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ENVYING, DRUNKENNESS,
CAROUSING, AND THINGS LIKE THESE, OF WHICH I FOREWARN YOU, JUST AS I
HAVE FOREWARNED YOU, THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS WILL NOT
INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD:
(Drunkenness - Deuteronomy 21:20; Luke 21:34; Romans 13:13; 1Corinthians
5:11; 6:10; Ephesians 5:18; 1Thessalonians 5:7 )(Carousing - 1Peter 4:3
) (That those - Isaiah 3:11; Romans 2:8,9; 8:13; 1Corinthians 6:9,10;
Ephesians 5:5,6; Colossians 3:6; Revelation 21:27; Revelation 22:15 )
(Inherit - Matthew 25:34; 1Corinthians 6:10; 15:50; Ephesians 5:5) Note:
Hold mouse pointer over underlined links for pop up of Scripture (which
stays open and can be copied).
S Lewis Johnson remarks that
the deeds of the flesh...
are the evidence that the life
is not under the control of the Spirit. Where these things are the
individual's pattern of life, there is no evidence that they
belong to the holy Triune God.
It is almost impossible to
classify the works of the flesh. The words used to describe the works
far outnumber the words used for the virtues of the fruit of the Spirit.
Someone once said that it was a proof of our fallen state that our
vocabularies are much richer in words for sin than in words for the
graces. There are sex sins , social sins, and spiritual sins. (Galatians
5:13-26 Freedom in Christ.)
C Norman Bartlett comments
that the word practice...
means, the habitual practice of such
things. The Bible bases its estimate of a person's character, not upon
his infrequent, out-of-the-ordinary actions, but upon his habitual ones.
To live in sin as a settled choice and principle of life is a far more
serious matter than to fall into sins through weakness and carelessness.
Far from loving and clinging to sin, the born-again child of God loathes
and shrinks from it as from deadly poison; and when he does yield to
temptation, he is in misery until he has confessed his sin and found
forgiveness through the merits of the shed blood of his Redeemer:
But if we walk in the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make
him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the
propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins
of the whole world" (1John 1:7, 8, 9, 2:1, 2:2)
And as for the unregenerate man, even
if he were admitted to heaven at death, he would be wretched beyond
words in an atmosphere and environment so utterly alien to his
unredeemed nature. As well expect a fish to live on dry land as to
imagine for a moment that a sinner could ever be happy in Heaven. Since
everlastingness is an indestructible property of the soul in the image
of God, the only possible alternative to eternal fellowship with GOD is
eternal separation from GOD - and that is hell. (C.
Norman Bartlett: Galatians and You: Studies in the Epistle of Paul to
the Galatians, 1948)
Sir Walter Scott put it
this way
Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!
Spurgeon comments...
Paul never said, nor ever
thought of saying, that s man might live in sin, that grace might
abound. No, no; these evil things must be given up. Christ has come to
save us from every evil work. And this is the salvation that we preach,—
not simply salvation from hell, but salvation from sin, which is the
very fire that has kindled the infernal flame. But how different from
all this evil is the fruit of the Spirit!
Observe that the gospel gives no
toleration to sin. Some people tell us that the doctrine of faith is not
practical, but they know better although they say that. They have only
to observe those who are actuated by the principle of faith, and they
will find them abounding in good works, while the men who are swayed by
the principle of law talk a great deal about works, but have little
enough of them in practice. The gospel denounces sin, ay, and kills it;
it gives us the force with which we fight against it and overcome it.
Envying (5355)
(phthonos)
describes pain felt and malignity conceived at the sight of excellence
or happiness. It means not just wanting what another person has, but
also resenting that person for having it. It is an attitude of ill-will
and jealousy that leads to division and strife and even murder. When we
envy, we cannot bear to see the prosperity of others, because we
ourselves feel continually wretched.
In Greek mythology, phthonus
was the personification of jealousy and envy, especially in matters of
love. Phthonus was said to have married many different women and killed
most of them because he suspected that they cheated on him. So much for
the "holiness" of these man made gods, who were really no gods at all.Envy is a sin that carries
its own reward for it guarantees its own frustration and disappointment.
By definition, the envious person cannot be satisfied with what he has
and will always crave for more. His evil desires and pleasures are
insatiable, and he cannot abide any other person’s having something that
he himself does not have or having more of something than he himself
has.
As lust is directed toward a specific object, so envy is
directed toward a specific person. (cp Mt 27:18!)
