This article will conclude a
series on the nature of the sins listed by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 6:9-10,
Gal. 5:19-21, and Eph. 5:5-7 which Paul says will deprive a person of any
inheritance in the kingdom of God if practiced and not repented of. In Part 1 the sins of adultery and
fornication were covered; Part II covered the sins of homosexuality, sodomy, uncleanness,
and lewdness; Part III dealt with the sins of idolatry, covetousness, thievery,
extortion, sorcery, hatred, and drunkenness.
In this article, the last article
in the series, we will cover every sin listed that remains from the three text
passages. The sins to be covered are
revilers, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, and revelries. Here are texts we have been working from
using the New King James Version:
|
1 Cor. 6:9-10 |
Gal. 5:19-21 |
Eph. 5:5-7 |
|
“Do you not know that
the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor
sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1Cor. 6:9-10 NKJV) |
“Now the works of the
flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;
of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those
who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal.
5:19-21 NKJV) |
“For this you know,
that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you
with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the
sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Eph. 5:5-7
NKJV) |
Who is a “reviler”? A
reviler is one who is “verbally abusive.”
The Christian Standard Bible and the NET Bible translate the Greek term with
that very phrase. It is abusive language
directed at another. It is one who
scolds, who angrily finds fault and reproves another with loud and angry or
abusive speech. This is a way of life
with the reviler, who he or she is. We
are commanded to rebuke at times (Luke 17:3, 2 Tim. 4:2 for example) but it is
how we do it that makes the difference.
What does “outbursts of wrath” refer to? There are people who become so angry they
cannot contain themselves and have what we might call a meltdown. They become so overwhelmed with anger they
cannot contain themselves, seemingly lose all control, and explode with a vitriol
of abusive language directed at their target.
One writer had this to say about it,
“There
are persons in which these tempests of wrath take a demoniac form. ‘The face grows livid, the limbs move
convulsively, the nervous organism is seized by a storm of frenzy, and until
it is passed, the individual is completely beside himself.’” It is a frightful thing to observe. Such a one
must repent and learn to control himself if he or she is to have any
inheritance in the kingdom of God.
“Dissensions” is a reference
to a lack of concord or harmony between persons. Dictonary.com defines dissension as, “strong
disagreement; a contention or quarrel; discord.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and
New Testament Words says “an insurrection, uproar” and gives Mark 15:7,
Luke 23:19, 25, and Acts 19:40, 24:5 as
references. Most of the references
listed refer to insurrection but not always.
You can have dissension without outright insurrection. Under this idea Vine lists Acts 15:2 and Acts
23:7, 10. To summarize the idea seems to
be of a person who sows discord, a person hard to please or satisfy, one who wants
to argue and fight.
“Contentions,” another of our sins that keeps one out of an
inheritance, as found in the New King James Version is in other versions called
strife (CSB, ESV, NAS, NET, NRSV, RV, and YLT).
The NLT uses the word quarreling which according to Strong’s Dictionary
is correct. It says, “a quarrel, that is, (by implication) wrangling.”
It seems to refer to a person who wants to quarrel or fight rather than
live with others in peace. Paul says, in
speaking to Christians, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be
no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same
mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Cor. 1:10 NKJV) Again, “If it is possible, as much as depends
on you, live peaceably with all men.” (Rom. 12:18 NKJV) This the
contentious person is not doing. A
person has a choice about whether or not to start or engage in a quarrel, to be
contentious or not.
“Selfish ambitions” is a work of
the flesh Paul lists that he says will deny one an inheritance in the kingdom
of God. What the NKJV calls “selfish
ambitions” other translations call rivalries (ESV, YLT), selfish rivalries
(NET), strife (KJV), disputes (NAS), and factions (RV). The Greek word is “eris” and Vine says it “is
the expression of enmity.” It would seem
to be then one who is opposed to another to the extent he is determined to get
the best of his opponent lacking any charity for him or her, a person who must
have his way.
Admittedly, the sins of
dissensions, contentions, and selfish ambitions are closely related and a
little difficult, on occasion, to distinguish one from the other. Add to that there may be overlap in that one
can be guilty of more than just one of these sins. There is also the fact that what one
translation calls this another translation may call that based on the
similarity of the words. Regardless, I
think we all get the general idea of what these terms in the aggregate are
teaching.
