There is a single word introducing Galatians 5:22 that must be considered today. For emphasis, at least.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith ….” Paul wrote this a little over two thousand years ago.

And, Preacher, that (introductory) word is?

“But,” which is just a small conjunction! (A “linking” word, a part of speech.)

In English it is sometimes called a “contrasting” conjunction, joining two antithetical (opposing) thoughts or sentences or paragraphs.

“BUT … the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.”

Wow!

In Greek this “but” is the word “de,” which means “on the other hand” or “to the contrary.” Or perhaps “rather.” 

All that degradation (the past three weeks of lessons), all those horrible 17 sins “of the flesh!” No good for the Believer in Jesus! To be abhorred!

BUT … there is an alternative!

Here’s that “but” used elsewhere, further illustrating Paul’s point today. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, BUT alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11, praise the Lord!

And that alternative is?

God the Holy Spirit!

And His Essence in our lives!

There is an expression in one of the Romance languages (French, I think) which proclaims “Viva le difference!” It translates like this: “Long live the difference!”

I’d like to use that today.

The filth of the flesh … defeated!

The Fruit of the Spirit … inherent in every saint of God, if nurtured and developed and lived!

Viva le difference!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Hallelujah!

 

I admit at the very outset of today’s Lesson that I have consulted a couple of commentaries in reference to our Bible Text. I wanted to be sure that I was handling a specific verb correctly. (I long to “rightly divide the Word of Truth!”)

Paul writes (in this final Lesson on “the works of the flesh”) a clear warning: “That they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:22b

What things?

The “black list” we’ve been studying for weeks!

“Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.”

Wow!

Is Paul saying anyone who has ever committed one of these acts is lost, doomed forever to Hell? Even once so transgressing?

No, Paul is not saying that!

The “key” to understanding this Line is the verb “do.” (As in “they which DO such things ….”) It is the Greek word “prasso.” And it is framed as a present participle, one in the active voice, nominative case, and masculine gender, as well as plural in number!

It thus means “one who does again and again” these things!

One who essentially “practices” these things!

One who has made these sins (or even some of them) a regular part of his “lifestyle!” 

Something about really getting “saved” changes one’s love for sin!

A quick aside … In Paul’s theology keeping/obeying the law can never save a lost soul. That miracle occurs only by the Grace of God through faith in Jesus. But then gain, violating the law, ignoring it completely, living wide-open to the flesh, is a sure sign a person is not saved either!

Wow!

It’s clear really!  “… that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

And what does it mean “to inherit” the Kingdom of God? “Kleronomeo” here implies “getting your share” of the Father’s property!

As specified in Romans 8:14 … “And if children, then HEIRS; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ….” Amazing!

A serial (repetitious) “doer” of the works of the flesh … then is NOT a child of God!

The “kingdom of God” is Paul’s catch phrase for spending eternity with God and His Son Jesus Christ! He has previously used this precise phrase when preaching to the Galatians also!

“And when they (Paul and Barnabas) had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch (cities of Galatia), confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Acts 14:21-22, Note both the parentheses and capitalized words, please.

In closing, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 similarly illustrates today’s Lesson. Read this please. “Know ye not that the unrighteous SHALL NOT INHERIT the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (Then the good news!) AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Wow!

What used to be (that list of sins) … IS NO MORE … via the dynamic changing Power of God the Holy Spirit!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I hope you all don’t mind me stopping long enough this morning to investigate part of a typical Pauline Sentence! Oh, what a mind that man of God was given!

Speaking of that long list, primarily known as “the works of the flesh,” Paul wrote: “of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things ….” Galatians 5:21, mid-verse!

I think this “time sequence” clause illustrates a facet of Paul’s preaching that is ultra-important! “Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past …” 

The verb “to tell before” is in Greek “prolego.” That’s a combination of a preposition and a verb, really. “Pro” means “before” 44 times in the New Testament. That’s 44 of a total of only 48 instances, occurrences in Scripture. Then “lego” merely means “to speak, to talk.”

So, technically, “prolego” means “to say something ahead of time,” in advance. “To predict” something is going to happen!

Paul is essentially saying …“I have been preaching for a long time that these sins of the flesh will become more and more apparent! As people pursue their lives apart from the Hand of Almighty God. Not under the influence of the Holy Spirit!”

Wow!

And Paul was right!

Should he see things today as they are (with humanity being even further along on that “17 sin list”) … he would be aghast, I suspect. Though he did write: “Evil men and seducers shall wax (become) worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:13

Then, in today’s Text, Paul continues … “Of the which I tell you before, AS I HAVE ALSO TOLD YOU IN TIME PAST …” Seems that Paul does not mind having repeated a truth, if his hearers are particularly slow of learning!

Here Paul employs the Greek verb “proepo,” (translated in our King James Bibles as “have told in time past”) which is essentially the same as “prolego.” But here the tense is different, hence the translation variation. (“Prolego” is present tense. “Proepo” is aorist tense! These grammatical verb properties do matter!)

Wow!

I believe Paul is saying this … I HAVE WARNED YOU IN THE PAST THAT THESE THINGS (THESE SINS) WILL BECOME MORE AND MORE APPARENT! And now, I AM WARNING YOU YET AGAIN THAT THEY ARE HERE (WITH A VENGEANCE), AND YOU NEED TO DILIGENTLY AVOID THEM! 

