And Such Like

Seventeen works of the flesh (or fifteen depending on your Bible version) make up the list presented in the fifth chapter of Galatians. Paul identified these evils which would likely affect Christians in the region recently converted from paganism. The list also does well to summarize much of the evil affecting the world today. We find several similarities between the Galatians 5 “works of the flesh” and the catalogs Paul presents in Romans 1:27-32 as well as 2 Timothy 3:1-8. What is unique in the Galatian letter is the ending. The small phrase “and such like” provides meaningful insight to man’s connection to God’s law.

Man commits sin when he transgresses the law of God (1 John 3:4), and since the first transgression man has been trying to justify sin. As Adam put it, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate" (Genesis 3:12). Today humanity is no different. We rack our brains over and over until a loophole is found, whitewashing our guilt. But we were never meant to function this way. Galatians 5:21 stands as one of many verses in which we are called to use our brains.

This is an example of the Bible saying a lot by saying just a little. Noah found himself with the same type of instruction. God’s command, “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood” (Genesis 6:14) contains a huge command in a small sentence. Although God was silent about the use of other varieties of wood, Noah understood that only gopher wood was permitted. It would be foolish to expect an inspired writer to list every single possible wicked work. What we have is more than enough to get the point across, and the expression “and such like” allows us to apply our common sense. We realize all things which come from the evil passions of a heart turned from God’s instruction are included in the list alongside the specifically mentioned works.

Perhaps this problem all begins with a misunderstanding of faith. Belief in God and adherence to His Word is not the popularized “leap of faith”. We have faith because of reason and evidence (Hebrews 11:1-3). Faith must hear God’s Word, learning His truth (Romans 10:17). Faith must trust God’s Word, believing the message Christ bore witness to (John 18:37; Romans 10:13). Faith must obey God’s Word; readily putting the gospel to practice (Acts 22:16). Man is to live and serve with a working, active, reasoning, powerful faith (Isaiah 1:18; James 2:17-26). An irrational, groundless, unexamined faith isn’t scriptural. God did not make us with a conscience and intelligence simply to ask us to give them up. This small phrase in Galatians sheds light on how we are meant to approach the Bible. May we be thankful as we apply passages like this, building lives of thoughtful obedience.