But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
The verse stands in the call to follow God as dear children and to walk in love as Christ loved and gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice to God. Its plain meaning is that fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness must not be once named among believers, because such conduct does not befit saints, and the same standard shuts out filthiness and foolish talking and jesting in favor of giving of thanks. Those who practice such uncleanness and covetousness have no inheritance in the kingdom of God, and their course brings the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Covetousness is idolatry that cannot stand with serving God, forbidden as directly and solemnly as Achan was forbidden the spoils of Jericho, and it still shows itself in selfishness, avarice, overreaching, robbing God in tithes and offerings, and heaping up gain while the poor suffer and the gospel is hindered. Keeping this standard requires no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but walking as children of light, with true conversion and renewal in the spirit of the mind, putting on the new man in righteousness and true holiness through the indwelling grace of Christ.
Purity Befitting Saints
The call is to follow God as dear children and to walk in love as Christ loved and gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice to God. Those who so follow and so walk must not allow fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness to be once named among them, as befits saints, but rather give thanks instead of filthiness and foolish talking and jesting. They have abundant reason to honor God and to show the world thankfulness for the great goodness of the heavenly Father. This is a heart-searching standard for purity that guides every married man and every married woman and tests fitness for responsibility in God's work.
Sexual immorality, every kind of uncleanness and moral uncleanness, and covetousness must not even be named among God's people and believers, because such conduct does not befit and is unfit for saints. It is an entreaty to churches and individuals expressing longing desire for holiness, requiring an advance movement and transformation of character. The same standard rules out filthiness, foolish talk and acting, and coarse joking, calling instead for thanksgiving. Merely reading the Bible is condemned in the heavenly courts; the whole chapter must be studied and its lessons of instruction received, and the Word must be studied, practiced, and given free course in the heart and brought into practical life so God will be glorified.
Frivolity and foolish talking and jesting and joking belong in the same class as filthiness, fornication and all uncleanness and must have no place among saints, so indulgence in such speech by those professing to follow Christ reveals selfishness, death to spirituality and a superficial conversion without true religious experience. Nothing cheap, common, or unholy is to be named among Christians; their words and lives are to be free from what is offensive and unholy, and the standard of holiness also rules out filthy or cheap conversation and unholy sentiments. Such words and conduct give unbelievers a corrupt example. This demands putting away thoughtless words, ceasing to cast reflections and censure upon those who do not deserve it, and putting away wrathful, bitter, unjust, unholy feelings that God will rebuke.
The same standard of conduct applied to Christ's disciples forbids envy, evil surmising, backbiting, and faultfinding from being found among them, just as it forbids sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness from being named among the saints. Applied to God's people it forbids selfish principles, love of gain, and ambition for dignity or position from being named among them, since conduct unbecoming to saints must have no place among them.
Judgment and Separation
Those who practice uncleanness and covetousness have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. Such conduct brings the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Covetousness is idolatry and cannot coexist with serving God. Indulging it is forbidden as directly, solemnly, and explicitly as Achan was forbidden to appropriate the spoils of Jericho, and that prohibition still binds Christians today.
Violation brings fearful doom, as shown in Achan, Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira. Behind them stands Lucifer, the son of the morning, who by coveting a higher state forfeited the brightness and bliss of heaven.
Covetousness still abounds in families, in the world, and in the church. It appears as selfishness, avarice, overreaching, neglect of charities, and robbery of God in tithes and offerings. It is seen when church members in good standing hide unlawful gains, sacrifice conscience and hope of heaven for gain, and heap up treasures while the poor suffer and cry and the gospel is hindered.
Believers are to have no part with the disobedient and no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but to walk as children of light, prove what is acceptable to the Lord, and reprove evil. Those marked by fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness form a class not to be associated with, for if believers cannot lift them up they will be pulled down.
Disregard for the pure principles that must be maintained in God's work, and heed to vain words, darkens the Christian example and can make people serve the enemy and value human plans above truth. Selfish habits and neglected duties darken the example Christians should give. Such unfaithfulness threatens the foundation of faith in the third angel's message, built for sixty years without a pin or pillar moved, which Satan strives with every effort to tear up.
