Galatians 5:19 Meaning

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

Galatians 5:19, ESV

We’ve seen how very important and necessary it is to walk by the Spirit — to live by the Spirit — to be guided by the Spirit — to be led by him — to be taught by him — throughout the entirety of the Christian life — from the start of it to the finish — if we desire to not fulfill and satisfy the desires of the flesh.

This ought to be the desire of every Christian.

What is the flesh in Galatians 5:19?

We need to remember that when Paul uses the word “flesh” he’s not talking about skin and bone. He’s talking about the depravity of man’s nature. He’s talking about that indwelling sin that even remains in those who are a new creation in Christ — that indwelling sin that we still suffer from.

We shouldn’t want to have anything to do with sin anymore. We should want to do everything inside of us to rid ourselves of that enemy within.

And yet there are so many who don’t see the great need of the Christian life of removing or ridding ourselves of that great internal enemy.

Sin is spiritual cancer

Why is that if you were told by a doctor that you have a terrible illness — like cancer — you would want to do everything you possibly could to rid yourself of that cancer that’s eating you alive inside? You would know that if it goes undealt with it will continue to infect your body. The infection will continue to spread until one day you die.

People hate cancer because it claims the lives of so many people they love — mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, both young and old. There are rallies against cancer — marches against cancer — foundations to eradicate cancer.

But where’s all the concern about the greater cancer — the greater infection that plagues man — which is sin — this internal enemy that is the greatest enemy to man.

It’s this internal enemy that doesn’t just snatch your earthly life away like some bodily disease — but it snatches souls. It brings them to the Devil’s chambers and delivers them to the same death as the Devil — being cast away into eternal darkness forever.

And so I ask — why are we not up in arms about that?

There is no enemy — no disease — that has taken more lives of people you know and love than this enemy — sin.

Not every family is going to be stricken by cancer — not every person is going to get it — but every person in every family will be stricken with sin. And every person and every family will know people who have been devastated by that enemy.

This inward enemy spreads more rapidly and attacks more ferociously every part of man than any disease. And yet why is it that we appear to be least afraid of this enemy — when we as Christians are the ones who know the terrible effect that this enemy can cause?

Sin in the life of a believer

What does sin do? Sin drives you even as a believer away from Christ. All sin — if left unchecked — will drive your zeal for the Lord away. It will drive away your holiness in living — your growth in grace — and your obedience to God’s word.

In Scripture we have the promise of spiritual advancement. We have been given efficacious means. We have the unspeakable benefit of the merits of Christ.

And yet when we allow sin to take control of us it steals the joy of all those things away — and will cause you even as a believer to live in spiritual decay.

Knowing that this is what Christ had to come and die for — our sin — knowing that sin is the reason so many will spend their eternity in suffering and torment in hell — it should cause you and me to want to depart from sin immediately.

If you are in Christ you are now bound to a holy life. That means apostasy from iniquity — as the Spirit works in you desires that oppose the flesh.

The Christian profession is an easy one. It’s easy to say, “I believe in Jesus.”

It’s the Christian life that’s hard.

And so some Christian professors start to try to blur the lines of what sin is — of what the works of the flesh are — so that they can live their lives still in sin — thinking themselves all the while to still be believers.

But we must never call that which is evil good or that which is good evil. We must never compromise with the world — on what it is that we call sin.

We must never allow the world to define what sin is and what it isn’t. And we should also never question the word of God when it clearly tells us what sin is and how we are to deal with it in our own lives.

“the works of the flesh are evident” in Galatians 5:19

What sin is oftentimes is so clear.

That’s why Paul says in Galatians 5:19, “Now the works of the flesh are evident.” Scripture clearly defines them.

Even people in distant lands that don’t have the Scriptures know these things as well. It’s evident even to them.

Why?

Because the light of nature itself tells man that these things are wicked and wrong and evil.

So what are these works that we should not be cherishing — but be mortifying — putting to death inside of us — like an infectious cancer?

What are these works that in the unbeliever continue to work death — and for them will cause them to suffer eternally because of — if not repented for?

Fleshly Works in Galatians 5:19

These fleshly works divide into four categories:

Sins of a sexual nature
Sins of a religious nature
Sins of a social nature
Sins of the physical appetite — or we might say sins of the belly — sins of pleasure

Sin is still sin

Now as we look at this list of sins we discover that sin is still the same as it was in Paul’s day. It’s not as if half the list only pertained to first century saints — and that we don’t need to deal with those in the 21st century.

No matter how progressive we think we have become — no matter how much we think we’ve advanced in our way of thinking — our way of acting — what we see is that we’re no different than the saints of the first century.

That’s because we’re dealing with the same corrupted flesh that the saints in the first century had as well.

Scripture is transgenerational — it’s transcultural. It speaks to all of mankind at all times and everywhere.

God knows his creation perfectly. And so he knows what man’s problem is — and what it will always be.

He also knows what the solution to man’s problem is — and what it shall always be.

The “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19

Now this is not an exhaustive list. But it’s a catalog of common sins that sadly don’t need much explanation — because we ourselves are very familiar with them.

These sins are quite evident.

Sins of the flesh — some of the greatest desires of the flesh that cause people to destroy themselves — are those sins of the sexual nature…

Sexual sins in Galatians 5:19

We would categorize the first three sins that Paul names here — sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality — under the sins of a sexual nature.

These three include all abuses of lawful sexual relations.

They sum up the perversion and twisting of God’s word as it pertains to his intention with his creation with respect to sexual relations.

“Sexual immorality” in Galatians 5:19

Now the word translated “sexual immorality” is often referred to as “fornication.”

It can cover all sexual sin — but especially sexual relations between people who are not married to each other. So we could see something like adultery in this category.

“Impurity” in Galatians 5:19

Another word that Paul gives is “impurity.” And we could call impurity “uncleanness” here.

Included in this concept would be the sin of homosexuality. We see that word “impurity” used that way in Romans 1:24 where Paul says:

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves

“Sensuality” in Galatians 5:19

The last word in this grouping of sexual sins is “sensuality.”

This word “sensuality” could be translated “licentiousness.” It denotes the lewdness of behavior — especially in public.

So, sexual attire — clothes that are sexually suggestive — in addition to gestures and speech — would be included in this concept.