Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 5:5
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
5. ye know ] More lit., ye know with acquaintance, or recognition; as if to say, “you know it with full recognition of the fact and the right.” R.V. “ye know of a surety ”; but the Gr. seems to imply, as above, the reasons along with the certainty.
no whoremonger hath ] Lit. every fornicator hath not; a form of phrase which perhaps accentuates the individual exclusions from the kingdom. But it must not be pressed.
who ] Read, which; the Gr. relative pronoun, in the probable reading, being neuter. As if to say, “which word means, or implies, idolater.”
an idolater ] See the close parallel Col 3:5. Lightfoot there says, “The covetous man sets up another object of worship besides God,” or, more truly still, instead of God. And this is so, whatever is the object of his avarice. Monod remarks that this clause points rather to the miser than the seducer; and most certainly it includes the miser. But there is a terrible fitness also in the other application; and we cannot but think that “covetousness” had, in the apostolic age, a familiar reference, among other references, to immoral cupidity. See on Eph 4:19.
inheritance ] On the Gr. word, see note on Eph 1:18. It conveys regularly the thought of possession by title, whether actually enjoyed or in prospect. An “inheritor” ( clronomos) may be thus either a present occupant, or an expectant “heir,” as context may indicate. Here probably the expected possession of glory is mainly in view, though we cannot exclude some reference to the organic antecedent to glory the present possession of “life eternal.” See further next note.
the kingdom of Christ and of God ] the realm of the Son, Who “gave Himself for our sins,” that He might be our “Lord” (Gal 1:4; Rom 14:9); and of the Father, Who gave the Son that the redeemed might “yield themselves unto God” (Rom 6:13). The secret of admission to this kingdom, and of congenial life in it, is “to know the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom He hath sent” (Joh 17:3). The more common phrase “kingdom of God” is here displaced by one specially suggestive of the holy conditions of membership implied in the mention of Christ. See note on Eph 4:32, on the word “God” in such collocations.
What is the “Kingdom” here? On the whole, the glorified state, the goal of the process of grace. True, the word often, with obvious fitness, includes the period of grace in this life, in which most truly the Christian is a subject of the King (see e.g. Mat 11:2; Mat 13:41; Mat 21:43; Rom 14:17; Col 1:13). But usage gives the word a special connexion with the final state, glory; cp. esp. Mat 25:34 (specially in point here); 1Co 15:50. See also the passages, closely akin to the present, 1Co 6:9-10; Gal 5:21; where the “ shall not inherit” (as in 1Co 15:50) points to the idea of a coming “kingdom.” Doubtless the state of will and life here in view excludes man, from God’s point of view, from the present phase of His kingdom, in its spiritual essence (see 1Jn 3:6; 1Jn 3:15 &c.; though the imagery is different). But the phase to come, that of perfect and eternal result and development, is naturally the predominant phase of the word. The practical meaning here, then, is “no such moral rebel can be, while such, a citizen of and pilgrim to the heavenly city.” See Rev 21:27.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For this ye know – Be assured of this. The object here is to deter from indulgence in those vices by the solemn assurance that no one who committed them could possibly be saved.
Nor unclean person – No one of corrupt and licentious life can be saved; see Rev 22:15.
Nor covetous man, who is an idolater – That is, he bestows on money the affections due to God; see Col 3:5. To worship money is as real idolatry as to worship a block of stone. If this be so, what an idolatrous world is this! How many idolatrous are there in professedly Christian lands! How many, it is to be feared, in the church itself! And since every covetous man is certainly to be excluded from the kingdom of God, how anxious should we be to examine our hearts, and to know whether this sin may not lie at our door!
Hath any inheritance, … – Such an one shall never enter heaven. This settles the inquiry about the final destiny of a large portion of the world; and this solemn sentence our conscience and all our views of heaven approve. Let us learn hence:
(1) That heaven will be pure.
(2) That it will be a desirable place for who would wish to live always with the licentious and the impure?
(3) It is right to reprove these vices and to preach against them. Shall we not be allowed to preach against those sins which will certainly exclude people from heaven?
(4) A large part of the world is exposed to the wrath of God. What numbers are covetous! What multitudes are licentious! In how many places is licentiousness openly and unblushingly practiced! In how many more places in secret! And in how many more is the heart polluted, while the external conduct is moral; the soul corrupt, while the individual moves in respectable society!
(5) What a world of shame will hell be! How dishonorable and disgraceful to be damned forever, and to linger on in eternal fires, because the man was too polluted to be admitted into pure society! Here, perhaps, he moved in fashionable life, and was rich and honored, and flattered; there he will be sent down to hell because his whole soul was corrupt, and because God would not suffer heaven to be contaminated by his presence!
(6) What doom awaits the covetous man! He, like the sensualist, is to be excluded from the kingdom of God. And what is to be his doom? Will he have a place apart from the common damned – a golden palace and a bed of down in hell? No. It will be no small part of his aggravation that he will be doomed to spend an eternity with those in comparison with whom on earth, perhaps, he thought himself to be pure as an angel of light.
(7) With this multitude of the licentious and the covetous, will sink to hell all who are not renewed and sanctified. What a prospect for the happy, the fashionable, the moral, the amiable, and the lovely, who have no religion! For all the impenitent and the unbelieving, there is but one home in eternity. Hell is less terrible from its penal fires and its smoke of torment, than from its being made up of the profane, the sensual, and the vile; and its supremest horrors arise from its being the place where shall be gathered all the corrupt and unholy dwellers in a fallen world; all who are so impure that they cannot be admitted into heaven. Why then will the refined, the moral, and the amiable not be persuaded to seek the society of a pure heaven? to be prepared for the world where holy beings dwell?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eph 5:5
For this we know, that no whoremonger nor unclean person.
Soul idolatry excludes men from heaven
There are thirteen acts of soul worship; and to give any one of them to anything besides the God of heaven is plain idolatry, and those idolaters that so give it.
1. Esteem. That which we most highly value we make our god; for estimation is an act of soul worship.
2. Mindfulness. That which we are most mindful of we make our god.
3. Intention. That which we most intend we make our god; for to be most intended is an act of worship due only to the true God; for He being the chief good, must be the last end.
4. Resolution. What we are most resolved for we worship as God.
5. Love. That, which we most love we worship as our god; for love is an act of soul worship. To love and to adore are sometimes both one. Love, whenever it is inordinate, is an idolatrous affection.
6. Trust. That which we most trust we make our god; for confidence and dependence is an act of worship which the Lord calls for as due only to Himself.
7. Fear. If you fear others more than Him, you give that worship to them which is due only to God.
8. Hope. That which we make our hope we worship as God; for hope is an act of worship. Those that make their own righteousness the foundation of their hope, they exalt it into the place of Christ, and honour it as God; and to honour anything as God is evident idolatry.
9. Desire. That which we most desire we worship as our god; for that which is chiefly desired is the chief good in his account who so desires it; and what he counts his chief good, that he makes his god.
10. Delight. That which we most delight and rejoice in, that we worship as God; for transcendent delight is an act of worship due only to God; and this affection, in its height and elevation, is called glorying.
