Articles
"As Is Proper Among Saints"
“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving”(Eph 5:3-4, ESV)
Some things just don’t go together. That has a world of application in fashion, home décor, and relationships. God forbade inbreeding among cattle, sowing a field with two kinds of seed, or wearing clothes made of two kinds of material (Lev 19:19). But the things that clash most sharply are God’s things and the devil’s things—“What accord has Christ with Belial?”(2 Cor 6:15).
Here Paul stresses that there are certain things that fundamentally clash with who we now are. “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper for saints”(Eph 5:3). As people set apart for God’s special use, these things are now against our nature. The command here is not for us to never talk about sexual immorality or covetousness, but rather that it not be a part of who we are or the community we form. If we are saints, let’s live like saints!
“Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving”(Eph 5:4).
Joking about sin, filthy talk, and making light of evil are “out of place” among Christians. That might have a place in the world—may have had a place in our pasts—but our new standing as saints of God makes it horribly out of place among us. If we are saints, let’s live like saints!
Each Christian should live with an awareness of the fact that Jesus died to make him or her holy. Our purity is so precious to God that it was worth the ultimate sacrifice. Because of that, there are some things that just don’t go together. That can mean tough decisions about practices, words, and people that no longer have a place in our lives because they clash with us. It boils down to minor, daily decisions to flee from thoughts and situations that would corrupt us and pursue things that make us more holy.
If we are saints, let’s live like saints!
