NOW THE WORKS OF THE FLESH ARE EVIDENT, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21, NKJV)
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I Have Seen the Enemy and He is Us - Part 1
Pauline lists in the Bible are immensely instructive, and there are many. None of them should be taken lightly. Even catalogs like the first half of Romans 16 where Paul greets by name some 30 beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord can be spiritually nourishing if the time is taken to dig deeper. (Hint: research the meaning of those names and in what order they are presented and you will be blessed with the cleverness of our God in arranging even seemingly random circumstances, events and people.)
The list above is very important in terms of objectifying God's view of natural man, and works done in human strength, cited in the first verse as "works of the flesh". It's a long list, not easy to memorize (at least for me). I think that's because, in contrast to many other such inventories, this one contains words that are dissonant and ugly, rather than lyrical. They do not flow melodically, but are choppy, harsh, guttural and base; so unlike the opposite list later on in the passage about the fruit of the Spirit. And I think that discord is intentional and an integral part of the message. Each sharply summarized evil hits the brain like two adjacent piano keys banged loudly together, cringing the ears and mind simultaneously.
I score higher on this list than I even want to think about, and the contrast between these characteristics and the 17 attributes of agape love in 1 Corinthians 13 could not be more stark. Hence, they are "evident", as Paul writes.
In the New Testament, the word flesh used in this context is from the Greek, sarx, meaning the "animal nature of man" or "the natural man". Biblically, it is man without God. Before the transformation that occurs at the moment of salvation, that is all we are, sarx, fleshly, carnal, spiritually dead, ruled by the lusts of the flesh regardless of how cleverly we might disguise it. After salvation, a war is enjoined within us, flesh against the regenerated spirit, old man against new, self against God. And the odd thing is that until that war commences we are already defeated, and once it begins we are guaranteed to win… eventually. Complete victory will not be until either we depart and be with Christ or He comes for His church.
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I Have Seen the Enemy and He is Us - Part 1
Pauline lists in the Bible are immensely instructive, and there are many. None of them should be taken lightly. Even catalogs like the first half of Romans 16 where Paul greets by name some 30 beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord can be spiritually nourishing if the time is taken to dig deeper. (Hint: research the meaning of those names and in what order they are presented and you will be blessed with the cleverness of our God in arranging even seemingly random circumstances, events and people.)
The list above is very important in terms of objectifying God's view of natural man, and works done in human strength, cited in the first verse as "works of the flesh". It's a long list, not easy to memorize (at least for me). I think that's because, in contrast to many other such inventories, this one contains words that are dissonant and ugly, rather than lyrical. They do not flow melodically, but are choppy, harsh, guttural and base; so unlike the opposite list later on in the passage about the fruit of the Spirit. And I think that discord is intentional and an integral part of the message. Each sharply summarized evil hits the brain like two adjacent piano keys banged loudly together, cringing the ears and mind simultaneously.
I score higher on this list than I even want to think about, and the contrast between these characteristics and the 17 attributes of agape love in 1 Corinthians 13 could not be more stark. Hence, they are "evident", as Paul writes.
In the New Testament, the word flesh used in this context is from the Greek, sarx, meaning the "animal nature of man" or "the natural man". Biblically, it is man without God. Before the transformation that occurs at the moment of salvation, that is all we are, sarx, fleshly, carnal, spiritually dead, ruled by the lusts of the flesh regardless of how cleverly we might disguise it. After salvation, a war is enjoined within us, flesh against the regenerated spirit, old man against new, self against God. And the odd thing is that until that war commences we are already defeated, and once it begins we are guaranteed to win… eventually. Complete victory will not be until either we depart and be with Christ or He comes for His church.