11. Zeal. That for which we are more zealous we worship as our god; for such a zeal is an act of worship due only to God; therefore it is idolatrous to be more zealous for our own things than for the things of God.
12. Gratitude. That to which we are most grateful, that we worship as God; for gratitude is an act of worship.
13. When our care and industry is more for other things than for God. No man can serve two masters.
Argument
1. Such idolaters are not in covenant with God. It is the covenant of grace alone which gives right and title to the kingdom. Those that are not in covenant have no title to heaven; and those that have no right nor title to it, shall have no inheritance in it.
2. Such idolaters are not yet born again, are not yet converted; and without the new birth, no inheritance in the kingdom; those only are heirs of this kingdom who are born of God, who are born again. Try whether you be guilty of this soul idolatry or no.
And to stir you up to this examination, let me premise these two things, the danger and secrecy of this.
1. The danger. It is a sin will endanger your loss of heaven, make it exceeding difficult, or altogether impossible. If one should tell you of some mischievous person lurking in your house, with an intent to murder you, or set your house on fire, etc. The apostle tells you of something more mischievous; that which is more dangerous, and nearer to you; that which will endanger the loss of an inheritance, of a kingdom.
2. The secrecy of it calls for diligent search. Nothing more common or more concealed. (D. Clarkson, B. D.)
No inheritance for the unclean in Gods kingdom
1.That there is a kingdom of God. This notion implieth, on Gods part, His sovereign authority and right to command; and on our part, both duties and privileges.
2. There is no entrance into this kingdom but by coming into the kingdom of Christ.
3. The title or right to the privileges of Christs kingdom is by way of inheritance. If a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Gal 4:7; and Rom 8:17), If sons, then heirs, joint heirs with Christ.
4. By the tenor of the Christian doctrine it plainly appeareth that whoredom and all uncleanness excludeth men from this inheritance.
It appeareth plainly by these particulars–
1. Because it is contrary to that covenant by which all enter into Christs kingdom.
2. Because of Gods express exclusion. Surely they are excluded from this inheritance whom God excludes and Christ excludes (1Co 6:9-10).
3. From the heinous nature of the sin. It is a sin of great atheism and great infidelity.
4. It is idolatry. Primary idolatry is when Divine honours are given to any creature. But howls whoredom and uncleanness idolatry? Because by it men are addicted to some base thing which they prefer before God. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (2Ti 3:4-5). Because they have not that spirit that should fit them and make them meet for heaven.
6. This exclusion is so absolute and peremptory that it admits no exception but that of sincere repentance, which is both a change of heart and life. No other repentance is true but a quitting and leaving these sins before they leave us.
Three things are apt to deceive you.
1. Some trouble for these sins while you go on still to commit them.
2. The next thing that will deceive you is some faint resistance or striving against sin, but it groweth upon you.
3. That which will deceive you is a hope to cry God mercy upon your death beds; and so, after an impure life, men hope still to go to heaven. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. For this ye know] Ye must be convinced of the dangerous and ruinous tendency of such a spirit and conduct, when ye know that persons of this character can never inherit the kingdom of God. See Clarke on Eph 5:3; and see the observations on the Greek article at the end of this epistle. See Clarke on Eph 6:24.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Nor covetous man, who is an idolater; because he serves Mammon instead of God, loves his riches more than God, and placeth his hope in them.
Hath any inheritance; without repentance; for he speaks of those that persevere in such sins, whom he calls children of disobedience, Eph 5:6.
In the kingdom of Christ and of God; not two distinct kingdoms, but one and the same, which belongs to God by nature, to Christ as Mediator. By this phrase he intimates, that there is no coming into the kingdom of God but by Christ.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. this ye knowThe oldestmanuscripts read, “Of this ye are sure knowing”; or asALFORD, “This ye knowbeing aware.”
covetous . . . idolater(Col 3:5). The best reading maybe translated, That is to say, literally, which is (in otherwords) an idolater. Paul himself had forsaken all for Christ(2Co 6:10; 2Co 11:27).Covetousness is worship of the creature instead of the Creator, thehighest treason against the King of kings (1Sa 15:3;Mat 6:24; Phi 3:19;1Jn 2:15).
hathThe presentimplies the fixedness of the exclusion, grounded on the eternalverities of that kingdom [ALFORD].
of Christ and of Godrather,as one Greek article is applied to both, “of Christ andGod,” implying their perfect oneness, which is consistent onlywith the doctrine that Christ is God (compare 2Th 1:12;1Ti 5:21; 1Ti 6:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For this ye know,…. Or, “know ye this”, as the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read:
that no whoremonger, nor unclean person; anyone that is guilty of fornication, adultery, incest, c.
Nor covetous man, who is an idolater: as every man is, that indulges his lusts, the idols of his own heart and who serves divers lusts and pleasures, and gives up himself to work all uncleanness with greediness; never having his fill of sin, but is ever craving and coveting it; as well as he who is immoderately desirous of worldly things: the covetous man may be called an idolater, because the idolater and he worship the same in substance, gold and silver, and brass, or what is made of them; the covetous man admires his gold, lays it up, and will not make use of it, as if it was something sacred; and through his over love to mammon, whom he serves, he neglects the worship of God, and the good of his own soul, and puts his trust and confidence in his riches: now no such person
hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, and of God; meaning either a Gospel church state, in which persons of such characters, and living in such sins, ought not to be; or else the kingdom of heaven and of glory, which may be called the kingdom of Christ, because it is in his hands, for his people; and it is his righteousness that gives a title to it, and his Spirit and grace which make meet for it; and it is by his power saints are preserved unto it; and he will put them into the possession of it; and which will greatly consist in the enjoyment of him: and this is also the kingdom of God, either of Christ who is God, or of God the Father; it being of his preparing and giving, and which he calls unto, and makes meet for; and this may be said to be an inheritance, because it is peculiar to children, the bequest of their heavenly Father, and is not purchased or acquired by them, but comes to them from the free donation of God, through the death of Christ; and to have an inheritance in it, is to have a right unto it, a meetness for it, and to be possessed of it: now the meaning of these words is, not that all who have been guilty of these sins shall be excluded the kingdom of God, but all such who live and die in them, without the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye know of a surety ( ). The correct text has , not . It is the same form for present indicative (second person plural) and imperative, probably indicative here, “ye know.” But why added? Probably, “ye know recognizing by your own experience.”
No (—). Common idiom in the N.T. like the Hebrew= oudeis (Robertson, Grammar, p. 732).
Covetous man (, ). Old word, in N.T. only here and 1Cor 5:10; 1Cor 6:10.
Which is ( ). So Aleph B. A D K L have (who), but is right. See Col 3:14 for this use of (which thing is). On (idolater) see 1Co 5:10f.
In the Kingdom of Christ and God ( ). Certainly the same kingdom and Paul may here mean to affirm the deity of Christ by the use of the one article with . But Sharp’s rule cannot be insisted on here because is often definite without the article like a proper name. Paul did teach the deity of Christ and may do it here.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye know [ ] . The A. V. fails to give the whole force of the expression, which is, ye know recognizing. Rev., ye know of a surety.
