Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5)

Let us consider a covetous individual who, according to the Word of God, has no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. He is an idolater, and the Scriptures prevent him from entering the new Jerusalem. They cast him into the Lake of Fire.

Let us say our covetous individual receives Christ and is baptized in water. He becomes a Christian. He still is covetous. (Such an individual is not difficult to find.)

His life, after he accepts Christ, is spent in acquiring wealth. He loves money. Money is his God. Yet he names the name of Christ.

We have said no member of the Wife of the Lamb, or of the nations of the saved, is covetous. It is obvious if he is to be saved and to enter the holy city he must be delivered from his covetousness.

Therefore the question is, what means has God provided for our deliverance from covetousness? We cannot escape the authority of the Lake of Fire until we have been delivered from covetousness.

Either that is true or else there are covetous people in the new Jerusalem or among the nations of saved peoples of the earth. That would be contrary to the Scriptures.

At some point we must be healed of our sinning.

At what point are we delivered from covetousness? What do the Scriptures state about how, when, and where we are healed of covetousness?

Paul said, "No covetous man has any inheritance in the Kingdom of God" (Ephesians 5:5).

Was Paul speaking to unsaved people or to believers in Christ? Was Paul saying the covetous will perish if they refuse to accept Christ as their Savior and Lord, or was he speaking to the Christian people in Ephesus and warning them that if they practiced covetousness they would have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God?

If Paul is speaking to the unsaved covetous, warning them that they must receive Christ because their covetousness is a sin that will keep them from the Kingdom of God, the surrounding verses should state something to the effect that once we receive Christ we shall enter the Kingdom in spite of our covetousness. They should make clear that we must accept Christ so we can enter the Kingdom of God whether or not we continue in covetousness.

If Paul is speaking to covetous saints, telling them they cannot enter the Kingdom of God if they are covetous, in spite of having believed on Christ, the surrounding verses should be in the form of a warning, directing the saints to put away their covetousness at once or they are in danger of losing their inheritance in Christ.

What of the context of Ephesians 5:5? Is the reader of the epistle being asked to receive Christ as His Savior, or is the reader of the epistle assumed to be a saint of the church in Ephesus who is being warned to cease his covetousness?

If the context is advising the saint to abandon his covetousness under the threat of losing his inheritance in the Kingdom of God, millions of Christian people in the world today do not understand the true character of the Christian redemption.

To be continued.