Galatians 5:19-21

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.

These verses are often quoted to mean that either you can lose your salvation or that you were never saved to begin with, but one should be quick to see that Paul never said that. We live in a Christianity today where all the focus is upon us and what we do or do not do. This is why believers today live in frustration, defeat and doubt.

Is Paul warning the Galatians that if they were to live in the sins listed then they would not inherit the kingdom of God? My question would be as to why Paul would warn the Galatians of these sins when they were not even guilty of them?? The Corinthians clearly were guilty of such sins but not the Galatians. They were striving to be made perfect in the flesh by human efforts:

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

(Gal. 3:3).

I personally believe that the Galatians would have been well received in most churches today especially many fundamental churches and their heavy emphasis upon rules that can never curb one's appetite for sin. We would judge people as saved today simply because they were trying so hard to abstain from the sins of the flesh. It amazes me as to how no religious denomination will confess that they are guilty of Galatianism. They will simply tell you that the sin of Galatia was their adding law to salvation and that is not true as you can see in the above verse. Their sin was adding law for spiritual sanctification.

So why did Paul tell these Galatians verses 19-21? The answer is found in verse 16:

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

These Galatians were adding works to their faith in attempts to keep from sin. Paul was now telling them that if you want to keep from those sins then you must walk in the Spirit and simply supplied the various sins of the flesh.

This is a verse that people have backwards today. People are trying to abstain from the sins of the flesh in order to walk in the Spirit. They believe that they cannot bear fruit if they do not abstain from sin. So instead of walking in the Spirit to keep from sin, people keep from sin to walk in the Spirit and they have it reversed.

Most churches teach that if you are saved then you will bear fruit. I can assure you that as long as you are striving to keep from sin by human effort then you will never bear fruit. You will bear the fruit of pride and self righteousness but that is about all. I read in one book by a popular author and pastor that we should mimic the fruits of the Spirit because that can help such fruits to actually become part of our lives. Where does the Holy Spirit require our help in Scripture? Walking in the Spirit is not by any effort whatsoever but is done by simple faith.

Paul said to the Galatians in 3:2-3,5:

This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Paul said to the Colossians in 2:6:

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him."

How does one receive Christ? By faith apart from works. Then how is one to grow? By faith apart from works. People believe that we are to live by strict rules and make strong resolves to stop sinning and that God will assist them. They basically have the attitude that the world says that "God helps those that help themselves" and this is wrong. Our growth isn't 99% faith and 1% works. There are thick books to teach you how to properly repent when you sin so that your mourning dearly over them for hours or days until you punished yourself enough will probably keep you they say from doing that sin again. Being sin and work oriented will actually keep you from spiritual victory. Our victory in the Christian walk is all by faith 100%. Christ is our victory! We are to abide in the Vine and receive all from Him by resting in Him. The victory comes by faith as we look to Christ who is our victory. 1st Corinthians 15:57 says:

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God gives us the victory through Christ. We receive Christ through faith and not by works and we receive victory through Christ and not by human efforts or law.

The problem with "trying" not to sin is that we are resorting to our own efforts. I have seen people repeatedly rededicate their lives to Christ in walking an aisle in church. They pray harder and read more Bible. Such people are often instructed to join a ministry and witness to the lost to find the victory that they need but it never works. Placing yourself under strict rules will never keep you from the sins of the flesh and that is what Paul was teaching them in Galatians. Look at Colossians 2:20-23:

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,(Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

Verse 23 ends with "not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh" and some might not understand what exactly that means. The NIV says it clearer as it translates those words as "but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." If you are trying to abstain from sins through rules and human effort then such might have an appearance of humility but such efforts "lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."

It amazes me how two individuals can see Scripture so differently. A grace oriented person does not see threatenings and wrath to us believers but only a law abiding person does. Law oriented people view Scripture as a bunch of warnings and threats where many of them do not have assurance of salvation because they fear that tomorrow they can prove to be a reprobate or unsaved as they put it. A law oriented person will see that God's law is still required not for salvation but for sanctification. A law oriented person will see even praise and thanksgiving as a requirement that they must do or God will be sorely displeased with them. A law oriented person quits sins because of possible consequences but a grace oriented person quits sins because that is what grace teaches them. A law oriented person believes that they have to make Christ number one in their lives but a grace oriented person sees Christ as their life as you cannot make Him any more than what He actually is. A law oriented person tries to be complete in Christ while the grace oriented person knows that they are complete in Him. A law oriented person sees the verse that says that those that love Him will keep His commandments and will strive to keep those commandments to hopefully prove to Christ that they love Him while the grace oriented person serves because of love. A law oriented persons service is done by forcing themselves to do right, but a grace oriented person service should be natural because of such great love the Father lavished on them. A law oriented person will see verses that says to give thanks in all things as a condition for blessings and spiritual success while the grace oriented person simply does it because it brings the believer great delight to give thanks to his heavenly Father. A law oriented person serves a strict and hard probation officer while a grace oriented person serves a God of love. A law oriented person serves a performance and behavioral oriented god, but a grace oriented person serves a God that no longer beholds them in the sins they commit but in the righteousness that God imputes. A law oriented person sees our position in Christ as relating to our walk, but a grace oriented person sees the difference between their position and their walk. A law oriented person is judgmental and critical of others. A law oriented person has no patience for those that seem careless and sinful but a grace oriented person doesn't seek to make quick judgments even though they are considered to be a friend to sinners as Jesus was by the law oriented minds in His day. Only a law oriented person will not allow for a carnal Christian while a grace oriented person believes God's word and knows that there are such people that wallow in sin that are saved but also knows that we are saved apart from any works and that includes future ones as well. A law oriented person is never satisfied and often reads many books instead of Scripture to fill the void that is in their life while a grace oriented person loves the simplicity that is in Christ. A law oriented person reads their Bible out of duty, but the grace oriented person reads their Bible to learn more about this God that loved them dearly.