Idolater. Compare Col 3:5, and see on 1Co 5:10.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For this ye know” (touto gar iste ginoskontes) “For be ye continually knowing this,” or holding this in your realization. Ye are aware or ye know of a certainty such sins as afore and hereafter named are not compatible with inheritance requirements of the kingdom of God, Eph 4:29.
2) “That no whoremongers, nor unclean person, no covetous man (hoti pas pornos he akathartos he pleonektes) “That a fornicator, or morally unclean person, or greedy person,” which is the same as an idolater, one who makes a mammon or god of one’s own greed much as a worshiper of an idol, Col 3:5.
3) “Who is an idolator” (ho estin eidololatres) “Who is an idolator, one who bows down, or is slave to fornication, moral uncleanness, or greediness,” is declared to be an idolator as surely as one who worships and bows before a statute of Buddha, 1Co 5:11.
4) “Hath any inheritance” (ouk eshei kieronomian) “Has or holds an inheritance or heir-setting,” 1Co 6:9-10. An heir-setting, a position of rulership with or reigning with Jesus Christ in the millennial age, seems to be restricted to a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and to be a follower of Him in His church in this age, Rom 8:17.
5) ” In the kingdom of Christ and of God” (en te basileia tou christou kai theou) “in the king of the Christ, (the millennial kingdom) and of God;” 2Ti 2:10-12; 1Co 3:22; Gal 5:21.
While no child of God can lose salvation or eternal life, he may lose rewards and available positions of honor and service to the Master in the coming age, 2Jn 1:8; 1Co 3:14-15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5. For this ye know. If his readers were at all captivated by the allurements of those vices which have been enumerated, the consequence would be that they would lend a hesitating or careless ear to his admonitions. He determines, therefore, to alarm them by this weighty and dreadful threatening, that such vices shut against us the kingdom of God. By appealing to their own knowledge, he intimates that this was no doubtful matter. Some might think it harsh, or inconsistent with the Divine goodness, that all who have incurred the guilt of fornication or covetousness are excluded from the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. But the answer is easy. Paul does not say that those who have fallen into those sins, and recovered from them, are not pardoned, but pronounces sentence on the sins themselves. After addressing the Corinthians in the same language, he adds:
“
And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1Co 6:11.)
When men have repented, and thus give evidence that they are reconciled to God, they are no longer the same persons that they formerly were. But let all fornicators, or unclean or covetous persons, so long as they continue such, be assured that they have no friendship with God, and are deprived of all hope of salvation. It is called the kingdom of Christ and of God, because God hath given it to his Son that we may obtain it through him.
Nor covetous man, who is an idolater. “Covetousness,” as he says in another place, “is idolatry,” (Col 3:5,) — not the idolatry which is so frequently condemned in Scripture, but one of a different description. All covetous men must deny God, and put wealth in his place; such is their blind greediness of wretched gain. But why does Paul attribute to covetousness alone what belongs equally to other carnal passions? In what respect is covetousness better entitled to this disgraceful name than ambition, or than a vain confidence in ourselves? I answer, that this disease is widely spread, and not a few minds have caught the infection. Nay, it is not reckoned a disease, but receives, on the contrary, very general commendation. This accounts for the harshness of Paul’s language, which arose from a desire to tear from our hearts the false view.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) For this ye know.The true reading of the original is curiously emphatic. It runs thus: For this ye know, knowing . . . But, as it uses two different words, in the former clause properly ye know and the latter learning to know, the sense seems to be: For this ye know, learning it afresh so as to know it better. Whatever else is doubtful, this is certain; yet it admits of an ever growing certainty.
Covetous man, who is an idolater.Comp. Col. 3:5, Covetousness, which is idolatry. Whatever becomes the chief object of our desire, so as to claim our chief fear and love, is, of course, an idol; for ye cannot serve God and mammon. Perhaps in this metaphorical idolatry, as in the literal, there are two distinct stages, passing, however, by invisible gradations into each otherfirst, the resting on some visible blessing of God, as the one thing in which and for which we serve Him, and so by degrees losing Him in His own gifts; next, the absolute forgetfulness of Him, and the setting up, as is inevitable, of some other object of worship to fill the vacant throne.
Hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and [of] God.The phrase the kingdom of Christ and God, though probably it does not in strict technicality declare the identity of Christ and God, yet implies that the kingdom of the Christ is, as a matter of course, the kingdom of God, for the Christ is by prophetic definition Emmanuel, i.e., God with us. The unworthy Christian has indeed an inheritance in it, to his own awful responsibility; but in the true spiritual sense he is one who hath not, from whom shall be taken that which he hath (Mat. 13:12).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. For A deep and solemn reason for these prohibitions.
Ye know However ignorant and forgetful the Gentiles may be, ye know.
That no The same triad of vile transgressors as in Eph 5:3: the debauchee, the shameless, the business knave.
An idolater Who worships the round, molten image, the dollar, as his god. Note on Mat 6:24, and Col 3:5. It belongs to St. Paul’s self-sacrificing nature, as Meyer finely remarks, to condemn gain-greed as the most shameful ungodliness.
Inheritance kingdom Notes on Eph 1:10-14.
Of Christ and of God The kingdom of eternal glory beyond the judgment day.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For this you know of a surety that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.’
Paul strongly reinforces what he has said so that there can be no doubt about it. As we learn from Revelation (Eph 2:14-15; Eph 2:20-22) there were those who were claiming that sexual freedom was right and good, and indulging in sexual perversions, claiming them as a kind of worship. They may even have spoken of them as ‘revealing love’. Paul condemns them utterly and completely. That is the opposite of Christian love. Such people have no part in Christ or God.
‘You know for certain, of a surety.’ His language could not be stronger. He does not want anyone under any misapprehension. Neither unclean nor covetous people have any part in Christ. We must be careful not to water this down. To play with such attitudes is to demonstrate what we really are.
‘Who is an idolater.’ To put things before God, to give them precedence, is to make them idols. Such a man worships the things that are made rather then the Creator. He is a lover of mammon, a money-grubber, a desirer of wealth for its own sake or in order to indulge in fleshly living.
‘Has any inheritance.’ Compare Eph 1:11. These people have no part in Ephesians 1-3. They are on the dark side.
‘In the kingdom of Christ and of God.’ The sphere of God’s rule is now also the sphere of Christ’s rule (compare Col 1:13). There is no room here for acts of darkness. Eph 5:6 ‘Let no man deceive you with empty words, for because of these things comes the wrath of God on the sons of disobedience.’
Paul’s continual stress shows how strongly he felt on the issue and how dangerous he saw it to be. They are to be in no doubt, uncleanness and covetousness bring men under the wrath of God. By such behaviour they are ‘sons of disobedience’, that is, they reveal that they are disobedient by nature and determined to remain that way. The language is repeated from Eph 2:2-3. They are still in their sins whatever their profession.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eph 5:5. Nor covetous man, who is an idolater, In whatever sense covetousness is used, it may be called idolatry; as it is setting up something else, and, be it what it will, something comparatively very base and contemptible, and pursuing it, as if it were something that could be to us, as in the place of God, a supreme happine
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eph 5:5 . Paul returns to the vices mentioned Eph 5:3 , and assigns the reason for their prohibition.