Vine says that
envy differs from jealousy
in that the former desires merely to deprive another of what he has,
whereas the latter desires as well to have the same, or a similar, thing
for itself." On this account envy is said to be “as the rottenness of
the bones (Pr 14:30).
Thus Trench calls envy
“the meaner sin” of the two.
Barclay adds that
there is the envy which is
essentially a grudging thing. It looks at a fine person, and is not so
much moved to aspire to that fineness, as to resent it. It is the most
warped and twisted of human emotions.... a mean word. Euripides called
it
the greatest of all diseases among men.
The essence of it is that
it does not describe the spirit which desires, nobly or ignobly, to have
what someone else has. It describes the spirit which grudges the fact
that the other person has these things at all. It does not so much want
the things for itself; it merely wants to take them from the other.
The Stoics defined it as
grief at someone else’s
good.
Basil called it
grief at your neighbor's good
fortune.
It is the quality, not so much
of the jealous, but rather of the embittered mind. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
F. B. Meyer held meetings
in Northfield, Mass., and large crowds thronged to hear him. Then the
great British Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan came to Northfield and
people were soon flocking to hear his brilliant expositions of
scripture. Meyer confessed at first he was envious. He said,
The only way I can conquer my
feelings is to pray for Morgan daily, which I do.
Dwight L. Moody once told
the fable of an eagle who was envious of another that could fly better
than he could. One day the bird saw a sportsman with a bow and arrow and
said to him, “I wish you would bring down that eagle up there.” The man
said he would if he had some feathers for his arrow. So the jealous
eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it didn’t
quite reach the rival bird because he was flying too high. The first
eagle pulled out another feather, then another—until he had lost so many
that he himself couldn’t fly. The archer took advantage of the
situation, turned around, and killed the helpless bird. Moody made this
application: if you are envious of others, the one you will hurt the
most by your actions will be yourself.
Matthew Henry comments that
malice and envy are
both roots of bitterness, whence many
evils spring: evil thoughts and speeches, tongues set on fire of hell,
detracting from and impairing the just and due praises of others. Their
words are swords, wherewith they slay the good name and honour of their
neighbour. This was the sin of Satan, and of Cain who was of that evil
one, and slew his brother; for wherefore slew he him, but of this envy
and malice, because his own works were evil, and his brother's
righteous? These were some of the sins in which we lived in our natural
state.
Drunkenness
(3178)
(methe)
(ISBE
entry) is the Greek word most often was used of intentional
and habitual intoxication. It is worth noting that in two of the three
NT uses (Gal 5:21; 1 Pet 4:3) carousing and drunkenness are
found side-by-side, which is not surprising to see one sin begat
another.
Barclay comments that...
Drunkenness in the ancient world this
was not a common vice. The Greeks drank more wine than they did milk;
even children drank wine. But they drank it in the proportion of three
parts of water to two of wine. Greek and Christian alike would have
condemned drunkenness as a thing which turned a man into a beast.
(Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
The TDNT has this note on the
word group (methe, methuo, methusko = to get drunk)...
In 1Thes 5:6 Paul warns believers, as
those who belong to the new aeon, to be vigilant and sober; drunkenness
belongs to the night. In the parable in Mt 24:45ff. the bad steward, not
living in eschatological tension, gives way to selfishness and hedonism,
drinking with the drunkards. In 1Cor 11:21 the Corinthians disrupt the
fellowship of the Lord's Supper; some are hungry while the wealthy are
drunk. Unlike the feasts of Dionysus, the Lord's Supper is no place for
intoxication. Intoxication is the direct opposite of spiritual drink.
Thus Peter in Acts 2:15 resists strongly the accusation of drunkenness,
and Paul in Eph 5:18 contrasts orgiastic enthusiasm with the infilling
of the Spirit that comes to expression in praise, thanksgiving, and love
(vv. 19ff.). (Kittel,
G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament. Eerdmans)
Carousing (2970)
(komos)
originally referred to a band of friends who accompanied a victor in a
military engagement or athletic contest on his way home, singing with
rejoicing and praises to the victor. But the word "degenerated:" until
it came to mean "carousal"
or a noisy, nocturnal and riotous procession of half drunken revelers
and frolicsome fellows who after supper paraded through the streets at
night with torches and music in honor of Bacchus or some other deity,
singing and playing before houses of male and female friends (and
causing a major public disturbance). Hence
komos generally refers to feasts
and drinking parties that are protracted till late at night and indulge
in
revelry.
