FOR THIS YOU KNOW WITH CERTAINTY:
touto gar iste (2PRAM) ginoskontes (PAPMPN):
(1Corinthians
6:9,10;
Galatians 5:19,21)
For this
(3778)
(touto) makes reference to an entity regarded as a part of the
discourse setting, in this case the vices just mentioned.
You know with
certainty - is actually two verbs, the first (eido) means absolute,
positive, beyond a peradventure of a doubt, knowledge and the second
(ginosko) referring to experiential knowledge. What Paul is doing is
reminding these Gentiles believers that they are absolutely convinced of
the truth of the solemn conclusion he is about to state, a statement
that speaks of one's eternal destiny as it relates to one's behavior. He
is not trying to show that one's bad behavior causes them to be lost
forever but that their unrighteous, unholy behavior is a reflection that
they were never created as a new man in righteousness and holiness of
the truth. Paul wants to make sure using this unusual Greek construction
of two verbs both of which speak of knowing, that his readers are
absolutely sure of what he is about to write!
Wuest attempts to
bring out Paul's use of two verbs...
for this you know absolutely (iste)
and
experientially (ginoskontes)
Know (1097)
(ginosko from gnosis = knowledge) conveys the basic
meaning of taking in knowledge in regard to something or someone,
knowledge that goes beyond the merely factual. The
present tense
conveys the sense of continually knowing.
Know (1492)
(eido) means knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt. The
perfect tense
indicates that this is to be the abiding state of their knowledge.
The mood of this verb is in the form of an
imperative or
command which is very difficult to translate into English. In sum, this
verb in the perfect imperative means the truth Paul is getting ready to
explain is something his readers need to be permanently absolutely,
irrevocably certain about. They have come out the lifestyle he is going
to describe and he does not want them to forget where that lifestyle is
headed in regard to one's eternal destiny!
The Amplified Version probably
conveys the sense of the
imperative mood better
than the NAS...
For be sure of this (Comment:
The idea is you {plural} need to know of a surety or to know beyond a
shadow of a doubt. This is important!
Here is my paraphrase in an attempt
to translate both verbs that relate to knowing...
For
be
absolutely
sure and certain
(command) of this (what he states in last part of verse), knowing from
your own experience...
This truth was not
to slip from their minds! They knew what Paul explains in the next
section from their own direct
personal experience. As Paul reminded them earlier in this letter, they had all
formerly walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among
them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our
flesh, indulging the
desires of the
flesh
and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, even as the rest. (See notes
Ephesians 2:2;
2:3)
How were they to
know with certainty that these things were wrong? Because in every
man's fallen state in Adam (whether they had access to the Law or not)
there is a moral compass, a God given conscience by which God has made
Himself evident within them (See note
Romans 1:19)
and which causes all men to know that the practice of evil things is
deserving of death (See note
Romans 1:32,
cp notes
Romans 2:14;
2:15).
As believers who had been taught by Paul when he pastored the church in
Ephesus, they undoubtedly also knew the truth that
the one who sows
to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who
sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Gal 6:8)
Barnes adds
that Paul is saying...
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 (Ed note: as a lifestyle) could possibly be
saved. (Albert Barnes. Barnes NT Commentary).
THAT NO IMMORAL OR IMPURE PERSON:
hoti pas pornos e akathartos:
(3;
Hebrews 13:4)
Immoral
(4205)
(pornos from pernáo = sell) means a fornicator or
one who is sexually immoral or who commits sexual immorality. It
describes one who engages in sexual immorality, whether a man or a
woman. This word translated is often translated “whoremonger”,
which describes one who embraces a prostituted life. One can whoremonger
using the “900” telephone numbers, the World Wide Web, questionable
magazines, or movies (unfortunately even PG Rated can be contaminated
with pornos). Do not be deceived!
Wuest says
pornos is...
a man who prostitutes his body to
another’s lust for hire, a male prostitute, a man who indulges in
unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)
Jon Courson makes a strong
statement declaring that...
Paul says your heart tells you and
your spirit confirms that if you are a whoremonger—if you are delighted
by and caught up in pornography—you are not part of the kingdom. You can
come to church every time we meet; you can show up every time the doors
are open. But if you are involved in this stuff—if this is your idol, if
this is what you’re living for—you’re not saved. (Courson,
J. Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson
)
Impure
(169)
(akathartos from a = without + kathaíro = cleanse)
in a moral sense refers to that which is unclean in thought or life.