] indicative ; Paul appeals to the consciousness of the readers, which, considering their familiarity with the principle laid down, was at all events more natural to him, and more in keeping with the destination as a motive ( ), than the imperative sense (Vulgate, Valla, Castalio, Vatablus, Erasmus Schmid, Estius, Grotius, Wolf, Bengel, Koppe, Rckert, Matthies, Olshausen, Bleek, and others). The participle , however, is not here to be explained from the well-known Hebrew and Greek mode of connecting the finite verb with its participle (Winer, p. 317 f. [E. T. 446]), inasmuch as . is another verb; but it denotes the way and manner of the knowing. [256]
] See on Eph 4:29 , and Winer, p. 155 [E. T. 209].
] applies to the covetous man , whom Paul declares in a metaphorical sense to be an idolater , inasmuch as such an one has made money and property his god, and has fallen away from the service of the true God (comp. Mat 6:24 ). Comp. Phi 3:19 ; Col 3:5 ; and the passages from Philo and the Rabbins, which express the same mode of regarding covetousness and other vices, in Wetstein, and Schttgen, Horae , p. 779. Doubtless and are also subtle idolatry; but only with regard to avarice does Paul, here and at Col 3:5 , bring it into special relief, in order with thoroughly deterrent force to make this felt as antichristian (comp. 1Ti 6:10 ). For Paul, in particular, whose all-sacrificing self-denial (2Co 6:10 ; 2Co 11:27 ) stood so sharply contrasted with that self-seeking passion, such a peculiar branding of was very natural. Zachariae, Koppe, [257] Meier, Harless, as also Fritzsche ( de conformat. N.T. critica Lachm. I. 1841, p. 46), refer . to all three subjects . Unnecessary deviation from that which after the singular of the relative must most naturally suggest itself to the reader, and opposed to the parallel Col 3:5 , where has its reference merely to the assured by the use of the article , and it is only afterwards that the comprehension of the before-named vices by means of the neuter plural comes in.
] Comp. on Eph 1:11 . By means of the present tense the certain future relation is realized at present . See Bernhardy, p. 371.
. . for the Messianic kingdom belongs to Christ and God , since Christ and God shall have the government of this kingdom. Christ opens it at His Parousia, and rules it under the supreme dominion of God (1Co 15:27 ) until the final consummation, whereupon He yields it up to God as the sole ruler (1Co 15:24 ; 1Co 15:28 ). But, after Beza, Zanchius, Glass, Bengel (comp. also Calovius), Rckert and Harless have explained it, on the ground of the non-repetition of the article: “ of Him, who is Christ and God ,” so that Christ is here spoken of as God. [258] Incorrectly, since had no need of an article (see Winer, p. 110 f. [E. T. 151]; comp. , 1Co 6:9-10 ; 1Co 15:50 ; Gal 5:21 ), and Christ, in accordance with the strict monotheism of the apostle (comp. Eph 4:6 ), could not be called by him in the absolute sense, and never has at all been called by him . See on Rom 9:5 ; Col 2:2 . Comp. Beyschlag, Christol. d. N.T. p. 203 f. The designation of the kingdom as of Christ and of God is climactic (comp. on Gal 1:1 ), and renders the warning element more solemn and more powerful to deter, through the contrast with the supreme holiness of the kingdom. [259]
On the proposition itself, comp. Gal 5:21 .
[256] This you are aware of from your own knowledge , so that I need not first to instruct you with regard to it, that , etc. Comp. the classic , Xen. Cyr. iv. 1. 14. thus applies to the following , not to ver. 3 f., as Winer maintains. See Khner, II. 631. 2.
[257] Koppe, we may add, allows a choice between two arbitrary alterations of the literal meaning. The sense in his view is either: “ quae quidem flagitia regnant inter gentiles idololatras ,” or: “ as little as an idolater .”
[258] Yet Rckert is of opinion, inconsistently enough, that the question whether Paul in reality here meant it so cannot be decided, because he is not here speaking of Christ in general, but only incidentally making mention of His kingdom.
[259] Comp. also Ernesti, Urspr. d. Snde , I. p. 207 f.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2115
FATAL CONSEQUENCES OF INDULGED SIN
Eph 5:5-7. This ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon lite children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
NEVER can we be wrong in bearing our testimony against sin. As for those who, from a zeal for the Gospel, pass over subjects of this kind as legal, we cannot but think them grievously mistaken: for St. Paul, whose love to the Gospel was so ardent, that he counted all things but dung and dross for the knowledge of it, was inferior to no man in inculcating the necessity of holiness, or in denouncing the judgments of God against indulged sin. The words before us amply illustrate this: for, specifying particular sins, which would surely prove fatal to all who lived in them, he made them the subject of a faithful appeal, and of a most solemn warning to the Church of God in all ages.
Were we to speak of this subject under distinct heads, those which we have just mentioned would afford an easy arrangement: but on such a subject as this, I think that the mention of distinct heads would he an interruption to us, and weaken the impression which the text itself is calculated to convey.
We declare then to you, brethren, that sin indulged will destroy your souls
[The Scriptures speak of sin under the twofold character, of the filthiness of the flesh, and the filthiness of the spirit [Note: 2Co 7:1.]. Both these kinds of sin are mentioned in my text: fornication and uncleanness belonging to the flesh, and covetousness having its seat rather in the spirit. Now these, whether more open and flagrant, or more secret and refined, are alike fatal to the soul, if they be harboured and indulged. They alike exclude us from heaven: for it is impossible that a person who lives in the commission of them should have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God ]
And this, if you know any thing of Christianity, you know
[The whole voice of Scripture declares it. Even reason itself may be considered as bearing testimony to it: for what delight can a holy God take in an unholy being? or how can the Lord Jesus Christ, who died to destroy the works of the devil, exalt lo a participation of his kingdom one who is fulfulling the works of the devil? We may as well conceive that Christ and Belial should have communion with each other, as that a man who regards and retains iniquity in his heart should enter into the kingdom of heaven ]
Let nothing, therefore, weaken the impression of this upon your minds
[There are those who will dispute against this. They will speak of uncleanness, especially if the marriage-bed be not invaded, as, at most, a venial fault, necessarily arising from the ardour of youth, and undeserving of any serious regard. And as to covetousness, there is no such thing existing in the world, if every persons estimate of himself may be relied on. Men will, indeed, impute it to others; but no one acknowledges it in himself. Every one covers it with some specious name: It is prudence, economy, diligence, a proper regard for ones family; and surely there can be no blame attached to habits like these. But let it be remembered what covetousness is: it is a desiring of any thing for its own sake, that we may find our happiness in it, rather than in God; and place our dependence on it, rather than on God: and that whether it be in a man of opulence, or in a person of low degree, is equally idolatry, and will infallibly exclude a man from the kingdom of God. As for all the pretexts that may be urged either for this or for uncleanness, they are but vain words, that will deceive you, to your eternal ruin. Look and see what fornication brought upon the whole nation of Israel [Note: Num 25:1. with 1Co 10:8.]: or what coveting did in the case of Achan; who, amongst two millions of people was singled out by lot [Note: Jos 7:10-26.]: and be assured, that however secret your sin be, or however sanctioned by the habits of those around you, the wrath of God will, sooner or later, come on all the children of disobedience Full well I know, how pleasing it is to be told that we have nothing to fear, and how ready we are to credit such unfounded assertions: but to what purpose will it be to speak peace to ourselves, when God has said that there is no peace? I warn you then, beloved, not to listen to any such delusive suggestions, by whomsoever they may be offered: but let God be true, and every man a liar.]
