Our Redemption “in Christ” Detailed to the Ephesians Volume 46

Paul Urges the Ephesian Believers to Prove their Union with Christ by Walking in Love Part 2

Ephesians 5:5-7 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. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. KJV

Paul now concludes his exhortation to these Ephesian believers and to every one of us true believers today with something that he has done in all of his letters and that is to warn those of us who have received Christ to be diligent in our conduct/behavior because there is a contrast or distinction between God’s children and those who do not belong to Him at all. Paul begins by giving these Ephesian believers and us today the reasons why some do not belong to Christ and the first is the English word whoremonger which is translated by the Greek word pornos meaning a (male) prostitute (as venal), that is, (by analogy) a debauchee (libertine): someone who is a dissolute person; usually a man or woman who is morally unrestrained. In other words, Paul declares a whoremonger to be one who has no restraints or limits on his/her moral conduct and behavior and make it their aim or practice to pursue and gratify every sensual pleasure that they have and crave.

The next category of persons Paul declares is denoted by the little English phrase unclean person which is translated by one Greek word akathartos meaning impure (ceremonially, morally (lewd) or specifically (demonic)): - foul, unclean. This word Paul uses here ties in with the previous word pornos and they both depict, detail, and describe people that make sexual immorality of any sort their normal lifestyle or way of living with no desire or effort made by them to fight these sins, but instead endeavor to yield themselves to them on a regular every day basis believing that it is not evil, but Paul wants these Ephesian believers and us today to know and understand that this sexual behavior is demonic in nature and extremely evil and that it is not God’s will for His redeemed adopted children. Here is what Moses said of our God YAWEH/Jesus Christ speaking these words to the people of Israel that came out of slavery in Egypt, “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” (Deuteronomy 32:1-4).

Next Paul list a covetous man and this English phrase is translated by one Greek word pleonektes meaning someone holding (desiring) more, that is, eager for gain (avaricious or greedy, hence a defrauder. This Paul declares to be people who are not desiring to gain wealth that they might do some good to others, but someone who has greed for gain in their hearts in order to make themselves appear better than others and to give themselves the feeling or satisfaction that they are somebody special because they have much earthly wealth and it causes them to even scam, scheme, and swindle other people out of their money in order to gain this status they seek. It is an unholy love of money as Paul declared to Brother Timothy has happened to many (even believers) with these words, “But people who want to get rich keep falling into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires which drown them in destruction and ruin. Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief.” (1 Timothy 6:9-10).

Paul describes the covetous man as an idolater and this English phrase is translated by the Greek word eidololatres meaning someone who worships money or things and serves it rather than the One True God Jesus Christ our Lord as our Lord Jesus Christ warned with these words, “No one can serve two masters. He will hate the first master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24). Paul emphatically declares that no one who charters their course of life in these ways is an heir of God and of Christ Jesus our Lord or in other words they have not been redeemed by the Blood of Christ nor have they been born again of the Holy Spirit. Here again is what Moses said of some of the people of Israel that came out of slavery in Egypt, “They made Him furious because they worshiped foreign gods and angered Him because they worshiped worthless idols. They sacrificed to demons that are not God, to gods they never heard of. These were new gods, who came from nearby, gods your ancestors never worshiped. (You ignored the Rock who fathered you and forgot the God who gave you life.) The LORD saw this and rejected them, because His own sons and daughters had made Him angry. He said, ‘I will turn away from them and find out what will happen to them. They are devious people, children who can’t be trusted.’” (Deuteronomy 32:16-20). Note: “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.” (Dr. John Gill).

Paul even warns these Ephesian believers and us today a final time by saying, “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” (Ephesians 5:6). The English word deceive Paul uses here is translated by the Greek word apatao meaning to cheat, that is, delude someone. In other words, the idea Paul has in mind here is to not allow anyone to deprive us from experiencing the true Grace of God that can strengthen us from our weakness to our old sinful nature that still lives in us by tainting us with false hope or assurance absent from God’s true Grace or by telling us or teaching us that God does not care what we do with our bodies that belong to Him, Paul is writing this from his own experience of failure in this area as we discover from his words written to the Roman believers, “I know that God’s standards are spiritual, but I have a corrupt nature, sold as a slave to sin. I don’t realize what I’m doing. I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate. I don’t do what I want to do, but I agree that God’s standards are good. So I am no longer the one who is doing the things I hate, but sin that lives in me is doing them. I know that nothing good lives in me; that is, nothing good lives in my corrupt nature. Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don’t do it. I don’t do the good I want to do. Instead, I do the evil that I don’t want to do. Now, when I do what I don’t want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it. Sin that lives in me is doing it. So I’ve discovered this truth: Evil is present with me even when I want to do what God’s standards say is good. I take pleasure in Gods standards in my inner being. However, I see a different standard [at work] throughout my body. It is at war with the standards my mind sets and tries to take me captive to sin’s standards which still exist throughout my body. What a miserable person I am! Who will rescue me from my dying body? I thank God that our Lord Jesus Christ rescues me! So I am obedient to God’s standards with my mind, but I am obedient to sin’s standards with my corrupt nature.” (Romans 7:14-25).

My own Personal Note: “The difference Paul is making here to these Ephesian believers and to all of us who have been truly redeemed verses those that will be excluded from the Kingdom of God and of Christ is ‘desire’ that resides in the inner man or inner woman by virtue of being born again or born twice because there is now a war being waged in the inner man and inner woman for control of what the body will do or not do on the outside and this is why Paul said this to the Galatian believers, ‘Let me explain further. Live your life as your spiritual nature directs you. Then you will never follow through on what your corrupt nature wants.’ (Galatians 5:16) because the old nature or corrupt nature only wants to express its corruption through the body by sin, however, the new nature never wants to sin, therefore, we see that the ‘desire’ of all those who have not been redeemed is solely and only to love their sin and not hate it as Paul declared he did to the Roman believers above and as the Apostle John documented with these words, ‘For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.’ (Revelation 22:15) and we are not to partake or pattern our lives in a lie or any falsehood with those who are unredeemed.”

“Let none flatter you, as though such things were tolerable and to be allowed of in Christians, or as though they were not very provoking and offensive unto God, or as though you might indulge yourselves in them and yet escape with impunity. These are vain words. Observe, Those who flatter themselves and others with hopes of impunity in sin do but put a cheat upon themselves and others. Thus Satan deceived our first parents with vain words when he said to them, You shall not surely die. They are vain words indeed; for those who trust to them will find themselves wretchedly imposed upon” Matthew Henry

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…