"Do Not Be Partakers With Them"

"But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them..." - Ephesians 5:3-7

Ephesians was written to Christians. As Paul himself phrases it in his greeting: "To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus." Yet, note the nature of the warning he gives in chapter 5, verses 3-7 (see chapter 4 and the entirety of 5 for the complete context). He warns the Christians he is writing to that they must not participate in things such as he is describing because to do so is to risk becoming "partakers" with those upon whom the wrath of God will ultimately fall, the end result of which is exclusion from "the kingdom of Christ and God."

The meaning is clear: the wrath of God can indeed fall upon Christians who depart from the faith through disobedience, just as it will fall upon those who have never believed the gospel. The warning would be unnecessary, even misleading, if this were not the case. It is faithful Christians who are "not appointed to wrath." This truth is repeated continuously in both the gospels and the epistles.

"Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity..." - Hebrews 6:1a

"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

"For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

"But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." - Hebrews 10:35-39

* Scriptures cited from the New American Standard Bible