, the Church, the state. Art thou a favourer of feuds, of heresies, of seditions? Take off thy mask, and proclaim thyself an hypocrite. Thou hast no part nor lot in the salvation of God. Yet rest not hero: but go on to examine how far all holy tempers and heavenly affections abound in thee: see whether thou livest in the habitual exercise of love, joy, peace; and whether thy whole walk be marked by long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance? See whether in these things thou resemblest Him whose property thou professest thyself to be, even that blessed Jesus who requires thee to walk as he walked? Know of a certainty, that, if thou walkest after the flesh, thou shalt die; but if through the Spirit thou mortifiest the deeds of the body, then, and then only, shalt thou live [Note: Rom 8:13<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

How desirable is it to obtain an interest in Christ!<\/p>\n

[All this will he do for those who truly believe in him. Came he, think you, to save you from hell only? No; he came to save you from your sins. He came to make you new creatures; and to transform you into the Divine image, in righteousness and true holiness. Seek then an interest in him. Give up yourselves to him, to be washed in his blood, and to be renewed by his Spirit. Do this, and you shall have no cause to complain that your corruptions are invincible: for his grace shall be sufficient for you, even though your corruptions were ten thousand times more powerful than they are. Nor imagine that the maintenance of holy tempers and affections shall be such an impracticable task as Satan would represent it to be: for the love of God shed abroad in the heart shall render every thing easy. Only receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your hearts by faith, and he will work effectually within you, as he does in all his saints: He will fulfil in you all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power; and so shall the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ [Note: 2Th 1:11-12<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, (21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (24) And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (26) Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The great improvement, as appears to me to be intended by the Holy Ghost, from this relation, of the different properties of flesh and spirit, is from them to consider, the different sources from whence they spring, and the cause, why they mark the different characters in which they appear. Let the Reader carefully observe, how the different expressions are worded. The one is called, the works of the flesh. The other, the fruits of the Spirit. In both instances, they are intended, to describe, what is, and must be, the result of the opposite state of unrenewed nature, and that which is quickened by grace. But the great object (if I do not err) intended, is to lead the child of God to trace effects to their cause, by beholding the distinguishing love of the Lord in the appointment.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Reader will bear with me, while I say, that those sweet portions of Scripture, which mark the difference, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not; are not properly used by the Lord’s people, when looked at chiefly as our evidences, instead of being looked at as God’s testimonies in Christ. It is not what we observe, or suppose that we observe, of fruits, and effects, which become the foundation of hope; but what Christ is, as our Head, and Representative in God’s esteem. Experiences, are very well in their way; but they are never well, nor ever properly in the way, when we put them in Christ’s way, and in the place of Christ. And whoever sends men to form a judgment of their state, as they stand before God, by consulting what they call the gracious dispositions of their own hearts, instead of sending them to the enjoyment of God’s perfect approbation of the Church in Christ; is sending them to the shadow instead of the substance: so that, when at any time an intervention takes place to the substance, the shadow is instantly lost.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

To make application of this doctrine, to the present statement of the Apostle. He gives the Church an awful catalogue of the lusts of the flesh, in the state and circumstances of every unregenerate man, born in the Adam-nature of original corruption, and remaining in it, uncalled, unsanctified by grace. These works he describes, are as naturally the production of our fallen state, as the sparks which fly upward from fire. They do not appear in equal violence in all, no more than the natural diseases of the body. But the root of each is in all; and proves an equal state of corruption in all. And, consequently, living, and dying in this unrenewed state before God; such characters cannot, as the Apostle decidedly speaks, inherit the kingdom of God. And the reason is obvious. All causes, must produce their own effect. And this is the natural effect of such a cause. And, awful as it is, when we see men sitting under the Gospel, and yet living regardless of all the truths they hear, while it serves to enhance to the Church the sovereignty of God’s grace, it manifests no less the impossibility of anything rising above its source. The works of the flesh are manifest. They prove the state of an unrenewed nature. And men left in this state, are only left to the fruit of their own works. The cause here, as in every other instance, naturally produceth its own effect. He that soweth to the flesh, will of the flesh reap corruption. Gal 6:8<\/span> .<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the fruits of the Spirit; these as plainly are the result of an opposite principle: and they define the character of those born of God. But they differ widely from the works of the flesh, not only in their very nature and property, but also in their source and spring. The works of the flesh are a man’s own. They arise from himself, and his own fallen nature. But the Apostle words his expression, when describing the productions of the Spirit, by calling them fruits. Hence, therefore, the child of God, though by distinguishing grace, he is made a partaker of the unspeakable gift; yet there is nothing of his, which he can call his own, in it. It is all received; and all free, unmerited, and on his part wholly undeserved. And hence, (to return to the original observation which I offered,) the child of God who looks at those fruits, more than as fruits, and overlooks the cause in the effect, taking comfort from evidences, instead of Christ alone; is by so much going off the ground, of real firmness in the faith. It is looking at Christ second-hand, when we look at him through our evidences. It is like what Paul elsewhere calls rudiments of the world; for they are rudiments of our out hearts, and not Christ. Col 2:8<\/span> . In a word, it is very blessed to trace the fruits of the Spirit as the Apostle hath here described them, in our daily walk and conversation: but all these, and ten thousand more, are not Christ. Precious Lord Jesus! thou alone art my portion, for time, and for eternity!<\/p>\n

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these<\/em> ; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ver. 19. Now the works of the flesh<\/strong> ] Sinners are sore labourers; wicked men great workmen. Would they take but half that pains for heaven that they do for hell, they could not, likely, miss of it. The Hebrew and Greek words for sin import labour (Gnamal, ).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Are manifest<\/strong> ] , they lie above ground, and are condemned by the light of nature. Wicked men also hang out their sins to the sight of the sun, Isa 3:9<\/span> , that they must needs be manifest even to a natural conscience; not so the fruits of the Spirit. <\/p>\n

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

19 23<\/strong> .] substantiates<\/em> (see above) Gal 5:18<\/span> .<\/p>\n

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

19<\/strong> .] <\/strong> (emphatic), plain to all<\/strong> , not needing, like the more hidden fruits of the Spirit<\/em> , to be educed and specified: and therefore more clearly amenable to law, which takes cognizance of .<\/p>\n

<\/strong> ] almost = ‘for example:’ ‘qualia sunt:’ see on ch. Gal 4:24<\/span> .<\/p>\n

<\/strong> .<\/strong> , impurity<\/strong> in general.<\/p>\n

<\/strong> .<\/strong> , , Etym. Mag. It does not seem to include necessarily the idea of lasciviousness: “Demosthenes, making mention of the blow which Meidias had given him, characterizes it as in keeping with the well-known of the man (Meid. 514). Elsewhere he joins and and .” Trench, New Test. Synonyms, p. 64. The best word for it seems to be wantonness<\/strong> , ‘ protervitas<\/em> .’<\/p>\n

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19<\/span> . Though this verse enumerates only evil works of the flesh, it is not thereby suggested that its action is wholly evil; for the flesh has been shown to have its appointed function from God, and to be essential to the human will. The opening puts the following catalogue of crimes and vices in its true light as samples, produced by way of specimen of the evil effects wrought by excessive indulgence of natural appetites without due control, and not an exhaustive list of the works of the flesh, as the rendering which<\/em> , in our versions, rather suggests. The list begins and ends with sensual vices due to the lower animal nature; it couples idolatry<\/em> with its habitual ally sorcery<\/em> : in specifying the various quarrels between man and man it adds two and to the corresponding list in 2Co 12:20<\/span> , perhaps owing to the prevalence of religious dissensions in the Galatian churches. . This term, which in classical Greek expresses insolent contempt for public opinion, denotes in the N.T. shameless outrages on public decency a fit climax to fornication and uncleanness.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

works. Contrast “fruit”, Gal 5:22. <\/p>\n

manifest. Greek. phaneros. App-106. <\/p>\n

which = such as. <\/p>\n

Adultery. The texts omit. <\/p>\n

uncleanness. Greek. akatharsia. See Rom 1:24. <\/p>\n

lasciviousness. Greek. aselgeia, See Rom 13:13. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

