Flesh vs Fruit - Galatians 4-6

Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV)

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We often quote the verses that follow the above verses.  The verses that follow these are referred to as the Fruit of the Spirit.  Most Christians know the Fruit of the Spirit by heart.    Most don’t recall the above verses.  This list is what we were saved from.   Note the following:

1. Three sexual sins are mentioned:  Immorality; impurity; sensuality
2. Two religious sins are mentioned:  idolatry and sorcery
3. Eight societal sins are mentioned:  enmities; strife; jealousy; outburst; disputes; dissensions; factions, envying
4. Two abuse sins are mentioned drunkenness; carousing

John MacArthur states the following about these: 

In Mark 7:20-33, Jesus’ list is much like Paul’s, and in both passages the point is made that these evils originate from within man himself, not from Satan or the world outside. In that brief account Jesus mentions three times that the sins come from within man himself, and Paul identifies his list of sins as deeds of the flesh, that is, works produced by man’s own unregenerate nature.Consequently, although man’s environment is never perfect and often has a detrimental effect on him, that is never his worst problem. It is primarily man who pollutes the environment, not the environment that pollutes him.

There are other lists in God’s word:  Romans 1:29-31; 2 Corinthians 12:20-21

The key word in the above lists, however, is not the description of each sin but the word do.  Paul states that those who do such things are the ones who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. They word do is in the Greek present active tense.   That indicates an on-going, habit nature of the things mentioned.  Paul is telling us that those who practice these things on a continuous basis will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God. Spin it all the way you want, but that is as definitive as it gets.  To avoid doing these things on a regular basis we have to do what the verse before the list tell us to do (on a regular bases):

Galatians 5:16-17 (ESV)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Walk in the Spirit and you won’t fall into a the continuous habit of living in the flesh.