God Hath Spoken

by Harris J. Dark

I’m not sure that these words were intended to be arranged in logical order, but I do believe we can see some sequential significance in the order of the word hatred and the three which follow just as we did in the first four.

7. Variance. This word means contentions. It is hatred in action, manifesting itself in contests, altercations, lawsuits, and disputes in general.

8. Emulations. This word signifies envious and contentious rivalry or jealousy, which often are associated with hatred and variance. Jealousy is strife to excel at the expense of another. It is destructive, not constructive. When you are jealous you try to pull the other man down in order to get above him. But you can’t do it! In the effort to injure another you sink lower yourself.

9. Wrath. This is the climax of the last four words. Wrath is hatred in violent action. It consists of turbulent passions which disturb the harmony of mind and produce domestic and civic broils and disquietudes. (Once I used Jiggs and Maggie of comic strip fame as an example of wrath when they were throwing pots and pans at each other, but someone corrected me by saying that Jiggs never threw any, they all came from the other direction! But anyway the point of the illustration was clear.) When hatred, variance, and jealousy break out into violent action, that’s what is described by the word wrath. Herod’s jealousy became wrath when he killed the babes of Bethlehem in an effort to destroy Jesus.

These last four are sins of the disposition. In some instances they are committed, especially the first three, by people who come to worship every Sunday and pass as devoted Christians. But friends, I want you to see what ugly company they are keeping. They are classed by the Holy Spirit right along with idolatry, adultery, uncleanness, and lasciviousness. That’s mighty bad company, isn’t it? We are inclined to be more tolerant of sins of the disposition than of sins of immorality, but we’d better be very careful how we appraise sins without Biblical authority. God has put them all in the same catalogue, and therefore sins like hatred and jealousy will send you to hell just as quickly as idolatry or adultery. If you’re guilty of any of them, you must repent before you can go to heaven for people who continue in the work of the flesh cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

10. Strife, Seditions, Heresies. The word “strife” represents a courting of distinction, a desire to put one’s self forward, contention and wranglings with a partisan and factious spirit which tends to result in division. The word “sedition” suggests the act of dividing. It means dissension. The word “heresies” applies to the parties or sects arising from diversity of opinion and aims.

Note, therefore, that division is condemned in every stage of its development. The disputing, arguing, wrangling, and vanity which lead to it are condemned by the word strife. The act of separating into parties is condemned by the word “divisions” or “seditions,” and the parties themselves are condemned after they occur by the word “heresies.” Again I call your attention to the fact that God puts these sins in the category of fornication and adultery. The very disposition to divide is wrong; the act of dividing is wrong; and the parties and sects which result from the division are likewise wrong. Division is evil from beginning to end. It is a work of the flesh and all of those who are guilty of it, who encourage it, who endorse it, or who support it, morally or financially, will be condemned as following the flesh rather than following the spirit.

11. Envying. This is another sin of the disposition. The best definition I have found of envying is this: “Pain felt, and malignity conceived, at the sight of excellence or happiness.” Did you ever notice someone who is happier than you or more successful than you, and as a result feel some sort of pain within you, or some sort of uneasiness? Well, that’s envy. It is pain felt or malignancy conceived at the sight of happiness or success on the part of another.

After reading in some religious paper a glowing report of a very successful meeting, a preacher may have a strange feeling of discontent or chagrin which self-analysis would show to be the result of his natural (fleshly) reaction to the success of a brother evangelist. Is not this a case of envy? Is it not a work of the flesh? Can those who do such things enter the kingdom of God?

Preachers are not the only ones who are tempted to envy each other. Business men, doctors, school teachers, young people in their social relationships may all be guilty of this sin and must guard against it. If you cannot see your boy friends or your girl friends be more popular or successful than you without having a feeling of uneasiness and a disposition to harm them in some way, then you are guilty of the sin of envy, and a murderer can come just as nearly going to heaven as one who is guilty of envy. Because they are both works of the flesh and stand condemned by Jehovah.