Galatians 5:20

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Confirming Galatians 5:18 by the contrariety between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. MANIFEST - the hidden fleshly principle betrays itself palpably by its works: these leave no doubt whether men "are under the law" or not, as "the fruit of the Spirit" evidences that against it and its bearers "there is no law." WHICH ARE THESE, [ hatina (G3748)] - 'such as,' for instance, "adultery." So C G f g: omitted in 'Aleph (') A B, Vulgate. FORNICATION - a heinous sin in the Christian view; an act indifferent in the pagan ...

16-26 If it be our care to act under the guidance and power of the blessed Spirit, though we may not be freed from the stirrings and oppositions of the corrupt nature which remains in us, it shall not have dominion over us. Believers are engaged in a conflict, in which they earnestly desire that grace may obtain full and speedy victory. And those who desire thus to give themselves up to be led by the Holy Spirit, are not under the law as a covenant of works, nor exposed to its awful curse. Their hatred of sin, and desires after holiness, show that they have a part in the salvation of the gospel. The works of the flesh are many and manifest. And these sins will shut men out of heaven. Yet what numbers, calling themselves Christians, live in these, and say they hope for heaven! The fruits of the Spirit, or of the renewed nature, which we are to do, are named. And as the apostle had chiefl...

Verse 20. _IDOLATRY_] Worshipping of idols; frequenting idol festivals; all the rites of Bacchus, Venus, Priapus, c., which were common among the Gentiles. _WITCHCRAFT_] φαρμακεια, from φαρμακον, _a drug_ or _poison_ because in all spells and enchantments, whether true or false, _drugs_ were employed. As _a drug_, φαρμακον, might either be the means of _removing_ an evil, or _inflicting_ one, etymologists have derived it from φερον ακος, _bringing ease_, or φερον αχος, _bringing pain_. So spells and incantations were used sometimes for the _restoration_ of the health; at others, for the _destruction_ of an enemy. Sometimes, these φαρμακα were used to procure _love_; at other times, to produce _hatred_. _HATRED_] εχθραι. _Aversions_ and _antipathies_, when opposed to _brotherly love_ and _kindness_. Varia

WITCHCRAFT - Pretending to witchcraft. The apostle does not vouch for the actual existence of witchcraft; but he says that what was known as such was a proof of the corrupt nature of man, and was one of the fruits of it. No one can doubt it. It was a system of imposture and falsehood throughout; and nothing is a better demonstration of the depravity of the human heart than an extended and systematized attempt to impose on mankind. The word which is used here (φαρμακεία pharmakeia, whence our word “pharmacy,” from φάρμακον pharmakon, a medicine, poison, magic potion) means, properly, the preparing and giving of medicine. Then it means also poisoning, and also magic art, or enchantment; because in savage nations pharmacy or medicine consisted much in magical incantations. Thence it means sorcery or enchantment, and it is so used uniformly

EXPOSITION GALATIANS 5:1 GALATIANS 5:2 BEHOLD, I PAUL SAY UNTO YOU (ἴδε, ἐγὼ Παῦλος λώγω ὑμῖν); _lo_,_ I Paul say unto you. _The adverbial exclamation ἴδε, found in St. Paul's writings only here (in Romans 2:17 it should be εἰ δὲ), seems to be more abrupt than ἰδού, pointing to the immense importance and yet possibly unexpected character of what follows. The Galatians might be surprised to hear it; but that which they seemed disposed to take in hand was fraught with utter ruin. "I, Paul:" he thus puts forward his personality, as solemnly gaging his whole credit and responsibility upon the truth of that which he is about

IDOLATRY,.... Which some understand of covetousness, which is so called; but rather it means the worshipping of other gods, or of graven images: WITCHCRAFT; any real or pretended league and association with the devil, seeking to converse with familiar spirits, to gain unlawful knowledge, or to do hurt to fellow creatures; which, as it is doing honour to Satan, detracts from the glory of God, and rightly follows idolatry; conjuration, soothsaying, necromancy, and all kind of magic are included and condemned hereby: HATRED: internal hatred of any man's person, even of our very enemies, is forbidden; in the original text it is "enmities": as the carnal mind is nothing else but enmity against God and Christ, against law and Gospel, and all good men, and everything that is good: VARIANCE, or "contentions"; fighting and quarrelling, by words scandalous and reproachful, what we commonly call...

Galatians 5:1. _Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage._ «You are not under the law, but under grace. Do not subject yourselves, therefore, to legal principles. Do not live as if you were working for wages, and were earning your own salvation. Do not submit yourselves to the ritual and commandments of man, which would rob you of your liberty in many ways, but having once become a free man, never again wear the chain of a slave: ‘Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.' Because you are the seed of Isaac, who was born according to the promise, you are not the children of the bondwoman, you are not Ishmaelites; therefore, as you were born free, as Christ has made you free by virtue of your new birth, stand fast in that glorious liberty.»...

GALATIANS 5:20 e;rij The Textus Receptus, following C Db, c F G K L N P most minuscules Old Latin vg goth syrh copbo _al,_ reads the plural e;reij. The earlier representatives of the Alexandrian and the Western types of text (a A B D* 1739 syrp _al_) support the singular e;rij. In later Greek both forms were pronounced alike....

III. THE WALK OF THE JUSTIFIED BELIEVER, AS NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Stand fast! Be not entangled! (Galatians 5:1)_ 2. Exhortations and the law of love. (Galatians 5:7) 3. Flesh and Spirit. (Galatians 5:16) 4. The Fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22) The first exhortation is to maintain, by faith, the liberty which is found in Christ, to stand fast in that liberty where with Christ has made the believer free and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. The believer has perfect liberty in Christ; he is absolutely dead to the law and the law

GALATIANS 5:13 TO GALATIANS 6:10. Practical appendix to the epistle; in the form of guarding the doctrine of free grace against antinomian abuse....