I ran across these verses a few days ago in my daily Bible
reading. They can be the most
frightening and the most comforting verses in all of Paul’s writings. The context is a letter written to a church
that had serious sin problems which Paul has been addressing. The severest appears to be a case of incest
which is mentioned in chapter 5. Paul
admonishes the Corinthian believers to remove this person from the assembly and
to not associate with him (! Cor 5:13)
He then discusses conflicts among the church members that were leading
to lawsuits. Again, for the sake of
unity, he chastises them and states that they are guilty of the same acts as
those who are the objects of the lawsuits.
He states that believers should be able to settle things without bringing
in unbelievers to be their arbitrators and judges.
He then pens the following verses which should sum up the
Christian life although certainly every sin is not contained in the
verses. He does, however, seem to focus
on the sins that are so closely identified with an immoral society. Sort of like the United States today, you
think? Slowly read these verses, taking
in each and every word and let the Holy Spirit stir you to self-examination as
he has stirred me upon reading these verses again and again.
1 Cor 6:9-11 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, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 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.
What does he mean by the unrighteous in verse 9? (94) Greek word is’ adikos’ which implies one
who violates or has violated justice; unjust; sinful; one who deals
fraudulently with others; or a deceiver.
Other verses include Matt 5:45, Luke 18:11, 1 Peter 3: 18, and 2 Peter
2:9.
45 that you may be children
of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
11 The Pharisee, standing by
himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God,
I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
18 For Christ also suffered[a] once for
sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive
in the spirit,
9 then
the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,
[a]
and to keep the
unrighteous under
punishment until the day of judgment,
However you wish to define unrighteous,
it means those who have not been savingly joined to Jesus Christ. They are lost, condemned, and under the wrath
of God and if they remain in that condition, they will never enter the gates of
heaven. Therefore, there is reserved for
them eternal punishment in hell forever.
I pray that you belong to the first group and not the last. The good news is that you can change that by
repenting of your sins and believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior and
Lord. Would you do that today? There is still time.
Paul then issues an imperative; ‘Do not
be deceived’. Simply put, do not stray
from the truth. This is the greek work
planao which means deceive, err,
go astray, seduce, wander, or be out of the way. This is used 39 times in the New Testament. Here are some examples from which you can see
that we can be self-deceived, deceived by someone else, or deceived by Satan.
Matt
22:29 But Jesus answered and said unto
them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
1
John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1
John 3:7 Little children, let no one
deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is
righteous.
Rev
12:9 And the great dragon was thrown
down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of
the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown
down with him.
From
the above, we can deduce that both believers and unbelievers can be
deceived. Satan has been described as
the great liar or great deceiver, but we must be aware of our own weak thinking
as well as the influence of those around us.
Next, Paul points out to the Corinthians (and to us), the multitude of
sins that focuses on immorality and how the continual practice of these sins is
usually equated to unsaved persons.
Believers may fall into these sins on occasion but they must not be
their on-going lifestyle. We will now
examine each of these.
Ø Fornicators – is the
Greek word ‘pornos’ from which we get pornography. It is defined as immoral, sexual immorality
in general and unmarried people in particular.
Today, in our country, it hardly causes a ripple and appears to be the
normal instead of the exception. ABC
recently received the second ‘Excellent’ rating ever issued by GLAAD (Gay
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation).
This was because 55% of their 103 prime-time hours clearly reflected the
quality and relative quantity of LGBT representations in their original programming. The following is from
John MacArthur’s commentary. “But
fornication in any form is an abomination to God and should be an abomination
to his people. Those who habitually
practice and defend it cannot possibly belong to God.” Wow !
Ø .Idolators – is the Greek word ‘eidololatres’
which means an image worshipper and refers to those who worship any false gods and false religious systems, not simply to
those who bow down to images. In today’s
world, there are numerous idols that we have worshipped and it is only getting
worse. A few examples would be: a political party or ideology, money, fame, a
family member with high intelligence or athletic prowess, our jobs, sports or
entertainment personalities, our accomplishments, and I could go on and
on. The believers’ worship is to be
reserved for God.
Ø Adulterers
–is the Greek word ‘moichao’ and describes those who have unlawful intercourse
with another man’s wife. In the Old
Testament, it was punishable by death so God must not look favorably on it. It corrupts the participants and their
families and defiles the God-established relationship between husband and wife.
