1 Corinthians 6:9-11

‘Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingly Rule of God?'

Do they not realise in all this that those who behave unjustly or wrongly thereby reveal that they are disqualified from the coming Kingly Rule of God? Paul is always quite firm in his view that those who continually fail to reveal Christian virtues, those who do not seek to ‘put on the new man', thereby reveal that they are not really truly Christian at all. Those who are at ease in Zion may well discover that they are subject to God's woes (Amos 6:1). For whom God loves He chastens (Hebrews 12:6). Whom Christ saves He gradually transforms (2 Corinthians 3:18). So to be without chastening from God in some way, to be without some evidence of improvement as a Christian, is a sure sign that someone is not Christ's. So when they win their unfair court case let them recognise that the verdict may eventually also exclude them from the Kingly Rule of God, for it has shown that they are not willing to be subject to that Kingly Rule in the church, and that simply for the purpose of obtaining unjust gain. Thus they will be known by their fruits.

The Contrast Between Sinners and Those In Christ (6:9b-11).

Paul now expands on the idea that those who are unjust in their dealings will not inherit the Kingly Rule of God by pointing out that this is true of all sinful men and women, whether professing but not practising believer or pagan. He then contrasts the majority of the Corinthian church with those who face this dreadful prospect, brought about because of what Christ has done for them in delivering them from sin.

‘Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who offer homosexual sex for money, nor abusers of themselves with men (those who engage in homosexual sex for lust), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingly Rule of God.'

‘Do not be deceived.' Compare Galatians 6:7. Paul has no truck with those who water down God's judgments. It is so easy for a man to convince himself that he need not be too strict about sin because there is always a way of cleansing. So Paul warns such not to be deceived. If they behave like those doomed to judgment, they will be doomed to judgment whatever claim they make.

The list of sins and sinners is expanded from 1 Corinthians 5:11. They are to recognise that such people as practise these things will not only be expelled from the church and its fellowship in this life, but will certainly be excluded from life under the Kingly Rule of God in Heaven. They will have no inheritance in the future blessings of God. Those who continue blatantly in sin cannot expect mercy.

For the details of the list see on 1 Corinthians 5:11. But here there is an increase in the emphasis on sexual sin, in that practising homosexuality and those who allow themselves to be so used for money (rent boys or rich men's favourites), behaving in a way contrary to the general natural order of things, are also condemned, as is the specific act of heterosexual adultery, the leading astray of another person's marital partner. There are some for whom, sadly, life is more difficult because of various tendencies, which men try to justify by calling them natural, but they must be fought against just as men must fight against the natural tendency to free and unbridled sex.

But they are not condemned alone. Also condemned are thieves, fraudsters and deceivers, greedy people, those who live with their minds set on being wealthy, those who misuse alcohol, those who use false means to get money out of others. Those who practise such things will not inherit the Kingly Rule of God, because thereby they have openly rejected it (whatever their claims may be that they are ‘Christians').

‘Will not inherit the Kingly Rule of God.' This is because their attitudes are already set against His Kingly Rule. They are openly and deliberately refusing to obey Him now, and have no intention to do so. Thus they can have no hope of a part in His future Rule, in the blessings of the coming age. They ‘hear His word and do it not' so that all their hopes will collapse (Matthew 7:22 which we try to sideline at our peril). 1 Corinthians 6:11 ‘And such were some of you. But you washed yourselves, but you were sanctified, but you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in (or ‘by') the Spirit of our God.'

Paul has no qualms in pointing out to the Corinthians that in their sick society many of them had been exactly like that. This adequately described what they had been. But he then goes on to describe the transformation that has taken place in those who are truly in Christ, with the result that they had put all that behind them. Thus even while condemning these gross sins he indicates that even for the worst there is hope in Christ if only they will repent and believe.

‘You washed yourselves.' It is very questionable whether this refers to baptism. Had it been so it would surely have read ‘you were baptised'. It is true that the middle voice might act as a passive (thus balancing the verbs), but it is far more likely that the middle voice draws attention to a deliberate response by them as in Isaiah 1:16. Baptism is rarely, if ever, likened to ‘washing', as though sins could be washed off (Jeremiah 2:22), and the verb used is never used of ritual washing. It rather has in mind the rains and snow from heaven producing inward fruitfulness (Job 9:30; compare Isaiah 55:10), as in John's baptism and Jesus' description of the new birth, and the dying and rising again to new life. The idea here is rather that they ‘washed themselves' by repenting, and turning from sin, and ceasing to have dealings with it, and by availing themselves of the blood of Christ (Revelation 7:14). They put aside what they were and began to live anew in Christ. They obeyed the words of Isaiah, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek what is right --” (Isaiah 1:16 compare Jeremiah 4:14). It is the equivalent of true repentance.

Note On ‘Washing'.

It must be remembered that ancient man did not see personal cleanliness in quite the same way as modern man with his greater facilities. While there were exceptions, this was on the whole true. Water brought to his mind fruitfulness in the fields from rain and river rather than bathing and making himself clean.

