Eph 5:3–4 — Sexual Integrity of Saints

In Ephesians 4:17-19 Paul described our pagan life apart from Christ. When we were Gentiles, we lived in the futility of our mind, excluded from the life of God, giving ourselves over to every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. This degradation and corruption of our former life was summed up by Paul under the phrase, the old man. In Paul’s vocabulary, the old man is not an individualistic concept, as if it referred to our own personal existence in sin prior to our conversion. Nor does it refer to the remaining corruption that exists in all believers this side of heaven. Rather for Paul the old man is a corporate concept that alludes to the old aeon, the life of fallen humanity under the headship of our forefather Adam. We inherited his guilt and corrupt nature, and as a result we lived out of that guilt and corruption, giving birth to more and more sin and rebellion.

Paul then went on to say that a great redemptive historical transition has occurred in Christ. It is nothing less than a shift of two ages. The old man has been decisively put off, having been judged once for all upon the cross of Christ. In its place we have put on the new man. Again, this is a corporate term, referring to the life of redeemed humanity under the headship of Jesus Christ, the second Adam. In the new man, that is, in Jesus Christ, we are a new creation. The original image of God in which man was created is being progressively restored in us by means of our union with Jesus Christ.

Beginning in Ephesians 4:25, and continuing to the end of the book, Paul applies this redemptive historical transition from the covenant headship of Adam to the covenant of headship of the second Adam. No aspect of our lives remains untouched in Christ. Everything is different now in Christ. We are the eschatological new creation! The old things have passed away, behold all things have become new! A new day has dawned. How can our lives, our attitudes, our behavior remain the same?

The first area of application is in our corporate life together as the body of Christ. We saw this in verses 25 to the end of the chapter, including the first two verses of chapter 5. We are to lay aside all that would hinder or undermine the unity of the body of Christ. Such things as lying to one another, festering anger, unwholesome words that do not built one another up, words that come from a place of bitterness and anger - all of these things tear down the body.

Paul therefore calls us to imitate Christ, to live a life of love just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. We are to have the same attitude that Jesus had: who did not consider equality with God something to be used for his own advantage, but who emptied himself, and became a bond servant. Thus, we too are to love one another even when it hurts, indeed, most of all when it hurts. We are to forgive one another even though it goes against the natural desire to nurse our feelings of self-pity. We are to carefully guard our speech, so that we do not let loose a barrage of friendly fire upon our brethren. Instead, we must make every effort to speak only those words which will give grace to the hearer, according to the need of the moment.

Now we come to a second major area of application. The fact that we have been transferred out of the sin, guilt and condemnation of the old Adam into the new creation headed up in the second Adam not only has implications for how we are to treat one another in the church, but for how we ought to conduct our personal lives in the area of personal integrity and morality, especially with regard to the whole issue of sexual purity.

Up until this point, Paul has been focusing on corporate sins that undermine the unity of the body of Christ. Beginning at verse 3 Paul’s focus is on individual sins that undermine the holiness of the body of Christ. Although the focus here is on individual sins like sexual immorality, Paul has not lost sight of the corporate dimension of the church’s sanctification.

Let us look more closely at verse 3 and 4 this morning (read).

What do these three terms mean? They are clearly important, since Paul repeats them again in verse 5 (covetous man = greed in v. 3).

“Immorality” in Greek is porneia. It can basically be translated “fornication.” This term is rather broad and covers any kind of sexual intercourse outside of the one-flesh union of a man and a woman united in a biblically approved marriage. It includes the following types of sexual sin: adultery, premarital sex, prostitution, incest, and various forms of unnatural sex, including homosexual activity.

How do we know this? We know it because that is the way the term is used in the Old Testament. This is an excellent argument against those who want to throw out the Old Testament as irrelevant to the Christian life. The ancient heretic Marcion tried to do this, and his reduced canon was rejected by the church in favor of the entire canon of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. The early church wisely retained the Hebrew Scriptures, because without them we cannot understand the New Testament. Consider how often the NT makes references to OT words and concepts. Jesus, for example, is repeatedly spoken of as “the Christ,” the Anointed. One. But we would not know what that meant unless we had the OT.

The same is true of the NT’s approach to sexual ethics. Much of the vocabulary of the NT regarding sexual sin is rooted in OT usage. Many liberal Christians tend to discredit the restrictive OT laws regarding sexual behavior as reflecting a sub-Christian ethic. They appeal instead to the teaching of Jesus, which, it is argued, places a higher emphasis on the quality of our human relationships rather than on the rules governing sex. A committed, loving relationship involving a sexual expression of that love is not rejected, even if it literally transgresses the letter of the law. This is how liberal, mainline Christians justify sexual relationships traditionally judged by the church to be immoral, such as homosexual relations and pre-marital sex.

The irony, however, is that this approach to discerning God’s will for his people with regard to sexuality is totally alien to the New Testament as well. Jesus did not relax the demand of the OT that sexual love be expressed only within the confines of marriage as defined at creation. And Paul’s approach is in line with that of Jesus. The NT teaches that sexual union is a good gift of the Creator to be enjoyed by one man and one woman who have made a lifelong commitment to one another before God. This one-flesh union ordained at creation is a deep bond that cannot be broken at will. Any expression of sexual love outside of marital commitment is rejected by the Bible as contrary to the will of God.

