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The Amish Voice 4
becomes a temple for God to dwell in through the Holy Spirit.
The Christian is not told to cleanse himself from the flesh but
from “the lust of the flesh” (Ga.5:16), “the filthiness of the
flesh” (2 Cor.7:1), and from “the works of the flesh” (Ro.13:12;
Ga.5:19). The works of the flesh are the ‘fruit’ of sin within us,
and sin originates in the heart not in the flesh. The sins of the
flesh listed in this passage are clearly seen all throughout
society; and tragically they are seen not only on the daily
newscasts of every city, but within every community, home,
and life on planet earth. The very presence of such fleshly sins
shows just how strong the flesh is and how helpless man is to
control his flesh.
1
.
Adultery
: sexual unfaithfulness to husband or wife. It is also
looking at a woman or a man to lust after her or him.
Looking at and lusting after the opposite sex—whether in
person, magazines, books, on beaches or anywhere else—is
adultery. Imagining and lusting within the heart is the very same
as committing the act.
“But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a
woman to lust after her hath committed adultery
with her already in his heart” (Mt.5:28).
2.
Fornication
: a broad word including all forms of immoral
and sexual acts. It is pre-marital sex and adultery; it is abnormal
sex, all kinds of sexual vice.
“Flee fornication. Every sin that man doeth is
without the body; but he that committeth
fornication sinneth against his own body” (1
Co.6:18).
3.
Uncleanness:
moral impurity; doing things that dirty, pollute,
and soil life.
“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour
their own bodies between themselves” (Ro.1:24).
4.
Lasciviousness
: filthiness, indecency, shamelessness. A chief
characteristic of the behavior is open and shameless indecency.
It means unrestrained evil thoughts and behavior. It is giving in
to brutish and lustful desires, a readiness for any pleasure. It is a
man who knows no restraint, a man who has sinned so much
that he no longer cares what people say or think. It is something
far more distasteful than just doing wrong. A man who
misbehaves usually tries to hide his wrong, but a lascivious
man does not care who knows about his exploits or shame. He
wants; therefore, he seeks to take and gratify. Decency and
opinion do not matter. Initially when he began to sin, he did as
all men do: he misbehaved in secret. But eventually, the sin got
the best of him—to the point that he no longer cared who saw or
knew. He became the subject of a master— the master of habit,
of the thing itself. Men become the slaves of such things as
unbridled lust, wantonness, licentiousness, outrageousness,
shamelessness, insolence (Mk.7:22); wanton manners, filthy
words, indecent body movements, immoral handling of males
and females (Ro.13:13); public display of affection, carnality,
gluttony, and sexual immorality (1 Pe.4:3; 2 Pe.2:2, 18). (See 2
Co.12:21; Ga.5:19; Ep.4:19; 2 Pe.2:7).
“And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of
the woman, burned in their lust one toward another;
men with men working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recompense of their error
which was meet” (Ro.1:27).
5.
Idolatry
: the worship of idols, whether mental or made by
man’s hands; the worship of some idea of what God is like, of
an image of God within a person’s mind; the giving of one’s
primary devotion (time and energy) to something other than
God.
“For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of
God” (Ep.5:5).
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the
earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is
idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God
cometh on the children of disobedience” (Col.3:5-6).
6.
Witchcraft
: sorcery; the use of drugs or of evil spirits to gain
control over the lives of others or over one’s own life. In the
present context, it would include all forms of seeking the
control of one’s fate including astrology, palm-reading,
séances, fortune telling, crystals, and other forms of
witchcraft.
“So Saul died for his transgression which he
committed against the LORD, even against the word
of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking
counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of
it” (1 Chr.10:13).
“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them
that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep,
and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their
God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the
testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them” (Is.8:19-20).