19-23.] substantiates (see above) Gal 5:18.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Greek Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19. now manifest) The flesh concealed betrays itself by its own works, so that its discovery is easy.- , the works) unfruitful [as opposed to the fruit of the Spirit, Gal 5:22]. The works, in the plural, because they are divided and are often at variance with one another, and even severally [taken each one by itself] betray the flesh. But the fruit, being good, Gal 5:22, is in the singular, because it is united and harmonious. Comp. Eph 5:11; Eph 5:9.-, which) He enumerates those works of the flesh, to which the Galatians were most prone; on the other hand, also those parts of the fruit of the Spirit, which needed to be most recommended to them; comp. Gal 5:15. He maintains this order, that he may enumerate the sins committed with our neighbour, those against God, those against our neighbour, and those in regard to ourselves; and to this order the enumeration of the fruit of the Spirit corresponds.-, , uncleanness, lasciviousness) 2Co 12:21, note.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19<\/p>\n

Gal 5:19<\/p>\n

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these:-They are plainly seen and may be easily recognized so that all may know when they are following the flesh.<\/p>\n

fornication,-Strictly speaking, fornication is illicit sexual intercourse of unmarried persons. Adultery is a violation of the marriage bed, or unlawful sexual intercourse with another, whether married or unmarried. Fornication often signifies adultery. (Mat 19:9). [Fornication among the Gentiles was practically universal in Pauls day. Sins of impurity found a place in every picture of Gentile morals in heathen literature. On this subject, even today, it is difficult to speak faithfully and yet directly. Newspapers, novels, and the movies which reek of the divorce court and trade in garbage of human life, in things of which it is a shame to speak, are no more fit for ordinary consumption than the air of the pesthouse is for breathing. They are the sheer poison of the imagination, which should be fed on whatsoever things are honorable and pure and lovely and of good report. Wherever and in whatever form, the offense exists which violates the sexual relationship, the interdict of every Christian should be launched upon it. The anger of Jesus Christ burned against this sin. In the wanton look he discerned the crime of adultery. (Mat 5:27-28). The Lord is an avenger in everything that touches the honor of the human person and violates the sanctity of the marriage relationship. (1Th 4:1-8). The church of Christ should wage such a relentless warfare against all such wickedness that all such characters would either come to repentance, or find that the church has no fellowship for them.]<\/p>\n

uncleanness,-Unnatural practice-self-abuse, bestiality, and sodomy. This was common among the heathen. (Rom 1:24; 2Co 12:21).<\/p>\n

lasciviousness,-Any kind of unchastity. There may be lascivious eyes and lascivious desires. Jesus said: For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings: these are the things which defile the man. (Mat 15:19-20). From this we should learn the great importance of heeding the command: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Pro 4:23). He thinks no evil and indulges no impure and unholy feelings and keeps his life clean and pure, righteous and holy.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

the works: Gal 5:13, Gal 5:17, Gal 6:8, Psa 17:4, Joh 3:6, Rom 7:5, Rom 7:18, Rom 7:25, Rom 8:3, Rom 8:5, Rom 8:9, Rom 8:13, 1Co 3:3, 1Pe 4:2 <\/p>\n

Adultery: Eze 22:6-13, Mat 15:18, Mat 15:19, Mar 7:21-23, Rom 1:21-32, 1Co 6:9, 1Co 6:10, 2Co 12:20, 2Co 12:21, Eph 4:17-19, Eph 5:3-6, Col 3:5-8, 1Ti 1:9, 1Ti 1:10, Tit 3:3, Jam 3:14, Jam 3:15, 1Pe 4:3, 1Pe 4:4, Rev 21:8, Rev 22:15 <\/p>\n

Reciprocal: Gen 39:9 – how then Lev 18:20 – General Pro 2:18 – General Pro 5:22 – sins Pro 24:1 – not Jer 7:9 – steal Jer 23:10 – full Eze 18:6 – neither hath defiled Eze 22:11 – committed Eze 33:9 – if thou Mal 3:5 – the sorcerers Luk 6:44 – For of Joh 5:44 – which Act 15:20 – fornication Rom 3:10 – none Rom 13:13 – chambering 1Co 5:1 – fornication 1Co 5:11 – fornicator Gal 5:16 – and Eph 2:3 – fulfilling Eph 5:5 – this Col 2:18 – fleshly 1Th 4:3 – that 1Th 4:7 – uncleanness 1Ti 5:24 – General Heb 6:1 – dead Heb 12:16 – any fornicator Heb 13:4 – and the bed Rev 21:27 – there<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

A GREAT CONTRAST<\/p>\n

The works of the flesh the fruit of the Spirit.<\/p>\n

Gal 5:19; Gal 5:22<\/p>\n

What a contrast there is presented to us in these few lines! The works of the flesh against the fruit of the Spirit! From the one the higher nature of man turns in utter abhorrence, while the other commends itself to God and man.<\/p>\n

I. Present-day sins.I think we must be arrested by the solemn and awful fact that some of the sins of which the Apostle speaks are with us to-day. We must admit that there is amongst us much idolatry, many factions and divisions, hatred, heresies, and envyings. Now that is a consideration of the gravest importance. Why is it the Church in the course of its two thousand years of existence has not done more, for although we rejoice over the triumphs of the Gospel, as we look round there must be a note of sorrow. Look at the darkness of Africa! Look at the teeming millions of Asia still in the grip of heathenism! Nay, do not look so far. Look at Christendom itself, and one must admit that there is even in the Church of Christ much that makes the brain reel and the heart turn sick. How is this? To answer this aright we must remember that Christ never originated a party; He was not a Master of a system; yet He set in motion a force that has stood for two thousand years through a storm of persecution, and through all the great advancements and changes of passing ages, and still to-day is the greatest moral force of the world. What was the secret of it all? His life was His theology; He came bringing a higher conception of manhood and the Godhead; a new reverence of Godthe God of Love.<\/p>\n

II. Christianity in the world.If this is truly the secret of the power of Christ, so must it be the power of Christianity in the world to-day. It is not in the customs of the Church; the power of the Church is in the lives of the men and women who are living as Christ did. The Church is the casket, the men and women are the jewels; the Church is the body, the individual lives of the members of the Church are the soul. That is the thing we need to be reminded of. We are overburdened with the idea of the desirability of great organisations, but it is the life that counts; and as the life of the Christian is the power of the Church, so the lives of men and women should be the ultimate desire of the Church. Christianity is not the knowledge of Church history, but a true development of the joy and peace of the Christian spirit.<\/p>\n

Rev. J. C. Banham.<\/p>\n

(SECOND OUTLINE)<\/p>\n

KNOWN BY THEIR FRUIT<\/p>\n

The Apostle had his Masters authority, not only for this teaching, but for the figurative language in which it is conveyed. By their fruits, Christ had said, shall ye know them.<\/p>\n

I. This fruit contrasts with the produce of the sinful nature.The Apostle lays stress upon the flesh, by which he evidently intends the corrupt, sinful nature of men. The flesh and the Spirit are contrary; so are the works of the flesh to the fruits of the Spirit. The catalogue of sins here introduced must have appeared most just to the observation of men lately delivered in some cases from the debasement of heathenism. The contrast is one as real, if not so striking, in our own days.<\/p>\n