And let nothing under heaven induce you to comply with the solicitations of others, or to imitate their sins
[Though you are united in a Christian society, and profess all the doctrines of Christianity, you still are liable to be seduced by the arguments and examples of those around you. But remember, that, if you are partakers with others in their sins, you shall be partakers also with them in their plagues [Note: Rev 18:4.]. And it will be little consolation to you, in the eternal world, that you have partners in misery: nor will it be any excuse for you, that you have been deceived. God cautions you against deceit, whether it originate in yourselves or others. His word is plain: his warnings are solemn: and if you will not obey his voice, you must reap the fruits of your folly. Unite not, then, with any in a course of sin. Partake not with any, either in following their evil ways, or in giving your sanction to them. Your duty is, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them [Note: ver. 11.]. If you profess to be children of light, then must you walk worthy of your holy profession, shining, before all, as lights in the world.]
If, however, you have been drawn aside to sin, then humble yourselves for it without delay, and turn unto your God in newness of life
[Blessed be God! your state is not hopeless, though you may have fallen into sin. For at Corinth there were some who had been guilty of the very transgressions here referred to, and yet had obtained mercy through Christ: Such were some of you, says St. Paul; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God [Note: 1Co 6:9-11.]. So, then, may ye be washed, and justified, and sanctified, if you turn unto God through Christ. The blood of Christ shall be sufficient for you, as it was for them; and the Spirit of Christ shall operate as effectually in you as in them. Only acknowledge your transgressions, and flee for refuge to the hope that is set before you; so shall you find mercy of the Lord, and your iniquity shall not be your ruin [Note: Eze 18:30.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Ver. 5. Who is an idolater ] Dancing about his golden calf, and saying to his wedge of silver, “Thou art my confidence,” Job 30:24 ; which yet shall prove but as Achan’s wedge to cleave his soul in sunder, and as that Babylonish garment to be his winding sheet.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
5 .] Appeal to their own knowledge that such practices exclude from the kingdom of God : see below. For this ye know (indicative, not imperative: this to my mind is decided 1) by the context, in which an appeal to their own consciousness of the fact is far more natural than a communication of the fact to them: 2) by the position of the words, which in the case of an imperative would more naturally be : 3) by the use of the construction , which almost necessitates a matter of fact underlying . . is not an example of the ( Gen 15:13 al.) of Hebrew usage, the two verbs being different) being aware that every fornicator or ( now, not , for individualization of each) unclean man, or covetous man, which is (i.e. ‘that is to say,’ ‘quod;’ meaning, the word . This reading necessarily confines the reference to that one word ) an idolater (cf. Col 3:5 , which shews that even would apply to the only, not, as Stier, al., to the three : see Job 31:24 ; Psa 52:7 ; Mat 6:24 . Mey. remarks well, that it was very natural for St. Paul, whose forsaking of all things ( 2Co 6:10 ; 2Co 11:27 ) so strongly contrasted with selfish greediness, to mark with the deepest reprobation the sin of ), hath not inheritance (the present implying more the fixedness of the exclusion, grounded on the eternal verities of that Kingdom, than mere future certainty: see 1Co 15:25 ) in the Kingdom of Christ and God (not ‘ and of God ’ ( . . ) as E. V. No distinction is to be made, being in the closest union. Nor is any specification needed that the Kingdom of Christ is also the Kingdom of God, as would be made with the second article. This follows as matter of course: and thus the words bear no. legitimate rendering, except on the substratum of our Lord’s Divinity. But on the other hand, we cannot safely say here, that the same Person is intended by . , merely on account of the omission of the article. For 1) any introduction of such a predication regarding Christ would here be manifestly out of place, not belonging to the context: 2) is so frequently and unaccountably anarthrous, that it is not safe to ground any such inference from its use here).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Eph 5:5 . : for this ye know, being aware that . The TR reads = ye are (with [523] 3 [524] [525] , Theod., Theophyl., etc.), taking it with the participle as = “ye are aware”. But (which is supported by [526] [527] [528] [529] * [530] [531] , Vulg., Goth., Sah., Boh., Arm., Chrys., etc.) must be preferred. The phrase is explained by some as a Hebr. form, following the well-known use of the inf. with the fin. verb, or as having the force of the participle with the fin. verb in such expressions as (Gen 15:13 ); and so the RV renders it “ye know of a surety”. But in such formul the same verb occurs in both cases, whereas here we have two distinct verbs. Hence it is best rendered “ye know, being aware that”. It is an appeal to their consciousness of the incompatibility of such sins with the inheritance of the Kingdom of God. It is not necessary, therefore (with von Hofmann), to put a full stop between the and the , and make refer to the preceding statement. Nor is there any reason for taking as an imper. (so Vulg., Beng., etc.) instead of an indic. The refers to what follows , and the introduces a reason for the former injunctions. These injunctions are enforced by a reference to the reader’s own knowledge, and that reference to their knowledge is made in direct appeal to their consciousness. : that no fornicator or unclean person . On the Hebr. formula , “every one shall not,” see on Eph 4:29 above and Win.-Moult., p. 209. : or covetous man . The appears here again to have its proper sense, and not any secondary application. : who is an idolater . This reading of the TR has the support of [532] [533] [534] [535] [536] , Syr.-Harcl., Boh., Arm., Chrys., etc. But there are two interesting variants, viz. , , which is the reading of [537] , Vulg., Goth., Syr.-Pes. (probably), and , which is given by [538] [539] , 67 2 , Jer., etc. The choice must be between this last and the TR. On the whole the former is to be preferred (with LTTrWHRV) on textual grounds, and that reading will then have the force of “which is the same as an idolater”. Some (Harl., etc.) refer the relative ( ) to all three previous nouns; but the analogy of Col 3:5 is against that. It is true that fornication and uncleanness might also well be called forms of idolatry. But the point here seems to be that the covetous, grasping man in particular, who makes a god of Mammon, is much the same as the worshipper of an idol; and the is thus made synonymous with the in order to stigmatise avarice as a specifically anti-Christian vice, essentially incompatible with the spirit of self-sacrifice which is of the very being of Christianity and was inculcated so strenuously by Paul himself. : has inheritance . The is taken by Meyer as a case of present for future , marking a looked-for event as just as certain as if it were already with us. But it is rather a proper present, appropriate here as the expression of a principle or law; cf. Win.-Moult., p. 331. : in the Kingdom of Christ and God . The clause has been understood as an affirmation of Christ’s Godhead, as if = “the Kingdom of Him who is at once Christ and God” (Beza, Beng., Rck., Harl.); and some, with this view of its import, have held it to be an example of the application of Sharp’s rule. But that rule is inapplicable here by reason of the fact that is independent of the article and occurs indeed without it in the phrase (1Co 6:9-10 ; 1Co 15:50 ; Gal 5:21 ). has the same climactic force here as in 1Co 3:22 , etc. The kingdom is Christ’s , committed to Him now, but to be delivered up at last to God, who is to be sole and absolute Sovereign (1Co 15:24 ; 1Co 15:28 ).
