What does it mean that a person will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)?

If one called a Christian acts fraudulently, serious questions are raised in view of the fact that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The first question we ask is — Is he a true Christian after all? God alone knows. We stand in doubt of him. A true believer may fall into any of the terrible evils enumerated in verses 9 and 10, but he is not characterized by any of them, and through repentance he is eventually restored. Those characterized by these things have no part in the kingdom of God, either here or hereafter. They are consequently clean outside the fellowship of the assembly of God.

Some of the Corinthians had been sinners of this type, but their conversion had involved three things — washing, sanctification, justification. Washing signifies that deep and fundamental work of moral renovation which is accomplished by the new birth. Sanctification is a setting apart for God, now to be for His use and pleasure. Justification is a clearance from every count that otherwise would lie against us; a judicial setting right, so that we stand in righteousness before God. All three are ours in the Name of the Lord Jesus — that is, in virtue of His sacrificial work; and by the Spirit of our God — that is, by His effective work in our hearts. We might have been inclined to connect the washing with the work of the Spirit exclusively, and the justification exclusively with the work of Christ. But it is not so stated here. The objective and the subjective go hand in hand.

Verse 9 is no doubt intended to cut two ways. First, the unrighteous to whose judgment they had been appealing would not even themselves inherit the kingdom of God, where authority is maintained in true righteousness. But secondly, let the Corinthians judge in themselves as to the way in which they by their actions were guilty of resembling the unrighteous. For as to the list of evil characters that follows, it is positively declared they shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Some of the Corinthians had themselves been so classified before conversion, but were now washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God. The washing here is riot evidently the cleansing by blood, though of course this was true of them too. But it is the washing by the Spirit, as in Titus 3:5, no doubt through the application of the water of the Word, and therefore having a moral effect in the soul. The sanctification too, being that of the Spirit, would speak of their being set apart not only positionally, but in practical, moral character, from a world of evil, and to the Lord. Justification too, though it is positional in its elementary character, putting the individual into a place of perfect righteousness before God, is yet here shown to have a practical character also attached to it by the fact of the indwelling of the Spirit of God. "In the name of the Lord Jesus" therefore is the positional side of the truth, but "by the Spirit of our God" is the side of the vital work done in the soul to give expression to this. There was no right reason therefore, that fullest expression should not be given to this.

What a wonderful mixture we have here of astonishing revelations, of a morality that is unchangeable whatever may be the divine supremacy of grace, and of ecclesiastical order and discipline! The assembly is united to Christ. When He shall judge the world and pronounce the doom of the angels, she will be associated with Him and take part in His judgment, for she has His Spirit and His mind. Nothing however that is unrighteous shall enter into that kingdom, for in effect how could evil be judged by any that took pleasure in it? Christians should not go to a worldly tribunal for justice, but have recourse to the arbitration of the brethren — a service which, as entering so little into christian spirituality, was suited to the weakest among them. Moreover the proper thing was rather to suffer the wrong. Be it as it might, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom.

If we were to question this, we should have to deny some of the plainest passages of Scripture. Taker Cor. 6:9-10, for example: what can be plainer? "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived," and this, mark, is addressed to professing Christians, "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers," and so on, "shall inherit the kingdom of God."

This is most plain and most weighty. It makes it quite plain that the gospel is not intended to be an allowance of sin, but salvation from it. Where really received, it brings a man out of the things it finds him in, and sets him in the way of holiness. As the apostle goes on here: "And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified," etc. And again, as in Titus 2:11-12, "the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared, … teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." The grace which saves makes holy.

Failure in faith and hope too, I must repeat, will soon be found to involve failure in love. "Ye do wrong and defraud, and this, brethren." All through from first to last, it was a direct dishonour to God, and a false testimony to their relationship to Him, if indeed they were born of God. His sense of their failure as Christians does not lessen his horror at the dishonesty or other wrong which provoked the law-suits. "Know ye not that unjust [men] shall not inherit God's kingdom? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers of themselves as women, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor rapacious, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit God's kingdom." (Vers. 9, 10.) It is clear that the apostle, without confining himself to the actual case, is exposing severely the habits so common at Corinth — corruption much more than violence. He is speaking for profit and for solemn warning as the Holy Ghost always does, if He touches sin at all. He is not beating the air, nor denouncing sins only found elsewhere. Fleshly and worldly licence would surely end, if unjudged, in revolting excesses. Tampering with a little evil is the straight road to more and worse, and in none so certainly as the professing Christian. To indulge in any evil is in works to deny Christ. The business of a Christian is to manifest Him. The Corinthian saints were in danger of slipping back into the vilest ways of human corruption.

"And these things were some of you." This would give Satan an advantage if they looked away from Christ. Old habits then resume their power, and evil communications corrupt good manners. Then he adds, "But ye were washed" [literally, "had yourselves washed"], "but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus [Christ] and by the Spirit of our God." (Ver. 11.) He reminds them of the gracious power of God in Christ on whom they believed by the action of His Spirit; and will not allow that this could be all in vain. In ἀπελούσασθε there may be an allusion to the administrative sign, as in Acts 22:16; but the connection here points rather to the reality signified. The sanctification is clearly the setting apart of the Christian to God which the Holy Spirit effects in conversion, rather than the practical holiness which He afterwards works to make good, the former being absolute as the latter is relative. This is shown conclusively by its preceding justification, which has here of course its regular sense, when the soul is not only born of God but stands acquitted of all charge before Him through the work of Christ, and is then sealed by the Spirit.

