After pouring into the
Galatian church members about why they should not follow after the
doctrine of the false teaching Judaizers, Paul the apostle has listed
the manifestations of the flesh nature. There is a battle going on
between the spirit of God within them and the natural nature of their
flesh. He told them if they would walk in the spirit they would not
fulfill the lusts of the flesh. In chapter five and verse twenty-one
Paul finishes his list of the characteristics of the flesh nature and
tells the results of doing these things. He wrote:
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.
We
learned about “Envyings”, “Murders” and “Drunkenness” in
yesterday's blog, and today Paul lists “Revellings”. The
word used for “revellings” is “komos” and
means, “to revel” or “carousal”. The idea is to have a
drunken spree like when intoxicated people parade in the streets. It
is partying and indulging in revelry like those who carouse late into
the night. These “revellings” are just another way the flesh
manifests itself.
Paul
ends his daunting list with, “and such like:” Just in case
there is something that Paul did not mention, he decided to include
any activity that is like unto the ones he already wrote. We might
agree that he was rather thorough in his efforts to tell the
Galatians the nature of the flesh, but just in case there might be a
behavior that a person could say was not on the list, he wrote, “and
such like.”
After
concluding his list, Paul made a turn in his writing to the results
of these fleshly manifestations. He said, “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.” At this
point Paul should have everyone's attention. If there were no penalty
for the fleshly manifestations, there might be unbridled use of them,
however, Paul reminds the Galatians that what he is telling them now
he has told them before, that “they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.” This is the danger of living
with the fleshly manifestations. There is an eternal penalty
involved, “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Sometimes people live as though there is no result pending for their
actions, but Paul lets everyone know that the retribution for not
dealing with the flesh is not being a part of the kingdom of God.
With
this terrible warning, perhaps we should show Paul's list once again,
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 have also told [you] in time past, that they which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
And may we all bow our heads and hearts before the Lord
Jesus and ask Him to keep us from these fleshly works that we may
inherit His kingdom some day.
Next time we will see what Paul has to say about the fruit of the
spirit, so read ahead, and let us join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look for
the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation
to Generation” in all major
bookstore
sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to
e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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