Our Redemption “in Christ” Detailed to the Ephesians Volume 45

Paul Urges the Ephesian Believers to Prove their Union with Christ by Walking in Love Part 1

Ephesians 5:1-4 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. KJV

Paul begins this Chapter by immediately linking and connecting it with what he has written to them in the previous Chapter 4 by urging them to be (in conduct and behavior) just as their Father in Heaven. The English word followers Paul use here is translated by the Greek word mimetes which means an imitator. The idea Paul has in mind here is that of little earthly children as they grow and are able to walk and talk want to (as their deepest desire) imitate or copy their earthly Father reproducing his behavior in their own behavior that they may be like him in everything they do. The child does this because of their great love for their earthly Father and in the same manner Paul urges these Ephesian believers a we who are true believers today to imitate our Heavenly Father as we recall from the Scripture the pattern or example our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ lived out during His earthly ministry when He said this, “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.’” (John 5:19). Also the link with what Paul has just said in the previous Chapter of being tender-hearted and forgiving of one another is also what Paul has in mind here. Love gives as we find our Father in Heaven giving us Christ to take upon Himself the wrath of God in our place (John 3:16), but lust takes and takes until it drains, drowns, and devours all. Christ showed and proved His love for us by His willingness and His actually dying as our substitutes for sin an offering pleasing to God the Father, then, in like manner if we are to “be like Christ” (Philippians 2:5) we must live with one another as sojourners and pilgrims together on the earth doing everything to promote love amongst one another and this too will be a sweet savor to our Father in Heaven (1 John 3:16).

Paul now makes a sharp turn detailing those things that are the antithesis to any Christian man or woman/son or daughter walking in love and pleasing our Heavenly Father and the first on his list is fornication. The English word fornication is translated by the Greek word porneia and this word is where we get our English word pornography and it means harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively idolatry; voluntary sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other; extra marital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations. The next word Paul uses in Ephesians 5:3 is the English word uncleanness which is translated by the Greek word akatharsia which means impurity (the quality), physically or morally impure (ceremonially, morally (lewd) or specifically (demonic)): - foul, unclean. The next word Paul uses and links all these together is covetousness and this English word is translated by the Greek word pleonexia which means avarice, that is, (by implication) fraudulency, extortion: - having an extreme greed for material wealth and often times wanting, scheming, and plotting to take from others. In other words, Paul declares to these Ephesian believers and to us today that this constant, consistent, and continual behavior is that from their/our old life before we met or encountered Christ and it is the normal way of life for all who have never met Christ, but Paul says to them and to us “let it not be once named” (Ephesians 5:3) as it were our normal way of living now, but we are to do as Paul wrote with these words to the Colossian believers, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossian 3:5).

We have no power in ourselves to put these things to death in our lives, but we know that God the Holy Spirit dwelling “in us” does and this is why Paul warned them and us earlier that these things grieve Him and cause Him to cease to flow His purifying power through us leaving us powerless, putrid, and pitiful as our Lord Jesus Christ said would happen with these words, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13). Paul again leads these Ephesian believers and us back to our speech and the words that proceed forth from the well of our hearts through the bucket of our mouths by denouncing obscene language that is profanity, as well as vulgar jokes which are meant to demean, debase, or denigrate another person or persons character. Paul’s English phrase “let it not be once named” is translated by two Greek words mede and onomazo meaning not even to name or mention or profess, not once, not so much as in a continued negation and this ties into what Paul instructed the Roman believers to do when he said these words to them, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:15-19).

My own Personal Note: “When we were ‘born again’ we were given at that very moment of salvation as the Apostle Peter puts it in these words, ‘As His Divine Power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue’ (2 Peter 1:3), but we must at all times exercise our wills to the will of God allowing God the Holy Spirit free reign and rule into the innermost recesses of our inner man and inner woman as the Proverb puts it with these words, ‘The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart.’” (Proverbs 20:27).

“Godlike love will be love that gives as liberally as His does. What is the very essence of all love? Longing to be like. And the purest and deepest love is love which desires to impart itself, and that is God’s love. The Bible seems to teach us that in a very mysterious sense, about which the less we say the less likely we are to err, there is a quality of giving up, as well as of giving, in God’s love; for we read of the Father that ‘spared not His Son,’ by which is meant, not that He did not shrink from inflicting something upon the Son, but that He did not grudgingly keep that Son for Himself. ‘He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up to the death for us all.’ And if we can say but little about that surrender on the part of the infinite Fountain of all love, we can say that Jesus Christ, who is the activity of the Father’s love, spared not Himself, but, as the context puts it, ‘gave Himself up for us.’ And that is the pattern for us. That thought is not a subject to be decorated with tawdry finery of eloquence, or to be dealt with as if it were a sentimental prettiness very fit to be spoken of, but impossible to be practised. It is the duty of every Christian man and woman, and they have not done their duty unless they have learned that the bond which unites them to men is, in its nature, the very same as the bond which unites men to God; and that they will not have lived righteously unless they learn to be ‘imitators of God,’ in the surrender of themselves for their brother’s good.” Alexander MacLaren

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…