OR COVETOUS MAN, WHO IS AN
IDOLATER: e pleonektes, o estin (3SPAI) eidololatres: (Galatians
5:21;
Colossians 3:5;
1 Timothy
6:10,17;
Revelation 21:8;
22:15)
Covetous
(4123)
(pleonektes from pleonektéo = to be covetous in turn from
pleíon = more + écho = have) describes one who wants more,
one who is always eager for more and especially for what belongs to
someone else.
The Greeks defined pleonektes as “the spirit which is
always reaching after more and grabbing that to which it has no right.”
It is aggressive getting. It is not the miser’s spirit, for it aimed to
get in order to spend, so that it could live in more luxury and greater
pleasure and it cared not over whom it took advantage so long as it
could get.
Morris
writes that here is...
Another surprising revelation is that
a "covetous man" is equivalent to an "idolater." In fact, "Thou
shalt not covet" is the last of God's ten commandments (Ex 20:17),
whereas the first two are commands against idolatry (Ex 20:3-5).
Covetousness, in God's sight, is equivalent to the worship of the
creation rather than the Creator (see note
Romans 1:25),
the same as the worship of other aspects of nature as personified in
various gods and goddesses. The god of money and material things is
mammon, and Jesus stressed that "ye cannot serve God and mammon" (see
note
Matthew 6:24).
(Morris,
Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)
This verse says essentially the same
thing Paul wrote to the Colossians
Therefore consider
the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and greed, which amounts (is) to idolatry (see note
Colossians 3:5)
(Comment: A greedy person is an idolater because he puts things before
God cp note for similar idea where Jesus explains worship of God
versus Mammon in
Matthew 6:24).
Idolater
(1496)(eidololatres
from eídolon = idol + látris = servant, worshiper) is an
image worshipper or a servant or worshiper of idols.
Vincent
reminds us that the
New Testament usage (of eidololatres)
does not confine the term to the worship of images, but extends it to
the soul’s devotion to any object which usurps the place of God.
HAS AN INHERITANCE IN THE
KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND GOD: ouk echei (3SPAI) kleronomian en te basileia
tou Christou kai theou:
Has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God - Clearly this
means that those who have a lifestyle characterized by the sins just
listed are lost, still in their sins and on the way to the Lake of fire
and eternal separation from God. The kingdom in simple terms is where
Christ and God rule as King. They have no part in the present invisible
Kingdom nor in the future earthly kingdom of Christ. Note carefully that
Paul is not referring to the Judgment Seat of Christ and loss of
rewards. The subject is salvation not rewards. They are professors of
Christ but lack the power of Christ which would validate them as
possessors of Christ. Their lifestyle of sinful conduct discloses their
true character as those still in Adam and not those who are by grace
through faith now in Christ. Paul is not
saying of course that they cannot be saved but that the implication is
clear that if the salvation is genuine they will repent of these heinous
sins as a lifestyle.
J Vernon McGee minces no words
declaring that...
It is clearly understood that the
unregenerate man who practices these sins has no portion in the kingdom
of Christ and God. If a professing Christian practices these sins, he
immediately classifies himself. No matter what his testimony may be on
Sunday or what position he may have in the church, such a person is
saying to the lost world that he is not a child of God. To live in the
corruption of the flesh is to place one’s self beyond the pale of a
child of God. (McGee,
J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
Has
(2192)
(echo) is in the
present tense
which pictures the
continuing negative state.
Inheritance
(2917)
(kleronomia from kleros = lot + némo = hold,
have in one’s power, distribute) is originally a portion which one
receives by lot in a general distribution. In the NT the idea of chance
attaching to the lot is eliminated. It is the portion or heritage which
one receives by virtue of birth or by special gift.
Kingdom (932)(basileia
from basileus = a sovereign, king, monarch) denotes sovereignty,
royal power, dominion and refers therefore to the territory or people
over whom a king rules. The Kingdom of Heaven or Christ and God is the
sphere in which God is acknowledged as King (In hearts giving Him
obedience). In this sense the Kingdom has a spiritual aspect, a present
physical aspect, and a future eternal aspect (beginning with the
millennium,
cf Mt 25:31,34), all of course depending on the context of the passage
in which basileia is found. Paul is careful to remind us that the
Kingdom of Heaven/God is not in observance of ordinances, external and
material, but in the deeper matters of the heart, which are spiritual
and essential (see notes
Romans 14:17)
Click here
to study over 100 uses of the "Kingdom" most of which refer to
the Kingdom of Heaven/God. See also related discussion on
the Kingdom of Heaven
Paul
addressed the same issue in the Corinthian church writing...