Ø Homosexuals
and Sodomites – various translations show different wording. Some use the word effeminate, some use
abusers of self, male prostitutes. The first Greek word used is ‘malakoi’ which
often referred to a catamite which was a young male companion of an older
male. They were usually the passive
partner in sexual relations. The other
Greek word is ‘arsenokoites’ which refers to one who lies with a male as with a
female, sodomite, homosexual. Everyone
is familiar with Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament and many references in
the New Testament. God destroyed these
two cities because their sin was exceedingly grave (Gen 18:20) The latest Supreme Court decision on same-sex
marriage is simply an indication that the majority of mankind has no fear of
God and Romans 1 has come true. Whoever
heard of the term gender neutral until recently. The Word of God is very clear and condemns
homosexuality throughout. Those who
would have believers to be silent on this issue do not realize the dangerous
ground that they are standing on; God
will not be mocked and you reap what you sow.
Ø Thieves
– the Greek word is ‘kleptes’ from which we get the term kleptomaniac. No hidden meaning is to be found here. Stealing stems from the sin of greed. We want more than we have and will do almost
anything to get it. The news today is
replete with thieves in action, from cigarettes and beer to millions and even
billions of dollars. We are living in an
entitlement society and if you or the government won’t give me what I
‘deserve’, then I will take it. Don’t I
have my rights!
Ø Covetous
– the Greek word is ‘pleonektes’ and describes one who is eager to have more,
especially what belongs to others. This
is very close to thievery but perhaps the coveter doesn’t have the courage to
actually steal, they simply want and this often becomes an obsession that does
eventually stir them to action which then becomes thievery.
Ø Drunkards
– the Greek word is ‘methusos’. Again,
this is very straight-forward. It
describes one who is intoxicated and not in control of their actions. We are commanded in Eph 5:18 to not be
drunk. The horror stories from past and
present alcoholics confirm how damaging this type of behavior is. Much mental and physical damage has been
inflicted by those under the influence and many deaths are attributed to ‘demon
alchohol’.
Ø Revilers
– the Greek word is ‘loidoros’ and is used to describe those who destroy with their
tongues. Sort of like a 24-hour a day
political smear campaign. The book of
James describes the awfulness of reviling and we know that scripture teaches
that our tongues only reveal what is in our hearts. Damage done by the tongue can last a life-time.
Ø Extortioners
– the Greek word is ‘harpax’ and some translations use the term ‘swindlers’
which is probably more common today.
Scam artists, blackmailers, false advertisers, and embezzlers are just a
few of the types that would fit this category.
They usually steal indirectly so that their conscience can be seared
over and they can convince themselves that their behavior is just a ‘little’
bit shady.
Quite a list wouldn’t you say? I’m sure that most of us know people who
would fit into each category. However,
our greatest concern should be that we do not fit into any of them. By deceiving ourselves, we may be
participating and acting as one of these while condemning others in a different
category. We highly condemn drunkards
yet we cheat on our income tax. We see
red when homosexuals flaunt their behavior but we think our fornication,
‘shacking up’, or living together is perfectly acceptable. We tongue-lash other drivers nearly to the
point of road-rage (reviling), yet we neglect our family because of our
self-made idols such as gambling, fishing, hunting, golf, or fill in the blank
(idolatry) I’ll let you come up with
some other examples. Just don’t look too
closely at my behavior.
The only hope for unbelievers caught up in any of these is
a changed life brought about by responding to the call of God who is wooing you
to repent and be saved. For believers, a
new life is not needed, but repentance is. Some verses on repentance are:
Rom 2:4-5 Or do you presume on the riches of
his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is
meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent
heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's
righteous judgment will be revealed.
2
Cor 7:10 For godly grief produces a
repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief
produces death.
Repentance simply means
a change of mind and direction. We must
turn from our sinful behavior and turn to our Savior.
The good news and encouragement is found in verse 11 which
needs very little explanation. ‘And such
were some of you. But you were
washed……….’ Here, Paul is speaking to
the believers and I am sure that he knew many of them when they were walking
down the sinful paths either as unbelievers or believers who had stumbled. In any event, he is now focusing on their
current condition which is one of sanctification and justification. Their sins have been forgiven and they are
marching down the path to Christ-likeness.
This path is different for each of us.
Some seem to run a four-minute mile when it comes to spiritual maturity
while the rest of us seem to be crawling like infants. Regardless, each of us will make the run
successful. Jesus Christ will lose none
that the Father has given him. No one
can pluck us out of the Father’s hand or the Son’s hand. (See John 10:28-29).
To wrap this up, I would like to quote again from John
MacArthur’s commentary. He can say
things so much better than I. “The
Corinthian believers had experienced transformation in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
God’s name represents His will, His power, and His work. Because of Jesus’ willing submission to the
Father’s will, His death on the cross in our behalf, and His resurrection from
the dead, He has provided our washing, our sanctification, and our
justification. A transformed life should
produce transformed living. Paul is
saying very strongly that it was unacceptable that some believers were behaving
like those outside the kingdom. They
were acting like their former selves.
They were not saved for that,
but from that.”
