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. 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 (1 Corinthians 6:9–11, NKJV).
The power of the gospel was on full display in Corinth. To “live like a Corinthian” was synonymous with self-indulgent luxury and licentiousness. Paul’s vivid description of the sins there is representative of every place and any time. Far from casting aside these as “heinous sinners,” the gospel came to their ears changed their lives as “many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). Now, the apostle urged these converts not to be deceived by the allurements of their former lives (1 Cor. 6:9). They had been washed in the blood of the Lamb, sanctified for God’s work, and justified from sin’s guilt (1 Cor. 6:11). He warned them against returning to their former lives because doing so would forfeit their eternal inheritance (“the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God,” 1 Cor. 6:9; 2 Pet. 2:19-22). The gospel has the power to save you from your past sins (whatever they were). And, the gospel sets the path for you to walk that leads to the eternal kingdom (2 Pet. 1:10-11). “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:17).
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