II. This fruit can only be accounted for by the new life and the new influences of the Spirit.For the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Life and the Spirit of Holiness. It is a supernatural growth which yields these unaccustomed fruits. The sunshine ripens, the showers swell the fruit which God destines for His own glory. It has the flavour and the fragrance of heaven.<\/p>\n

III. This fruit is sweet, serviceable, and acceptable, not only to God, but also to man.The practical virtues here described are such as relate to a mans intercourse with his fellow-men, and such as contribute to his own true development and well-being. Its abundance will enrich and bless this earth, and will promote the glory of the Divine Husbandman. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19. -Now manifest are the works of the flesh;- having the stress upon it, yet not so as to mean that the works of the flesh are so open that one led by the Spirit does not first need the teaching of the law about them-what to do, what to refrain from, in reference to them (Hofmann). Meyer connects this clause with the one before it, and as a closer explanation of ye are not under the law-to show what the sinful principle produces when the Holy Spirit does not lead men; and Ellicott more distinctly calls it the open difference between the works of the flesh against which the law is ordained, and the fruits of the Spirit. Probably this is too narrow a connection. The flesh is spoken of in the entire short paragraph in its lusting and warrings, in contrast with the Spirit in its wrestlings and leadings. Those who are guided by the Spirit are not as such under the law; but the flesh is under law, under its sentence and dominion: manifest are its works, and the law cannot but condemn them as -works-done by the evil and unrenewed nature. It is needless to press a contrast in with the fruit of the Spirit as being more hidden, and as needing to be educed and specified. The works of the flesh are notorious, and notoriously of a corrupt origin. is, very plainly, greatly more than the sensual part of fallen nature, for many of these are intellectual or spiritual in nature. See under Eph 2:3, and under Gal 5:16. The apostle proceeds to give a specimen catalogue- <\/p>\n

-of which class are-qualia sunt (Jelf, 816, 5), or less likely, quippe quae (De Wette). They are sins no doubt very common in the Gentile world, and characterized the Galatian people. Thomas Aquinas well says-cum apostolus in diversis locis diversa vitia et diversimode enumerat, non intendit enumerare omnia vitia ordinate et secundum artem, sed illa tantum in quibus abundant et in quibus excedunt illi, ad quos scribit. <\/p>\n

The Received Text begins with , on the authority of D, F, K, L, 3, the Claromontane Latin, the Gothic, the Phil., Syriac, and many of the Greek and Latin fathers; while F, G make it plural, with several of the following words, as does Origen. But the preferable reading omits the word, as in A, B, C, 1, 17, Vul., Cop., etc. Probably the insertion was a reminiscence of Mat 15:19, Mar 7:21. <\/p>\n

-fornication. 2Co 12:21. Scarcely reckoned a sin in heathen opinion. <\/p>\n

-uncleanness, impurity, including unnatural lusts, so common in Greece and the East. See Dllinger’s The Gentile and the Jew, vol. 1.377-431; vol. 2.197, 238, 273, etc., Eng. trans. <\/p>\n

-lasciviousness-probably from -. Mar 7:22; 2Co 12:21; Eph 4:19. Donaldson derives it from a and ., foulness. Benfey (Wurzellexicon, sub voce) proposes another derivation: from ., satiety, and . , die Sucht. Suidas takes it from a, and , a Pisidian town of notorious debauchery. It is defined in the Etymologicum Magnum as . That it did not signify lasciviousness always, is plain from its use by Demosthenes, where it means insolence. The blow which Meidias gave was in character with -the outrageousness-of the man. Orat. cont. Meid. 514, p. 327, vol. i. Opera, ed. Schaefer. In a similar way, the term wantonness, which had at first a more general signification, has passed in English into the meaning of open sensuality. It is the self-asserting propensity indulged without check or regard to ordinary propriety, especially in libidinous gratification. Tittmann, De Synon. p. 81; Trench, Synon. p. 64; Wetstein in loc. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19. Works of the flesh are manifest on the principle that a tree is known by its fruits (Mat 7:15-20). Adultery, fornication. The difference between these words is only technical and legal. The laws of the land define adultery as the unlawful intimacy between married persons, and fornication is that between the unmarried. The Bible does not require such a distinction, but uses the words both as applying to a married person as well as to another. In Mat 19:9, Jesus gives fornication on the part of a wife as the only ground for divorce and remarriage of the innocent husband. And in Mat 5:32 where the same subject is considered, if the wife is innocent and her husband puts her away, he “causeth her to commit adultry.” That is, such a woman would be tempted to marry another man, and in so doing she would be guilty of adultry. The two passages together show us that in the estimation of Jesus, a married woman can be guilty of either fornication or adultery, and hence there is no actual difference. But the distinction is thought of in some cases, and the apostle makes sure of eliminating any possible excuse by naming both words in the same condemnation. Uncleanness is from a word that means impurity of either mind or body. Lasciviousness is from ASELGEIA, and it must have been a strong word in the Greek language, for Thayer defines it as follows: “Unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence.”<\/p>\n

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19-21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, of which kind (or such as) are. The practical test of the fruits by which a tree is known (comp. Mat 7:16). Manifest, plain and obvious to everybody. Paul does not sum at a complete and systematic catalogue of sins, but singles out those to which the Galatians from former habits and surroundings were specially exposed. He mentions (1) sins of sensuality or sins against ourselves: adultery [omitted in the best MSS.], fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (comp. 2Co 12:21); these were so common among all the heathen that no ancient moralist, not even Socrates, or Plato, or Cicero, absolutely condemned them (except adultery, because it interferes with the rights of a husband), and that they were even sanctioned by religion and connected with the worship of Venus or Aphrodite. The difference between Christian and heathen morality in this respect is like the difference between day and night Paul condemns fornication as a prostitution and desecration of the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:15-20; 1Co 3:16). (2) Spiritual sins against God, which are likewise characteristic of heathenism: idolatry, the worship of false gods (and all idolatrous practices), and sorcery, or magic, a secret tampering with the powers of evil, usually associated with open idolatry (comp. Act 19:19; Rev 21:8). (3) Sins against our neighbor, or various violations of brotherly love in feeling and action: hatreds (or enmities), strife, rivalry (or emulation), outbursts of wrath, factions, divisions (not seditions), parties (not heresies, in the later doctrinal sense), envyings, murders (comp. 2Co 12:20; Rom 1:29). Murders is omitted by the best MSS. (4) Sins of intemperance, very common among the Celtic nations: drunkenness, revellings, and such like (comp. Rom 13:13; 1Pe 4:3).<\/p>\n

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Our apostle having in the foregoing verses, exhorted the Galatians to walk in the Spirit, to be led and guided by the Spirit, and by no means to obey or fulfil the lusts of the flesh; he comes in these and the following verses, to discover how they might, with certainty and assurance, know whether they were spiritual or carnal, whether the Spirit or the flesh had a prevalency in them, or dominion over them. <\/p>\n

Accordingly, he describes particularly the flesh and the Spirit, by their various and different effects, and gives us a catalogue of the one and the other; he reckons up no fewer than seventeen works of the flesh, all which, yea, any of which, continued in, and unrepented of, are damnable; after this, he enumerates nine special and gracious fruits of the Spirit, which qualify us for, and entitle us to the kingdom of heaven; The works of the flesh are manifest, &c.<\/p>\n

Here observe, 1. That sin is called a work, thereby intimating to us the labour and toil, the drudgery and pains, which sinners meet with in a sinful course: The ways of sin are very toilsome, although in their issue very unfruitful; sin is no pleasurable service, but a laborious servitude.<\/p>\n