F F Bruce
writes that...
W. M. Ramsay (Galatians, 453) reminds
us that among the Greeks ‘Komos, the Revel, was made a god, and his
rites were carried on quite systematically, and yet with all the
ingenuity and inventiveness of the Greek mind, which lent perpetual
novelty and variety to the reveling. The Komos was the most striking
feature in Greek social life.’ (Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the
Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B.
Eerdmans Pub. Co. 1982)
Peter reminds believers that...
1 Peter 4 :3
For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the
desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts,
drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable
idolatries.
Barclay
writes that komos...
describes the kind of revelry which
lowers a man’s self and is a nuisance to others...
A komos was a band of friends
who accompanied a victor of the games after his victory. They danced and
laughed and sang his praises. It also described the bands of the
devotees of
Bacchus,
god of wine. It describes what in regency England would have been called
a rout. It means unrestrained revelry, enjoyment that has degenerated
into license. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press
Things like
these (5108)
(toioutos) means such as these or of such a kind (as the sins he
has just mentioned). This phrase implies that the list is not complete. In Romans Paul says fallen
men become literally "inventors of evil"! (see note
Romans 1:30)
Forewarn (4302)
(prolego
from pró = before +
lego = to say) means literally to say or tell beforehand (in advance
and so to predict), to foretell or to forewarn (the idea is the to warn
in advance). Forewarned is forearmed.
In an ancient Greek secular use of
prolego we read
Gaius, an attorney, before his
death expresses his thoughts in an epitaph for his tomb
Practice
(4238)(prasso)
means to be occupied with, to accomplish or to practice. The idea is to
perform repeatedly or habitually and thus describes repetition or
continuous action.
Paul uses the
present tense
which describes the
practice as habitual, as one's lifestyle or bent of life. If one of the
sins in this list is your lifestyle you need to examine yourself to
determine whether there is evidence that you are genuinely saved. In
this case the adage does not hold - practice does not make perfect!
Eadie explains that...
They prove by their perseverance in
such practices that they are not led by the Spirit; that they are not
justified through faith; that they are not children, and therefore not
heirs of the promise... Heaven, according to the popular adage, is a
prepared place for a prepared people. The kingdom of Christ exists on
earth, with Him as its Head and Defence, and only those who are
qualified, through a change inwrought and sustained by His Spirit, are
admitted into it in its ultimate and glorious form in heaven. The
inheritor of the kingdom must be brought into congenial harmony with its
occupations and enjoyments. They “which do such things” prove their want
of meetness “for the inheritance of the saints in light,” and therefore
cannot enter it; it has no attraction for them, and they could find no
enjoyment in it. See (Eadie,
John: Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians)
Wayne Barber
explains that...
when you become a
Christian, something changes. You stop chasing sin. Sin starts chasing
you. It doesn’t mean you can’t fall in one of those areas, but it means
you cannot pursue it and claim to know Jesus Christ. The seed of God
inside of you will not let that take place .
You’ve got to
remember, when you receive Christ it is not some religious insurance
policy, it is a heart change. The
Spirit
of the living God comes inside of you. That doesn’t mean that a person
cannot have tendencies and weaknesses and times of wearing the wrong
garment and falling back into sins and being pulled that direction, but he cannot
habitually pursue it anymore and call himself a Christian. (Ephesians 5:6-7: Don't Be Deceived)
Will
not inherit the kingdom of God - This is another way of saying they
are unredeemed and not saved by grace through faith in Christ. They are not regenerated or born again by the Spirit!
James Montgomery Boice writes
that...
Paul adds a solemn warning, saying
that those who habitually practice such things will never inherit God's
kingdom. This does not mean that if a Christian falls into sin through
getting drunk, or some such thing, he thereby loses his salvation. The
tense of the verb (present)
indicates a habitual continuation in fleshly sins rather than an
isolated lapse, and the point is that those who continually practice
such sins give evidence of having never received God's Spirit. When Paul
says that he warned the Galatians of this previously (presumably when he
was among them), he reveals that his preaching was never what one might
call mere evangelism but that it always contained a strong dose of the
standard of morality expected from Christians.
(Gaebelein,
F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament.
Zondervan Publishing)
Paul gives us a
brief description of the kingdom in Romans writing that...
