5:3
Paul now lists some things that should not be present among us. “There must not be even a hint of sexual immorality”. All the gospels, all the letters, in fact all of the Bible, warn against sexual immorality. Yet so often the church is scared or reluctant to talk about this. It is also an area where the state is explicitly promoting sexual immorality in various forms. Sex was created by God as a good gift, and a very powerful gift. It is so powerful that is potentially life creating! But it is powerful in so many ways, having an enormous effect emotionally and psychologically. Any attempt to claim it is just a physical act goes against all empirical evidence. It is because it is so powerful that sex is restricted to one place only, marriage between one man and one woman. We deviate from this at our peril, and will reap the consequences if we do so. Any impurity, or greed are also ruled out. Greed is destructive, and goes against the whole ethos of God’s kingdom. We are given things in order to bless each other, not to horde for ourselves.
5:4
Obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking are also out. These things are “out of place”. If we look at society we see that the things warned about here are prevalent in our society. We need to avoid these things. Our speech should be positive and upbuilding, so we should replace the inappropriate speech with thanksgiving. Enter His courts with thanksgiving, as it says in Psalm 104.
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