Verses 9, 10. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" Not only had they been unmindful of their own true dignity as saints; they seemed to have forgotten also the essential character of the kingdom of God, which they were called to inherit. They are again found in dangerous company. Judged by the allowed practice of some among them, they seemed rather to belong to those who have no part in God's kingdom than to its true heirs. Rapacity and self-seeking are not fruits of the Spirit, but works of the flesh.5 The apostle spreads out therefore before their eyes this roll of carnal wickedness, that by a steady contemplation of it they may be enabled not only to note and put far from themselves such forms of evil as might yet remain unjudged, but also to feel more acutely their exceeding folly in seeking, as they had, to a world which carried on its front such marks as these for the arbitration of their own disputes.

(Vv. 9-11). The Apostle passes on to speak of the wrongs that provoked the law suits. He gives a solemn description of evil in its corruption, rather than its violence, which was rampant at Corinth, but which has no place in the kingdom of God. Having given this terrible list of the corruptions of the flesh, he says, “Such were some of you”. Wonderful grace that can take us up from the lowest place of degradation in the far country and associate us with Christ in the highest place of glory in the Father's house! Having lived in such conditions, these saints were in special danger of lapsing into old habits unless kept cleaving to Christ.

However sad the evils that needed to be dealt with, the Apostle can still say, “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified”. In saying they are washed, it is evident that the Apostle is not referring to the constant need of the application of the word to remove all the daily defilements that put us out of touch with Christ, and which is set forth in figure by feet-washing. He refers rather to the work of the Spirit in new birth, which is done once for all, and by which is imparted a new nature that shrinks from the filth of the flesh.

Sanctification carries us further, for, if by washing we are set apart from the filth of the flesh, by sanctification we are set apart to God. Other Scriptures, such as John 17:19 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23, speak of the progressive sanctification by which the believer becomes increasingly devoted to the interests of God. Here, however, it is the absolute setting apart of the believer, of which we read in Hebrews 10:10, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”. The stone, when once cut from the quarry, is set apart from it for ever, though afterwards it may be worked and carved to make it more fitted for the designer's purpose. By justification the soul has been cleared of all charge before God through the work of Christ. By the Holy Spirit these great truths are made good in our souls.

The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. He reminds them what some of them had been in their unconverted state. They had practiced the vile things of the flesh, which were so common in Corinth. And connected with this there is a warning. If the little leaven was allowed to work, if they continued in the evil ways they were following, they would surely relapse into their former state. But even more, the Apostle reminds them what the grace of God had done for them in saving them from such a life. They had been translated from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. "And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." The washing has nothing to do with baptism, as some claim. Through regeneration (called in Titus 3:5, "the washing of regeneration"), the believing sinner becomes clean every whit (John 13:10). Then he is also sanctified in Christ, set apart unto God. And the holy Spirit takes possession of the believer as His own temple. This is the meaning here of "Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." He is the seal.

This train of thought conducts us to another weighty proof drawn from the authoritative and conclusive page of inspiration, namely, 1 Corinthians 6:11. In the verses preceding, the apostle draws a fearful picture of fallen humanity, and he plainly tells the Corinthian saints that they had been just like that. "such were some of you." This is plain dealing. These are no flattering words — no daubing with untempered mortar — no keeping back the full truth as to nature's total and irretrievable ruin. "Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

What a striking contrast between the two sides of the apostle's "but!" On the one side, we have all the moral degradation of man's condition; and, on the other side, we have all the absolute perfectness of the believer's standing before God. This, truly, is a marvellous contrast; and be it remembered that the soul passes, in the twinkling of an eye, from one side to the other of this "but." "Such were some of you: but ye are," now, something quite different. The moment in which they received Paul's gospel, they were "washed, sanctified, and justified." They were fit for heaven; and had they not been so, it would have been a slur upon the divine workmanship.

Verse 11. "And such were some of you," etc. All were unrighteous naturally, though particular forms of sin are distinctive of particular sinners. This, therefore, is no partial retrospect, nor does he intimate that sinners of such stamp were naturally further from the kingdom of God than others. His desire is to make an appeal, both general and special, to the consciences of those to whom he writes. He had charged them with practical ungodliness when judging their ways; but on an assumption of the genuineness of their faith, he cannot rank them personally with the ungodly. He rebukes their evil sharply, but does not suffer his rebuke to contradict the Gospel of God's grace. The sins found among them might prove both the unaltered character of their flesh, and the weakness of their spiritual growth, but could not overthrow the work of Christ. What they were, they were by natural birth. What they are, they are by the power of an eternal redemption. That their practice should be carnal was their shame; and to make them more ashamed, he would again remind them of their unalterable blessedness as viewed of God in Christ. This is strikingly expressed in the remainder of the verse.