Living the Standard Daily
Living this standard begins not with outward restraint but with true conversion and the inward dwelling and co-working of divine power, the heart opened to the grace of Christ and filled with pure, clean, sanctified, Christlike love that must not be lost from humanity. It requires an advance movement and transformation of character, an entreaty to churches and individuals expressing longing desire for holiness. That change is renewal in the spirit of the mind and putting on the new man created in righteousness and true holiness. It puts away thoughtless words, reflections and censure upon those who do not deserve it, and wrathful, bitter, unjust, unholy feelings that God will rebuke.
Merely reading the Bible stands condemned in the heavenly courts; the whole chapter must be studied and its lessons of instruction received by those who claim to believe present truth. The Word must be studied, allowed free course in the heart, brought into practical life, and practiced, so that God will be glorified. Selfish habits and neglected duties darken the example Christians should give, contrary to conduct fitting for saints and free from sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness.
The standard is heart-searching purity that guides every married man and every married woman and tests fitness for responsibility in God's work. Followers of God as dear children walk in love as Christ loved and gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice to God, therefore replacing filthiness and foolish talking and jesting with giving of thanks. Such holy life is practical medical missionary work that testifies to the sanctifying power of truth upon human minds.
Personal responsibility rests on each person before God to overcome the sin of foolish talking and foolish acting. Those entrusted with the culture of intellect must possess moral qualities, be sound in the faith, walk with God as Christian gentlemen, abstain from even the appearance of evil, and stand closely connected with God so they can be channels of light. Principals and teachers are to give reproof for such sins rather than withhold it, and to exercise tact and patience because they make impressions as enduring as eternity and give minds developments and tendencies borne through eternity, so nothing in that training may be neglected.
Pure principles must be maintained in God's work, with institutional rooms and speech kept free from uncleanness and from low, impure talk, since sexual immorality, every kind of uncleanness, and covetousness must have no place in conduct. Strong young men rooted and grounded in the faith can safely enter higher schools, learn the theology taught there to meet prevailing errors, and all the while drop seeds of truth into other minds.
The verse stands in the call to follow God as dear children and to walk in love as Christ loved and gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice to God. Its plain meaning is that fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness must not be once named among believers, because such conduct does not befit saints, and the same standard shuts out filthiness and foolish talking and jesting in favor of giving of thanks. Those who practice such uncleanness and covetousness have no inheritance in the kingdom of God, and their course brings the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Covetousness is idolatry that cannot stand with serving God, forbidden as directly and solemnly as Achan was forbidden the spoils of Jericho, and it still shows itself in selfishness, avarice, overreaching, robbing God in tithes and offerings, and heaping up gain while the poor suffer and the gospel is hindered. Keeping this standard requires no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but walking as children of light, with true conversion and renewal in the spirit of the mind, putting on the new man in righteousness and true holiness through the indwelling grace of Christ.
Purity Befitting Saints
The call is to follow God as dear children and to walk in love as Christ loved and gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice to God. Those who so follow and so walk must not allow fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness to be once named among them, as befits saints, but rather give thanks instead of filthiness and foolish talking and jesting. They have abundant reason to honor God and to show the world thankfulness for the great goodness of the heavenly Father. This is a heart-searching standard for purity that guides every married man and every married woman and tests fitness for responsibility in God's work.
Sexual immorality, every kind of uncleanness and moral uncleanness, and covetousness must not even be named among God's people and believers, because such conduct does not befit and is unfit for saints. It is an entreaty to churches and individuals expressing longing desire for holiness, requiring an advance movement and transformation of character. The same standard rules out filthiness, foolish talk and acting, and coarse joking, calling instead for thanksgiving. Merely reading the Bible is condemned in the heavenly courts; the whole chapter must be studied and its lessons of instruction received, and the Word must be studied, practiced, and given free course in the heart and brought into practical life so God will be glorified.
