1 Corinthians 6:9 - Meaning and Application

Here he takes the chance to warn them against many serious sins, which they had once followed.

He first states a plain truth that they should already know, even the least of them: the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9). They will not be accepted as true members of Christ’s church on earth, and they will not be received as glorious members of the church in heaven. All wrongdoing is sin, and any sin that rules a person’s life keeps that person out of the kingdom of heaven. He names several kinds of sin: sins against the first and second commandments, like idolatry; against the seventh, like adultery, sexual sin, effeminate behavior, and same-sex acts; against the eighth, like stealing and extortion, where people use force or fraud to harm their neighbors; against the ninth, like insulting and slandering others; and against the tenth, like greed and drunkenness, which often lead to all the rest. Anyone with even a little understanding of religion should know that heaven was never meant for such people. The scum of the earth are not fit for the heavenly home. Those who do the devil’s work can never receive God’s reward, except for death, the just pay for sin (Romans 6:23).

Yet he also warns them not to fool themselves: “Do not be deceived.” People who know this truth are still very prone to ignore it. We naturally like to flatter ourselves, imagining that God is like us, and that we can live in sin and still die in Christ, or live as children of the devil and still go to heaven with God’s children. But that is a serious lie. It matters greatly that people do not deceive themselves about the condition of their souls. We cannot expect to live for the flesh and still receive eternal life.

He then reminds them of the great change the gospel and God’s grace had made in them: “Such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11). They had once been among the kinds of notorious sinners just listed. The Greek wording means, “Such things were some of you,” as if they had been more like monsters than human beings. Some people become especially upright after conversion because they were once especially wicked. What a great change grace makes. It turns the vilest people into saints and children of God. Such were some of you, but you are not what you were.

“You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.” The wickedness of a person before conversion is no barrier to being born again and brought back to God. The blood of Christ, and the washing that comes with new birth, can remove both guilt and defilement. Paul even puts the order in a striking way: “You are sanctified, you are justified.” Sanctification means being made holy. He mentions it before justification, and he also places the name of Christ, through whom we are justified, before the Spirit of God, by whom we are sanctified. Our justification comes from Christ’s merit, and our sanctification comes from the Spirit’s work, but they go together. No one is cleansed from sin’s guilt and reconciled to God through Christ unless that person is also made holy by his Spirit. All who are made right before God are also made holy by God’s grace.