Paul continues his diagnosis of human nature in Galatians 5:21 by finishing his list of the “works of the flesh” with a final wave of painful honesty: “…envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” Just in case anyone thought they escaped the earlier list in verses 19–20, Paul widens the net. He knew how slippery the human heart can be when it comes to admitting sin—we always want to downgrade our faults or compare downward: Sure, I have issues, but at least I’m not as bad as so-and-so. Then Paul drops the word envy right next to drunkenness and orgies and closes the escape hatch. Envy? Really? That little internal grudge I carry when someone else succeeds? Yes—because sin is not measured by public scandal but by inward corruption. Jesus taught the same truth. You may never fire a gun in anger, but hatred pulls the same trigger in the heart. You may never commit adultery physically, but lust writes the script internally. Sin is not merely what we do—it is what we are without Christ: selfish, inward, and bent toward self-gratification.
Galatians 5:21 comes with a sober warning: “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” At first glance, this sounds terrifying—like Paul is saying, “If you ever commit one of these sins, you lose your salvation.” Many preachers have used this verse like a spiritual cattle prod—motivating through fear. But that interpretation would directly contradict everything Paul has been teaching in Galatians. If inheriting the kingdom depended on avoiding these sins, salvation would depend on our behavior rather than Christ’s finished work. That would mean the Judaizers were right after all—that salvation really is “Jesus plus good behavior.” Charles Spurgeon saw through that confusion when he wrote:
“If ever it should come to pass
That sheep of Christ might fall away,
My fickle, feeble soul, alas!
Would fall a thousand times a day.”
Paul is not threatening loss of salvation—he is warning about rejecting salvation by grace. To choose a life ruled by the flesh is to turn away from the transforming power of the Spirit. It is to refuse God’s love, resist God’s Spirit, and rely instead on self-righteousness or self-indulgence—two sides of the same fleshly coin. The law can expose sin, but it cannot produce love. It can restrain behavior, but it cannot change hearts. Only grace does that. Only faith in Christ brings us into the kingdom—and keeps us there. Paul has not changed subjects in this passage. He is still confronting the Galatians for drifting from grace back to law, from the Spirit back to self, from Christ’s righteousness back to their own. His warning is clear: do not go back. Do not trust the flesh. Trust Christ alone.