Frivolity and foolish talking and jesting and joking belong in the same class as filthiness, fornication and all uncleanness and must have no place among saints, so indulgence in such speech by those professing to follow Christ reveals selfishness, death to spirituality and a superficial conversion without true religious experience. Nothing cheap, common, or unholy is to be named among Christians; their words and lives are to be free from what is offensive and unholy, and the standard of holiness also rules out filthy or cheap conversation and unholy sentiments. Such words and conduct give unbelievers a corrupt example. This demands putting away thoughtless words, ceasing to cast reflections and censure upon those who do not deserve it, and putting away wrathful, bitter, unjust, unholy feelings that God will rebuke.
The same standard of conduct applied to Christ's disciples forbids envy, evil surmising, backbiting, and faultfinding from being found among them, just as it forbids sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness from being named among the saints. Applied to God's people it forbids selfish principles, love of gain, and ambition for dignity or position from being named among them, since conduct unbecoming to saints must have no place among them.
Judgment and Separation
Those who practice uncleanness and covetousness have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. Such conduct brings the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Covetousness is idolatry and cannot coexist with serving God. Indulging it is forbidden as directly, solemnly, and explicitly as Achan was forbidden to appropriate the spoils of Jericho, and that prohibition still binds Christians today.
Violation brings fearful doom, as shown in Achan, Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira. Behind them stands Lucifer, the son of the morning, who by coveting a higher state forfeited the brightness and bliss of heaven.
Covetousness still abounds in families, in the world, and in the church. It appears as selfishness, avarice, overreaching, neglect of charities, and robbery of God in tithes and offerings. It is seen when church members in good standing hide unlawful gains, sacrifice conscience and hope of heaven for gain, and heap up treasures while the poor suffer and cry and the gospel is hindered.
Believers are to have no part with the disobedient and no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but to walk as children of light, prove what is acceptable to the Lord, and reprove evil. Those marked by fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness form a class not to be associated with, for if believers cannot lift them up they will be pulled down.
Disregard for the pure principles that must be maintained in God's work, and heed to vain words, darkens the Christian example and can make people serve the enemy and value human plans above truth. Selfish habits and neglected duties darken the example Christians should give. Such unfaithfulness threatens the foundation of faith in the third angel's message, built for sixty years without a pin or pillar moved, which Satan strives with every effort to tear up.
Living the Standard Daily
Living this standard begins not with outward restraint but with true conversion and the inward dwelling and co-working of divine power, the heart opened to the grace of Christ and filled with pure, clean, sanctified, Christlike love that must not be lost from humanity. It requires an advance movement and transformation of character, an entreaty to churches and individuals expressing longing desire for holiness. That change is renewal in the spirit of the mind and putting on the new man created in righteousness and true holiness. It puts away thoughtless words, reflections and censure upon those who do not deserve it, and wrathful, bitter, unjust, unholy feelings that God will rebuke.
Merely reading the Bible stands condemned in the heavenly courts; the whole chapter must be studied and its lessons of instruction received by those who claim to believe present truth. The Word must be studied, allowed free course in the heart, brought into practical life, and practiced, so that God will be glorified. Selfish habits and neglected duties darken the example Christians should give, contrary to conduct fitting for saints and free from sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness.
The standard is heart-searching purity that guides every married man and every married woman and tests fitness for responsibility in God's work. Followers of God as dear children walk in love as Christ loved and gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice to God, therefore replacing filthiness and foolish talking and jesting with giving of thanks. Such holy life is practical medical missionary work that testifies to the sanctifying power of truth upon human minds.
Personal responsibility rests on each person before God to overcome the sin of foolish talking and foolish acting. Those entrusted with the culture of intellect must possess moral qualities, be sound in the faith, walk with God as Christian gentlemen, abstain from even the appearance of evil, and stand closely connected with God so they can be channels of light. Principals and teachers are to give reproof for such sins rather than withhold it, and to exercise tact and patience because they make impressions as enduring as eternity and give minds developments and tendencies borne through eternity, so nothing in that training may be neglected.
Pure principles must be maintained in God's work, with institutional rooms and speech kept free from uncleanness and from low, impure talk, since sexual immorality, every kind of uncleanness, and covetousness must have no place in conduct. Strong young men rooted and grounded in the faith can safely enter higher schools, learn the theology taught there to meet prevailing errors, and all the while drop seeds of truth into other minds.