Galatians 5:16-21
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Looking at the Fruit of the Spirit — we also need to look at the desires of the flesh. And Paul clearly states that these two are in direct opposition to one another. There actually is a war going on inside of you. How does one fight this war? How do you properly engage in battle in your internal self?
Let’s look at those desires of the flesh. First up is the Greek word porneia — from which we get the English word pornography and pornographic which is translated sexual immorality. This also includes fornication, and adultery. Basically looking for sex in any form outside of the covenant of marriage. Jesus took this to an extreme in Matthew 5:28. Obviously this doesn’t let the women off the hook with eyes of lust, but men are definitely more challenged with this one.
Next on the list is impurity. This Greek word has two possible areas, physical and moral. The physical side deals with uncleanness in all its forms, and on the moral side it has to do with lustful and extreme wasteful excess.
Sensuality deals with improper use of females and males in acts of lust that are shameful. This also includes clothing worn to spur sexual feelings and movements to attract unlawful sexual acts. We seem to have forgotten this one as ‘bad’ in our current culture.
Idolatry has to do with worship of false gods. The Greek word Mammon from which we get the word money is one of them. This includes feasts and celebrations to other gods.
This next one is interesting considering the current Government advice. The Greek word is pharmakeia from which we get our word pharmacy and all its derivatives. Basically .. drugs. Here it is translated sorcery. Maybe we should check with the Holy Spirit before ingesting or inserting ANY drug into our system / body / His Temple? Maybe we look to pharmakeia to neutralize our fears and pains instead of taking them to God first and following His instructions?
Again another in our headlines, enmity. What is it? Hatred, hostility, and alienation. Have the evil forces been pushing divisions through enmities? Out of which we get all kinds of racism. That we hate and are hostile against those because of the melanin either more or the lack thereof within an individual. It’s the acts of alienating those different from yourself.
Strife. The affection for dispute. Boy don’t we see this with the rise of social media. Causing strife and a quarrel for just the fun of it.
Jealousy and rivalry. Do I really need to explain this one? Pretty obvious, but oh so prevalent in our culture today.
Outbursts of anger and wrath. This is happening with greater and greater frequency right now. Road rage is a small example. This is anger unleashed. Definitely NOT under self control.
Contentions and rivalries. This has to do with seeking your own gain without any regard for the strife is causes. This can also include bribing people to be on ‘your’ side. Coercion is also part of this … action.
Dissensions. This is using divisions to wrongly separate people into pointless groundless factions. This is also going on everywhere today in our culture. Some people are cheering for this to happen more.
Divisions. The Greek word here is hairesis meaning a self-chosen opinion, a religious or philosophical sect, discord or contention. Basically what we see in almost every church denomination. It also promotes the idea that there is subjective truth. So many sects in society are now acting very religious in their beliefs.
Envy. This isn’t even talked about today but the act is defined as the miserable trait of being glad when someone experiences misfortune or pain. This refers to the jealous envy that negatively “energizes” someone with an embittered mind. Unfortunately we are seeing more and more of this.
Drunkenness. Simply meaning purposely going so far as to intoxication. There are many things now beyond alcohol that can also cause intoxication.
Orgies. Carnal. This is a riotous party (drunken feast) which hosted unbridled sexual immorality; hence, revelings (debauched “partying”). The original meaning ‘a carousal,’ such as a party of revelers parading the streets, or revels held in religious ceremonies, wild, furious, and ecstatic. Sound familiar?
This is the desires of the flesh. Do you see now why the fruit of the Spirit is in complete opposition to these things?
These things we must battle within ourselves with the close intimacy and instructions of the Holy Spirit.
You can’t battle unless you can identify the enemy or problem within you.
Be aware of the battlefield you are on and the battle within you.