The kingdom of God is not eating
and drinking, but
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (see note
Romans 14:17)
With this
description in mind, we must ask ourselves "What is righteousness?". The
short answer is the behavior which is acceptable to God and is in
keeping with what God is in His holy character. Rightness means to be as
something or someone should be. In short, the righteousness of God is
all that God is, all that He commands, all that He demands, all that He
approves and all that He provides through faith in Christ, the Righteous
One. Those who continually practice these vices mentioned are practicing
unrighteousness as their lifestyle, a lifestyle which is diametrically
opposed to that which one would expect to see in a citizen of the
kingdom of God. Those who live a life of unrighteousness will be
excluded from this kingdom. Their unrighteous deeds give evidence
that they are not in Christ, but still in Adam. And since they do not...
belong to Christ then
they are
not Abraham's offspring and it follows that they are not
heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:29, cp note
Hebrews 6:12)
Inherit
(2816)
(kleronomeo from
from klêros = First a pebble,
piece of wood used in casting lots as in Acts 1:26 then the allotted
portion or inheritance, and so a lot, heritage, inheritance + nemomai
= to possess) means to receive a share of an inheritance, inherit a
portion of property or receive a possession as gift from someone who has
died.
The idea is to
receive a share of that which
has been "allotted" to one.
Paul gives a similar
forewarning in two other epistles...
Or do you not know that the
unrighteous shall not (absolutely not) inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be
deceived (present
imperative
with a negative means "stop being deceived", implying some were being
misled); neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were
some of you; but (praise
God) you were washed, but
you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
(1 Cor 6:9, 10, 11)
Comment: Paul is not saying a
homosexual or thief cannot be saved (in fact praise God, he says some of
them were genuinely new creatures in Christ), but he is saying that a
homosexual or a thief who professes that they are "born again" and yet
fails to ever manifest any change whatsoever in their lifestyle (they
continue to actively, habitually practice their specific sin) is
deceiving themselves and is not in fact genuinely saved. Paul is not
saying a genuine believer will never fall back into their previous
lifestyle for a period of time, but he is saying that if a person is
genuinely a new creation in Christ, they will exhibit behavior which is
generally oriented toward heaven. Ryrie puts it this way "People
whose lifestyles exhibit wickedness, not fruit, show they are unsaved
and will, therefore, not inherit the kingdom of God." A T
Robertson adds that "All these will fall short of the kingdom of
God. This was plain talk to a city like Corinth. It is needed today. It
is a solemn roll call of the damned even if some of their names are on
the church roll in Corinth whether officers or ordinary members."
For this you know with
certainty, that no (absolutely no) immoral or impure person or
covetous man, who is (present
tense
= as their lifestyle) an idolater, has an inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words,
for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of
disobedience. (See notes
Ephesians 5:5;
5:6)
Comment:
Paul is saying that those who have a
lifestyle characterized by the sins just listed are unregenerate,
lost, still in their sins and destined for the Lake of fire and eternal
separation from God. The kingdom in simple terms is where Christ
and God rule as King. The unregenerate have no part in the present
invisible Kingdom nor in the future earthly kingdom of Christ. Note that
Paul is not referring to the Judgment Seat of Christ and loss of rewards
but to salvation and loss of eternal life with God. These individual may
have professed a belief in Christ but they lack the power of Christ to
enable a changed lifestyle, a change which would validate them as
possessors of Christ. Their lifestyle of sinful conduct discloses their
true character as those still in Adam and not those who are by grace
through faith now in Christ. Paul is not
saying of course that they cannot be saved but that if their salvation is genuine they will repent of these heinous
sins.
Wayne Barber comments on those
who do not have an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven noting first that
the...
word "no"
means absolutely none of any kind. They absolutely do not have an inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and of God.
What is he
saying? If you are habitually living the way Paul has just described, you
do not have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. The argument has
popped up recently in circles, can a man be a Christian and be a
practicing homosexual? Can a man be a Christian and be a habitually
practicing adulterer? No way. Let me show you something. Look at
1John
3:1-8a and see what you think.
See how great a
love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children
of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know
us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God,
and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He
appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself,
just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices
lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in
order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides
in Him sins [habitually]; no one who sins [habitually] has seen Him or
knows Him. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who
practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one
who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the
beginning.
The purpose of the
book of Ephesians is to raise people’s view of salvation. When you have a
low view of salvation, it allows for the view that you can habitually
practice these sins. When you have a high
view of salvation, it throws out this false reasoning. There is a brand new life. It
doesn’t mean you cannot sin. It does not mean you cannot struggle with a
specific sin. It does not mean that you can’t repeat that sin. But you
are miserable when you do repeat that sin because the Holy Spirit lives within you. The
Holy Spirit is there to convict you and bring you back to the Cross to
where you can repent and go on and wear that new garment.
