Galatians 5:20 is Paul’s list of attitudes and conflicts that grow out of a life run by the flesh, meaning self-centered desire apart from God. Idolatry, hatred, quarrels, and divisions are not harmless quirks. Paul names them as signs of a life pulling away from the Spirit. He wrote this to the churches in Galatia, a region in what is now central Turkey, as part of a longer letter about freedom in Christ and how that freedom should show up in everyday behavior.
Idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies…
Galatians 5:20 (WEB)
What Galatians 5:20 Means
The verse is a catalog, a string of nouns meant to describe a pattern rather than a checklist of isolated sins. Idolatry is putting something other than God at the center of your trust and devotion. Sorcery refers to the manipulation of spiritual powers, and in Paul’s world it often carried a sense of seeking control or secret knowledge outside of God. Hatred, strife, and jealousies describe the emotional and relational fallout: resentment, arguing, and wanting what belongs to someone else. Outbursts of anger, rivalries, and divisions show how these inner attitudes spill into communities, causing people to take sides and pull apart.
The verse does not promise that anyone who has struggled with one of these things is beyond hope. Paul is describing what a life governed by self looks like, and he is contrasting it with the fruit of the Spirit that follows. What the verse does say clearly is that these patterns are incompatible with life shaped by God, and that the church has a real responsibility to recognize them and turn from them.
The Context of Galatians 5:20
Galatians was written by Paul, traditionally regarded as its author, to churches he had founded in Galatia. Some teachers had convinced these believers that they needed to adopt certain Jewish practices to be fully part of God’s people. Paul’s response is firm: freedom in Christ is real, and it is not a license for selfishness either. The letter moves from argument about grace and law into practical instruction about how to live.
The verse sits within a passage contrasting the desires of the flesh with the Spirit’s work. Just before it, Paul says that the flesh and the Spirit are in conflict. Just after it, he lists love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Read in that setting, the list of works of the flesh is a diagnosis, and the fruit of the Spirit is the healthy alternative. The contrast is what gives the verse its weight.
Key Phrases in Galatians 5:20
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
(WEB)
These verses name the fruit of the Spirit that stands in direct contrast to the works Paul lists just before. Reading them together shows that the verse is not only a warning but a description of the life God produces in those who follow the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:3
For you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men?
(WEB)
Paul uses similar language to rebuke the Corinthian church for their jealousy and quarreling. Seeing the same concerns appear in another of his letters underlines how seriously he took division and rivalry within the body of believers.
A Short Prayer From Galatians 5:20
Lord, you see the places in my heart where I have made other things my center, and where envy, anger, and quarreling have crept in. I confess them to you honestly. Help me to name what I am holding onto, and give me the courage to lay it down. Shape my desires by your Spirit so that love, peace, and patience grow where pride and resentment have been. Heal the relationships I have strained and make me an instrument of unity rather than division. Thank you that your Spirit is at work in me even now. Amen.