Galatians is dealing with and condemning those that are law oriented. If you are not saved then you are still in the flesh. It does not matter if you are morally upright and haven't committed any of the listed sins there as that is not an exhaustive list anyways. The fact that you are in the flesh is the only reason that you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Those that are saved are no longer viewed under condemnation. Those that are saved can only keep from the sins of the sinful nature by walking in the Spirit. We are not viewed in the sins listed simply because we have been crucified from those things. You might be practicing such sins but it is a contradiction to who you are in Christ and this is how Paul everywhere deals with believers. A proper understanding of sin and who you are now in Christ ought to motivate you to live according to who you now are. This is why Paul elsewhere said:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Verse 24 of chapter 5 says:

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

This is a positional truth and not a reference to our daily walk. You might be saved and a practicing drunk by man's standards, but God does not behold you in those sins. God is not a behavior oriented God and demanding that we get our act in gear before He will do anything for us. God is interested in changing your heart first. Let's be honest here, if Galatians 5:19-21 is teaching that those that are caught practicing sins whether saved or unsaved then it should be clear that a person is saved by works. It should be clear that if you stop practicing then the kingdom of heaven is yours. What would you do with a person that says to you, "These things I have kept from since my youth up"?? The fact is that they have yet to receive Christ and are still in the flesh. Only those that are Christ's have crucified the flesh and for them to do such things is only a contradiction of how God sees them in Christ. The saved are dead to those things and cannot be brought under the guilt of any. Only a law oriented person will be bothered thinking that he doesn't have to first do something about his life to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Why would a believer practice such sins? It would make no sense as your position is no longer those things in Christ, but we can also be sure that practicing those things has no relation to our position. A queen that has all the riches of the land would live a life contrary to who she is and all that has been given to her if she decided to live in prostitution to make money. We have been crucified to the sins of the flesh and they have no part of a believer whatsoever because God is no longer dealing with us in our sins as law oriented people think. Romans 6:3-6 says:

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Many have erroneously altered the verses above to mean water baptism when no water is mentioned in any chapter. Water was never a picture of a grave. People were buried above ground in a tomb, and I do not believe we can claim that this is a symbol of a watery grave here when water never pictured a grave ever. This verse is telling us that we have been placed into the death of Christ. Our old man died with Christ and is buried in a tomb somewhere to never be raised again. We now have been raised in the new man and now should walk in him because our old man was crucified. When our old man was crucified then you can be sure that the past tense of the word always refers to an act of God apart from man and his works.

When someone says that a saved person will bear fruit then be sure that they will not have a single verse to back that up. Paul never once said that a believer WILL bear fruit or do good works. Look at verses above again where it says, "that we SHOULD walk in newness of life" and "that henceforth we SHOULD not serve sin." If a believer cannot habitually sin then the verse should say, "that henceforth we will not serve sin." Paul would not also say, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies" but if habitual sins are impossible then sin simply cannot reign period. According to Lordship Salvation Jesus must reign in your lives or you cannot be saved when no verse EVER states that, but Scripture teaches that Christ is our life when we get saved regardless of lifestyle. You can't make Christ something other than He already is. However, Scripture teaches the obvious and that is that sin can reign in your life.

Look at the following verses:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we SHOULD walk in them.

However, law oriented people read that as saying that God ordained that we will walk in them.

What does grace teach us:

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we SHOULD live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.

(Titus 2:11-13).

Will a believer bear fruit? He should and it is entirely logical, but I see nothing that says that it is automatic and guaranteed. Does Paul ever say that believers WILL and not SHOULD keep from sins if they are saved? Yes, look at Galatians 5:16 again:

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye SHALL NOT fulfil the lust of the flesh.

It is clear that Paul can say the words "shall not" when it comes to our walk. The only time he says it is when a believer simply walks in the Spirit and not to those that simply are saved. Walking in the Spirit is a command to the already saved people and is not given to those that are unsaved. A believer should do good works and only the believer that walks in the Spirit "SHALL NOT" fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Galatians 5:19-21 is not a warning to believers but a list of what the sins of the unsaved are that they practice and are by nature and verse 16 is how we can avoid such sins. Paul said that we have been past tense crucified to those things and are no longer under condemnation. Paul's point was that if we are to avoid these sins then you will not be able to do it by human efforts but only by walking in the Spirit. If you are doing it by human efforts then you are clearly doing it in flesh that God will NEVER be pleased with. Your hard attempts will get you no kudos from God. The Galatians were dealt more severely who were striving to be made perfect in the flesh than the Corinthians that were openly living in the sins of the flesh.

If you want to keep from sin then the answer is not found in efforts and law keeping. If you are refraining from sin by everything you got in you then you can be sure that it is your unpleasing to God flesh that is behind it. We grow by resting and not by law keeping. If you want victory then it is found by walking in the Spirit. You will experience transformation as you focus on who you are in Christ and this involves looking entirely away from yourself, feelings, law and so on. The Scriptures do not say, "Be ye saved and you will experience a transformation in your daily walk" but:

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The same Greek word for transformed is found in 2nd Corinthians 3:18:

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

If you want to experience a fruitful walk with Christ then get your eyes on Him. Don't focus on all the sins that you want to avoid that usually leads to rule keeping but focus upon Christ and you will be changed into the very same image as Him. Don't refrain from sin to walk in the Spirit but walk in the Spirit to refrain from sin. This is done by faith and not by human efforts. The battle is in the mind and change your thinking and make it in line with what God says concerning you then it will affect your walk. Keep your eyes on Christ who is our life and victory!

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

* Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.