Ephesians 5:2 and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. NET
The Bible often uses anthropomorphic (from the Greek words meaning “man” and “form”) language to describe God. This language may describe God in physical terms such as His arms or eyes or it may be in terms of feelings and emotions. In the days of the Temple, animals were being slaughtered all day long. The smoke from burning incense helped deodorize the smell. There was the idea that God was able to smell this fragrance and it made Him happy.
An easy way to put this in perspective is to peek ahead to verse 10 where Paul talks about doing what is pleasing to the Lord. We may want to please others, we may want to please ourselves or we can choose to please God. (This brings to mind the Bob Dylan song about how we have to serve somebody).
Ephesians 5:3 But let sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness not even be named among you, as also is proper to saints, 4 and filthiness, and foolish talking, or crude joking, which are not fitting, but rather thanksgiving. BLB
These three sins will pop back up again in verse 5. The Greek word for sexual immorality is “porneia” which is typically translated as sexual immorality or fornication but interestingly enough, can also mean idolatry. There is a standard for sexual behavior and anything that deviates from that goes into this sexual immorality bin. Impurity is using Hebrew language of cleanliness and uncleanliness. That is, behavior that leaves us tainted because of our rebellion to God.
Ordinarily covetousness is greed but here it is more in the nature of spiritual greed as Paul is focused on idolatry. Pagan worshipers go to their temples to try and influence the gods. As a pagan, you didn’t want to be a victim of the fates so you try to manage these forces, even if it hurts other people. Ritual sex with temple prostitutes was seen as a way to gain this power.
The idolatry that Paul is talking about in these verses is that we want to be God and to be in control. If that is the case, then we also lose our thankfulness for being saved which leads to bitterness, anger, envy and the inability to forgive others.
Ephesians 5:5 For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. NET
There are people who take this as an absolute. If true, this would mean that those who fall short of perfection are excluded. 1John and Romans chapter 7, among other parts of the Bible, would call this interpretation into question. In addition, this view doesn’t leave room for the ongoing process of sanctification. Our current Christian lives are like the game of golf where on any given day you will have some good swings and some bad swings (and never a round without mistakes). That said, every day we get closer to perfection and one day will be there but is isn’t likely to occur in our current earthly life. (Martin Luther would tell us that these lists are designed to beat us up in order to defeat any notion in our brains that we can do anything other than rely on grace).
Earlier Paul has compared the old pagan life with our new life and reading verses 5:3-5 as a whole, it appears that he is driving that point home while laying out the consequences for those remaining in that pagan life. If our lives haven’t changed and it doesn’t bother us to be immoral, unclean or greedy then it calls into question whether or not we have an inheritance. (This might be a good time to give thanks to God for giving us the Holy Spirit to assure us of our inheritance and to guide our new lives).
Anger is something we understand so when we see words like “wrath” or “anger” as it relates to God, we think about God sitting up in Heaven hurling lighting bolts down onto the wicked. That implies emotion on the part of God and as we have discussed, wrath isn’t personal. Wrath, like any other law of nature, will have consequences if you defy it. For example, if you touch a hot stove, you will get burned. If you jump off a ten foot wall, gravity will inflict some pain. Same thing for God. If God is holy, He cannot abide wickedness so there will be a reaction toward evil. If you are one of those wicked people, it’s going to look like God has some anger against you personally but again, it isn’t personal.
Verse 6 is a warning that someone is trying to deceive us. Starting from Matthew all the way to Revelation, there is a continuous warning about the risk of being deceived. Paul sees that there is someone in Ephesus who is trying to lead them astray and is warning that if anyone listens to these people, they will become a son of disobedience and subject to wrath. Roughly 20 years after Paul, John writes a letter to this same church. In both letters, we are talking about people who were part of this church who by the time of John’s letter had left the church.
1John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us. 20 You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. BSB
Greek philosophy typically distinguished between the soul and the body. Since the body dies but the soul remains, their thinking was that it didn’t matter what the body did. When this idea gets embedded into Christian thought it grows up into Gnosticism. This is still relatively new in Paul’s time although it is interesting that there are already competing points of view this early in the life of the church and those views are rising to the level of opposing the core tenets of Christian faith.
Ephesians 5: 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. NHEB
The first thought to come to mind is to tie this verse back to Ephesians 4:17 where Paul instructs us not to walk as the Gentiles do (or as the Contemporary English Version puts it, “stop living like stupid, godless people”). There is a pattern of behavior that is associated with Gentiles and these are people you don’t want to associate with especially those who are trying to pull you away from the church. On the other hand, these appear to be people who are part of the church.
1Corinthians 5:9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. 10 In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. 12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside? 13But God will judge those outside. Remove the evil person from among you. NHEB
We aren’t in the business of imposing our standards on outsiders, but if someone is behaving inconsistently in their faith, there is a process of church discipline to bring them back. Jesus describes this in Matthew:
NET Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector.
The problem is that this can become judicial and the standards that get imposed aren’t necessarily Biblical nevertheless there are still lines we cannot cross. This is why creeds came along as a way to define for us just where those lines are drawn.
Finally, this is the only place where we get the Kingdom of Christ and God. A traditional way to look at this is that Christ’s kingdom is the church and God’s kingdom is the future dimension. While that is true, this may not be what Paul is saying as it may simply be Paul reminding us the Christ is God and God is Christ. Repentance would be a nice addition here but this is a topic that Paul really doesn’t talk much about.