Ephesians 5:5

edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
This verse says: "For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, not covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God."

How can we explain this verse using the Trinity? I'm not sure I'm wording my question properly out of fear of saying something wrong about God and His word, but I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at!

Comments

  • how can one not be a fornicator, an unclean person, a covetous man, or an idolater? I tell you you cannot do it with out the Holy Spirit...

    well, now the Holy Spirit helped me, and I through the Holy Spirit overcame all of that... can I enter heaven? no... you need the blood shed of the Christ to enter Heaven

    and this is how you reach God, who is one in essence with the Son and the Holy Spirit!


    by the way, when it comes to the Trinity, if you focus on one verse, you will open doors for misunderstanding, so if you want to understand the Trinity from the Bible, you should gather all of the verses talking about Him... because, some verses talk about the full humanity of the Son, hence our Salvation, and some verses talk about God being the Almighty, also for our salvation, so be very careful when it comes to taking one verse to heart or mind!


    neshkor Allah, akhadna el baraka!
  • I don't think I worded my question properly. I meant to ask about the second part of the verse, where it says "Christ and God". Why does it separate the two? How should we explain this part to someone who's skeptical about the Trinity, for example, and may use this to support their position?
  • "The"(not just any christ) Christ and God and the Holy Spirit are all one... but yet they are separate...

    if a person is being "skeptical" they are not in it for the truth, but to prove you wrong... don't waste your time!
  • Sorry but I do not agree with Superman: if a person is being "skeptical" they are not in it for the truth, but to prove you wrong... don't waste your time!
    We have to all be skeptical so we get to know our FAITH by understanding it and able to explain it to others(good teachers know and understand FULLY what they are teaching)

    Forgive me for saying this but if Marmoura99 cannot explain this verse to someone it's maybe because she is not sure of what it means or did not get the meaning of this passage, it is important for us to explain it PROPERLY to Marmoura so even if she does not talk to this person again at least she will understand the verse for herself.

    BTW you are NEVER WASTING your time, do not forget guys we are not JEWS so we were not the original receivers of Christ, if Christ would have said that whoever is not a JEW is wasting his time, we would all be deprived from his AMAZING FREE GIFT.
    Marmoura if the person you are talking to seems to have read that verse and trying to discuss it with you whether to prove you wrong or not, he is searching for the truth and you should never give up on him or her, because from personal experience if you search for the truth, GOD will show where it is.
    Also Superman is right when he said that we should not stick to only 1 verse, all the verses complete themselves.
  • Thanks for your support, Tamoura76!

    Does anyone have any answers??

    Thanks
  • There is nothing contradictory about this verse and the idea of the Trinity. Here, Christ is synonomous with God and so the writer (St. Paul) was just interchanging both words. After all, he is not saying that there are two kingdoms, right? Of course not! There is only one kingdom and that is the kingdom of God (Christ). Hope this answers your question.

    God bless
    Tony
  • That's a good way of looking at it, Tony. Thank you.
  • One important thing to remember is to try 1st to remain in the context of the verses.

    The 2nd thing is to be aware of the fact that translations from a language to another may add a preposition here and there or use the closest possible word substitute (the closest one available) to convey the meaning, or to simplify a complex vocabulary that has no direct word for word translation.

    GBU
  • [quote author=Marmoura99 link=topic=8976.msg112083#msg112083 date=1268974251]
    I don't think I worded my question properly. I meant to ask about the second part of the verse, where it says "Christ and God". Why does it separate the two? How should we explain this part to someone who's skeptical about the Trinity, for example, and may use this to support their position?


    well, because in many places (if not most) in the NT Epistles "God" tends to refer to God the Father, not God the Son.

    the Son is still understood to be the same as God, fully divine, One with the Father and eternal. but God tends to be used to refer to the Father, whereas "Son" or "Christ" refers to God the Son, the Incarnate Word.

    Titus 2:13-14 actually comes out and says that Christ is both Saviour and God! so either way, the inspired writer is refering to God, whether to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, or to all three, or to two interchangably.
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