Let us move on to briefly comment on the other two terms here in our text, “impurity” and “greed.”

“Impurity,” like “immorality,” has sexual connotations. It refers to any kind of sexual uncleanness, defilement, or unchastity. However, Paul adds the modifying term - “or any impurity.” This points then to any kind of sin that defiles the soul, not just overt behavior. The first term “immorality or porneia” is an objective term that applies to precisely to sinful forms of sexual intercourse forbidden in the Word of God. But the second term “impurity” is less clearly definable, since it points more to the effects of sin upon the soul - anything that makes us dirty, which defiles our conscience, which makes us impure in the sight of God.

Finally, “greed.” This word literally means, “grasping for more.” It is sometimes translated “covetousness.” It does not refer only to covetousness for material possessions or wealth, but to the totality of man’s insatiable desires. Such insatiable greed can be expressed in sexual terms as well. In light of the context, it is very possible that the term “greed” here refers specifically to an insatiable sexual desire for self-gratification and pleasure. This same word is used in 4:19 which the NIV translates as “a continual lust for more”: “they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” In 5:5, Paul says this is idolatry, because those who have given themselves over to the pursuit of sexual pleasure and hedonism, are really worshipping themselves rather than God.

In verse 4 Paul extends his concerns for sexual purity to the realm of speech. We should not tolerate any course jesting about sexual matters or any filthy language. If immorality is something that we speak of in jest, it soon becomes something that we can take lightly and indulge in with our actions.

Now what motivation does Paul offer us as he exhorts us to abstain from sexual immorality both in behavior and in speech?

Read vv. 3-4 (“as is proper among saints … which are not fitting”).

The apostle Paul calls us to avoid these sins because they are not proper or fitting for who we are as saints. The term “saints” is another OT term originally applied to Israel. It means that we are God’s holy people, set apart from the filth and immorality and idolatry of the world. Let us not indulge in these things, for they are the things that characterized our former lifestyle as Gentiles.

Read 4:17-20.

Since we are new people in Christ, let us walk in accordance with who we are. Since we are a new creation, let us act and behave as a new creation. The sins of sexual immorality and impurity and greed and filthy talk were sins that characterized our lives under the sway of Adam’s covenant headship. That was how we lived under the guilt and condemnation we inherited from Adam.

But we are no longer under Adam. We have put off the yoke of the old man. We have put on the new man. We are now under the sway of Christ’s covenant headship. Let us now live as those who are under the rule of Christ’s righteousness freely imputed to us by grace.

What is fitting for saints? Not sexual immorality and sexual greed, “but rather giving of thanks” (v. 4). This is because we are a redeemed people, called out from the old age dominated by sin into the new age of grace and salvation, let us be people who are characterized not by filthy talk but by lips that speak forth the praise of our Savior, hearts full of thankfulness for our free redemption in him. Saints are not perfect. Saints often fall into grievous sin, and at times it can sometimes be hard to distinguish a true saint from an unbeliever in terms of behavior alone. But saints are marked by one outstanding characteristic: they know that they are sinners saved by grace, and so they are full of thanksgiving. They give all the praise and glory to God who sovereignly delivered them, through the cross of Jesus Christ, from eternal punishment in hell.

Recall how frequently in this epistle Paul has made mention of God’s great plan of salvation, his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, conceived in the electing counsels of eternity, accomplished in history through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and applied individually to all the elect through effectual calling. Recall how often Paul goes on to say that this vast plan, this mystery of his will, regarding the salvation of the elect has a specific purpose: that all the praise and glory would redound unto God alone.

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ … to the praise of the glory of his grace” (1:6)

“In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (1:7)

“To the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory” (1:12)

God “raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (2:6-7)

“To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (3:21).

In other words, the ultimate purpose that God had in view in planning, accomplishing, and applying salvation was that he would receive all the praise and glory. And one of the chief ways in which God is glorified is by the holy lives of his redeemed people. We are called to be saints, holy ones, set apart from the world, different from the world. Thus, our commitment to sexual holiness is a form of worship. This note of praise and doxology is not reserved only for times of corporate worship. According to Paul it ought to be the keynote of our whole life. We ought to be a holy people in our day to day behavior, so that we are full of thanks and praise for the wonderful salvation he has freely accomplished for us in his sovereign grace.

And why is sexual integrity and holiness something that brings praise and glory to God? Because such a life of holiness is radically different from that of the Gentiles who do not know God, and who give themselves over without restraint to indulge the desires of the flesh. In contrast with this pursuit of self, we as redeemed sinners are to live self-controlled lives, living not for our own pleasure but for the honor of Christ. As we submit ourselves, even our bodies, to his revealed will, we are honoring Christ. We are acknowledging his lordship over our lives and our bodies. We are therefore living as is fitting for saints. We are then offering our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, which Paul says is a rational, volitional act of worship of great value in the sight of God.