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Ephesians 5:3-5

The Pulpit Commentary on Ephesians 5:3-5

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Warning against covetousness.

It is singular to find covetousness, which is often the sin of respectability, linked with sins of gross impurity. In reality it springs from selfishness, like these other sins. It has its origin in the same unholy root.

I. CONSIDER THE NATURE OF COVETOUSNESS. It is the inordinate love of riches, manifesting itself in several ways.

1. In the eager anxiety to attain wealth, without respect either to God's glory or our own spiritual good.

2. In a sinful acquisition of wealth by extortion or fraud. (, ; ; .)

3. In a reluctance to use our wealth for good ends. (, .)

II. HOW IS COVETOUSNESS TO BE REGARDED AS "IDOLATRY?" It is to make a god of our possessions and to give them the homage of our hearts. All the essential elements of idolatry are included in this worldly disposition. The covetous man transfers to riches the love, desire, joy, trust, and labor which God demands for himself. His sin is all the greater because he knows that his god is no god. The warning of the text is applicable

The sin of covetousness is, therefore, to be jealously avoided

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