What does “unclean person” refer to in Ephesians 5:5?

Ephesians 5:5 mentions those who will not be part of God’s kingdom: “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (NKJV). To live according to the old nature, as an “unclean person” would, is to give evidence of being unsaved.

The Greek word translated as “unclean person” in Ephesians 5:5 is akathartos, which means “impure” or “unclean.” This term is used in the New Testament to denote ritual uncleanness (e.g., Mark 1:23; 3:11) or moral uncleanness—sexual sins and idolatry make one morally “unclean” (see Romans 1:24; Colossians 3:5, 8). In Ephesians 5:2–7, Paul commands the saints to walk in love, not in the world’s cheap counterfeits. Believers in Christ must avoid sexual immorality, impurity, and greed, “for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (verse 6, NKJV). An “unclean person” is someone with moral pollution, specifically in sexual morals. The unclean person has traded God’s type of love for a counterfeit, selfish form of love involving sexual misdeeds.

Other Pauline passages also link uncleanness and sexual immorality. In Colossians 3:5, Paul says, “Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (NKJV). As in Ephesians 5:5, uncleanness is here coupled with sexual sins, which means that an “unclean person” is immoral. In the same way, Galatians 5:19–21 lists “uncleanness” among the “works of the flesh,” described as being incompatible with the inheritance of the kingdom of God. As in Ephesians 5:5, this passage gives the consequence of continuing in such behaviors without repentance as exclusion from God’s kingdom. Uncleanness also shows up in Romans 1:24: “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves” (NKJV). Here, “uncleanness” is connected explicitly to dishonorable physical deeds—God gives people over to such sins as a consequence of their apostasy.

In the Old Testament, uncleanness was conceptualized as ritual contamination that called for external cleansing according to the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 11—15). Moral pollution and idolatry caused a person to become spiritually unclean. In Ezekiel 36:25, God promises to purify Israel with clean water: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols” (NKJV). Jesus clarifies that cleanliness is a matter of the heart: “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders. . . . All these evil things come from within and defile a man” (Mark 7:20–23, NKJV). Mankind is spiritually unclean, but Jesus’ sacrifice can make a person spiritually clean (1 John 1:7; Hebrews 9:14).

Ephesians 5:5 is a stern warning that an unclean person has no part in the kingdom of God. This does not mean believers who sin will be thrown into hell; rather, it means that people who live consistently in unrepentant sin are bearing fruits of unrighteousness and are not born again. They are “the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6, ESV). Paul warns throughout his epistles that believers should turn from sin and walk in righteousness. The distinction between an unclean and clean person is mentioned in Ephesians 5:8: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (NKJV).