{"id":3044,"date":"2012-01-23T19:49:02","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T03:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3044"},"modified":"2012-02-20T11:47:06","modified_gmt":"2012-02-20T19:47:06","slug":"ephesians-55-hows-your-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/ephesians-55-hows-your-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephesians 5:5 – How’s Your Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Christians should act like Christians, not heathens.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The words “you know<\/span>” are translated from the two Greek words este gin\u014dskontes<\/em><\/span>. The word este<\/em> <\/span>means “you (plural) are.” However, the better texts have iste<\/em> gin\u014dskontes<\/em><\/span>. The word iste<\/em> <\/span>is a form of eid\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to see” or “to perceive.” Gin\u014dskontes<\/em> <\/span>is a participial form of gin\u014dsk\u014d<\/em> <\/span>(to know or understand). Now, whereas eid\u014d<\/em> <\/span>suggests intuitive knowledge or understanding, gin\u014dsk\u014d<\/em> <\/span>suggests acquired or experiential knowledge. Iste<\/em> <\/span>is expressed here in the imperative mood, therefore the opening part of this verse could be translated as “Know this, recognizing (by your own experience) that …”<\/p>\n

The words “fornicator<\/span>,” “unclean person<\/span>,” and “covetous man<\/span>” are based on the same root words as “fornication<\/span>,” “uncleanness<\/span>,” and “covetousness<\/span>,” which we saw in verse three. In that verse they referred to the sinful actions, whereas in this verse they refer to the people who habitually perform such sinful actions.<\/p>\n

“Inheritance<\/span>” is translated from kl\u0113ronomia<\/em><\/span>. This is based on kl\u0113ros<\/em><\/span>, which refers to a “lot” or “portion” and nem\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to hold.” Thus kl\u0113ronomia<\/em> <\/span>refers to the possession of a portion of an inheritance.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In verse three Paul introduced three types of life styles that he said are not “appropriate” for Christians. He told us that we should be walking in love instead. Then, in verse four he talked about avoiding other actions (filthiness, foolish talking, and coarse jesting) that exemplify the three lifestyles mentioned in verse three.<\/p>\n

He now explains why fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness are not appropriate for us. To the first century Greek mind a fornicator was someone whose life was defined by fornication. Likewise, an unclean person or a covetous person was not someone who occasionally committed an act of uncleanness or of covetousness; it was someone whose life was characterized by uncleanness or covetousness. So, Paul is not<\/em> saying that anyone who occasionally covets something will be barred from heaven. If that were the case, none of us would be part of God’s kingdom. What Paul is saying is that since those fornicators, unclean people, and covetousness people will not be part of God’s kingdom, then we Christians should not resemble them in any of our actions.<\/p>\n

Notice, now, that Paul equates covetousness with idolatry. Idolatry is when we consider anything in God’s creation of greater value than God Himself. In other words, when we have a greater desire for “stuff” than for acquiring a close personal relationship with God, we are worshipping an idol.<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Do your actions give evidence that you are part of God’s family or do you resemble people of the world and those who worship idols? Let’s all recommit ourselves to living like God’s children and confessing and forsaking everything else.<\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright ©<\/span> 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Truth to Learn Christians should act like Christians, not heathens. Behind the Words The words “you know” are translated from the two Greek words este gin\u014dskontes. The word este […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[805,1916,2362,1926,2363],"class_list":["post-3044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ginosko","tag-inheritance","tag-iste","tag-kleronomia","tag-you-know"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-N6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3044"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3363,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044\/revisions\/3363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}