Observe, 2. The apostle calls sin by the name of works, in the plural number, the works of the flesh; intimating, that sin never goes single, but has a dangerous train and retinue: He that yields himself a servant to one sin, shall soon find himself a slave to many.<\/p>\n

Observe, 3. That sin is called a work of the flesh, because most sins are committed by the flesh; the body is the soul’s instrument, as well in the work of sin, as in the service of Christ; and the flesh is the object, about which these works are conversant, as well as the organ and instrument by which they are committed.<\/p>\n

Observe, 4. These works of the flesh are here said to be manifest: But how so? First, they are most of them manifestly condemned by the light of nature: a natural conscience in men startles at them at first, till by custom and frequent practice they become habitual and natural to them. Secondly, they are all of them manifest by the light of scripture; the word of God, which is in all our hands, condemns all these works of the flesh to the pit of hell.<\/p>\n

Observe, 5. The particular enumeration of the works of the flesh, here made by the apostle;<\/p>\n

adultery, or the defiling our neighbour’s bed;<\/p>\n

fornication, or the unlawful mixture of single persons one with another;<\/p>\n

uncleanness, under which is comprehended all sorts of filthiness, and filthy lusts, whether natural or unnatural;<\/p>\n

lasciviousness, by which is meant all wanton behaviour, either in speech or action, tending to excite filthy desires, either in themselves or others;<\/p>\n

idolatry, whereby God is represented to corporeal eyes by pictures and images, and so brought down to human senses; properly, therefore, is idolatry, as such, called here a work of the flesh.<\/p>\n

Again, witchcraft, a devilish art, whereby some men and women, having made a compact with the devil, either expressly or implicitly, are enabled, with God’s permission, and by the assistance of Satan, to produce effects beyond the ordinary course and order of nature, and these for the most part rather mischievous to others, than beneficial to themselves;<\/p>\n

hatred, or a secret enmity in our hearts against our neighbour, either for real or apprehended injuries;<\/p>\n

variance, or outward contention by words or action, arising from the forementioned enmity in the heart;<\/p>\n

emulations, or an inward grief and displeasure at some good in others, or done by others, which eclipses and overshadows us;<\/p>\n

wrath, or violent anger, and immoderate passion, depriving a man for the time of his reason, and transforming him into a beast;<\/p>\n

strife, or a litigious spirit, a continual proneness to quarrelling and contending;<\/p>\n

seditions, or rending of societies into factions, and divinding communities into parties; which dividing work, when it falls out in the state, is called sedition; when in the church, by the name of schism;<\/p>\n

heresies, or dangerous errors in the fundamental points of religion; not arising purely from mistakes of judgment, but from the espousing of false doctrines out of disgust or pride, or from worldly principles, to avoid persecution or trouble in the flesh; these may well be accounted carnal lusts, and called works of the flesh, although they be mental errors, and their first seat is in the understanding and judgment;<\/p>\n

envyings, a pestilent lust, which makes another’s good our grief; our eyes smart at the sight of what another enjoys, though we have never the less, because another has more;<\/p>\n

murders, that is, the executing of private revenge, by shedding of blood, and taking away our neighbour’s life unjustly;<\/p>\n

drunkenness, revellings, the one is intemperance in drinking, the other an excess in eating; all sinful abuse of the creatures of God, which he has given, not barely for necessity, but delight, is censured here as a work of the flesh.<\/p>\n

Observe, 6. The solemn warning which the apostle gives the Galatians to watch against all these sins, and not indulge or allow themselves in the wilful commission of any one of them; I tell you, says he, that such shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but be eternally banished from him.<\/p>\n

Now, from the whole, learn, 1. That the ministers of the gospel must not satisfy themselves barely to reprove and condemn sin in general, but must descend to particulars; though invectives against sin, at large, are of good use to expose the deformity of sin, yet, in order to the awakening of particular sinners, we must take into our consideration their particular sins, and endeavour to convince them of them, and turn them from them; so doth our apostle here, in the foregoing catalogue of vices.<\/p>\n

Learn, 2. That the ministers of Christ must acquaint their people, not only with the danger of allowing themselves in the grosser acts of sin, as adultery, fornication, drunkenness, and revellings, and such like, but also with the danger of indulging themselves in secret sins, heart sins, sins which the eye of the world can never accuse them of, but God will condemn them for; such are hatred, emulation, envy, &c. not only the outward act of sin, but the inward desire, is dangerous and damning. It is easy for a man to murder his neighbour, in the account of God, by a secret wish, and a passionate desire; he that hateth his brother is a murderer, and he that looks upon a woman unduly, is an adulterer, in the sight of God.<\/p>\n

Learn, 3. That the ministers of Christ can never often enough warn sinners of the danger of sin, and continuance in it; we must do it over and over again; every sabbath, and every sermon, must ring a peal in the sinner’s ears, of the fatal danger of a resolute impiety: Thus here, I tell you now, as I told you in time past, that they which do such things, shall not inherit, &c.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Gal 5:19-21. Now the works of the flesh By which that inward corrupt principle is discovered; are manifest Are plain and undeniable. He says works, in the plural, because those of the flesh are distinct from, and often inconsistent with each other. But the fruit of the Spirit is mentioned in the singular, (Gal 5:22,) the graces thereof being all consistent, and connected together. Which are these He enumerates those works of the flesh to which the Galatians were most inclined, and those parts of the fruit of the Spirit of which they stood in the greatest need; adultery A crime to be considered in the first rank of enormities, as being the most prejudicial to society, destroying conjugal happiness, introducing confusion and ruin into families, alienating the affection of parents from their children, causing them to neglect their education; fornication Which, how light soever heathen may make it, is in the sight of God a very grievous offence; uncleanness Of every kind and degree; lasciviousness All immodesty, as the indulging of wanton thoughts, and reading lascivious books. The Greek word means any thing, inward or outward, that is contrary to chastity; idolatry The worshipping of idols; this sin is justly reckoned among the works of the flesh, because the worship paid to many of the gods consisted in the most impure fleshly gratifications; witchcraft Or sorcery, as Macknight renders , observing, that the expression being placed immediately after idolatry, means those arts of incantation and charming, and all the pretended communications with invisible and malignant powers, whereby the heathen priests promoted the reverence and worship of their idol gods, and enriched themselves. In this sense the word is used concerning Babylon, (Rev 18:23,) , By thy sorcery were all nations deceived; that is, by a variety of wicked arts and cheats, the nations were deluded to support Babylon in her idolatries and corruptions. Hatred Or enmities, as signifies; variance , strifes; emulations Transports of ill-placed and ill-proportioned zeal; wrath , resentments; , contentions, as the word appears here to signify; seditions Or divisions, in domestic or civil matters; heresies Parties formed in religious communities; who, instead of maintaining true candor and benevolence, renounce and condemn each other. Envyings Frequently manifesting themselves against the prosperity and success of others; murders Which are often the effect of such evil dispositions and practices as those above mentioned; and, to complete the catalogue, all kinds of irregular self-indulgence, and particularly drunkenness Which renders a man worse than a beast; and those disorderly and gluttonous revellings Or luxurious entertainments, by which the rational powers are, in a great measure, extinguished, or, at least, rendered incapable of performing their offices in a proper manner. Some of the works here mentioned are wrought principally, if not entirely, in the mind, and yet they are called works of the flesh. Hence it is clear that the apostle does not, by the flesh, mean the body, or sensual appetites and inclinations only, but the corruption of human nature, as it spreads through all the powers of the soul, as well as the members of the body; of which I tell you before Before the event; I forewarn you; as I have told you also in time past When I was present with you; that they who do such things Who are guilty of such evil practices; shall not inherit the kingdom of God Whatever zeal they may pretend for the externals of religion, in any of the forms of it. Awful declaration!<\/p>\n

