Paul did not shy away from discussing difficult topics with his readers. If he would have, they – and we – would not have known how God expects us to live. This devotion looks at his continuing advice to the Ephesians on several sins to avoid.
Nuggets
- We court God’s anger when we are promiscuous.
- What God wants is for us to depend on Him to provide what we need.
- Since impurity is also translated unclean, we are called to be clean, including the mind, heart, tongue, and life.
- Filthy character shows a lack of respect to God and others because it spreads the filth.
- Careless words can destroy relationships.
- Levity not only destroy relationships but also wreck witnesses and alienate searchers.
Paul began telling the Ephesians in Chapter 4 how they should should live the lives he told them in the first three chapters. In this section in Chapter 5, he tackled some difficult topics. The main one had to do with how we use our words.
The thing is, Paul used a funny phrase. He said that there were some sins that the Ephesians “… must not even be named among you …” (Eph. 5: 3 RSV). What he was saying was that he wanted the Ephesians to stay as far away from these sins as they could. Let’s take a look at what he was talking about.
Three Biggies to Avoid
“But fornication and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints” (Eph. 5: 3 RSV).
Paul calls out three sins here: fornication, impurity, and covetousness. Two of them seem really specific, but the third one seems more general. Let’s take the specific ones first.
Fornication
Fornication is an old word. It is talking about two people who aren’t married who are having sex. God wants sex to be kept for the marriage.
Why? You want my take? God wanted us to wait until we picked one. He didn’t want us sampling. He wanted it to mean something special.
Unfortunately, that is another thing Satan messed up. He is in control of this world, and he wants the exact opposite of God. (That is probably one reason why Satan pushes this one so hard — he knows God detests it so much.) So, he wants us to think we can have multiple partners without any commitment.
Paul knew that sexual temptations would be prominent, so advised that a man and woman marry (I Cor. 7: 2). “God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality” (I Thess. 4: 3 GNT).
Part of the problem is that the temptations tie up so much of our mind. Our thoughts readily slide over to clean, polish, water, and grow them.
We court God’s anger when we are promiscuous (Col. 3: 5-6). “Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers” (Heb. 13: 4 CSB).
Covetousness
Covetousness is a greed for wealth and possessions. Hmmm. Satan gets mileage out that one, too, does he?
Does God want us to not have possessions? No. Does He want us to not have money to pay our bills? No.
What God wants is for us to depend on Him to provide what we need. Yes, He will. He has promised (Mt. 6: 31-33; Phil. 4: 19).
Impurity
To me, the fuzzy one is impurity. Oh, I know what it means (I am Dictionary Chick, aren’t I?). The one is messed up by something else — it is contaminated by it.
It just seems that leaves that wide open for interpretation. Maclaren seemed to agree, as he said, “all uncleanness embraces every manifestation in word, look, or deed of the impure spirit.”
It might be easier to look at it from the flip side. Since impurity is also translated unclean, we are called to be clean. This includes mind, heart, tongue, and life. Well, that sure is all-encompassing!
This, Not That
“Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Eph. 5: 4 RSV).
Next, Paul kicked in talking about our speech. He said that our words are as important as our actions are.
Well, Jesus said the same thing. “I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt. 12: 36-37 HCSB).
Paul tells us not to do a couple of things before he tells us to do this. Let’s look at the “not this” first.
Filthiness
Filthy as being unclean fits in the discussion of impure. Unclean words are supposed to go because they clash with the character disciples are building after conversion.
This is one of the places where it is argued that says we are not to use profanity. It is more than just words, though.
It is also a filthy character. It is a filthy attitude. So, this is one of those big general words.
Filthy character shows a lack of respect to God and others because it spreads the filth. Words, especially, spew the filth onto anyone in range.
Silly Talk
I got a chuckle out of this being translated silly talk. I think what is meant here is that old saying: loose lips sink ships.
We need to guard our talk. Careless words can destroy relationships.
This does not mean “thou shalt not joke.” I truly believe God has a sense of humor. It means weigh the situation and speak appropriately.
Christians are not called to be sticks in the mud. We are to be filled with God’s joy. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14: 17 NIV).
Levity
Levity can be kind of like silly talk. It is making light of a serious situation.
This is especially true when we are discussing things that our companion could relate to God. These not only destroy relationships but also wreck witnesses and alienate searchers.
Thanksgiving
Paul said that all that bad stuff should be replaced by thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is when we “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (I Chron. 16: 34 ESV). Remember, we said glory is the expression of the qualities of God resulting from the authority of God.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Making the Connections
So, glory has to do with God’s qualities— His character. What were we just talking about? Our character.
What we are supposed to be doing is imitating God. We talked about that in a recent devotion. We are supposed to be refining our character into His character.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Oh, man. When I put Ephesians 5: 3 with Ephesians 4: 25-26, I just got so discouraged. How can we live like God wants us to live? It is just so much!
God answered my question. I have SiriusXM’s The Message on while I write. Tauren Wells’ song God’s Not Done with You was playing. We are a work in progress until we get to heaven.
But next came Slow Fade from Casting Crowns. “It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away It’s a slow fade when black and white are turned to gray And thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid When you give yourself away People never crumble in a day It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade.”
Later, Lauren Daigle’s Rescue started playing. “You are not hopeless Though you have been broken Your innocence stolen.”
Then look at the chorus. “There is no distance That cannot be covered Over and over You’re not defenseless I’ll be your shelter I’ll be your armor.” Doesn’t that give you goosebumps?
God is going to rescue us from times Satan is tempting us.
That is exactly how Satan gets us roped into the sin. He keeps chipping away, getting us used to it. It is a slow fade.
Then, Satan gets us to compromise. He gets us to feel like we can’t stand up — and we are sunk.
But God isn’t done with us. He is riding to the rescue.
How Do We Apply This?
We are called to be pure.
I know, I know. Sinful human bodies do not facilitate sinlessness.
Remember, I keep saying grow in grace and knowledge? (II Pet. 3: 18). I have a snazzy graphic.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17 NLT).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3 ESV).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16 ESV).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11 NLT).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11 NLT).
To read Has God Provided Everything We Need?, click the button below.
This, along with the job description, are how we should be getting pure.
Wondering how that is going to happen? “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (Jn. 15: 3 NASB).
Who was the Word? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1: 1 KJV).
I know. I tripped on that we are already clean back in John. 15: 3. That must be one of those one-word/three-tenses verbs. We were made clean at our conversion, but we are still in the spring-cleaning process. We won’t be totally clean until heaven.
Think about these three questions a second.
- What would people think if your thoughts really did show up in bubbles outside your head? Would you be embarrassed?
- Let’s say we could play back a recording of your words — only the kind of words God likes would be the only ones that you could hear. Would your conversation be heard as usual?
- What would people think if all of your along time was broadcast on all the TV stations?
If we had any queasy moments there, we know what we have to work on for next year.it is about time to be picking out our word for next year and setting up our goals (I think we work more to accomplish goals than resolutions).
Sin should make us queasy. That means we aren’t doing the slow fade to complacency. We need to be intentional in fighting sin.
Father, thank You for making us Your children and heirs. Help us to be pure in Your sight. Amen.
What do you think?
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