Well, we have an
old garment (deeds of the flesh) and a new garment (fruit of the Spirit). But what does
First John say about the
one who habitually wears the old garment? The same thing Ephesians says.
He in no way has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ or of God. If
you have struggles with that, go to the Scriptures and see what it
teaches you. That is the key. Don’t argue with your experience. Go to
see what God’s Word has to say. We need a high view of salvation.
Salvation means more than just joining a church. It means that something
has happened to us and the nature of God has come into us. His Spirit
lives in us that Christ might live out His live through us.
S Lewis Johnson comments that
the deeds of the flesh...
are the evidence that the life
is not under the control of the Spirit. Where these things are the
individual's pattern of life, there is no evidence that they
belong to the holy Triune God.
It is almost impossible to
classify the works of the flesh. The words used to describe the works
far outnumber the words used for the virtues of the fruit of the Spirit.
Someone once said that it was a proof of our fallen state that our
vocabularies are much richer in words for sin than in words for the
graces. There are sex sins , social sins, and spiritual sins. (Galatians
5:13-26 Freedom in Christ.)
Beecher
wrote that...
Heaven will be
inherited by every man who has heaven in his soul: it is equally true
that there are materials enough in every man’s mind to make a hell.
D Martyn Lloyd-Jones
explains the concept of the kingdom of God (the third "component"
below corresponds to the meaning in Gal 5:21) noting that...
It means, in its essence, Christ's
rule or the sphere and realm in which He is reigning. It can be
considered in three ways as follows. Many times when He was here in the
days of His flesh our Lord said that the kingdom of heaven was already
present. Wherever He was present and exercising authority, the
kingdom of heaven was there. You remember how on one occasion, when
they charged Him with casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub, He
showed them the utter folly of that, and then went on to say, 'If I cast
out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come
unto you' (Mt 12:28). Here is the kingdom of God. His
authority, His reign was actually in practice. Then there is His phrase
when He said to the Pharisees, 'the kingdom of God is within you, or,
'the kingdom of God is among you' (NAS "is in your midst" Lk 17:21).
It was as though He were saying,
It is being manifested in your
midst. Don't say "look here" or "look there". Get rid of this
materialistic view. I am here amongst you; I am doing things. It is here.
Wherever the reign of Christ is being
manifested, the kingdom of God is there. And when He sent out His
disciples to preach, He told them to tell the cities which received them
not, 'Be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto
you.' (Lk 10:9, 11, cf Lk 19:11, 21:31)
It means that; but it also means
that the kingdom of God is present at this moment in all who are true
believers...In writing to the Colossians he gives thanks to the
Father 'who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son' (Col 1:13-note).
The 'kingdom of his dear Son' is 'the kingdom of God, it is 'the kingdom
of heaven', it is this new kingdom into which we have entered. Or,
again, in his letter to the Philippians he says, 'Our conversation is in
heaven,' or, `Our citizenship is in heaven.' We are here on earth, we
obey the powers that be, we live our lives in this way. Yes; but 'our
citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour' (Php
3:20 -note).
We who recognize Christ as our Lord, and in whose lives He is reigning
and ruling at this moment, are in the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom
of heaven is in us. We have been translated into the 'kingdom of his
dear Son'; we have become a 'kingdom of priests. (cf notes
1 Peter 2:9;
2:10,
Rev 1:6,
5:10)
The third and last way of looking at the kingdom is this.
There is a sense in which it is yet to come. It has come; it is coming;
it is to come. It was here when He was exercising authority; it is here
in us now; and yet it is to come. It will come when this rule and reign
of Christ will be established over the whole world even in a physical
and material sense. The day is coming when the kingdoms of this world
will have become 'the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, when
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Doth his successive journeys run; His
kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and wane no
more. (Play Isaac Watts precious hymn -
Jesus Shall Reign
sing it out unto the Lord)
It will then have come, completely and entirely, and everything will be
under His dominion and sway. Evil and Satan will be entirely removed;
there will be `new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness' (2Pe 3:13-note),
and then the kingdom of heaven will have come in that material way. The
spiritual and the material will become one in a sense, and all things
will be subject to His sway, that 'at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Php 2:10, 11 - see note
Php 2:10-note;
2:11-note).
(Lloyd-Jones,
D. M.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
(Bolding added) |
