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Verse 23 concludes with, “Against such there is no law.” These characteristics are totally in harmony with the full spiritual intent of God’s holy and beneficial law, and every human government would be happy to have citizens exhibiting these traits.
Growing in the fruit of the Spirit is expected of those who have decided to turn to God. These characteristics aren’t suggestions or possibilities; they are aspects of the mind of God. We are to grow to think and act more like God does, and the fruit of the Spirit helps outline the path of a Christian. King Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes 1:9 - "There is nothing new under the sun."
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Yet many who claim to be Christian don’t display these fruits very well. It takes more than saying you are a Christian; it takes the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of the Spirit. Those who have been baptized and received the Holy Spirit should be demonstrating these traits more every day.
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Adultery |
Fornication |
It means sexual relations with someone to whom you are not married and is generally translated, adultery, a married person stepping outside the marriage for sex, thus breaking the marriage vow, Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21, John 8:3, Galatians 5:19. Jesus taught that you can commit adultery without ever having sex. If you lust after someone in your heart, according to Jesus, that is adultery, Matthew 5:27-28
UncleannessFrom the Greek word, akatharsia, Akatharsia often describes the moral and physical uncleanness of shrine prostitution - the sexual worship of false gods. Paul references this in 1 Corinthians 6:13, where he warns: "Now the body is not for fornication but for the Lord." The Jewish scholars who translated the Hebrew Tanakh (our Old Testament) into the Greek Septuagint around 200 BC, used the akathartos stem to translate Hebrew words describing idolatry. This was the common understanding of akatharsia in the first century AD. Thus, when Paul writes his epistles, he uses the commonly understood meaning of akatharsian and akatharsia in Romans 1:24, 6:19, Galatians 5:19 and 1 Thessalonians 4:7, to describe the uncleanness of idolatry and pagan worship. In ancient secular usage akatharsia also described a rotting corpse. Romans 1:24 uses akatharsia to describe idol worshipers or shrine prostitutes who dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Paul repeats the Greek word akatharsia in Romans 6:19, describing shrine prostitutes who got saved. He encourages them to yield their bodies to God's service with the same enthusiasm they yielded their bodies to serving the fertility goddess.
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From the Greek word, porneia. Porneia carries a broader meaning than moicheia, referring to almost any kind of sexual sin. It is often translated, fornication yet includes adultery, Matthew 5:32. The sin of fornication in the Bible often indicates shrine prostitution, Acts 15:29 & Revelation 2:21, 9:21. It can also include street prostitution, 1 Corinthians 6:13, sexual intercourse by single people outside the bounds of a committed partnership, 1 Corinthians 7:2, and spiritual fornication or worshiping false gods, Revelation 17:2, 4, 18:3, 19:2
Lasciviousness From the Greek word, aselgia, It means public sexual excess, shameless lust, noisy partying.
Lasciviousness which can also mean noisy drunken partying of a sexual nature. As appalled as we are at modern sexual immorality, we should remember that sexual immorality in the first century AD was as bad or worse. The bawdiness of sexual life in the first century Greco-Roman world was celebrated in plays and novels as well as on pottery and in tile mosaics on floors, walls, ceilings and building facades. Illicit sexuality in New Testament times included same sex activity whose sole purpose was to serve the fertility goddess.
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IdolatryFrom Paul's teaching on idolatry in his other letters we learn that idolatry is not merely worshiping the image of a god but also participating in the temple feasts (1 Cor 10:7, 14) and even being greedy for possessions (Col 3:5). False religion is the worship of other gods (whether images in temples or in shopping malls) and dependence on other powers (whether the power of drugs or of occult practices). The forms of false religion in Paul's day differ from the forms of our day, but we can still see its pervasive influence today.
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Witchcraft/Sorcery/Magic It would seem that practices of this kind were especially common in Asia Minor. In Acts 19:19 we read that at Ephesus, “many of them which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men;” and there is other evidence to the same effect. Witchcraft is a translation of a Greek word from which our English word pharmacy is derived. The Greek word could have the positive meaning of dispensing drugs, but its more common meaning was the use of drugs in sorcery and witchcraft and to poison people.
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Hatred /EnmitiesIntense dislike and ill-will.the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.
Jealousies/EmulationsAmbitious or envious rivalry; ambition or endeavor to equal or excel others (as in achievement)
Selfish Ambitions/Strifevigorous or bitter conflict, discord, or antagonism:
a quarrel, struggle, or clash: armed strife. competition or rivalry: Heresies/FactionsTranslation of the words mean a divisive person, a fool, anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face, false prophets, false teachers, false prophet or dreamer inciting rebellion, false prophet who says, "Let us follow other gods"
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Discord/Variancethe fact or quality of being different, divergent, or inconsistent. The state or fact of disagreeing or quarreling.
Wraths /Fits of rage: strong vengeful anger or indignation
: retributory punishment for an offense or a crime : divine chastisement Dissensions/SeditionsEnvy/JealousyMurder |
Drunkenness |
Revelries/Orgies |