Third Millennium Study Bible
Notes on Ephesians 5:3-4

Sexual immorality - Ephesians 5:3-4

Sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or greed is idolatry. ... Hendriksen says, "The list of vices which begins here may be compared with similar ones in Paul's other epistles (Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 5:9-11; 6:9, 10; Gal. 5:19-21; Col. 3:5-9; 1 Thess. 4:3-7; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10; 2 Tim. 3:2-5; and Titus 3:3). Christ, he alone, supplies the example, motive, and power to overcome them."

Hughes states that these are warnings for our protection:

What immense human suffering has come to God's people because of sensuality. And what tragic irony, for Christianity has by far the most exalted sexual ethics of any religion. The New Testament not only enjoins absolute chastity outside marriage, but a chaste mind, as Jesus so forcefully demands in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:27-30). None of the other great world religions - whether Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, or any other - has such profound sexual ethics. Yet the Church of Christ is too often rocked with repeated scandal. Why is this so?

Part of the answer, I believe, is the "cookie jar syndrome." A little boy's mother had just baked a fresh batch of cookies and placed them in the cookie jar, giving instructions that no one touch them until after dinner. But it was not long until she heard the lid of the jar move, and she called out, "My son, what are you doing?" To which a meek voice called back, "My hand is in the cookie jar resisting temptation!" The fact is, no one can resist temptation with his or her hand in the cookie jar.

There are open cookie jars all around us. The ubiquitous cookie jar of our culture is the television, dwelling in the heart of nearly every home in America. Turn it off, and the goodies are present in an open magazine or a billboard. There are living cookie jars everywhere, inviting passersby to taste their wares. It would be so easy But when these wares are removed from the jar, their sweetness soon turns to rot, and the decay is shared by the hand that plucked them, resulting in gangrene of the soul. Keeping one's hand out of the cookie jar is a challenge for all of God's children, and Paul addresses this problem in Eph. 5:3-7 of our text.

Bear in mind that these verses were addressed to Christians who had come to Christ while living in the notoriously sinful port city of Ephesus. In that wicked metropolis the dominant religion was the worship of the multibreasted goddess Diana, and ritual prostitution was a way of life. Moreover, there was cultural acceptance of sexual perversion as a valid, and even exalted, way of life. Ephesus is a paradigm of any of the great cities of todays world - San Francisco, Berlin, Hong Kong, Moscow, Chicago . . .

Paul warned the Ephesians in their debauched culture, and now warns us in ours, to refrain from the delectable temptation to dine together on the juicy morsels of sensual gossip which come our way. Had he been writing today amidst the piles of tabloids and slick magazines which grovel in the dirt of the "lives of the stars," he would include such foolishness in his prohibitions. If you are watching the soap operas or the debased evening detective thrillers, or are reading the tabloids, the star mags, or even the drivel in more respected publications, you are ignoring Scriptural warnings and are sinning. This is wisdom for the soul who wants to avoid the cookie jar.

Paul not only says that we should not live in adultery impurity, greed, etc., but that there shall not even be a "hint" of such ungodliness. Even if you do not do these things ("sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed"), you should also not talk of them in an inappropriate manner ("be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking"). Bruce explains these "conversational" sins:

If subjects of conversation are in view, further direction in this area of life is provided. "Shameful talk" might be foul language, or it might be talk about shameful things (as Eph. 5:12 may indicate). "Foolish speech" is at best a waste of time, but it can lead to grave trouble. Life is a serious matter, and provides ample material for serious and profitable discussion. The term rendered "levity" is defined by Aristotle as "cultured insolence"; he regards it as a quality characteristic of the young, who are "fond of laughter." But here it is a quality not appropriate for the people of God. The Colossians have been urged to be known as thankful people (Col. 3:15); believers have received so many blessings from God, in grace as well as in nature, that thanksgiving should be a dominant note in their speech as well as in their thought.

No vice, as seen in our text, or multiple other ones, is part of the Christian's identity as "God's holy people." Believers are those called out of the human race (Eph. 1:4-6) to bear God's restored image (Eph. 4:24). They should accept with thanksgiving all God's good gifts - including sex, money, wealth, etc. - and restore them to their proper place (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:20-25; Prov. 5:18-19; 1 Thess. 4:3-8; Tit. 1:15; Heb. 13:4). See WLC 139; WSC 72; HC 108, 109.

Related Resources

• Sanctification: When Will I Stop Sinning?
• Calvin: No Salvation without Sanctification!
• The Perseverance and Preservation of Believers: Can I Lose My Salvation?
• The Church: Visible and Invisible: Is Everyone in the Church Saved?