Or do you not know that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived
(present
imperative with a
negative = stop being deceived = some were being deceived!);
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of
you; but (praise God) you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our
God. (1Cor 6:9-11).
And again Paul gave a similar warning to the
Galatians writing...
Now the deeds of the flesh are
evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry,
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes,
dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things
like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have
forewarned you (he is reminding them of something he had already
taught - how prone we are to forget, becoming then so prone to wander!
Don't forget this warning beloved of the Father!) that those who
practice (prasso = perform repeatedly or habitually -
present tense
emphasizes this refers to one's
lifestyle, not isolated occurrences of these sins. NLT picks up this
sense rendering it "anyone living that sort of life will not inherit
the Kingdom of God") such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
Wayne Barber
writes...
You see, when you
become a Christian, something changes. You stop chasing sin. Sin starts
chasing you. It doesn’t mean you can’t fall in one of those areas, but
it means you cannot pursue it and claim to know Jesus Christ. The seed
of God inside of you will not let that take place
.
You’ve got to
remember, when you receive Christ it is not some religious insurance
policy, it is the heart change. The
Spirit
of the living God comes inside of you. That doesn’t mean that person
can’t have tendencies and weaknesses and times of wearing the wrong
garment and fall back into it and be pulled that way, but he cannot
habitually pursue it anymore and call himself to be a Christian. (Ephesians 5:6-7: Don't Be Deceived)
S Lewis Johnson
explains that Paul is not talking about
a single act but a lifestyle...
I’m inclined to think the Apostle is
thinking about is not an occasional act, a single act, but what he’s
talking about is a certain kind of lifestyle characterized by these
things. In other words, the person whose lifestyle is characterized by
fornication, he is a fornicator who continually commits the sin of
fornication, or an unclean person, if that characterizes his life, or a
covetous man, if that characterizes his life, then Paul is saying, he
doesn’t have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God because
the fact that his life is totally characterized by these things is an
evidence that he doesn’t really have salvation at all.
Because you see, one of the products of genuine salvation is that we are
delivered from the lifestyle that we formerly had. We are new creatures
in Christ Jesus. And so, when the Apostle writes here he does not have
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, he seems to me to
be saying this person is a lost person. But he’s not lost because of the
commission of one act, but he’s lost if these things characterize him,
if this is the bent of his life. (Pdf
)
D Martyn Lloyd-Jones
explains the concept of the kingdom of Christ and God (the third "component"
below corresponds to the meaning in Ephesians 5:5) noting that...
It means, in its essence, Christ's
rule or the sphere and realm in which He is reigning. It can be
considered in three ways as follows. Many times when He was here in the
days of His flesh our Lord said that the kingdom of heaven was already
present. Wherever He was present and exercising authority, the
kingdom of heaven was there. You remember how on one occasion, when
they charged Him with casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub, He
showed them the utter folly of that, and then went on to say, 'If I cast
out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come
unto you' (Matt 12:28). Here is the kingdom of God. His
authority, His reign was actually in practice. Then there is His phrase
when He said to the Pharisees, 'the kingdom of God is within you, or,
'the kingdom of God is among you' (NAS "is in your midst" Luke 17:21).
It was as though He were saying,
It is being manifested in your
midst. Don't say "look here" or "look there". Get rid of this
materialistic view. I am here amongst you; I am doing things. It is here.
Wherever the reign of Christ is being
manifested, the kingdom of God is there. And when He sent out His
disciples to preach, He told them to tell the cities which received them
not, 'Be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto
you.' (Luke 10:9, 11, cf Luke 19:11, 21:31)
It means that; but it also means
that the kingdom of God is present at this moment in all who are true
believers...In writing to the Colossians he gives thanks to the
Father 'who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son' (see note
Colossians 1:13).