[523] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.
[524] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.
[525] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.
[526] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
[527] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[528] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).
[529] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.
[530] Codex Boernerianus (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.
[531] Codex Porphyrianus (sc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. Eph 2:13-16 .
[532] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).
[533] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.
[534] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.
[535] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.
[536] Codex Porphyrianus (sc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. Eph 2:13-16 .
[537] Codex Boernerianus (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.
[538] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
[539] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
know. App-132.
whoremonger = fornicator.
covetous = avaricious. Greek. pleonektes. See 1Co 5:10, 1Co 5:11; 1Co 6:10.
who = which.
idolater. Compare 1Co 5:10.
inheritance. As in Eph 1:14.
kingdom of Christ = kingdom of the Messiah. App-114.
of God. See App-114.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
5.] Appeal to their own knowledge that such practices exclude from the kingdom of God: see below. For this ye know (indicative, not imperative: this to my mind is decided 1) by the context, in which an appeal to their own consciousness of the fact is far more natural than a communication of the fact to them: 2) by the position of the words, which in the case of an imperative would more naturally be : 3) by the use of the construction , which almost necessitates a matter of fact underlying .- . is not an example of the (Gen 15:13 al.) of Hebrew usage, the two verbs being different) being aware that every fornicator or ( now, not , for individualization of each) unclean man, or covetous man, which is (i.e. that is to say,-quod; meaning, the word . This reading necessarily confines the reference to that one word) an idolater (cf. Col 3:5, which shews that even would apply to the only, not, as Stier, al., to the three: see Job 31:24; Psa 52:7; Mat 6:24. Mey. remarks well, that it was very natural for St. Paul, whose forsaking of all things (2Co 6:10; 2Co 11:27) so strongly contrasted with selfish greediness, to mark with the deepest reprobation the sin of ), hath not inheritance (the present implying more the fixedness of the exclusion, grounded on the eternal verities of that Kingdom,-than mere future certainty: see 1Co 15:25) in the Kingdom of Christ and God (not and of God (. .) as E. V. No distinction is to be made, being in the closest union. Nor is any specification needed that the Kingdom of Christ is also the Kingdom of God, as would be made with the second article. This follows as matter of course: and thus the words bear no. legitimate rendering, except on the substratum of our Lords Divinity. But on the other hand, we cannot safely say here, that the same Person is intended by . , merely on account of the omission of the article. For 1) any introduction of such a predication regarding Christ would here be manifestly out of place, not belonging to the context: 2) is so frequently and unaccountably anarthrous, that it is not safe to ground any such inference from its use here).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Eph 5:5. , be ye) [knowing. Engl. V. makes it Indic., Ye know]. The imperative, Gal 5:21.- , who is an idolater) Col 3:5. Avarice (covetousness) is the highest act of revolt (desertion) from the Creator to the creature, Mat 6:24; Php 3:19; 1Jn 2:15 : and it too in the highest degree violates the commandment concerning the love of our neighbour, which resembles the commandment respecting the love of God. It is then idolatry, and therefore the greatest sin, 1Sa 15:23.- , of Christ and of God) The article only once expressed indicates the most perfect unity [of God and Christ], 1Ti 5:21; 1Ti 6:13; 2Th 1:12. Comp. Mar 14:33. Elsewhere it is double for the sake of emphasis, Col 2:2.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Eph 5:5
Eph 5:5
For this ye know of a surety, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.-Cannot become their servants. [What a doom awaits the covetous man! He, like the sensualist, is to be excluded from the kingdom of God. For unto the impenitent and unbelieving there is but one home in eternity. Hell is made up of the profane, the sensual and the vile; and its supremest horrors arise from its being the place where will be gathered all the corrupt and unholy dwellers of a fallen world; all who are so impure that they cannot be admitted into heaven.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
this: 1Co 6:9, 1Co 6:10, Gal 5:19, Gal 5:21
that no: Eph 5:3, Heb 13:4
who is: Gal 5:21, Col 3:5, 1Ti 6:10, 1Ti 6:17, Rev 21:8, Rev 22:15
Reciprocal: Exo 20:3 – General Jos 2:1 – to spy secretly Jdg 16:18 – brought money Psa 10:3 – whom Pro 2:18 – General Pro 5:22 – sins Jer 7:9 – steal Eze 3:18 – I say Eze 3:21 – if thou Eze 14:3 – these men Eze 33:31 – but their Mat 19:22 – for Mat 25:34 – inherit Mar 10:22 – for Luk 18:23 – he was very sorrowful Act 24:26 – hoped 1Co 5:11 – or covetous 2Co 12:21 – uncleanness Phi 3:18 – I have Heb 12:14 – no man Heb 12:16 – any fornicator Heb 13:5 – conversation 2Pe 2:10 – in the Rev 21:27 – there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Eph 5:5.) , For this ye know-being as you are aware. Winer, 45, 8. states a reason, and an awful and solemn one it is. For the of the Textus Receptus, found in D3, E, H, L, and the Syriac, is now generally acknowledged to be the genuine reading, as having the preponderance of authority, as A, B, D1, F, G, the Vulgate (scitote intelligentes), Coptic, and several of the Fathers. is a peculiar construction, and is not wholly identical with the Hebrew usage of connecting two parts of the same Hebrew verb together, or with the similar usage in Greek. Khner, 675, 3; Jelf, 708, 3. The instances adduced from the Septuagint, Gen 15:13 – , and Jer 42:19 – , are therefore not in point, as is the second person plural of . We take the phrase to be in the indicative-as is done by Calvin, Harless, Meyer, and de Wette, for the appeal in the participle is to a matter of fact-and not in the imperative, as is found in the Vulgate, and is thought by Estius, Bengel, Rckert, Matthies, and Stier. Wickliffe renders-Wite ye this and vndirstonde (see under Eph 5:3). Ye know-
, , , -that every whoremonger or unclean person, or covetous man who is an idolater. Col 3:5. is explained under the preceding verse. See under Eph 4:19. The differences of reading are these:-Griesbach, Lachmann, and Alford read after B and Jerome who has quod. Other MSS., such as F, G, have , which reading is found in the Vulgate, Cyprian, and Ambrosiaster. The first reading, found in A, D, E, K, L, the Syriac, and Coptic, seems to be the correct one-the others are merely emendations. Harless, Meier, von Gerlach, and Stier, suppose the relative to refer to the three antecedents. Harless can adduce no reason for this opinion save his own view of the meaning of . As in Col 3:5, the apostle particularizes covetousness as idolatry. Wetstein and Schoettgen adduce rabbinical citations in proof that some sins were named by the Jews idolatry, but to little purpose in the present instance. The covetous man makes a god of his possessions, and offers to them the entire homage of his heart. That world of which the love and worship fill his nature, is his god, for whose sake he rises up early and sits up late. The phrase is not to be diluted into this-who is as bad as an heathen, as in the loose paraphrase of Barlee-but it means, that the covetous man deifying the world rejects the true Jehovah. Job 8:13; Mat 6:24. Every one of them-
