1 Corinthians 6:8-10 “No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! (9) 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.”
On numerous occasions in the New Testament the Holy Spirit warns believers that certain saints will have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. The first time we are warned about this truth is in the above quoted passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. Sadly most in the church misunderstand this passage of scripture, because of which the Holy Spirit’s warning goes unheeded in the church. Some think that Paul was referring to unbelievers in this passage, while others think that Paul was warning Christians that practicing the sins he listed would cost them their salvation. Neither interpretation is correct however. And so we will examine both interpretations to show what Paul was really saying to the church in this passage. The first of the erroneous interpretations is that the apostle Paul is referring to unbelievers when he refers to the unrighteous, and on the surface that interpretation seems to be correct. However if we look a little more closely at what Paul is saying then we very quickly realise that Paul is not speaking about unbelievers at all, for if he was then his question posed to the church would be an insult to the intelligence of the Lord’s saints. For if the subject of Paul’s statement refers to unbelievers then we could substitute the word “unrighteous” with the word “unbeliever”, and Paul’s statement would then read, “do you not know that the unbelievers will not inherit the kingdom of God?” All believers know full well that unbelievers will not inherit the kingdom of God and that it is only believers that qualify, so what is the point of asking such a foolish question? And why would Paul tell the saints that they should not be deceived into thinking that unbelievers practicing fornication, etc, can inherit the kingdom of God? There are no saints that are deceived in thinking that unbelievers practicing idolatry, adultery, etc, will inherit the kingdom of God, so why warn the saints not to be deceived in this area? The answer is that Paul is not warning the saints about being deceived into thinking that unbelievers practising sin can inherit the kingdom of God, but rather he is warning the saints about being deceived into thinking that those practicing unrighteousness can inherit the kingdom of God. You say but what’s the difference? The difference is that the unrighteous that Paul is referring to in this passage are not unbelievers at all, but rather he is referring to saints that are walking in unrighteousness. And so we see that if we understand that Paul is referring to believers that are walking in unrighteousness, then it makes complete sense for him to ask us if we realise that saints that practice unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God. And it also then makes sense for him to warn believers that the saints that practice lifestyles of sin such us sodomy, stealing, being covetous, etc, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Another reason that we know that the Holy Spirit is referring to believers in this passage is because in the previous chapter He counsels believers not to fellowship with brothers in Christ who are practicing the same sins listed in this passage (1 Corinthians 5:11). And so we see that in this passage of scripture the apostle Paul is writing to believers when he warns them about the loss of their eternal inheritance because of a lifestyle of practising sin. This brings us to the second erroneous interpretation of this passage, which is that believers that commit the sins listed will lose their salvation because of which they will not inherit the kingdom of God. It is very important to note the terminology that the Holy Spirit uses in this passage however, for He does not say that these believers will lose their salvation but rather He says they will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul would never make the statement that those who commit these sins will lose their salvation because he knows that such a statement would be untrue, because no matter how grievous these sins are they are not the sin to death (1 John 5:16). And so because these saints have not committed the sin to death they remain in the kingdom of God even while practicing these sins. The reason the Holy Spirit specifically uses the term that they will not inherit the kingdom of God, is because it is their eternal inheritance and not their salvation that they will forfeit as a result of their sinful lifestyles. And so we see that when we correctly interpret this passage of scripture then the Holy Spirit’s warning becomes very clear to us i.e. believers who choose to practice a lifestyle of sin will forfeit their eternal inheritance on that day.
Michael E.B. Maher
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