The 'kingdom of his dear Son' is 'the kingdom of God, it is 'the kingdom
of heaven', it is this new kingdom into which we have entered. Or,
again, in his letter to the Philippians he says, 'Our conversation is in
heaven,' or, `Our citizenship is in heaven.' We are here on earth, we
obey the powers that be, we live our lives in this way. Yes; but 'our
citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour' (see
note
Philippians 3:20).
We who recognize Christ as our Lord, and in whose lives He is reigning
and ruling at this moment, are in the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom
of heaven is in us. We have been translated into the 'kingdom of his
dear Son'; we have become a 'kingdom of priests. (cf notes
1 Peter 2:9;
2:10,
Revelation 1:6,
5:10)
The third and last way of looking at the kingdom is this.
There is a sense in which it is yet to come. It has come; it is coming;
it is to come. It was here when He was exercising authority; it is here
in us now; and yet it is to come. It will come when this rule and reign
of Christ will be established over the whole world even in a physical
and material sense. The day is coming when the kingdoms of this world
will have become 'the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, when
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Doth his successive journeys run; His
kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and wane no
more. (Play Isaac Watts precious hymn -
Jesus Shall Reign
sing it out unto the Lord)
It will then have come, completely and entirely, and everything will be
under His dominion and sway. Evil and Satan will be entirely removed;
there will be `new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness' (see note
2 Peter 3:13),
and then the kingdom of heaven will have come in that material way. The
spiritual and the material will become one in a sense, and all things
will be subject to His sway, that 'at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (see notes
Philippians 2:10;
2:11).
(Lloyd-Jones,
D. M.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
(Bolding added)
Christ
(5547)
(Christos from chrio = to anoint, rub with oil, consecrate
to an office) is the Anointed One, the Messiah, Christos being
the Greek equivalent of the transliterated Hebrew word Messiah.
The
Disciple's Study Bible has a sobering note on this verse...
God stands totally opposed to sin.
His willingness to forgive sin does not at all mean His laxity towards
those who practice sinning. His forgiveness only follows our repentance,
our turning from the practice of sin. If we do not turn from our sins,
we will face God's wrath. No trickery with words by any preacher or
teacher can change that. (Disciple's
Study Bible)
Wayne Barber comments on those
who do not have an entrance into the kingdom of heaven noting first that
the...
word "no"
means absolutely none of any kind. They do not have an inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and of God.
What is he
saying? If you are habitually living the way he has just described, you
do not have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. The argument has
popped up recently in circles, can a man be a Christian and be a
practicing homosexual? Can a man be a Christian and be a habitually
practicing adulterer? No way. Let me show you something. Look at 1 John
3:1-8a and see what you think.
"See how great a
love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children
of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know
us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God,
and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He
appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself,
just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices
lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in
order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides
in Him sins [habitually]; no one who sins [habitually] has seen Him or
knows Him. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who
practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one
who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the
beginning."
The purpose of the
book of Ephesians is to raise people’s view of salvation.
When you have a
low view of salvation, it allows for that view. So when you have a high
view of salvation, friend, it cuts it out. There is a brand new life. It
doesn’t mean you can’t sin. It doesn’t mean you can’t struggle in an
area of sin. It doesn’t mean that you can’t repeat that sin. But you are
miserable in the process because the Holy Spirit lives within you. The
Holy Spirit is there to convict you and bring you back to the cross to
where you can repent and go on and wear that new garment.
Well, we have an
old garment and a new garment. But what does I John tells us about the
one who habitually wears the old garment? The same thing Ephesians says.
He in no way has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ or of God. If
you have struggles with that, go to the Scriptures and see what it
teaches you. That is the key. Don’t argue with your experience. Go to
see what God’s Word has to say. We need a high view of salvation.
Salvation means more than just joining a church. It means that something
has happened to us and the nature of God has come into us. His Spirit
lives in our lives.
F B Meyer has the following
devotional thoughts on our inheritance...
THE SAINTS' INHERITANCE IN GOD. When
an emigrant first receives the title-deeds of the broad lands made over
to him in the far West, he has no conception, as he descends the steps
of the Government office and passes into the crowd, of all that has been
conveyed to him in the schedule of parchment. And, though acres vast
enough to make an English county are in his possession, rich and loamy
soil, or stored with mines of ore, yet he is not sensibly the richer.
For long days he travels, towards his inheritance and presently pitches
his flimsy shanty upon its borders. But even though he has reached it,
several years must pass before he can understand its value, or compel it
to minister, with all its products, to his need.
