Verse 16
Lest there be any fornicator - Any licentious person who would turn the Gospel of the grace of God into lasciviousness.
Or profane person, as Esau - It is not intimated that Esau was a fornicator; and the disjunctive η , or, separates the profane person from the fornicator. And Esau is here termed profane, because he so far disregarded the spiritual advantages connected with his rights of primogeniture, that he alienated the whole for a single mess of pottage. See the note on Genesis 25:34 . The word βεβηλος , which we translate profane, is compounded of βε , which in composition has a negative signification, and βηλος , the threshold of a temple or sacred edifice; and was applied to those who were not initiated into the sacred mysteries, or who were despisers of sacred things, and consequently were to be denied admittance to the temple, and were not permitted to assist at holy rites. Indeed, among the Greeks βεβηλος signified any thing or person which was not consecrated to the gods. Hence, in the opening of their worship, they were accustomed to proclaim,
Procul, O procul, este profani!
Virg.
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