-has no inheritance, and shall or can have none; the present stating a fact, or law unalterably determined. Winer, 40, 2. . . . . Winer, 26; see under Eph 4:29 -and for , see under Eph 1:11, Eph 3:6. And the very name of the inheritance vindicates this exclusion; for it is-
-in the kingdom of Christ and God. Php 3:19. F and G read -an evident emendation. The genitive has its analogy in the expressions used Mat 16:28; 2Ti 4:1; 2Ti 4:18. and have been sometimes distinguished, as if the first referred to the church in heaven, and the other to the church on earth, while others reverse this opinion. Usteri, Paulin. Lehrbeg. 352; Koppe, Excursus I. ad Thessalon. But such a distinction cannot be sustained. is used with perfect propriety here; is the church called and collected together, into which one of these bad characters may intrude himself; but is the kingdom under the special jurisdiction of its King, and no one can or dare enter without His sanction; for it is, as Origen calls it, . That kingdom which begins here, but is fully developed in the heavens, is that of Christ and God, the second noun wanting the article. Winer, 19, 4. We do not apprehend that the apostle means to identify Christ and God, though the latter noun wants the article. Though Christ is possessed of Divinity, yet He is distinct from God. Jerome, indeed, says-ipsum Deum et Christum intelligamus . . . ubi autem Deus est, tam Pater quam Filius intelligi potest. Such is the general view of Beza, Zanchius, Glassius, Bengel, Rckert, Harless, Hodge, and Middleton. Others, such as Meyer, Stier, Olshausen, and Ellicott, suppose the apostle to mean that the kingdom of Christ is also the kingdom God-in the kingdom which is Christ’s and God’s. often wants the article, and the use of it here would have seemed to deny the real Divinity of Christ. Christ is called God in other places of Paul’s writ ings; but the idea here is, that the inheritance is common to Christ and God. The identity of the kingdom is the principal thought, and the apostle does not formally say- , as such phraseology might imply that there were two kingdoms; nor, as Stier remarks, does he even say- , as he wishes to show the close connection, or place both nouns in a single conception. Bishop Middleton’s canon does not therefore apply, whatever may be thought of its application to such passages as Tit 2:13, 2Pe 1:1, Jud 1:4, in all of which the pronoun is inserted, while in two of them is an attributive, and in one of them has a similar meaning. appears to be added, not merely to exhibit the authority by which the exclusion of selfish and covetous men is warranted, but principally to show the righteous doom of the idolater who has chosen a different deity. It is baseless to say, with Grotius, Vatablus, Gerhardt, Moldenhauer, and Baumgarten, that Christ’s kingdom exists on earth and God’s in heaven. The kingdom is named Christ’s inasmuch as He secures it, prepares it, holds it for us, and at length conveys us to it; and it is God’s as it is His originally, and would have remained His though Christ had never come; for He is in Christ, and Christ’s mediation is only the working out of His gracious purposes-God having committed the administration of this kingdom into His hands. Into Christ’s kingdom the fornicator and sensualist cannot come; for, unsanctified and unprepared, they are not susceptible of its spiritual enjoyments, and are filled with antipathy to its unfleshly occupations; and specially into God’s kingdom the covetous man, who is an idolater, cannot come, for that God is not his god, and disowning the God of the kingdom, he is self-excluded. As his treasure is not there, so neither there could his heart find satisfaction and repo se.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Eph 5:5. Even one single act of unlawful sexual intimacy constitutes fornication or adultery, but a whoremonger is a man who makes it a common practice; especially one who patronizes a woman who receives men for money. Unclean person means one who is corrupt either in body or mind. Covetous is explained in the comments at verse 3. Paul does not say that such a man is merely as bad as an idolater, but says he is one. That is because idolatry consists of being devoted to any thing or person except the one true God. A man who is greedy for the temporal things of this world will be chiefly interested in them, and will give his greatest devotion along that, line, hence is an idolator. An inheritance is a share in the property of another either through a relationship with him, or by some provision in his will. God has offered to adopt any person who will, into His family, and thus make him an heir of the Heavenly Estate. Paul states that such evil characters as the ones just mentioned will be denied any share in the good things of God. It is called the kingdom of Christ and God, because both the Father and the Son are one in spirit and purpose. Christ is the active king, ruling under his Father, but at the last day he will give up the rule that the Father may be the exclusive King. (See 1Co 15:24-28.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eph 5:5. For of this ye are sure, knowing, etc. For introduces the ground for the preceding prohibitions in an appeal to the Christian knowledge of the readers. It seems better to refer this to what precedes, and to take the first clause as indicative, not imperative. The change of a single letter in the Greek requires the above paraphrase; lit., this ye know, knowing; the participle, however, being a different word. Some render: this surely know, that, etc. But the expression is not a Hebraism.
That no fornicator, etc. These words are to be explained in accordance with Eph 5:3.
Who, or, which, in any case refers only to covetous man; comp. Col 3:5. The latter reading may be correct, as it is found in the two most ancient Greek manuscripts.
Is an idolater. The covetous man makes wealth his God; this is now the most common form of idolatry, and the Scriptures plainly reveal its sinfulness. The fact that it is compatible with outward decorum, and with the respect of men, does not alter its nature. It is the permanent and controlling principle of an irreligious heart and life, turning the soul away from God. There is no cure for this destructive love of money, but using it for other than selfish purposes. Riches, therefore, must ruin their possessor, unless he employs them for the good of others and for the glory of God (Hodge).
Hath any inheritance; comp. Gal 5:21. More than shall not inherit; can have no inheritance, this being the unchangeable law of Gods moral government, eternally true, in the kingdom of Christ and God. The second of is to be omitted, since the two terms are closely united. We should not explain of Christ even God, although the fact that the kingdom of Christ and of God is one rests on the deeper fact of the Divinity of our Lord. This kingdom is not merely the future kingdom of glory, but the present kingdom of grace; comp. Matthew 13 and similar passages.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle, considering how exceeding common the fore-mentioned sins were among the Gentiles, and how ready persons were to esteem lightly of them, advises the Ephesians here not to entertain in their minds light thoughts of them, or to believe any libertines which should represent them as small and inconsiderable matters; for how can a little sin be committed against a great God? or that sin be accounted light, which brings down the heavy wrath of God upon the person, and shuts him out of the kingdom of God?
Note here, 1. The description of heaven; it is a kingdom, for its eminency and glory, for its fulness and sufficiency, for its safety and security, for its duration and perpetuity, so called; and it is the kingdom of Christ, and of God, that is, either the kingdom of Christ by purchase, and the kingdom of God by free donation.
But mark, The kingdom of Christ and of God; of Christ first, because there is no coming into the kingdom of God but by Christ. Christ is first named, because we enter by him into the kingdom, and in his right.
