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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Ephesians 5:5 - 5:5
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
5. τοῦτο γὰρ ἴστε γινώσκοντες. ‘Ye know by your own observation’ or ‘Observe and know.’ It is interesting to notice with Robinson that this combination is found once or perhaps twice in LXX. as the rendering of a familiar Hebrew idiom. It is even probable that the idiom may have suggested the combination to St Paul. None the less the phrase has a natural meaning of its own in Greek which is fuller than that of the Hebrew to which it corresponds. For the two words for knowing are distinct and are each used in their proper signification, εἰδέναι (to know) describes the result, γινώσκειν (to perceive) the process in the acquisition of knowledge. ‘You know the fact and you are daily observing instances of its application,’ or perhaps better as imperative (with Hort on Jam 1:19) ‘Take note of this fact by observing.’
πᾶς—οὐκ ἔχει. Cf. Eph 4:29. ‘Every—is excluded from.’ Similar lists are found in 1Co 5:11; 1Co 6:9; Gal 5:21; Rom 1:29; Col 3:5; 1Ti 1:10; 2Ti 3:2; Rev 21:8; Rev 22:15; cf. Mar 7:22; Mat 15:19. Some of these follow the lines of the Decalogue. But some are independent. As Robinson points out the language here and in Gal. and 1 Cor. suggests that there was a recognized body of moral teaching in use in the different Churches. The material however does not seem sufficient to enable us to determine its contents.
πλεονέκτης, ὅ ἐστιν εἰδωλολάτρης. Cf. Col 3:5 and Lightfoot’s note. The covetous man sets up another object of worship besides God. Though there is no trace of ‘Mammon’ as the object of any established cult, our Lord certainly in Mat 6:24 (= Luk 16:13) treats it as claiming a service from men inconsistent with whole-hearted devotion to God, i.e. He implies that covetousness is idolatry. The reminder is necessary for those whether Jews or Gentiles who were tempted to imagine that there could be no question of their loyalty to Jehovah as long as they turned their backs on the established forms of heathenism.
οὐκ ἔχει κληρονομίαν. Cf. on Eph 1:14. The Kingdom and the inheritance come together in Mat 25:34. In 1Co 6:9; Gal 5:21 the inheritance is future.
ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ. References to the Kingdom are found in the records of St Paul’s preaching at Derbe etc. (Act 14:22), Corinth (Act 19:8), Ephesus (Act 20:25) and Rome (Act 28:23 and Act 28:31). It is also mentioned by name in 1Th 2:12; 2Th 1:5; 1Co 4:20; 1Co 6:9 f., 1Co 15:24; 1Co 15:50; Gal 5:21; Rom 14:17; Col 1:13; Col 4:11; 2Ti 4:1; 2Ti 4:18. It is sometimes definitely future as in 2Th 1:5; 1Co 6:9 f., 1Co 15:50; Gal 5:21; 2Ti 4:18 (τὴν ἐπουράνιον). It is sometimes present, 1Co 4:20; Rom 14:17; Col 1:13, as it seems to be here. In the other passages it is indeterminate. It is generally ‘the Kingdom of God.’ It some cases 1Co 15:24; Col 1:13; 2Ti 4:1; 2Ti 4:18 it is by implication the Kingdom of Christ. The actual title however ‘the Kingdom of Christ’ does not appear elsewhere. (Similarly αἱ ἐκκλησίαι τοῦ χριστοῦ is only found in Rom 16:16.)
τοῦ χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ, ‘of Christ and of God.’ This is better than the other possible rendering ‘of Him who is Christ and God.’ There is no clear instance in St Paul where Christ is called θεὸς absolutely. In Rom 9:5 the punctuation is at best uncertain. In relation to the Kingdom the Son expressly shares the sovereignty with His Father, Rev 3:21; Rev 11:15; Rev 20:6.