This brings us to two more terms
closely related, sins that keep one out of heaven – “jealousies” and “envy.” With regards to jealousy here is a case where
nearly every translation uses that singular word other than the very oldest
translations like the KJV which uses the outdated word emulations. A jealous person is not happy with the
position, success, influence, or wealth of another. It seems to make him miserable. Perhaps he feels the other person’s success
makes him smaller but whatever the case he cannot be happy. He is unable to “rejoice with those who
rejoice” (Rom. 12:15 NKJV) nor does he find it easy to be content even though
“godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Tim. 6:6 NKJV)
In talking about envy versus
jealousy Vine makes this distinction, “Envy desires to deprive another of what
he has; jealousy desires to have the same or the same sort of thing for
itself.” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words,
page 367, under Envy) The Daily Study
Bible says, “The essence of it is that it does not describe the spirit which
desires, nobly or ignobly, to have what someone else has: it describes the
spirit which grudges the fact that the other person has these things at all. It does not so much want the things for
itself; it merely wants to take them from the other. The Stoics defined it as ‘grief at someone
else’s good.’ Basil called it ‘grief at
your neighbours good fortune.’ It is the
quality, not so much of the jealous, but rather of the embittered mind.”
This brings us to “heresies.” Here we have a word that can mislead
one. The first thought to mind may be
that heresy is some kind of unscriptural false doctrine. While that may be involved that is not really
the meaning of the word. Here is how it
is translated in other versions: factions (CSB, NAS, NET, NIV, NRSV), the NLT
and ESV have division and divisions respectively, and the Good News Bible simply
says, using its dynamic equivalent form of translation where meaning is preferred
over literalness, “they separate into parties and groups.”
Paul
condemned this in the church at Corinth when he said, “It has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household that there are contentions among you. Now
I say this, that each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I
am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ.’ Is
Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:11-13a NKJV)
Factions may be over
doctrine as is the case in 2 Peter 2:1 but may just as well be over personal
preferences. We are not to be forming
parties among God’s people but rather to be united in one mind (1 Cor. 1:10). “Be of one mind, live in peace.” (2 Cor.
13:11 NKJV) All of this is not to say
one should not take a stand for the truth.
Paul was not creating another factious party in 1 Corinthians 1 and
throughout that book when he set about rebuking that church’s sins. One must not, however, be raising a fuss over
peripheral matters.
“Murderers” shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. This sin is
easily enough understood. We know,
however, this sin goes beyond the physical act for John says, “Whoever hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1
John 3:15 NKJV) Jesus taught that “out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders ….” (Matt. 15:19 NKJV) “Guard your heart above all else, for it
determines the course of your life.” (Prov. 4:23 NLT)
“Revelries” is
the last sin to be discussed in this four-part series on Paul’s statements that
there would no inheritance in the kingdom of God for those continuing on in
these sins. Many translations use the
word “carousing” here instead of the word revelries (see CSB, NAS, NET, and the
NRSV). The ESV, the GNB, and the NIV use
the word “orgies.” The ALT translation
says “drunken orgies” and the ERV says “having wild parties.” We get the idea. Unfortunately, this is a relatively common
sin among many of the younger college-age set.
Once one reaches the age of accountability he can die and go to
perdition without living into old age.
We are all accountable for how we live and there is no sowing of your
wild oats with God.
Paul adds to his
long list of sins in Gal. 5:19-21 this closing, “and such like.” It is left up to you and me to have enough
common sense about us to figure out what else there is. The list is not finished. We have in the scriptures enough information
about God’s will to take it from here.
We are taught how to live and the nature of things to flee from. After our initial conversion (the new birth)
given a little time on the milk of the word we are to move on to the meat of
the word (Heb. 5:12-14). We are to learn
and grow and come to “understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Eph. 5:17
NKJV)
There are other
lists of sins in the New Testament. Any
sin engaged in and never repented of will keep one out of heaven. It was obviously not Paul’s intent to say
here is the all-inclusive list that will do that. May we all continue to read and study and
grow in the scriptures and flee from sin.
(I add this
closing note. There are a number of good
free web sites online that will allow you to compare translations. When doubtful on what a word you come across
means it is good to take advantage of those sites as they will be a great help
to you in discerning and understanding your Bible. The same goes for difficult passages as well
as individual words.)
[To download this article or print it out click here.]
Link to Part I
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