I CORINTHIANS: HANDLING BELIEVERS’ PRACTICAL PROBLEMS

IV. God’s Response To General Immorality

(1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

I. Introduction

A. The people Paul discipled in Corinth lived in a city that was known for its immorality, alcoholism and worldly pursuits (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, “Introduction to the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: The City of Corinth,” p. 1619), so the formidable influence of the city’s culture on the Corinthian believers left Paul addressing “(a)berrant beliefs and practices of an astonishing variety” in his letters to them, Ibid.

B. However, in a vision Paul received from God as he ministered at Corinth in Acts 18:10b NIV, God told him, “I have many people in this city,” so Paul was to keep on ministering regardless of the trials he faced there.

C. This epistle is timely for us who face our own decadent culture today, so we view 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 on God’s response to general immorality, with relevant and rich application for us (as follows):

II. God’s Response To General Immorality, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

A. Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines “immoral” as “inconsistent with purity or good morals,” what can apply to sexual immorality, financial immorality, idolatrous immorality, etc.

B. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 thus provides God’s response to general immorality:

1. Since the believers at Corinth were acting “no differently” than generally immoral, unsaved people in the society of the city around them, Paul asked them if they did not know that the unrighteous would not inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Corinthians 6:9a; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 515.

2. To clarify this statement, Paul listed various immoral orientations and practices that were typical of people who would not inherit the Kingdom, 1 Cor. 6:9b-10 (citations from the U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 589):

a. “Fornicators” (KJV; “sexually immoral,” NIV, ESV), from the Greek word pornoi, sexually immoral people in general (Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 699-700; Moulton & Milligan, The Vocab. of the Grk. N. T., 1972, p. 529).

b. “Idolaters” (KJV, NIV, ESV) from the Greek term eidololatrai, “people who worship pagan idols,” Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 220; Theol. Dict. of the N. T., vol. II, p. 379-380.

c. “Adulterers” (KJV, NIV, ESV) from the term moichoi, people who are adulterers, Ibid., v. IV, p. 729-735.

d. The KJV word “effeminate” (“male prostitutes,” NIV; “men who practice homosexuality,” ESV) renders the Greek term malakoi, depicting “catamites,” those who function in the passive homosexual role. (The Analyt. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 256; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 489-490)

e. The KJV’s “abusers of themselves with mankind” (“homosexual offenders,” NIV; “men who practice homosexuality,” ESV) is from the Greek noun arsenokoitai, “pederasts,” those who function in the aggressive homosexual role. (Ibid., p. 109; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 1 Corinthians 6:9).

f. “Thieves” (KJV, NIV, ESV) is kleptai, people who are thieves, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 435.

g. “Covetous” (KJV; “greedy,” NIV, ESV) renders the word pleonektai, covetous, greedy, Ibid., p. 673.

h. “Drunkards” (KJV, NIV, ESV), methusoi, “drunkards,” is applicable to all substance abuse, Ibid., p. 500.

i. “Revilers” (KJV, ESV; “slanderers,” NIV) is from loidoroi, meaning verbally abusive folk, Ibid., p. 480.

j. “Extortioners” (KJV; “swindlers,” NIV, ESV) comes from harpages, meaning people who extort, swindle, Ibid., Moulton & Milligan, p. 79; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 52.

3. Paul observed that some of his readers had once been identified as such people, but they since had been washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 6:11. In this verse, the Greek verb ete, the second person plural imperfect of eimi, “to be,” Ibid., p. 189 with 118, “to be, exist,” is literally translated as follows: “And such some of you were being . . .,” so Paul’s readers had been saved from not only the sinful practices of the list of vices given above, but also from the sinful orientations that had produced those sins, be those sinful orientations LGBTQ+ or otherwise!

4. Paul thus implied that his saved readers should no longer function in such sinful deeds or orientations!

Lesson: General immorality, be it sexual, financial, idolatrous, etc., and that as to deeds or to orientations, is typical of those who are unsaved and will not inherit the Kingdom of God, so we believers who have been washed, sanctified and justified from such sinful orientations and their deeds should no longer function in them!

Application: (1) May we believers live morally upright lives in every realm and in every way to the glory of God. (2) If we have lapsed into sin in some way, may we confess it to God for His cleansing like 1 John 1:9 teaches.