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, <\/p>\n

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. <\/p>\n

Okay, those that don’t like lists turn away from your computer for a few moments while we deal with two lists. Hard to believe, but one is a list of don’ts and the other is a list of dos – see, I told you God had lists and that they were often in the do’s and don’ts category. <\/p>\n

Adultery: That which we see in nearly every movie, every magazine, every television show and most lives that we interact with on a daily basis. We even see it way too often in the church itself. The churchs divorce rate is as bad if not worse than that of the world and many of those divorces are caused by infidelity. <\/p>\n

My what an odorous truth for the Christian caught up in such lies. They are listed with those that will not inherit the kingdom. They keep company with lost souls rather than the redeemed. If you are in the throws of adultery open your eyes to your sin and your company. God is not pleased, nor can He be while you walk with the Devil. <\/p>\n

Fornication: This is the Greek word “porneia” from which we gain pornography and the meaning is right in that crowd of witnesses. This includes any sexual act that is against the Word of God including homosexuality, lesbianism, relations with animals and sexual relations outside of the bonds of marriage, especially that between people that are relatives or married to others. <\/p>\n

There is an added meaning to the word, which relates to the uncleanness one is involved with when they are in activities against God, such as idolatry. <\/p>\n

Uncleanness: One of the terms used in the Lexicon is “profligate life” which means “abandon to vice.” When used of a consumer it would mean “recklessly extravagant.” One that is out of control in lifestyle would be the thought of it and that lifestyle being in the incorrect sexual direction. <\/p>\n

Lasciviousness: Wantonness, filthy, and unbridled lust are a few of the terms used in the Lexicon. Given over to the filth of the world would be a good description for this word. <\/p>\n

Idolatry: This is the worship of other gods. Wow, look where God puts idolatry, right between several terms describing sexual perversion and witchcraft. I think that rather well defines just how God feels about those that worship other gods. <\/p>\n

Witchcraft: This is the sorcery that we would expect, but also relates to drugs and poisoning that goes with witchcraft. <\/p>\n

There are those that tell us that witchcraft has changed, that it is for good now, and they even have another name for it. It is now whitewashed as the teachings of Wicken, not that nasty old word witchcraft. <\/p>\n

Hatred: There is nothing unclear about this term, it is the hatred one feels toward someone that has deeply offended you or done you great physical or financial harm. It is that emotion that wants to get back at the person and do them great harm. <\/p>\n

Variance: Strife, wrangling and contention. Sad to say this also describes pretty well some churches but we need to remember this is a list of the works of the flesh, not the Spirit. Not that believers don’t get involved in things they ought not. <\/p>\n

Emulations: This word threw me for a moment, as it is the word for zeal. It is also used of the negative side of an excited mind, that which drives to trouble out of the zealousness of mind. “The fierceness of indignation” is a phrase that is used in the Lexicon. Zealously wrongly acting out with the mind is a good way to view the word. <\/p>\n

Wrath: This seems to be a close relative of emulations. It has the idea of angry, fierceness and relates to boiling up quickly. When I cook chicken and noodles, I put the water on the stove and dump in the chicken and turn my attention to making the noodles. I usually keep a close eye on the boiling chicken, because in the blink of an eye it can turn from a slow rolling boil to a smelly mess on the burner. <\/p>\n

It is that anger that suddenly strikes out. We often see this in road rage today. A normally calm person that is suddenly transformed into a raving lunatic capable of firing a gun at another person over the simplest of provocations. <\/p>\n

Often it is the result of buried anger and rage over something completely unrelated, but that one act by another is all it takes to pop the cork and watch the bottle overflow. The word reminds me of the current fad of dumping a tube of Mentos into a Liter of soft drink and watching the column of foam and liquid shoot high into the air. <\/p>\n

Strife: Contention is the meaning of the word. Now, this is the Lexicons line of thought not mine – but it relates to electioneering or if you will campaigning for office. NOW, WE CERTAINLY HAVE THIS WORD IN THE RIGHT LIST DON’T WE! The campaign today is surely strife and trouble, sad to say. <\/p>\n

The word is used by Aristotle of “self-serving pursuit of political office by unfair means.” <\/p>\n

Seditions: Division and dissension. Again, way too close to many churches today. <\/p>\n

Heresies: This relates to the taking of a city, to the taking of minds, of false teachings that people follow. HUMMMMMM, we see this in the context of political wrong doing, the taking of minds wrongly. <\/p>\n

Envyings: Simply envy – the desire for what is not yours or what you cannot have and it is placed right next to the act of murder, or the taking another’s life – both relate to the desire to take that which is not theirs. I had never seen murder in that light before, but that is just what murder is, the taking of what is not yours. <\/p>\n

Murders: This can relate not only to murder but to slaughter. <\/p>\n

Drunkenness: Simply drunken or intoxicated. Out of control due to the ingestion of drink. <\/p>\n

Revellings: This is the plural of the one before, it is drunken parties. <\/p>\n

And such like — and if I forgot anything throw that in as well, cuz there is plenty more like those. <\/p>\n

I really don’t know how Paul ever hopes to fit into the Ecumenical movement with rhetoric like this, indeed he probably wouldn’t be welcome at most evangelical meetings these days; he would be labeled a legalist at the very least. He says after this long list of very gross and negative sins. “Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” <\/p>\n

He can’t really mean that can he? Well, it looks like he said it so I suspect that he did mean it in some manner or the other and I would assume that it was on a literal level or none. He reminds them that he has told them this before and he is telling them again – plainly, if someone is involved in these activities they are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. They are of the flesh, they are of the Devil and they are none of God’s <\/p>\n

Here we go on the list of the do’s or those things that are supposed to be a part of our lives. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

5:19 {16} Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,<\/p>\n

(16) He sets out that particularly of which he spoke generally, reckoning up some principal effects of the flesh, and opposing them to the fruits of the Spirit, that no man may pretend ignorance.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

The works of the flesh 5:19-21<\/span><\/p>\n

The deeds of the sinful human nature are as evident as fruit on a tree. Behavior normally demonstrates nature. Paul identified five categories of sins here. He seems to have been saying ironically, Look at the accomplishments of the flesh!<\/p>\n

Sexual sins (Galatians 5:19)<\/span><\/p>\n

Immorality, fornication (Gr. porneia<\/span>, all types of forbidden sexual relationships)<\/p>\n

Impurity, uncleanness (Gr. akatharsia<\/span>, all moral uncleanness in thought, word, and deed)<\/p>\n

Sensuality, licentiousness, indecency debauchery, lasciviousness (Gr. aselgeia<\/span>, the open, shameless display of these sins)<\/p>\n

"But why begin with these? It may be because of the prevalence and apparentness of them in Paul’s time. They were much in evidence in the pagan background from which the Galatians had come. Indeed they were sanctioned in the rites of pagan worship." [Note: Guthrie, Galatians, pp. 136-37.] <\/span><\/p>\n

Religious sins (Galatians 5:20)<\/span><\/p>\n

Idolatry (Gr. eidololatria<\/span>, worship of anything but God and the practices associated with that worship)<\/p>\n

Sorcery, witchcraft (Gr. pharmakeia<\/span>, attempts to aid the powers of evil and the practices associated with that)<\/p>\n