Although (in an effort to be totally honest) the published Greek scholars use different phraseology to express this line of Paul’s. For example:

“Let me tell you again, as I have before …” 

“This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know.”

“I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously.”

“I warn you, as I warned you before …”

Just samples, these four.

Of the great Apostle Paul repeating!

But necessarily so!

And all I can say is “AMEN!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I have now found a similar particularly “Pauline” clause in 2 Corinthians 13:2 … “I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time …”

Then another in Philippians 3:18 … “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.”

Then in 1 Thessalonians 3:4 … “For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know …”

This too, 2 Thessalonians 2:5. “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?”

Yes, some things must be repeated!

Wow!

 

After rehearsing all seventeen sins which he calls “the works of the flesh,” the Apostle Paul still will not concede that his list is exhaustive!

There may be more!

So he concludes the collection with these words: “and such like.”

Galatians 5:21 will illustrate … “envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, AND SUCH LIKE: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past ….” 

Wow!

What else could the “flesh” possibly do?

And while no human knows the answer to that question, not fully … Paul (even after having been saved for years) lamented: “but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Romans 7:14, where “carnal” means “of the flesh,” or “fleshly!”

Paul capable of something on “that” list?

He though so!

The great Preacher here is acknowledging the “fight” that rages inside every child of God! At least at times! The “tugs” of the “flesh” versus the “promptings” of the Holy Spirit!

“But what I hate, that do I.” Romans 7:15, what an admission!

Romans 7:18 continues: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth NO GOOD THING: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

Wow!

One can never trust the “flesh,” his or her “natural inclinations!”

Paul goes on and on! “For the good that I would I do not: but the EVIL which I would not, that I DO.” Romans 7:19

Two verse later: “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, EVIL is present with me.” And that “evil” is housed in Paul’s old human “flesh!”

Listen to his logic! And is this any less true of you, of me? “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: BUT I SEE ANOTHER LAW IN MY MEMBERS, warring against the law of my mind, and BRINGING ME INTO CAPTIVITY to the law of sin which is in my members.” Romans 7:22-23, “members” being “body parts.”

Paul laments: “O wretched (trouble filled) man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Back to our original thought … “and such like,” (today’s Galatian Text) … Paul was absolutely compelled to write those words! Knowing himself like he did!

Yes, in every saint, the battle continues … and will do so … until we get those glorified bodies some day! “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the FLESH the law of sin.” Romans 7:25

Friend, bother or sister in Christ … do not every think you are immune to these horrible “sins of the flesh,” or “works of the flesh!” Be on constant guard!

In fact, this little nugget of wisdom clearly applies. “For we which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus (saved people), and HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH.” Philippians 3:3, never trust the flesh!

Truth be told … there is only One Answer to this “works of the flesh” problem in the life of the child of God … and He is God Himself, the precious Holy Spirit indwelling us and leading us to victory!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

One more lesson about these “things,” these 17 sins of the flesh, tomorrow morning, the Lord willing. Then, we shall look at the Holy Spirit, His “fruit” in our lives!

A very bright change!

 

The list (Galatians 5:19-21) contains seventeen items, sins! (At least, in the King James Bible it does. Although not that many in a number, in most, of the current English Translations.)

One of Paul’s longest compilations, anywhere! (And he is a list-maker!)

And today we study the ultimate (final) transgression, “revellings.” (In the lovely Latin language, “ultimare” is an infinitive which means “to come to an end.”)

“Komos” in Greek, grammatically means a “carousal,” but once in the New Testament a “riot” even! Except in our Text here the word is plural! Many wild parties!

Here’s the technical (cultural) definition for “komos” … “A nocturnal and riotous procession of half drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade through the streets of a city with torches and music in honor of Bacchus or some other (false) deity.”

Then the word came to mean: “Feasts and drinking parties that are protracted (continued) till late at night and indulge in all sorts of revelry.”

“Komos” is derived from the Greek verb “keimai,” meaning “to lay down,” but not simply as a “normal” night of sleep. But in a sinful way, harking back to “sexual promiscuity” I’m afraid. (Sins with which this list began!)

Here is Paul using the word (“komos”) the only other time it flows from his pen, at least in the Bible. “Romans 13:13 … “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in RIOTING (komos) and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” Actually this short verse includes four of the seventeen sins listed in our Text Paragraph! (Only aberrant “chambering” is missing from the Galatians 5:19-21 litany.)

Then Peter uses “komos” once, in 1st Peter 4:3.

That’s it, only 3 times in all 260 chapters of the New Testament!

One ancient source translates “komos” as “debauchery,” that bad!

This sinning individual likely has his conscience irreparably seared … to the point NOTHING is wrong to him any longer! No restraints! Anything, everything is acceptable!

Bordering on what Paul further calls a “reprobate!”

Today’s term for this?

“A party animal,” perhaps.

Folks, this list has come “full circle!”

To the point I am prepared to say … that all these sins of the flesh probably stem from a person’s inner sensual cravings! Of the lower (“Adamic sin nature” here) propensity to “do what feels good” in every area of life. The path of least resistance! Total passivity to the devil, the world and the flesh!

No wonder the Presence of God the Holy Spirit is essential in our lives!

The Holy Spirit who so OPPOSES (lusts against) these sins of the flesh.

Praise God HE is here!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell