FOR THIS YOU KNOW WITH CERTAINTY:
touto gar iste (2PRAM) ginoskontes (PAPMPN):
(1Corinthians 6:9,10; Galatians 5:19,21)
Note:
All verbs in
bold red
indicate commands, not suggestions!
Also
hold mouse pointer over
underlined links for pop up of Scripture which stays open and can
be copied.
For (gar)
introduces an explanation. As Eadie puts it gar "states a reason,
and an awful and solemn one it is."
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 (Ro 1:19-note)
and which causes all men to know that the practice of evil things is
deserving of death (Ro 1:32-note,
cp Ro 2:14,15-note).
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:
(Eph 5:3; Hebrews 13:4)
Immoral
(4205)
(pornos from pernáo = sell
in turn from
peráō = to pass thru, as a merchant would do, passing thru
and then coming to mean to sell) (see also study of related word porneia) means a fornicator,
one who is sexually immoral or who commits sexual immorality. Pornos
originally meant a "male prostitute" but came to be used in the
universal meaning of "fornicator" or one who engages in sexual immorality, whether a man or a
woman. A pornos in secular Greece was a person who
prostituted themselves for gain.
The
KJV translates
pornos as “whoremonger”,
which describes one who consorts with whores (a lecher). One can carry
on the life of a "whoremonger" in "private" on the internet's plethora
of sleazy porn sites, in filthy
magazines at the newsstand (or even at the checkout stand at the grocery
store!), or at the movies (unfortunately even PG Rated can be contaminated
with pornos). In our local cable listings in Austin, Texas
(Summer, 2008) there are some 5-10 channels devoted solely to
pornography (I don't subscribe to any of them by the way). America is in
very serious trouble beloved. Let us pray for revival (2Chr 7:13,14,
6:37, 38, 39)
Here are the 10 uses of pornos
in the NT - 1Cor 5:9, 10, 11; 6:9; Eph. 5:5-note; 1Ti 1:10; describing Esau =
Heb 12:16-note; describing those who defile the marriage bed = Heb 13:4-note;
describing those who will not be in heaven = Rev 21:8-note;
Re 22:15-note.
The NAS translates pornos as fornicators(2), immoral(2), immoral
men(1), immoral people(2), immoral person(1), immoral persons(2). The
KJV as noted translates pornos with the word whoremonger (5 times).
Pornos is not found in the non-apocryphal Septuagint.
NIDNTT has this note on the
classical Greek uses of this word group...
CL porneuo from pernemi (to sell) (Hdt.
onwards), means trans. to prostitute. It is usually in the pass. of the
woman: to prostitute oneself, become a prostitute. But it is also used
of the man, to whore, to fornicate. Derivations include (a) porne (Aristot.
onwards), a woman who is for sale, a prostitute, courtesan; (b) pornos
(likewise Aristot. onwards), the fornicator who has sexual intercourse
with prostitutes, but then also an immoral man, i.e. one who allows
himself to be misused for immoral purposes for money, a male prostitute;
and (c) porneia (Dem. onwards, rare in cl. Gk) harlotry, unchastity
(also of a homosexual nature).
According to G. van der Leeuw,
“the instincts of sex and hunger are the two great impelling factors
whereby the will climbs to power and even rises to heaven; in the face
of these the consciousness of impotence collapses. Food and drink on the
one hand, and on the other sexual intercourse, are therefore not merely
the two outstanding symbols of community with the god, but are also the
means wherewith human potency sets to work” (Religion in its Essence and
Manifestation, 19642, 230). For this the most varied religious actions
and rites are required. These include cultic prostitution as part of the
ancient fertility rites. It was believed that performance of sexual
intercourse in the sanctuary would ensure the fertility of everything
living in the land and prevent the loss of the procreative and
generative faculties. Evidence of cultic prostitution is first found in
Babylon. Hdt. recounts that once in her life every Babylonian woman had
to “sacrifice” herself to the goddess Mylitta by giving her body to a
stranger in the temple precincts (1, 199). Similar customs are attested
in other areas, including Cyprus.
In the Gk. world cultic prostitution
gained acceptance primarily in the great sanctuaries of Corinth, Eryx
and Athens. According to the historian Strabo (8, 378), over a thousand
courtesans consecrated to Venus lived in Corinth alone (cf. H.
Conzelmann, Korinth und die Mädchen der Aphrodite: zur
Religionsgeschichte der Stadt Korinth, 1967). Religious prostitution
played a particular role for Israel in the Baal cult.
(Brown,
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan)
Vine in commenting on the use
of pornos in the description of Esau in Hebrews 12:16 says
that...
the word pornos, fornicator, is not
to be limited to the idea of spiritual fornication, it includes the
actual sin and all such sensual and lustful practices. Esau’s profanity
consisted not merely in his satisfying his immediate desires and
abandoning his birthright, but in treating the holy privileges of the
patriarchal family, the priesthood, and the title to the land, and the
ancestorship of the Messiah, as of no value compared with the
satisfaction of a natural hunger of the moment (“one mess of meat”). The
warning is against renouncing our privileges and duty and “the
recompense of the inheritance” in order to enjoy an indulgence of the
flesh or the pleasures of the world. That is profanity as here
described.
(Vine,
W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament
Words. 1996. Nelson)
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)
(Bolding added)
Impure
(169)
(akathartos from a = without + kathaíro = cleanse
from katharos = clean, pure, free from the adhesion of anything
that soils, adulterates, corrupts, in an ethical sense, free from
corrupt desire, sin, and guilt)
(See study of related word
akatharsia) in a moral sense
refers to that which is unclean in thought, word, and deed. It can
describe a state of moral impurity, especially sexual sin and the word
foul is an excellent rendering. The idea is that which morally indecent
or filthy. It is not surprising that as noted below this word is
repeatedly applied to filthy demonic spirits in the Gospels.
The related term akatharsia refers to filth or refuse!
Akatharsia figuratively describes a filthiness of heart and mind
(so it is internal) that makes the person defiled. The unclean person
sees dirt in everything. The word akatharsia suggests especially
that it defiles its participants, making them unusable for sacred
purpose. While akatharsia includes sexual sin, it comes from a
wider Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew OT) usage where
“unclean” could refer to anything that made a person unfit to go to the
temple and appear before God. In a medical sense Hippocrates used this
word akatharsia to describe an infected, oozing wound with pus
and crusty impurities that gather around the sore or wound. What is
“impure” is filthy and repulsive, especially to God. Akatharsia
was a general term often used of decaying matter, like the contents of a
grave. In short akatharsia describes any excessive behavior or
lack of restraint and speaks more of an internal disposition. Immoral
filthiness is on the inside whereas the lawless acts of ''immorality''
are on the outside.
William Barclay
writes that the related word akatharsia means...
everything which would unfit a man to
enter into God’s presence. It describes the life muddied with wallowing
in the world’s ways. Kipling prayed
“Teach us to rule ourselves always,
Controlled and cleanly night and day.”
Akatharsia is the very opposite of that clean purity...It can be
used for the pus of an unclean wound, for a tree that has never been
pruned, for material which has never been sifted. In its positive form (katharos,
an adjective meaning pure) it is commonly used in housing contracts to
describe a house that is left clean and in good condition. But its most
suggestive use is that katharos is used of that ceremonial
cleanness which entitles a man to approach his gods. Impurity,
then, is that which makes a man unfit to come before God, the soiling of
life with the things which separate us from him....Jesus used the word
to describe the rottenness of decaying bodies in a tomb (Matthew
23:27). The other ten times the word is used in the New Testament it is
associated with sexual sin. It refers to immoral thoughts, passions,
ideas, fantasies, and every other form of sexual corruption."(Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
(Bolding added)
The root
word group (katharos, katharizo, kathairo, katharotes) from which this
adjective is derived describes physical, religious, and moral cleanness
or purity in such senses as clean, free from stains or shame, and free
from adulteration. The word group originally meant clean in a physical
sense as opposed to rhuparos which meant dirty (e.g. pure, clean
water, Eur. Hippolytus 209), then clean, in the sense of free, without
things which come between, as opposed to pleres or mestos, full and then
ritually clean, as opposed to akathartos, unclean and in a religious
sense, morally pure.
NIDNTT writes that...
The negative terms formed by the
addition of alpha-privative, i.e the adj. akathartos and the noun
akatharsia, refer to the whole realm of uncleanness, ranging from
menstruation to moral pollution through wrongdoing
(Brown,
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan).
TDNT writes that in secular
Greek...
At its primitive stage Greek religion
follows the customary pattern. At the historical stage, however, the
gods are seen as friendly forces, though they must be approached with
cultic purity. Rules are thus devised to ward off what is demonic and to
protect the holy nature of the gods. These rules are primarily cultic
but in personal religion, and especially in philosophy, a sublimation
takes place which affects the cultic sphere too. Moral purity as well
as ritual purity is demanded in the approach to deity.
The Old Testament reflects the
same general development. Uncleanness, which may be contracted in
contact with birth or death (Lev 12:2, 4, 5,etc, Nu 19:11) is a positive
defiling force. So is anything linked to a foreign cult. Animals
formerly devoted to deities are disqualified. Hygiene, of course, plays
a role (Lev 11:29, 30). Stress also falls, however, on the holiness of
God, so that the concept of purity develops with special force.
Purifications by washing, sacrifice, or transfer restore forfeited
purity and open up access to God. As God's holiness has moral content,
ritual purity symbolizes moral purity. The prophets emphasize this
aspect even to the point of castigating purely ritual conceptions,
though not of totally rejecting them. Some groups in later Judaism tend
to the opposite extreme, but Hellenistic Judaism (cf. Philo) strongly
spiritualizes the older cultic concept. The cultic rules of cleansing
are upheld, but their significance is primarily symbolical; moral purity
is what God requires. [F. HAUCK, III, 413-17]
(Kittel,
G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament. Eerdmans)
In
Scripture, akathartos pertains to that which may not come into
contact with that which is holy and set apart. (Acts 10:14, 28, 11:8 -
these passages refer to acting in accordance with the Levitical laws -
see all the uses below in Leviticus) In the
Septuagint
akathartos refers almost universally to ceremonial uncleanness or
to whatever (or whomever) is ritually defiled .
In 2Cor 6:17 Paul says to "touch no unclean thing" and in context refers
primarily to those things that relate in some way to idolatry which
defiles everything it touches and was a common practice among the pagans
in Corinth and was part of the "baggage" that many if not most of the
believers brought with them into the church body.
In Rev 17:4 akathartos is associated with sexual immorality or
fornication.
As noted below, all of the uses of akathartos in the Gospels
refer to unclean spirits or demons. In Acts 5:16 Luke describes
"those afflicted with unclean spirits" who were healed (see Acts
8:7).
There are 32 uses of akathartos
in the NT - Mt. 10:1; 12:43; Mk. 1:23, 26, 27; Mk 3:11, 30; 5:2, 8, 13;
6:7; 7:25; 9:25 (All uses in Gospels = unclean spirits = demons); Lk. 4:33, 36; 6:18; 8:29; 9:42; 11:24; Acts 5:16; 8:7;
10:14, 28; 11:8; 1 Co. 7:14; 2 Co. 6:17; Eph. 5:5; Rev. 16:13; 17:4;
18:2. The NAS translates akathartos as impure person(1),
unclean(29), unclean things(1). The KJV translates it as unclean 28,
foul 2.
There
are 122 uses of akathartos in the
Septuagint (LXX)- Lev. 5:2; 7:19, 21; 10:10;
11:4, 5, 6, 24, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 38, 39, 40, 43, 47; 12:2, 4, 5; 13:11, 15, 36, 45,
46, 51, 55;
14:19, 36, 40f, 44, 45, 57; 15:2, 4, 5, 6, 16, 17, 18; 17:15; 20:25; 22:5,
6; 27:11,
27; Nu 5:2; 9:6, 7, 10; 18:15; 19:7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21; Deut 12:15, 22;
14:7, 8, 10, 19; 15:22; 26:14; Jdg. 13:4, 7, 14; 2Chr 23:19; Job 15:16;
Pr 3:32; 16:5; 17:15; 20:10; 21:15; Eccl 9:2; Isa 6:5; 35:8; 52:1,
11; 64:6; Lam 4:15; Ezek 4:13; 22:5, 26; 24:14; 44:23; Ho 8:13; 9:3;
Amos 7:17; Zech 13:2
One thing that Paul is teaching in
this section of Ephesians is that
sexuality is a key revealer of a
person's heart (Eph 5:3, 4, 5, 6, 7). In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ
declares sexuality to be an issue of the heart, "Whoever looks at a
woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his
heart" (Mt 5:28-note).
It is not enough to say, "Because I have not physically committed
adultery, therefore I am pure," for lust itself breaks the command
against committing adultery. There is another way of saying this: A
person's behavior in the area of sex is a key revealer of what is ruling
his heart. Paul states it very plainly in Ephesians 5:5: the sexually
immoral person is an idolater. Sex always involves the thoughts,
motives, desires, demands, expectations, treasures, or idols of the
heart. When we deal with sexual sin, it is not enough to simply avoid
committing acts of physical immorality. We must uncover the heart sins
that acts of physical immorality reveal. (Paul
David Tripp)
OR COVETOUS MAN, WHO IS AN
IDOLATER: e pleonektes, o estin (3SPAI) eidololatres:
(Galatians 5:21; Col 3:5; 1Ti 6:10,17; Re 21:8;
22:15)
Covetous
(4123)
(pleonektes from
pleonekteo = to be covetous in turn from
pleíon = more + écho = have) describes one who is
"grasping", one who wants more,
one who is always eager for more and especially for what belongs to
someone else. Greedy for gain. One who desires to have more than is due.
There are only 4 uses in the NT -
1 Corinthians 5:10 I did not
at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the
covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have
to go out of the world.
1 Corinthians 5:11 But
actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if
he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a
reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler-- not even to eat with such a one.
1 Corinthians 6:10 nor
thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 5:5 For this you
know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous
man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
God.
As he does in Colossians Paul
associates greed with idolatry...
Therefore consider the members
of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil
desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Col 3:5 -
note)
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, 4, 5).
Covetousness, in God's sight, is equivalent to the worship of the
creation rather than the Creator (Ro 1:25-note),
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" (Mt
6:24-note).
(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 (Col
3:5-note)
(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 Mt 6:24-note).
Who is an
idolater? Do not think one has to bow to a piece of wood or a
carved stone to be an idolater? As Eadie
writes...
The covetous man makes a god of his
possessions, and offers to them the entire homage of his heart (Ed:
which describes an idolater!) That
world of which the love and worship fill his nature, is his god, for
whose sake he rises up early and sits up late. The phrase...means, that
the covetous man deifying the world rejects the true
Jehovah. Job 8:13; Mt 6:24. (John Eadie, D., LL.D. The Epistle of St
Paul to the Ephesians)
Idolater
(1496)(eidololatres
from
eidolon = idol,
image, a phantom or likeness [from eidos = form, appearance, literally
that which is seen from eido = to see] + látris = servant,
worshiper) (see study of
eidololatreia)
(See
multiple Bile dictionary articles on idolatry) is
literally an
image worshipper or one who serves idols or images representative of
false gods.
Idolatry is the worship of
something created which is in direct opposition to the worship of the
Creator Himself. Ultimately it is placing anything in the place of God,
Who alone deserves the right to be number one in our focus. Originally,
a physical idol helped visualize the god it represented but later people
worshipped the physical object itself (Ro 1:19; 20; 21; 22; 23 see
notes
Ro 1:19;
20;
21;
22;
23).
Eerdman's explains idolatry
as follows...
In the Old Testament, the worship of
gods other than Yahweh, especially through images representing them. The
New Testament extends the concept to include any ultimate confidence in
something other than God, e.g., covetousness, surrender to appetites
(see Eph 5:5-note;
Php 3:19-note;
Col 3:5-note;
cf. "two masters " - Mt 6:24 -note;
1Sa 15:23).
(Myers,
A. C.. The Eerdmans Bible dictionary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans)
(or
Logos)
Morris has an interesting note
on the meaning of idols writing that they...
are either physical images or
mental constructs with which men try to explain and control the forces
and systems of nature without acknowledging the one true God as Creator
and Sustainer of all things. Paganism, with its pantheism and
polytheism, worshipping the various forces and systems of nature
personified as Mother Earth with all her other personifications as
various gods and goddesses, was rife in John's day and, through various
forms of evolutionism, has always been arrayed in opposition to the true
God of creation and redemption. This is more true today than ever
before, and it is absolutely vital that true Christians should refrain
from all forms of idolatry, whether rationalistic humanism, economic
materialism, or New Age pantheism--all of which are founded on an
evolutionary world view. (Morris,
Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)
Unger adds that...
Idolatry may be
classified as follows: (1) the worship of inanimate objects, such as
stones, trees, rivers, etc.; (2) of animals; (3) of the higher powers of
nature, such as the sun, moon, stars; and the forces of nature, as air,
fire, etc.; (4) hero-worship or of deceased ancestors; (5) idealism, or
the worship of abstractions or mental qualities, such as justice.
Another classification is
suggestive: (1) the worship of Jehovah under image or symbol; (2) the
worship of other gods under image or symbol; (3) the worship of the
image or symbol itself. Each of these forms of idolatry had its peculiar
immoral tendency.
(Unger,
M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. The
New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Chicago: Moody Press)
We need to be ever vigilant against
the flesh's attraction to idols even in the area of "religion" as sadly
illustrated by the trap Israel fell into with the bronze serpent
episode...
Then (after the people cried out
because they were dying from snake bites) the LORD said to Moses, "Make
a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that
everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live." And Moses
made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came
about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze
serpent, he lived.
(Numbers 21:8,9)
Comment: During the
period of the wilderness wanderings, Israel murmured against the Lord.
As a disciplinary measure, God sent “fiery serpents” among them (Nu
21:5-9). When the stricken people imploringly turned to Moses, he at the
command of God, made a BRONZE SERPENT, a replica of the viper with the
stinging, deadly bite which had already bitten them.
This standard over time (the
details are not in Scripture) degenerated into the idolatrous practice
of BRONZE SERPENT WORSHIP which persisted to the time of King Hezekiah
(729-686 BC, some 700-800 years after the episode in Numbers!)
as recorded in Second Kings...
He (King Hezekiah) removed the
high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah.
He also broke in pieces the bronze (nechosheth) serpent
(nahas/nachash) that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of
Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan (Hebrew
means "a mere piece of brass" which appears to be a play on the
word nahas/nachash = serpent).
(2Kings 18:4)
What was originally a symbol of sin
judged and salvation given (Jesus made reference to and application of
the serpent episode to the salvation through Himself - see John 3:14 -
see study of
typology),
was perverted into an idol for the practice of idolatry. The flesh is
incorrigible and if it won't worship the Creator, it will end up
worshipping the creation (study Romans 1, beginning in
Romans 1:18ff [see notes])
As we walk by and are led by the Spirit, we must continually choose to
heed the NT imperatives to guard and to flee from seductive idols which
are an abomination to God.
Vine explains that...
Heathen sacrifices were
sacrificed to demons, 1Co 10:19; there was a dire reality in the cup and
table of demons and in the involved communion with demons. In Romans
1:22; 23; 24; 25 (see
notes),
idolatry, the sin of the mind against God (see
Eph 2:3
-note),
and immorality, sins of the flesh, are associated, and are traced
to lack of the acknowledgment of God and of gratitude to Him. An
“idolater” is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent, Gal.
4:8, 9; and thereby, to divers lusts,
Titus 3:3
(see note)
(Vine,
W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament
Words. 1996. Nelson)
As Paul explains in Colossians
(see below), greed or covetousness is synonymous with
idolatry because it places selfish desire above obedience to God.
Note that covetousness is the root cause of all sin, because when people
sin, it is basically people doing what they desire, rather than what God
desires. This in turn amounts to worship of self rather than worship of
God, and this is the very essence of idolatry! The great Puritan
writer Stephen Charnock spared no words in describing it this way...
All sin is founded in a secret
atheism.… All the wicked inclination sin the heart… are sparks from this
latent fire; the language of everyone of these is, “I would be a
Lord to myself, and would not have a God superior to me.”… In sins
of omission we own not God, in neglecting to perform what He enjoins; in
sins of commission we set up some lust in the place of God, and pay to
that the homage which is due to our Maker.… We deny His sovereignty when
we violate His laws… Every sin invades the rights of God, and strips Him
of one or other of His perfections.… Every sin is a kind of cursing God
in the heart; an aim at the destruction of the being of God; not
actually, but virtually… A man in every sin aims to set up his own will
as his rule, and his own glory as the end of his actions against the
will and glory of God. (from his book
The Existence and Attributes of God)
(Bolding added)
There are 7 uses of eidololatres
in the NT (and surprisingly none in the Septuagint)--
1 Corinthians 5:10 I did not
at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous
and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go
out of the world.
1 Corinthians 5:11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate
with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or
covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a
swindler-- not even to eat with such a one.
1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
1 Corinthians 10:7 And do not be idolaters, as some of
them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and
stood up to play."
Ephesians 5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral
or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Revelation 21:8 "But for the
cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral
persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part
will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death."
Revelation 22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the
immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone
who loves and practices lying.
Vincent reiterates 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:
Eadie comments that this man
(previously described)...
“has no inheritance," and shall or
can have none; the present stating a fact, or law unalterably
determined. (John Eadie, D., LL.D. The Epistle of St Paul to the
Ephesians)
Has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God - Clearly Paul
is warning that those who have a lifestyle characterized by the sins just
listed are lost, still dead in their sins (Eph 2:1) and on the way to the Lake of fire
(Rev 20:10, 14, 15, Mt 25:41, 46)
and eternal separation from God (2Th 1:9, cp Mt 22:13, Jude 1:13). The
kingdom in simple terms is where
Christ and God rule as King. Those lives as Paul describes have no part in the present invisible
Kingdom (Lk 17:20, 21, 10:9, 10, 11, Mt 12:28, Ro 14:17) nor in the future earthly kingdom of Christ
(Rev 20:4, 5, 6, Mt 25:31,34). Note carefully that
Paul is not referring to the Judgment Seat of Christ (bema
- 2Co 5:10, Ro 14:10) and loss of
rewards (1Co 3:12, 13, 14, 15). 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 f