You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
3 But[kai] fornication,[porneia] and[de] all[pas] uncleanness,[akatharsia]
or[e] covetousness,[pleonexia] let it[onomazo] not be
once[mede] named[onomazo] among[en] you,[humin] as[kathos] becometh[prepo] saints;[hagios] KJV-Interlinear
3 But do
not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is
proper among saints; NASB
Fornication, 'porneia,' certainly means illicit sex outside of the bonds of marriage, but the word represents more than just sexual perversion. It represents the indulgence of unlawful lusts, spiritually unlawful lusts that is. It refers to the practice of idolatry in general which is the pursuit of anything that equates with evil. Therefore, anything pursued that is against Gods will, is the act of fornication with that non-spiritual act, thought, intent and so forth.
Cheating on God, by indifference toward God or truth, is fornication with the carnal or non-spiritual life. It is the act of harlotry or the interaction with that which is wicked. It is the pursuit of gain by means of wicked or unacceptable activity. The method is evil and the gain is evil.
Uncleanness, 'akatharsia,' refers to all manner of impurity. The spiritual life is the pure life, wherein the individual confesses his or her sins and thus is placed by God in a position of fellowship and becomes pure, spiritually speaking. When a person commits a sin or some indiscretion of any sort and becomes out of fellowship, then they become impure. All unbelievers are impure by definition. All believers who do not comply with Gods mandate to confess, are likewise impure as they live in the carnal sphere rather than the spiritual sphere of fellowship.
Therefore, uncleanness applies to all people who sin and live within that sin nature sphere. And, are thus separated from the purity that Gods intends.
Greed, 'pleonexia,' refers to the practice of avarice which covers all manner of materialism, lust activities, desires, intents, and so forth. This covers all ongoing and habitual practices of the individual in their daily life, and thus is their pattern of life by which they live.
In other words, you are mandated to live in fellowship and function within the spiritual sphere, and are to avoid and not function and live in the carnal state of life.
Remember that the sin nature has two areas of function - human good is its area of strength, and sin is its area of weakness. The sin nature operates in a broad spectrum from lasciviousness to asceticism.
When you are out of fellowship, all that you think, say and do, is tantamount to the promotion of evil. You receive no spiritual benefit even from spiritual activities which you do while out of fellowship.
You can only benefit from spiritual activity, while in fellowship. The spiritual life functions in the state of fellowship, which is the state of purity, which is the state of holiness, which is the state of separation from sin.