Note, 2. The sins enumerated, which will assuredly shut persons out of his kingdom; and they are not external and corporeal sins only, as whoredom and uncleanness, but internal and spiritual; covetousness, which is idolatry.
As a man may be guilty of adultery, and yet never touch a woman, and of murder, yet never strike his neighbour; so he may be guilty of idolatry, and yet never bow his knee to an idol: secret idolatry, soul idolatry, will shut out of heaven, as well as open idolatry. Any thing that has our highest esteem and regard, our extreme love and delight, and is the special object of our hope, our affiance and trust, of our fear and care, this we make our god.
And thus the covetous man is an idolater, for he gives these acts of soul-worship to the creature, to something in the world which is not God. Every natural man is an idolater; either the world, or some worldly lust, is his god, and no idolater can have, while such, any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Note, 3. The seasonable advice which St. Paul gives the Ephesians, and us in them, not to be partakers of other men’s sins: Be not ye therefore partakers with them, lest ye be also partakers with them in their plagues and punishments.
Quest. But when may we be said to be partakers of other men’s sins?
Ans. When we consent to them, connive at them, rejoice in them, give counsel or command for them, by not mourning over them, but especially by joining with them in the sinful practice of them; all these ways are we partakers of other men’s sins.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Eph 5:5-7. For this ye know Of this ye cannot be ignorant, favoured as you have been with the light of the gospel, that no whoremonger, &c., hath any inheritance Here or hereafter; in the kingdom of Christ or of God That is, purchased by Christ, and bestowed by God. The reason why the apostle, in this and his other epistles, condemned fornication and every sort of uncleanness in such an express manner, was because the heathen avowedly practised these vices even in their temples as acts of worship, which they thought rendered them acceptable to their gods. But how different from such practices is the conduct enjoined in the gospel, which teaches that they who continue in such abominations, shall for ever be excluded from the presence and glory of God. Nor covetous man That is, the man whose chief desire and care is to increase his wealth, either that he may spend it on the gratification of his lusts, or may hoard it up; who is an idolater As placing that love, delight, and confidence in riches, which ought to be placed in God alone; or because he sets up something else, whatever may be the object of his covetous desires, and something comparatively very base and contemptible, in the place of God, as if it could be the ground of his dependance, and the source of his happiness. Let no man deceive you with vain words Or sophistical arguments, as if you might live in the commission of such sins, and yet find mercy with God, or escape punishment. For because of these and the like things, cometh the wrath of God And the dreadful effects thereof, on the children of disobedience Even on the Gentiles, though not favoured with the light and aids which you have, demonstrating to you the infinite evil of all such practices, and affording you sufficient power to avoid them. Now, if even heathens are punished for such practices, much less can we suppose that professing Christians, who have so much greater advantages for practising purity and virtue in all their branches, and are under such strong and peculiar engagements so to do, shall escape with impunity if they pursue a similar line of conduct. Be not ye therefore partakers with them In these abominations, if ye would not finally partake in that dreadful punishment which they are bringing on themselves thereby.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 5
Who is an idolater; worshipping money as his god.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Now, let’s be very clear on this, Paul is saying none of those listed will have any inheritance in the kingdom of God. It has been made clear so far that the redeemed do have an inheritance, thus any in this list must not be truly redeemed. Some serious implications for the covetous person don’t you think?
Barnes says of this verse, “The object here is, to deter from indulgence in those vices by the solemn assurance that no one who committed them could possibly be saved.”
The term “no” is that word we have looked at before. It is used as all, but not all inclusive. As in “all Judea” went to be baptized by John the Baptist, it does not mean that every single one in Judea went out. Thus, the thought is that there may be some redeemed in this list of people but not many. It is the norm that most will not have an inheritance in the Kingdom.
Some might suggest also, that they might be in the kingdom, but just not have an inheritance as in blessings and rewards. In the context of the book I think this would be a dangerous assumption especially if you are a whoremonger, unclean, covetous or an idolater.
It may be that the “idolater” is a modifier of the three – in other words a person that is a whoremonger and an idolater would not have an inheritance etc. The net Bible seems to put application to the text that these wrongs are actually idolatry. “…no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
There is an emphasis on the knowing – it is something that we definitely know. It is a sure thing. None of these will have an inheritance.
“No whoremonger” is that Greek word “pornos” and relates to improper sexual activity. It includes male prostitution or as the lexicon puts it “lust for hire” but also relates to any improper activity. It would be obvious that his mind is set in the world and not on God, thus he would naturally be an idolater – one having other gods before Almighty God. His god would be his appetite for gratification and/or money.
“Nor unclean person” relates to either spiritual or physical filthiness. This person is not of a proper nature before God due to his spiritual condition and lifestyle. Again, an idolater – one that is putting all above God and His desires.
“Nor covetous man” is not only the desire for more, it is also strongly related to the wanting of more that belongs to others. Not only does it cover wanting a new car, but it may well relate to wanting the one in the driveway across the street.
This relates to anything in the physical realm that one might desire; be it vehicles, toys, appliances, houses, cabins, boats, or even persons. It would cover the desire for someone else’s spouse or physical attributes.
“Who is an idolater” is simply the worship of another god. Setting God aside for false gods. The lexicon points out correctly that this is a plague that can come upon a believer, thus we may have some information upon which to make a proper interpretation.
If a Christian can be involved in these, it would seem that the general sense of it is that if anyone has these problems in their lives, then their inheritance is not going to happen, though if they are believers they may have entrance into the eternal state.
They make it in but there will certainly be embarrassment about their life here on earth, and there will probably be sorrow over lost reward.
This seems to be the thought of the text, though one that is in fornication, is unclean, or is covetous might want to take a second look at their position before God, because these are not normal for the believer, and these are counter to the Spirit of God that lives within the Christian. If these are present, one must wonder if He is present.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
5:5 {2} For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an {b} idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
(2) Because these sins are such that the most part of men do not consider them to be sins, he awakes the godly to the end that they should so much the more take heed to guard themselves from these sins as from most harmful plagues.
(b) A bondslave to idolatry, for the covetous man thinks that his life consists in his goods.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul warned his readers against improper conduct by reminding them that people who practice such things sacrifice an inheritance in the kingdom to come, namely, the millennial kingdom (cf. 1Co 6:9-10; Gal 5:21). The AV, NKJV, and NIV have "any inheritance," and the NASB has "an inheritance," but the Greek text omits the article: "does not have inheritance." Since Paul had already said that all believers have an inheritance in Christ (Eph 1:3-14), he was evidently contrasting unbelievers with believers (cf. Eph 5:6; 1Co 6:9-11; Gal 5:21; Mat 19:16; Mar 10:17; Luk 18:18). His point seems to have been that this type of behavior, which marks unbelievers, should not characterize believers.
Interpreters who take this verse as evidence that a truly saved person cannot and will not practice these vices overlook the fact that some genuine believers live carnal lives (cf. 1Co 3:1-4). [Note: For further study, see Zane C. Hodges, The Gospel Under Siege, pp. 109-20; idem, Grace in Eclipse, pp. 76-77; and Charles C. Ryrie, So Great Salvation, pp. 59-65.]