Societal sins (Galatians 5:20-21)<\/span><\/p>\n

Enmities, quarrels, hatred (Gr. echthrai<\/span>, hostilities)<\/p>\n

Strife, discord, variance (Gr. eris<\/span>, antagonism)<\/p>\n

Jealousy, envy, emulation (Gr. zelos<\/span>, self-centered animosity)<\/p>\n

Outbursts of anger, fits of rage, wrath (Gr. thymoi<\/span>, temper eruptions)<\/p>\n

Disputes, strife, factions selfishness, selfish ambition (Gr. eritheiai<\/span>, putting others down to get ahead)<\/p>\n

Dissensions, divisions, seditions (Gr. dichostasiai<\/span>, disputes over issues or personalities)<\/p>\n

Factions, heresies, party spirit (Gr. haireseis<\/span>, divisions over issues or personalities)<\/p>\n

Envyings, jealousies (Gr. phthonoi<\/span>, wrong desires to have another’s possessions)<\/p>\n

"The general impression created by these words is one of chaos." [Note: Ibid., p. 137.] <\/span><\/p>\n

Intemperate sins (Galatians 5:21)<\/span><\/p>\n

Drunkenness, drinking bouts (Gr. methai<\/span>, excessive use of intoxicants)<\/p>\n

Carousings, revelings, orgies (Gr. komoi<\/span>, parties involving excessive eating and drinking)<\/p>\n

Other sins (Galatians 5:21)<\/span><\/p>\n

Things like these (similar violations of God’s moral will)<\/p>\n

"The common feature in this catalogue of vices seems to reside not in the precise ways in which these fifteen items manifest themselves but in the self-centeredness or egocentricity that underlies all of them. [Note: Longenecker, p. 266.] <\/span><\/p>\n

Paul warned his readers here, as he had when he was with them, that people who practice such sins will not inherit the kingdom of God (cf. 1Co 6:9-11; Eph 5:5). The use of the term "inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal 5:21) is in keeping with Paul’s emphasis in this letter (e.g., Gal 4:1-7; et al.). There are two important views as to what this exclusion involves.<\/p>\n

Most interpreters understand Paul’s words here to mean that people who practice these types of sins are not the kind of individuals who will inherit the kingdom (i.e., they are unbelievers). [Note: E.g., Bruce, p. 250; Boice, p. 497; J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come, p. 283.] <\/span> Those who hold this view usually equate inheriting the kingdom with obtaining eternal life (cf. Joh 3:3-5). Some who hold this view concede that these vices may mark some Christians, but Paul mentioned the fate of these sinners so the Galatian Christians would avoid these vices. Others who hold this view believe that no genuine Christian would practice these sins.<\/p>\n

The second view is that Paul meant that Christians who practice these vices will have less inheritance (reward) in the kingdom than Christians who do not practice them. [Note: See Zane C. Hodges, Grace in Eclipse, pp. 76-77; Dillow, p. 90; Bob Wilkin, "Galatians 5:19-21: Who Will Inherit the Kingdom?" Grace Evangelical Society Newsletter (December 1987), p. 2.] <\/span> Those who hold this view often equate inheriting the kingdom with obtaining an inheritance in the millennial reign of Christ on earth.<\/p>\n

I favor the first view. Paul seems to have been contrasting unbelievers whose lives typically bear the marks of these vices with believers whose lives typically manifest the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). He said that those who practice these vices will not inherit the kingdom to warn his Christian readers away from them. I do not believe the Scriptures teach that genuine Christians are incapable of committing these sins (cf. Rom 13:13). However, I believe that there will be differences in rewards for believers depending on our faithfulness to God (1Co 3:10-15).<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Chapter 24<\/p>\n

THE WORKS OF THE FLESH.<\/p>\n

Gal 5:19-21<\/p>\n

THE tree is known by its fruits: the flesh by its “works.” And these works are “manifest.” The field of the world-“this present evil world” {Gal 1:4} -exhibits them in rank abundance. Perhaps at no time was the civilised world so depraved and godless as in the first century of the Christian era, when Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, wore the imperial purple and posed as masters of the earth. It was the cruelty and vileness of the times which culminated in these deified monsters. By no accident was mankind cursed at this epoch with such a race of rulers. The world that worshipped them was worthy of them. Vice appeared in its most revolting and abandoned forms. Wickedness was rampant and triumphant. The age of the early Roman Empire has left a foul mark in human history and literature. Let Tacitus and Juvenal speak for it.<\/p>\n

Pauls enumeration of the current vices in this passage has, however, a character of its own. It differs from the descriptions drawn by the same hand in other Epistles; and this difference is due doubtless to the character of his readers. Their temperament was sanguine; their disposition frank and impulsive. Sins of lying and injustice, conspicuous in other lists, are not found in this. From these vices the Galatic nature was comparatively free. Sensual sins and sins of passion-unchastity, vindictiveness, intemperance- occupy the field. To these must be added idolatry, common to the Pagan world. Gentile idolatry was allied with the practice of impurity on the one side; and on the other, through the evil of “sorcery,” with “enmities” and “jealousies.” So that these works of the flesh belong to four distinct types of depravity, three of which come under the head of immorality, while the fourth is the universal principle of Pagan irreligion, being in turn both cause and effect of the moral debasement connected with it.<\/p>\n

1. “The works of the flesh are these-fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness.” A dark beginning! Sins of impurity find a place in every picture of Gentile morals given by the Apostle. In whatever direction he writes-to Romans or Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, or Thessalonians-it is always necessary to warn against these evils. They are equally “manifest” in heathen literature. The extent to which they stain the pages of the Greek and Roman classics sets a heavy discount against their value as instruments of Christian education. Civilised Society in Pauls day was steeped in sexual corruption.<\/p>\n

Fornication was practically universal. Few were found, even among severe moralists, to condemn it. The overthrow of the splendid classical civilisation, due to the extinction of manly virtues in the dominant race, may be traced largely to this cause. Brave men are the sons of pure women. John in the Apocalypse has written on the brow of Rome, “the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth,” this legend: “Babylon the great, mother of harlots”. {Rev 17:5} Whatever symbolic meaning the saying has, in its literal sense it was terribly true. Our modern Babylons, unless they purge themselves, may earn the same title and the same doom.<\/p>\n

In writing to Corinth, the metropolis of Greek licentiousness, Paul deals very solemnly and explicitly with this vice. He teaches that this sin, above others, is committed “against the mans own body.” It is a prostitution of the physical nature which Jesus Christ wore and still wears, which He claims for the temple of His Spirit, and will raise from the dead to share His immortality. Impurity degrades the body, and it affronts in an especial degree “the Holy Spirit which we have from God.” Therefore it stands first amongst these “works of the flesh” in which it shows itself hostile and repugnant to the Spirit of our Divine sonship. “Joined to the harlot” in “one body,” the vile offender gives himself over in compact and communion to the dominion of the flesh, as truly as he who is “joined to the Lord” is “one Spirit with Him”. {1Co 6:13-20}<\/p>\n

On this subject it is difficult to speak faithfully and yet directly. There are many happily in our sheltered Christian homes who scarcely know of the existence of this heathenish vice, except as it is named in Scripture. To them it is an evil of the past, a nameless thing of darkness. And it is well it should be so. Knowledge of its horrors may be suitable for seasoned social reformers, and necessary to the publicist who must understand the worst as well as the best of the world he has to serve; but common decency forbids its being put within the reach of boys and innocent maidens. Newspapers and novels which reek of the divorce-court and trade in the garbage of human life, in “things of which it is a shame even to speak,” are no more fit for ordinary consumption than the air of the pesthouse is for breathing. They are sheer poison to the young imagination, which should be fed on whatsoever things are honourable and pure and lovely. But bodily self respect must be learned in good time. Modesty of feeling and chastity of speech must adorn our youth. “Let marriage be honourable in the eyes of all,” let the old chivalrous sentiments of reverence and gentleness towards women be renewed in our sons, and our countrys future is safe. Perhaps in our revolt from Mariolatry we Protestants have too much forgotten the honour paid by Jesus to the Virgin Mother, and the sacredness which His birth has conferred on motherhood. “Blessed,” said the heavenly voice, “art thou among women.” All our sisters are blessed and dignified in her, the holy “mother of our Lord”. {Luk 1:42-43}<\/p>\n