Some have suggested a connection of ‘washing' with baptism seen as connected with the Old Testament ‘washings with water', but quite apart from the fact that apolouo is never used of such washings, in the Old Testament ceremonial washing in itself never ‘cleanses', and we are specifically told in every case that the Old Testament washings left the person ‘unclean until the evening'. In other words it was not efficacious in cleansing. That required the waiting before God, probably in the tent. Indeed Peter makes clear that baptism does not represent ‘the washing away of the filth of the flesh' and relates it to the resurrection, dying and rising again (1 Peter 3:21, compare 1 Corinthians 6:18 with 22-23)

This statement is repeated with monotonous regularity with respect to washing in water, and suggests that the cleansing itself actually arises through the time alone with God after the ritual washing, and the efficacy of the daily evening sacrifice on behalf of Israel. Whatever therefore the washings indicated, it was not immediate spiritual cleansing. In fact the idea was probably the removal of ‘earthiness', of the taint of the world, prior to ‘waiting on' a holy God for cleansing. Thus David in Psalms 51:2 was not referring to ritual washing but was using his regular royal baths as a picture of cleansing. But there he is referring to God washing him, as his attendants did, not his own action.

And the same applies to Psalms 51:7, although there he probably also has in mind the ‘water for impurity for the removal of sin'. The parallel ‘purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean' in 1 Corinthians 6:7 suggests this, for hyssop was used to sprinkle water purified with the ashes of a sacrifice (Numbers 19:9; Numbers 17-19). This ‘water for impurity for the removal of sin' was water containing the ashes of sacrifice, and was itself sprinkled to remove uncleanness, not in order to wash. It signified the efficacy of sacrifices for sin.

Notice in Numbers 19:19 how the careful distinction is made. First the person is sprinkled with the ash-connected water, then they wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, then they wait for the evening when they ‘become clean'. The washing and bathing is carefully separated from the idea of cleansing, and seems therefore again to have more to do with becoming physically fitter to wait on God for cleansing, removing the earthiness and odours, preparatory to cleansing. Ezekiel also connects this sprinkled ‘purified' water with the purifying of Israel in a passage connected with the coming of the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25). Notice that there God will use ‘clean water', i.e. water that has been cleansed.

In Acts 22:16 Ananias does say to Paul, (the only clear example of washing being even remotely connected with baptism), ‘Arise and be baptised, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord'. But notice that the baptism is something done to him whereas the washing is something he must do for himself as with Isaiah 1:16. Had Ananias been directly linking the two he could have demonstrated it by using a participle or by saying ‘have your sins washed away'. If he is to be seen as linking the two specifically, as some insist, it would be the only example in the New Testament, for the only other washing from sin is in the blood of Jesus (Revelation 7:14). Elsewhere baptism is seen as symbolising the rain from heaven producing new life (in John's baptism), or as a dying and rising again.

So Ananias' statement ‘wash away your sins' should more probably be seen as directly connected with ‘calling on the name of the Lord', rather than specifically as directly connected with ‘be baptised'. In other words he is saying ‘firstly be baptised signifying your entry into the new age of the Spirit and secondly deal with the sins in your life by repentance, calling on the name of the Lord.' It is significant in this regard that Ananias is shown as using 'apolouo for ‘wash' and not louo. 'apolouo is used only once in LXX, and that is to represent washing in snow (Job 9:30 - water directly from heaven - which is connected with the going forth of new life in Isaiah 55:12), in contrast with louo which is used of ceremonial washing. This strongly suggests he was wanting to exclude the idea of ceremonial connections.

End of note.

So by ‘you washed yourselves' (aorist middle) Paul is stressing how they did in the past truly repent and make a determined effort to turn their backs on sin in the name of Christ and by the power of the Spirit, something that they now needed to renew. You are now free from sin because you have washed yourselves by being born of the Spirit.

‘But you were sanctified.' The verb is aorist passive indicating a once for all situation. God sanctified them, setting them apart as His in Christ and accepting them as holy in Him. Thus although unholy in themselves they are seen as holy in Him. That is why they could be called ‘saints' (see on 1 Corinthians 1:2). See Hebrews 10:10 which declares that we have been sanctified by His fulfilling of the will of God through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. But the act of being sanctified also had an effect within them, for the Holy Spirit took up His dwelling within them (1 Corinthians 6:19), working new life and holiness within them as they commenced their life of faith. They were both set apart and regenerated.

‘But you were justified.' Again aorist passive. They were declared righteous by God through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them and, as it were, put to their account (Romans 5:17; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The verb dikaioo (justify) refers to a judicial verdict by which a man is declared free of any charge against him. He is declared as being without a stain on his character.

‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.' All these blessings were theirs through the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ and through His name, that is, through what He essentially is and has done, and were wrought in them by the Spirit of God Himself, working in effective power through Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 2:2). Now he is calling them to remember what they are and to begin to live appropriately.

So once again his stress on the requirement for morality is linked with the word of the cross. Sin cannot survive where the word of the cross is at work. This is what has been lacking among the Corinthians and is why they need now to turn back to the centrality of the crucified Christ Who has died for them calling them to be crucified with Him. For it was through the cross that they had come to God so that they washed themselves by repentance from sin, and were sanctified and justified once for all in God's sight. Note his assumption that they will no longer be engaging in such sins. If they are he offers them nothing.

Thus do his current words confirm and prove what he has previously said about the word of the cross. Through ‘the word of the cross' sin is excluded and dealt with, unlike the effect of ‘the wisdom of words' of his opponents which had resulted in the acceptance of such sins by the church as allowable.