O child of God, thy estate has been procured at the cost of blood and
tears; but thou didst not buy it! Its broad acres have been made over to
thee by deed of gift. They became thine in the Council chamber of
eternity, when the Father gave Himself to thee in Jesus. And they became
thine in fact, when thou wast born at the foot of the cross. As soon as
thou didst open thine eyes to behold the crucified Lord, thou didst all
unconsciously become heir to the lengths and breadths, and depths, and
heights of God!
No sooner has the emigrant reached his estate, than he commences to
prospect it. He makes a circuit of its bounds; he ascends its loftiest
hills; he crosses and recrosses it, that he may know all that has come
into his ownership. And this is God's message to thee, O Christian soul!
Look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and
eastward, and westward; for all this land is given to thee! Precious
things of the sun and of the moon, for God is light; of the ancient
mountains of his faithfulness, and the everlasting hills of his truth;
of the fountains and brooks of his love, that gush spontaneously forth
to satisfy and enrich.
But next to this, the emigrant encloses some small part of his
inheritance, placing around it a tentative fence or partition; and here
he begins to expend toil and skill. The giant trees are cut down; and
their roots burnt out, or extracted by a team of horses. The
unaccustomed soil is brought beneath the yoke of the plough. The
grassland yields pasture to the cattle; and there is not a square inch
of the enclosed territory that does not minister to the needs of the new
proprietor. But not content with this, in the following year he pushes
his fences back further into the depth of prairie or forest, and again
renews his efforts to compel the land to yield him her secret stores.
Year after year the process is repeated, until, perhaps when twenty
years have come and gone, the fences are needed no longer, because the
extent of occupation is commensurate with the extent of the original
purchase.
Let every reader mark this, that supposing two men obtained a grant of
an equal number of acres, if other things were equal, their wealth would
be in exact proportion to the amount of use which each had made of his
special acres. If one had learnt a swifter art of appropriating the
wealth that lay open to his hand, he would be actually, though perhaps
not potentially, richer than his neighbour. All of which is a parable.
The difference that obtains between Christians is not one of grace, but
of the use we make of grace. That there are diversities of gift is
manifest; and there always will be a vast difference between those who
have five talents and those who have two, in the amount of work done for
the kingdom of God. But as far as our inheritance of God's grace is
concerned, there are no preferences, no step-children's portions, no
arbitrary distinctions. It is not as under the laws of primogeniture,
that one child takes all, while the younger children are dismissed with
meagre allowances. Each soul has the whole of God. God gives Himself to
each. He cannot give more; He will not give less than Himself.
If then you would know why it is that some of God's children live lives
so much fuller and richer than others, you must seek it in the
differences of their appropriation of God. Some have learnt the happy
art of receiving and utilizing every square inch if we may use the
expression of that knowledge of God which has been revealed to them.
They have laid all God's revealed character under contribution. They
have raised harvests of bread out of the Incarnation; and vintages of
blood-red grape from the scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary; and
pomegranates and all manner of fruit out of the mysteries of the
Ascension and the gift of the Holy Ghost. In hours of weakness they drew
on God's power; in those of suffering, on his patience; in those of
misunderstanding and hatred, on his vindication; in those of apparent
defeat and despair, on the promises that gleam over the smoke of the
battle, as the Cross before the gaze of Constantine; in death itself, on
the life and immortality which find their home in the being of Jehovah.
The analogy that we have quoted, however, fails us utterly in its final
working out. The emigrant at last covers his estate, its mines become
exhausted, its forests levelled, its soil impoverished; but when a
million years have passed, the nature of God will lie before us as
utterly unexplored and unexhausted, as when the first-born son of light
commenced like a Columbus in the spiritual realm to explore the contents
of the illimitable continent, God.
When we were children, the map of Africa gave us a few scattered names
around the coast line; but the great interior was blank. Modern maps
containing the results Of the explorations of Livingstone, Stanley,
Burton, tell another story of river, Savannah, tableland, and of myriads
of inhabitants. Probably, ere long the whole will have been opened up to
European civilization and commerce. But with God this shall never be. We
shall never know the far-away springs of the Niles and Congo's of his
nature; we shall never unravel the innermost secret of his being. (The
Reciprocal Inheritance)
