1 Corinthians 6:8-11, "No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
You yourselves do wrong and cheat: There is no place for dishonest dealing by Christians; how much less place is there for dishonest dealing among Christians! Many have rejected the things of God and the fellowship of the saints because of dishonesty and cheating among Christians.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Paul speaks strongly to the brother who did the wrong. "Don't you realize how serious your sin is? The only thing you may 'gain' from cheating your brother is eternity with the unrighteous!"
Paul was not, categorically, denying the man's salvation (Paul says he is among the brethren); however, Paul will not allow a "religious faith" that is separate from our actions. If a Christian can cheat and defraud his brothers without conscience, it may be fairly asked if he is a Christian at all.
Nor homosexuals: Since this is such a clear condemnation of homosexuality, those who would like to justify the practice say Paul speaks of homosexual prostitution, not a "loving, caring homosexual relationship." But taken in context, there is no doubt God is speaking of homosexual acts of all kinds with the words malakoi (homosexuals, which literally refers to male prostitutes) and arsenokoitai (sodomites, a generic term for all homosexual practice).
Paul did not write in or of a "homophobic" culture. Homosexuality was rampant in the ancient world; 14 out of the first 15 Roman emperors were bisexual or homosexual. At the very time Paul wrote, Nero was emperor. Nero castrated a boy named Sporus and then married him (with a full ceremony), brought him to the palace with a great procession, and made the boy his "wife." Later, the emperor lived with another man, and Nero was declared to be the other man's "wife."
In this list of sins, homosexuality (not some "special" version of homosexuality) is described, but it is described right along with other sins. Some who so strongly denounce homosexuals are guilty of other sins on this list. Can fornicators or adulterers or the covetous or drunkards rightly condemn homosexuals? Of course not.
Christians err when they excuse homosexuality, and deny that it is sin, but they also err just as badly when they single it out as a sin God is uniquely angry with.
At the same time, the point is plain for the Corinthian Christians and for us: And such were some of you. Paul clearly puts it in the past tense. These things should never mark the life of a Christian, and if they do, they must be immediately repented of and forsaken.
You were washed: We are washed clean from sin by the mercy of God (Titus 3:5). We can have our sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16). We are washed by the work of Jesus on the cross for us (Revelation 1:5) and by the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26).
You were sanctified: We are set apart, away from the world and unto God, by the work of Jesus on the cross (Hebrews 10:10), by God's Word (John 17:19), by faith in Jesus (Acts 26:18), and by the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16).
You were justified: We are declared "just" before the court of God, not merely "not guilty," but declared as "just" before Him. We are justified by God's grace through the work of Jesus on the cross (Romans 3:24), by faith and not by our own deeds (Romans 3:28).
God can take the kind of people described in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 10 and make them into the kind of people described in 1 Corinthians 6:11! How great is the work of God!
Dear God, I thank you each day for washing me of my sins, sanctifying me from the world and justifying me as not guilty before Your Throne!
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