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6. In these matters the Christian standard involved a complete reversal of the popular standard. ‘Covetousness’ in the shape of a desire for large possessions was nowhere regarded as in itself a religious failing, while ‘prostitution’ (as distinct from ‘adultery’) was regarded as at worst a venial offence in a man, where it was not actually practised under the cloak of religion. St Paul feels it necessary, therefore, solemnly to reiterate his warning on the reality of the evil, coupling it with a vision of the service that the Church could render to the world by faithfulness to the light entrusted to her.
Μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς ἀπατάτω κενοῖς λόγοις. In Rom 16:18; 2Th 2:3, St Paul has definite false teachers in view, as in Colossians 2. Here, however (as in 1Co 6:9; 1Co 15:33; Gal 6:7), there is no need to assume that the deceiver was doing more than making a mock at sin. It is, however, worth remarking that according to Rev 2:14; Rev 2:20, at Pergamum and Thyatira, and by implication at Ephesus (Eph 2:6), there were those who were teaching the Christians to commit fornication.
ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ. Cf. Col 3:6 and Rom 1:18; Joh 3:36. Notice in each case the use of the present tense. On ὀργὴ, see on Eph 2:3. On τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθίας, see on Eph 2:2.