Galatians 5:20

Galatians 5:20

Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

a. NLT: idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,

b. NIV: idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

c. YLT: idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strifes, emulations, wraths, rivalries, dissensions, sects,

d. Amplified Bible: idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies],

e. Worrell Translation: idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strifes, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties,

1. “Idolatry…”

a. idolatry [1495 * eidololatreia] [Strong: from 1497 and 2999; image-worship (literally or figuratively):--idolatry.] [Thayer: the worship of false gods, idolatry, of the formal sacrificial feats held in honour of false gods, of avarice, as a worship of Mammon, in the plural, the vices springing from idolatry and peculiar to it.]

1). It is used only 3 other times in the NT.

a). 1 Corinthians 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

b). Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry

c). 1 Peter 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

2. “…witchcraft…”

a. witchcraft [5331 * pharmakeia][Strong: from [farmakeuV] - pharmakeus 5332; medication, ("pharmacy"), i.e. (by extension) magic (literally or figuratively):--sorcery, witchcraft.] [Thayer: the use or the administering of drugs, poisoning, sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it, metaph. the deceptions and seductions of idolatry.] [Zodhiates: Pharmakeia means the occult, sorcery, witchcraft, illicit pharmaceuticals, trance, magical incantations.]

1). Creation: God created the earth and everything in it, but some of His creation is not in its original created state.

a). The animal kingdom was created as vegetarian, but now some are carnivorous.

(1) Genesis 1:29, 30 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

b). After God created the plant kingdom He approved it and said it was good.

(1) Genesis 1:11, 12 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

(2) Before the fall of man rose bushes did not have thorns.

c). Adam given dominion over the earth.

(1) Genesis 1:26-28 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

2). The Fall of man, the Fall was treason. Adam was given a direct command.

a). Genesis 2:16, 17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

b). Adam and Eve’s act of eating the fruit was direct disobedience.

(1) Genesis 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

c). Adam and Eve’s act was disobedience to God but obedience to Satan, and because of it they and every one born out of them became servants to Satan and Satan became the god of this world.

(1)  Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

(2) 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

3). The Curse upon the animal and animal kingdoms.

a). Notice when the serpent is cursed along with the whole animal kingdom, the serpent got the worst of it.

(1) Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

b). In Isaiah there is a picture of the curse being lifted off the animal kingdom during the Millennial reign of Christ. Although the carnivorous natures and poisons are removed, the serpent still has to crawl to get around, that part will never be removed.

(1) Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

c). It is here that carnivorous natures began along with poisons within animals for survival.

(1) Romans 5:12   Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

(2) Romans 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

d). Here the perverted effects on plant kingdom began also:

(1) Genesis 3:17, 18And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

e). The earth and animals in mourning because of sin.

(1) Hosea 4:2, 3 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

(2) Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

4). First mention of drugs in Scripture (except possible reference in Genesis 30:14-18) is Exodus 7:10-13.

a). Exodus 7:10-13 [Septuagint] And Moses and Aaron went in before Pharao, and [before] his servants, and they did so, as the Lord commanded them; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharao, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 

7:11 But Pharao called together the wise men of Egypt, and the sorcerers, and the charmers also of the Egyptians did likewise with their sorceries.

7:12 And they cast down each his rod, and they became serpents, but the rod of Aaron swallowed up their rods.

7:13 and the heart of Pharao was hardened, and he hearkened not to them, as the Lord charged them.

b). The N.T. Greek word for sorcerers is pharmakos [5333] and it means a magician or sorcerer. In Vine’s it says, an adjective signifying “devoted to magical arts”, is used as a noun, a sorcerer, especially one who uses drugs, potions, spells, enchantments. Zodhiates cites it as being used in Exodus 7:11.

(1) sorceries [According to Zodhiates, New Testament Greek Scholar, the same word used in Galatians 5:20 for “witchcraft” is used in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) in Exodus 7:22 for “sorceries”.]

c). The Greek word for sorceries is pharmakia [5331] Vine’s: primarily signified the use of medicine, drugs, spells; then poisoning; then, socerery, used in Galatians 5:20 translated “witchcraft” in KJV, mentioned as one of the works of the flesh. See also Revelation 9:21; 18:23. Vine cites it as being used in Exodus 7:11. Vine goes on to say: “In sorcery, the use of drugs, whether simple or potent, was generally accompanied by incantations and appeals to occult powers, with the provision of various charms, amulets, etc., professedly designed to keep the applicant or patient from the attention and power of demons, but actually to impress the applicant with the mysterious resources and powers of the sorcerer.

d). The use of witchcraft, drugs including hallucinogenic and opiate plants is listed as one of the works of the flesh, it is also one of the sins that will be increasingly abused as we get closer to the return of Christ.

(1) Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

(2) Revelation 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

(3) Revelation 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

e). Drugs have been used in demonic religious observances of different cultures over the years. The following information on peyote and psilocybin were taken from a government site about drug abuse.www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/hallucinogens-lsd-peyote-psilocybin-pcp

(1) Peyote is a small, spineless cactus in which the principal active ingredient is mescaline. This plant has been used by natives in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States as a part of religious ceremonies. Mescaline can also be produced through chemical synthesis.

(2) Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is obtained from certain types of mushrooms that are indigenous to tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Mexico, and the United States. These mushrooms typically contain less than 0.5 percent psilocybin plus trace amounts of psilocin, another hallucinogenic substance.

f). Medicinal drugs were also known and mentioned in Scripture such as myrrh and hyssop. Myrrh was offered to Christ on the cross to deaden the pain of crucifixion which was refused by Christ.

(1) Mark 15:23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.

g). I believe these and many other varieties of plants will be available after the return of Christ to us for their healing properties.

(1) Ezekiel 47:12   And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

(2) Revelation 22:1, 2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3. “…hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,”

a. hatred [2189 * echthra] [Strong: feminine of 2190; hostility; by implication, a reason for opposition:--enmity, hatred.]

b. variance [2054 * eris] [Strong: of uncertain affinity; a quarrel, i.e. (by implication) wrangling:--contention, debate, strife, variance.]

c. emulations [2205 * zelos] [Strong: from 2204; properly, heat, i.e. (figuratively) "zeal" (in a favorable sense, ardor; in an unfavorable one, jealousy, as of a husband (figuratively, of God), or an enemy, malice):--emulation, envy(-ing), fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal.]

d. wrath [2372 *  thumos] [Strong: from 2380; passion (as if breathing hard):--fierceness, indignation, wrath.]

e. strife [2252 *  eritheia] [Strong: perhaps as the same as 2042; properly, intrigue, i.e. (by implication) faction:--contention(-ious), strife.]

f. seditions [1370 * dichostsis] [Strong: from a derivative of 1364 and 4714; disunion, i.e. (figuratively) dissension:--division, sedition.]

g. heresies [139 * hairesis] [Strong: from 138; properly, a choice, i.e. (specially) a party or (abstractly) disunion:--heresy (which is the Greek word itself), sect.]