Wherever, and in whatever form, the offence exists which violates this relationship, Pauls fiery interdict is ready to be launched upon it. The anger of Jesus burned against this sin. In the wanton look He discerns the crime of adultery, which in the Mosaic law was punished with death by stoning. “The Lord is an avenger in all these things”-in everything that touches the honour of the human person and the sanctity of wedded life. {1Th 4:1-8} The interests that abet whoredom should find in the Church of Jesus Christ an organisation pledged to relentless war against them. The man known to practise this wickedness is an enemy of Christ and of his race. He should be shunned as we would shun a notorious liar-or a fallen woman. Pauls rule is explicit, and binding on all Christians, concerning “the fornicator, the drunkard, the extortioner-with such a one no, not to eat”. {1Co 5:9-11} That Church little deserves the name of a Church of Christ, which has not means of discipline sufficient to fence its communion from the polluting presence of “such a one.”<\/p>\n

Uncleanness and lasciviousness are companions of the more specific impurity. The former is the general quality of this class of evils, and includes whatever is contaminating in word or look, in gesture or in dress, in thought or sentiment. “Lasciviousness” is uncleanness open and shameless. The filthy jest, the ogling glance, the debauched and sensual face, these tell their own tale; they speak of a soul that has rolled in corruption till respect for virtue has died out of it. In this direction “the works of the flesh” can go no further. A lascivious human creature is loathsomeness itself. To see it is like looking through a door into hell.<\/p>\n

A leading critic of our own times has, under this word of Pauls, put his finger upon the plague-spot in the national life of our Gallic neighbours – Aselgeia, or Wantonness: There may be a certain truth in this charge. Their disposition in several respects resembles that of Pauls Galatians. But we can scarcely afford to reproach others on this score. English society is none too clean. Home is for our people everywhere, thank God, the nursery of innocence. But outside its shelter, and beyond the reach of the mothers voice, how many perils await the weak and unwary. In the night-streets of the city the “strange woman” spreads her net, “whose feet go down to death.” In workshops and business-offices too often coarse and vile language goes on unchecked, and one unchaste mind will infect a whole circle. Schools, wanting in moral discipline, may become seminaries of impurity. There are crowded quarters in large towns, and wretched tenements in many a country village, where the conditions of life are such that decency is impossible; and a soil is prepared in which sexual sin grows rankly. To cleanse these channels of social life is indeed a task of Hercules; but the Church of Christ is loudly called to it. Her vocation is in itself a purity crusade, a war declared against “all filthiness of flesh and spirit.”<\/p>\n

2. Next to lust in this procession of the Vices comes idolatry. In Paganism they were associated by many ties. Some of the most renowned and popular cults of the day were open purveyors of sensuality and lent to it the sanctions of religion. Idolatry is found here in fit company. {comp. 1Co 10:6-8} Peters First Epistle, addressed to the Galatian with other Asiatic Churches, speaks of “the desire of the Gentiles” as consisting in “lasciviousness, lusts, wine-bibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries”. {1Pe 4:3}<\/p>\n

Idolatry forms the centre of the awful picture of Gentile depravity drawn by our Apostle in his letter to Rome (chap. 1) It is, as he there shows, the outcome of mans native antipathy to the knowledge of God. Willingly men “took lies in the place of truth, and served the creature rather than the Creator.” They merged God in nature, debasing the spiritual conception of the Deity with fleshly attributes. This blending of God with the world gave rise, amongst the mass of mankind, to Polytheism; while in the minds of the more reflective it assumed a Pantheistic shape. The manifold of nature, absorbing the Divine, broke it up into “gods many and lords many”-gods of the earth and sky and ocean, gods and goddesses of war, of tillage, of love, of art, of statecraft and handicraft, patrons of human vices and follies as well as of excellences, changing with every climate and with the varying moods and conditions of their worshippers. Nor longer did it appear that God made man in His image; now men made gods in “the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of winged and four-footed and creeping things.”<\/p>\n

When at last under the Roman Empire the different Pagan races blended their customs and faiths, and “the Orontes flowed into the Tiber,” there came about a perfect chaos of religions. Gods Greek and Roman, Phrygian, Syrian, Egyptian jostled each other in the great cities-a colluvies deorum more bewildering even than the colluvies gentium, each cultus striving to outdo the rest in extravagance and license. The system of classic Paganism was reduced to impotence. The false gods destroyed each other. The mixture of heathen religions, none of them pure, produced complete demoralisation.<\/p>\n

The Jewish monotheism remained, the one rock of human faith in the midst of this dissolution of the old nature-creeds. Its conception of the Godhead was not so much metaphysical as ethical. “Hear, O Israel,” says every Jew to his fellows, “the Lord our God is one Lord.” But that “one Lord” was also “the Holy One of Israel.” Let his holiness be sullied, let the thought of the Divine ethical transcendence suffer eclipse, and He sinks back again into the manifold of nature. Till God was manifest in the flesh through the sinless Christ, it was impossible to conceive of a perfect purity allied to the natural. To the mind of the Israelite, Gods holiness was one with the aloneness in which He held Himself sublimely aloof from all material forms, one with the pure spirituality of His being. “There is none holy save the Lord; neither is there any rock like our God”: such was his lofty creed. On this ground prophecy carried on its inspired struggle against the tremendous forces of naturalism. When at length the victory of spiritual religion was gained in Israel, unbelief assumed another form; the knowledge of the Divine unity hardened into a sterile and fanatic legalism, into the idolatry of dogma and tradition; and Scribe and Pharisee took the place of Prophet and of Psalmist.<\/p>\n

The idolatry and immorality of the Gentile world had a common root. Gods anger, the Apostle declared, blazed forth equally against both. {Rom 1:18} The monstrous forms of uncleanness then prevalent were a fitting punishment, an inevitable consequence of heathen impiety. They marked the lowest level to which human nature can fall in its apostasy from God. Self-respect in man is ultimately based on reverence for the divine. Disowning his Maker, he degrades himself. Bent on evil, he must banish from his soul that warning, protesting image of the Supreme Holiness in which he was created.<\/p>\n

“He tempts his reason to deny, God whom his passions dare defy.”<\/p>\n

“They did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” “They loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” These are terrible accusations. But the history of natural religion confirms their truth.<\/p>\n

Sorcery is the attendant of idolatry. A low, naturalistic conception of the Divine lends itself to immoral purposes. Men try to operate upon it by material causes, and to make it a partner in evil. Such is the origin of magic. Natural objects deemed to possess supernatural attributes, as the stars and the flight of birds, have divine omens ascribed to them. Drugs of occult power, and things grotesque or curious made mysterious by the fancy, are credited with influence over the Nature-gods. From the use of drugs in incantations and exorcisms the word pharmakeia, here denoting sorcery, took its meaning. The science of chemistry has destroyed a world of magic connected with the virtues of herbs. These superstitions formed a chief branch of sorcery and witchcraft, and have flourished under many forms of idolatry. And the magical arts were common instruments of malice. The sorcerers charms were in requisition, as in the case of Balaam, to curse ones enemies, to weave some spell that should involve them in destruction. Accordingly sorcery finds its place there between idolatry and enmities.<\/p>\n

