Galatians 5:19-21

People *sin when they live by their own desires. These *sins are in 4 groups.

(1) Sex *sins. God created sex. So it is a good thing. But it is right only between a man and his wife. All other sex is wrong.

(2) *Sins about religion. The *Gentiles *worshipped false gods. The *Gentiles made *idols and they *worshipped these *idols. The *Gentiles also *worshipped evil spirits (the devil’s *angels). People tried to gain evil *spiritual power from the evil spirits. Then those people did magic against other people in order to hurt them.

(3) Social *sins. These *sins affect people’s relationships in society and in their families. These *sins also affect people in the *church.

‘They hate’ means that they are enemies. This can refer to a single person or to a group of people. When a person hates another person, they usually quarrel. When one nation hates another nation, they usually have a war.

People often want what someone else has. This can be possessions, money, authority or many other things. They want them for selfish reasons. To be ‘angry’ means to have sudden bad temper. Many people are very proud. Some people want to be leaders. If they cannot be a leader, they will often ruin the group. This happens in *churches.

(4) *Sins with alcohol and parties. This referred to ordinary parties where people drank too much alcohol. Also, the *Gentiles had such parties when they *worshipped their *idols.

There were many more *sins, but Paul did not name them all. Paul had warned the Christians in the past. He probably did that when he first taught them about Jesus Christ. When people become Christians, they learn how to live in the right way. They learn not simply to obey their natural desires. This is often difficult. But the Holy Spirit helps them. Other people may say that they are Christians. But they may always give in when they feel such desires. Those people are not real Christians. Or perhaps they are real Christians, but they are not mature enough yet. God is not the ruler of their life. So they will not receive what God has promised. This refers to what Paul explained in chapter 3.

What the Holy Spirit produces

v22-23 But this is what the Holy Spirit produces: He helps us to love people. He causes us to be happy in our spirit. He gives us *peace in our lives. We can remain patient when we have troubles. The Spirit causes us to be kind and good to other people. He helps us to be loyal to people. And he causes us to be gentle with them. He gives us the power to control our own desires. There are no laws against any of these things. v24 The people who belong to Christ Jesus have destroyed the power of their old character. It is as if their natural desires died with Jesus on the cross. This includes all that their selfish desires want to do. v25 The Holy Spirit has made us *spiritually alive. Therefore, we must let him control our lives. v26 We must not be proud. We must not annoy each other. And we must not be jealous of each other.