WORKS THAT CAUSE DIVISION

TEXT: Galatians 5:19-21

INTRODUCTION-- Of all the categories of fleshly works mentioned by Paul, he lists more of the type that cause division between brethren than of any other. This should not surprise us. It should make us think more soberly regarding our relationship to our brethren.

1. Many Christians claim to "love the brethren," while harboring one or more of these works that spring from an evil heart. In Mark 7:21-23, Jesus said, "For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: 23 all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man."
   
2. When rifts occur between brethren in Christ, it is most often because of the "fruit of a corrupt tree." In Luke 6:43, Jesus said, "For there is no good tree that bringeth forth corrupt fruit; nor again a corrupt tree that bringeth forth good fruit."
   
3. Of these several divisive works of the flesh, some fall together, and we will consider them in these sub-topics.
   
   1. (First lesson) Enmities, Strife, and Wraths.
      
   2. (Second lesson) Jealousies and Envyings.
      
   3. (Third Lesson) Factions, Divisions, and Parties.

LESSON-- We will examine the first words and show their meaning.

1. Enmities, Strife and Wraths (ASV), or Hatred, Variance, and Wrath (KJV). The Greek are ecyra, ECHTHRA, eriv, ERIS, and yumov, THUMOS.
   
   1. ECHTHRA (enmity) was a strong trait among Greeks, according to Barclay's comments, but was considered to be an acceptable "virtue."
      
      1. The distinction drawn between Greek-speaking, or civilized men and "barbarians" was basically spawned by a sense of arrogance.
         
         1. The Greek writer Ctesias asked, "How can men who can only bark ever rule the world?" (This was a slur against the bar-bar-ous speech of foreigners.)
            
         2. But arrogant Greece was later conquered by Latin-speaking Romans!
            
      2. Aristotle assumed that this sense of superiority was the result of the ideal climate of Greece (a climate little different from nearby regions).
         
      3. Plato pleaded that the writings of Homer should always be included in educational curriculum, because they showed the eternal breach be-tween the Greek and the Barbarian.
         
   2. ERIS (strife) was considered by the Greeks to be the outcome in life to the ECHTHRA state of mind, so therefore an acceptable practice.
      
      1. ERIS was the name of the goddess of strife, "a grim goddess...one of the malignant forces of life, a producer of violence..." Barclay, Flesh and Spirit, pp. 42-43. (This is why Paul called Greek gods "demons," in 1 Corinthians 10:20. "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons."
         
      2. Aristotle welcomed ERIS as one of the necessary forces in life, and said, "Were it to cease...then the universe would come to an end." (Barclay, p. 43)
         
   3. THUMOS (wrath) also had a good aspect to the Greeks, though they recog nized its potential for evil.
      
      1. Aristotle often use it to speak of a "spirited man," and thought of it as a sign of virility and courage.
         
      2. Some classic Greek writers, however, saw such evils as murder and unreasoned violence in THUMOS.
         
      3. THUMOS is the Greek word for flashing anger, with no "malice afore thought." Their word for a slowly building, long-lasting wrath was orge, ORGE, used by Paul to express the judicious wrath of God, which followed his THUMOS, or instant anger. Romans 2:8 "...but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation,..."
         
2. In the New Testament, however, these works are always depicted as evil.
   
   1. ENMITIES, often practiced by the arrogant Greeks, were condemned by God. Ephesians 2:11-19 "Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; 12 that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition, 15 having abolished in the flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace; 16 and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 and he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh: 18 for through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father. 19 So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
      
      1. Was God authorizing enmity by his erection of the "middle wall of partition" between Jews and Gentiles?
         
         1. God's Law through Moses commands the destruction of the heathen without mercy, forbids covenants and marriages with them, and demands the overthrow of their places of worship.Deuteronomy 7:1-5 "When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; 3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire."
            
         2. If the Israelites interpreted this to mean that they were to have enmity in their hearts against the heathen, they were mistaken. Moses wrote in Leviticus 19:33-34,"And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. 34 The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God."
            
         3. We must conclude that the removal and destruction of the Canaanites made the Israelites only instruments to carry out the judicial wrath of God.
            
         4. Any trace of Jewish arrogance, after the pattern of the Greeks, is punctured by Paul in his letter to the Romans. Romans 3:9 "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;"
            
      2. Jesus forbade enmity in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:43-45 "Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy (ecyrov): 44 but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; 45 that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust."
         
   2. STRIFE is condemned by God, and not to be practiced by Christians.
      
      1. It is a sign of carnality, not spirituality. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able; 3 for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?"
         
      2. Strife appears when men have strong loyalties to other men. 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 "Now I beseech you, brethren, through 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 perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them that are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions (eris) among you. 12 Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos: and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?"
         
      3. Fear of finding strife (and other related "works of the flesh") among the Corinthians caused Paul to be reluctant to visit them. 2 Corinthians 12:20 "For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means there should be strife (eris), jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;..."
         
   3. WRATH (either quick-tempered THUMOS, or slow growing ORGE) has no part in living the Christian life. Ephesians 4:31-32 "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you."
      
      1. God will punish both traits with His own wrath (orge). Colossians 3:5-8 "Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; 6 for which things' sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience: 7 wherein ye also once walked, when ye lived in these things; 8 but now do ye also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth:"
         
      2. When we feel the urge to avenge ourselves, we must "give place to the wrath (orge) of God." Romans 12:19
         
      3. We must not persist in evil until Christ, "Who shall judge the living and the dead" (1 Timothy 4:1), comes to "smite the nations," because "He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness (yumov) of the wrath (orge) of God, the Almighty" (Revelation 19:15).
         
      4. We must remember that Christ said that "every one who is angry (orgizo) with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment;" Matthew 5:22
         
3. In our next lesson, we will see how Jealousy and Envy can lead (through Enmity, Strife, and Wrath) to Factions, Divisions, and Parties.

APPLICATION--

1. When any of these works of the flesh take hold of us, we must "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Romans 13:14)
   
   1. The example of Christ is to be followed. 1 Peter 2:21-23 "For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:"
      
   2. The "warfare" of flesh and spirit must not end in a victory for the flesh. Galatians 5:16-17, 25 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would......25 If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk."
      
2. We see these traits often in the world around us, but they sadly appear also among our brethren. When they do....
   
   1. We should echo the counsel of Jesus to His disciples. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41
      
   2. We should remind them with Paul words, that "they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof." Galatians 5:24
      
   3. We should save them, "snatching them out of the fire...hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" Jude 23
      
   4. And, while we are "restoring them in a spirit of gentleness," let us "look to ourselves, lest we also be tempted." Galatians 6:1