3. On this latter head the Apostle enlarges with edifying amplitude. Enmities, strife, jealousies, ragings, factions, divisions, parties, envyings-what a list! Eight out of fifteen of “the works of the flesh manifest” to Paul in writing to Galatia belong to this one category. The Celt all over the world is known for a hot-tempered fellow. He has high capabilities; he is generous, enthusiastic, and impressionable. Meanness and treachery are foreign to his nature. But he is irritable. And it is in a vain and irritable disposition that these vices are engendered. Strife and division have been proverbial in the history of the Gallic nations. Their jealous temper has too often neutralised their engaging qualities; and their quickness and cleverness have for this reason availed them but little in competition with more phlegmatic races. In Highland clans, in Irish septs, in French wars and Revolutions the same moral features reappear which are found in this delineation of Galatic life. This persistence of character in the races of mankind is one of the most impressive facts of history.<\/p>\n

“Enmities” are private hatreds or family feuds, which break out openly in “strife.” This is seen in Church affairs, when men take opposite sides not so much from any decided difference of judgment, as from personal dislike and the disposition to thwart an opponent. “Jealousies” and “wraths” (or “rages”) are passions attending enmity and strife. There is jealousy where ones antagonist is a rival, whose success is felt as a wrong to oneself. This may be a silent passion, repressed by pride but consuming the mind inwardly. Rage is the open eruption of anger which, when powerless to inflict injury. will find vent in furious language and menacing gestures. There are natures in which these tempests of rage take a perfectly demonic form. The face grows livid, the limbs move convulsively, the nervous organism is seized by a storm of frenzy; and until it has passed, the man is literally beside himself. Such exhibitions are truly appalling. They are “works of the flesh” in which, yielding to its own ungoverned impulse, it gives itself up to be possessed by Satan and is “set on fire of hell.”<\/p>\n

Factions, divisions, parties are words synonymous. “Divisions” is the more neutral term, and represents the state into which a community is thrown by the working of the spirit of strife. “Factions” imply more of self-interest and policy in those concerned; “parties” are due rather to self-will and opinionativeness. The Greek word employed in this last instance, as in, 1Co 11:19, has become our heresies. It does not imply of necessity any doctrinal difference as the ground of the party distinctions in question. At the same time, this expression is an advance on those foregoing, pointing to such divisions as have grown, or threaten to grow into “distinct and organised parties” (Lightfoot).<\/p>\n

Envyings (or grudges) complete this bitter series. This term might have found a place betide “enmities” and “strife.” Standing where it does, it seems to denote the rankling anger, the persistent ill-will caused by party-feuds. The Galatian quarrels left behind them grudges and “resentments” which became inveterate. These “envyings,” the fruit of old contentions, were in turn the seed of new strife. Settled rancour is the last and worst form of contentiousness. It is so much more culpable than “jealousy” or “rage,” as it has not the excuse of personal conflict; and it does not subside, as the fiercest outburst of passion may, leaving room for forgiveness. It nurses its revenge, waiting, like Shylock, for the time when it shall “feed fat its ancient grudge.”<\/p>\n

“Where jealousy and faction are, there,” says James, “is confusion and every vile deed.” This was the state of things to which the Galatian societies were tending. The Judaisers had sown the seeds of discord and they had fallen on congenial soil. Paul has already invoked Christs law of love to exorcise this spirit of destruction (Gal 5:13-15). He tells the Galatians that their vainglorious and provoking attitude towards each other and their envious disposition are entirely contrary to the life in the Spirit which they professed to lead (Gal 5:25-26), and fatal to the existence of the Church. These were the “passions of the flesh” which most of all they needed to crucify.<\/p>\n

4. Finally we come to sins of intemperance-drunkenness, revellings, and the like.<\/p>\n

These are the vices of a barbarous people. Our Teutonic and Celtic forefathers were alike prone to this kind of excess. Peter warns the Galatians against “wine-bibbings, revellings, carousings.” The passion for strong drink, along with “lasciviousness” and “lusts” on the one hand, and “abominable idolatries” on the other, had in Asia Minor swelled into a “cataclysm of riot,” overwhelming the Gentile world. {1Pe 4:3-4} The Greeks were a comparatively sober people. The Romans were more notorious for gluttony than for hard drinking. The practice of seeking pleasure in intoxication is a remnant of savagery, which exists to a shameful extent in our own country. It appears to have been prevalent with the Galatians, whose ancestors a few generations back were northern barbarians.<\/p>\n

A strong and raw animal nature is in itself a temptation to this vice. For men exposed to cold and hardship, the intoxicating cup has a potent fascination. The flesh, buffeted by the fatigues of a rough days work, finds a strange zest in its treacherous delights. The man “drinks and forgets his poverty, and remembers his misery no more.” For the hour, while the spell is upon him, he is a king; he lives under another sun; the worlds wealth is his. He wakes up to find himself a sot! With racked head and unstrung frame he returns to the toil and squalor of his life, adding new wretchedness to that he had striven to forget. Anon he says, “I will seek it yet again!” When the craving has once mastered him, its indulgence becomes his only pleasure. Such men deserve our deepest pity. They need for their salvation all the safeguards that Christian sympathy and wisdom can throw around them.<\/p>\n

There are others “given to much wine,” for whom one feels less compassion. Their convivial indulgences are a part of their general habits of luxury and sensuality, an open, flagrant triumph of the flesh over the Spirit. These sinners require stern rebuke and warning. They must understand that “those who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” that “he who soweth to his own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.” Of these and their like it was that Jesus said, “Woe unto you that laugh now; for ye shall mourn and weep.”<\/p>\n

Our British Churches at the present time are more alive to this than perhaps to any other social evil. They are setting themselves sternly against drunkenness, and none too soon. Of all the works of the flesh this has been, if not the most potent, certainly the most conspicuous in the havoc it has wrought amongst us. Its ruinous effects are “manifest” in every prison and asylum, and in the private history of innumerable families in every station of life. Who is there that has not lost a kinsman, a friend, or at least a neighbour or acquaintance, whose life was wrecked by this accursed passion? Much has been done, and is doing, to check its ravages. But more remains to be accomplished before civil law and public opinion shall furnish all the protection against this evil necessary for a people so tempted by climate and by constitution as our own.<\/p>\n

With fornication at the beginning and drunkenness at the end, Pauls description of “the works of the flesh” is, alas! far indeed from being out of date. The dread procession of the Vices marches on before our eyes. Races and temperaments vary; science has transformed the visible aspect of life; but the ruling appetites of human nature are unchanged, its primitive vices are with us to-day. The complicated problems of modern life, the gigantic evils which confront our social reformers, are simply the primeval corruptions of mankind in a new guise-the old lust and greed and hate. Under his veneer of manners, the civilised European, untouched by the grace of the Holy Spirit of God, is still apt to be found a selfish, cunning, unchaste, revengeful, superstitious creature, distinguished from his barbarian progenitor chiefly by his better dress and more cultivated brain, and his inferior agility. Witness the great Napoleon, a very “god of this world,” but in all that gives worth to character no better than a savage!<\/p>\n

With Europe turned into one vast camp and its nations groaning audibly under the weight of their armaments, with hordes of degraded women infesting the streets of its cities, with discontent and social hatred smouldering throughout its industrial populations, we have small reason to boast of the triumphs of modern civilisation. Better circumstances do not make better men. James old question has for our day a terrible pertinence: “Whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it on your pleasures.”<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 19 23. St Paul supplies a test whereby men may ascertain whether they are under the curse of the law or heirs of the promise. First, the Apostle gives a list of the works of the flesh not complete but … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 5:19”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}