Galatians 5:20

18 But ^aif you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now ^athe works of the flesh are evident, which are:¹ adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,

21 envy,¹ murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that ^athose who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But ^athe fruit of the Spirit is ^blove, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, ^cgoodness, ^dfaithfulness,

23 ¹gentleness, self-control. ^aAgainst such there is no law.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Galatians 5:20

Idolatry - Worshipping of idols; frequenting idol festivals; all the rites of Bacchus, Venus, Priapus, etc., which were common among the Gentiles.

Witchcraft - , from a drug or poison; because in all spells and enchantments, whether true or false, drugs were employed. As a drug, , might either be the means of removing an evil, or inflicting one, etymologists have derived it from , bringing ease, or , 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 were used to procure love; at other times, to produce hatred.

Hatred - · Aversions and antipathies, when opposed to brotherly love and kindness.

Variance - · Contentions, where the principle of hatred proceeds to open acts; hence contests, altercations, lawsuits, and disputes in general.

Emulations - · Envies or emulations; that is strife to excel at the expense of another; lowering others to set up one' s self; unholy zeal, fervently adopting a bad cause, or supporting a good one by cruel means. Inquisitions, pretending to support true religion by torturing and burning alive those who both profess and practice it.

Wrath - · Turbulent passions, disturbing the harmony of the mind, and producing domestic and civil broils and disquietudes.

Strife - · Disputations, janglings, logomachics, or strife about words.

Seditions - · Divisions into separate factions; parties, whether in the Church or state.

Heresies - ̔· Factions; parties in the Church separating from communion with each other, and setting up altar against altar. The word, which is harmless in itself, is here used in a bad sense. In stead of ̔ the Slavonic has , scandals, offenses or stumbling-blocks.

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