Empty arguments

[CyrilSebastian]

In The Book of Ephesians, Chapter 5 Verse 6 states:

 Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments;      

Please explain empty arguments

 

[Vico]

In The Book of Ephesians, Chapter 5 Verse 6 states:

 Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments;      

Please explain empty arguments

Ephesians 5 (Douay-Rheims version)
6 *Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief.
Commentary from the Haydock Bible:
Ver. 6. The apostle here puts them in mind of the general judgment, when the angel of God will, on account of their crimes of avarice, fornication, &c. fall on the children of unbelief; by which are meant the wicked. He had before assured them that the perpetrators of such crimes would be excluded from the kingdom of heaven; and now he moreover informs them, that the severest punishments will be inflicted on such wicked persons. (Estius)

 

[TarkanAttila]

In The Book of Ephesians, Chapter 5 Verse 6 states:

 Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments;      

Please explain empty arguments

I can think of a few dozen things that fall under this category (if I understand it correctly, which I probably don’t).

A good example is appealing to the corruption of a particular Church authority (like a bishop who went philandering with prostitutes, say) as a reason to leave the Church.

Or, say 98% of Catholics don’t agree with the Church on an issue - like contraception. Does that make contraception right? No sir.

What if the state says Catholicism is illegal all of a sudden? Is that a good argument against the truth of the Resurrection and the Church?

Off the top of my head, that’s what I would say that passage means. Ignore stupid arguments like these, and others.

 

[mackbrislawn]

In The Book of Ephesians, Chapter 5 Verse 6 states:

 Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments;      

Please explain empty arguments

An empty argument appears valid on the surface but on closer inspection is not. Empty arguments are useful on those who are not well informed.

May I say that many Catholics are not well informed and they fall prey to empty arguments from those who want to draw them away from the Church to some other “bible-believing church.”

 

[Jeanne1184]

(Resource: Bible Hub for Eph. 5:6 )

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let no man deceive you with vain words,… With vain philosophy, vain babblings, with foolish and filthy talking; suggesting that these were not sinful the apostle had condemned; or that they were small sins, the frailties of human life; and that God would take no notice of them, and they might continue in them with impunity: such deceivers there were, doctrinal and practical ones, who lay in wait to deceive men with such vain pretences; and there was danger of being carried away with their error; for the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and is easily taken in such snares: wherefore the apostle cautions against such deceptions, adding,…

Expositor’s Greek Testament

Ephesians 5:6. let no one deceive you with vain words. A solemn warning, made the more pointed by being given without any connecting particle. κενός is “vain” in the sense of empty, without the substance of truth or reality, and so = sophistical; cf. κενολογεῖν in Isaiah 8:19.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1. vain—empty, unreal words, namely, palliations of “uncleanness,” (to make an offense seem less serious) Eph 5:3, 4; Isa 5:20 (that it is natural to indulge in love), “covetousness” (that it is useful to society that men should pursue gain), and “jesting” (that it is witty and clever, and that God will not so severely punish for such things).

—When people say that it is ‘natural’ to indulge in love/sex or anger - it really is ‘natural’, but as in carnal/animal. I wasn’t lied to when I was told ‘sex is natural’ (or when I defended having sex to others), but the error/deception lay in my equating ‘natural’ with ‘spiritual’. The spiritual part of sex is very narrow - like the Catholic Church used to teach, for procreation only within marriage. And as St. Paul addresses, and I finally took seriously.