Galatians 5:19b – Acts of the Flesh, Part 1

The acts of the flesh are … sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

Summary: Diving into Paul’s list of “acts of the flesh” is intimidating. It is tempting to fall into judgment; either judging others or judging ourselves. But this is not why he is making the list. Paul wants us to understand the difference between Good and Evil.

As we look at Paul’s description of “acts of the flesh” in detail, it is easy to become judgmental. By that, I mean we might look at a particular word and say to ourselves, “I’m glad I never did that.” On the flip side of the coin, we might look at a particular word and feel shamed because of something we have done in the past.

Paul is not describing these things to give us a moral scorecard. Sins are not like golf. He doesn’t expect us to stand on our own merits and say, “Look at my scorecard!” Paul knows well that “There is no one righteous, not even one …” (Romans 3:10). When it comes to sin, nobody can brag about their score.

Jesus made certain we would all have to include “works of the flesh” on our scorecards when he equated thoughts to deeds. From God’s perspective, anger equals murder (Matthew 5:21-22), and lust equals adultery (Matthew 5: 27-29).

From a spiritual perspective, when Paul talks about “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery,” he is not only talking about the things people do. He refers to the thoughts we entertain in our minds and the emotions we allow in our hearts.

When it comes to understanding Paul’s words, we need to keep the larger context of his message in mind. “ Jesus Christ … gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father …” (Galatians 1: 3-4).

When Jesus became a man and allowed himself to be crucified, we were all still engaging in “acts of the flesh.” Very few people knew better and even they were not able to keep themselves from sinning. (Romans 5:8)

When Paul writes about the “acts of the flesh” he is writing about something every human struggles with, even those of us who know Jesus as Shepherd, Lord, and Savior.

So why is Paul taking the time to point these things out?

The nature of sin is to indulge the self, or as Paul calls it, the flesh. If we are unwilling to let go of our self-indulgence, then we must rebel against God or rationalize our behavior. The world is full of people who excel at justifying their actions. The people teaching the Galatians that they needed to be circumcised, justified what they were doing by their reliance on the law.

When these people infiltrate a church, we need to be able to discern right from wrong and good from evil. Paul is teaching us what to look for in others. Not so that we can judge their fitness for heaven; that is God’s job. Instead, we must be able to recognize and “reject every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

Application: Train yourself to recognize the acts of the flesh in yourself and others as a defense against ungodly teachings.

Food for Thought: How are sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery related to each other?