1 Coríntios 6

1 Coríntios 6

Stedman: What ties this section with that which has gone before is found in the word in Verse 8, "But you yourselves wrong (adikeo)," and the word adikos in Verse 9, "Do you not know that the unrighteous (adikos) will not inherit the kingdom of God?" Those are the same basic root words. What Paul is really saying is, "Look, when you are so aggressive in defense of your own rights that you take another brother to law before a secular court, you are wronging that brother. Even though you may be right in your cause, you are wronging your brother, and that wronging, that unjust action, gives rise to the question, 'Have you yourself ever been justified before God?'" That is what Paul is saying. To treat another unjustly makes one ask if you have ever been justified, and he says the unjustified, the unrighteous, the unregenerate cannot inherit the kingdom of God if they are committed to these things that he lists as a lifestyle. Now he surely does not mean that those who have been involved in these things cannot be saved, for he goes on to say, "such were some of you"; they have come out of it. But what he is saying, very clearly, is that these things cannot be continued as a lifestyle for Christians. Conversion makes a visible difference, and if it does not, there is room to question whether there has ever been a conversion. (The Wrong Way To Right Wrongs) Do you not know - This is a characteristic phrase used repeatedly by Paul to refer to things the believers should have known, things he had previously taught them, but which they apparently (because of their actions and attitudes) had forgotten or chosen to ignore. That the unrighteous (adikos, cf use in 1 Cor 6:1+) will not inherit (kleronomeo) the kingdom of God? - Paul uses this phrase Do you not know (repeatedly in this letter) to remind them what they should have known because they had been previously taught by him and then by Apollos, two of the greatest teachers in the history of the church! The Corinthians had been taught that those who practice unrighteousness will earn the wages of sin which is eternal death (Ro 6:23+). Of course believers still possess the fallen flesh (Ro 7:18+, cf Gal 5:17, 16+) and so we can and do still (sadly) commit these sins. However these sins do not characterize their (OUR) lives as an unbroken pattern. When these sins are one's lifestyle, morning to evening, 24/7, then this "rotten fruit" (cf Gal 5:19-21+, Mt 7:17-20+) demonstrates that the person is not a citizen of the Kingdom of God. True believers who do sin are miserable creatures to be around, hate their sin and continually seek to gain and walk in victory over sin by learning to jettison self-effort and relying wholly on the power of the Holy Spirit. In one of the most important passages in Scripture regarding how the believer is to experience victory over the sin that so easily entangles him, Paul wrote these powerful words... if you are (present tense - continually, habitually) living according to the flesh, you must die (NET, ESV, NLT, NIV = "YOU WILL DIE"); but if by the Spirit you are putting to death (present tense, active voice = continually, habitually killing sin and) the deeds of the body, you will live, 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.. (Romans 8:13, 14+) Ray Stedman offers an interesting illustration of the spiritual war involving the evil flesh and the Spirit of God - "At the close of World War II, a picture appeared in a magazine showing a soldier in conflict with a tank. I remember the picture vividly because it was in color and it showed a tremendously huge army tank bearing down on the tiny figure of the soldier, about to crush him. How frightened he was, as this massive tank was about to overwhelm him. The picture was designed to show the odds involved when a foot soldier with a rifle faced a tank. Then it showed what happened to that soldier's odds when the bazooka (a rocket launcher) was invented. It showed him standing with a bazooka in his hands. It was the same soldier, but he had a different weapon. The next picture showed the tank, shrunken in size, with the soldier at least equal in size, if not a little larger. This is what Paul is saying to us. WITHOUT THE POWER OF GOD released in our lives, we are like an infantry soldier in the presence of a tank. We cannot do a thing. It is too much for us. But, by trust in the power of the living God at work in us, we can rise up in the FACE OF TEMPTATION, and, armed with the BAZOOKA OF THE SPIRIT, we can say, "YES" to the Spirit and "NO" to the flesh -- and He will make it stick! We can turn and begin to live as God intended us to live." (Bolding added) (Note that the order is not by accident but is critical - First = "Yes" to the Spirit. Then = "No" to the flesh. Be careful not to reverse the order or you may find the "tank" runs you over!) Charles Hodge writes Paul "solemnly assures them that the unjust or rapacious or corrupt will not inherit the Kingdom of God." Phrase - Do you not know Gen. 44:15; Jdg. 15:11; 2 Sam. 2:26; 2 Sam. 3:38; 2 Chr. 13:5; 2 Chr. 32:13; Isa. 40:21; Isa. 40:28; Ezek. 17:12; Zech. 4:5; Zech. 4:13; Jn. 19:10; Rom. 6:3; Rom. 6:16; Rom. 7:1; Rom. 11:2; 1 Co. 3:16; 1 Co. 5:6; 1 Co. 6:2; 1 Co. 6:3; 1 Co. 6:9; 1 Co. 6:15; 1 Co. 6:16; 1 Co. 6:19; 1 Co. 9:13; 1 Co. 9:24; Jas. 4:4 We do not inherit the Kingdom of God by refraining from sin (WHICH OF COURSE WE ARE TO DO), but we prove that we are in the Kingdom of God and on our way to His Kingdom in Heaven by the godly lives that we live, lives only possible by grace and the Spirit, for as Paul reminded the Galatians "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal 3:3+) Kingdom of God - The OT taught again and again that the kingdom of God is a righteous kingdom (Ps 45:6,7), and Jesus affirmed it (Mt 6:33). In [1 Cor 4:20] the Kingdom of God is described as present, but in this verse and 1 Cor 15:50 it refers to the future Kingdom. The KINGDOM OF GOD is the spiritual sphere of salvation where God rules as king over all who belong to Him by faith (Mt 5:3, 10). All believers are in that spiritual kingdom, yet are waiting to enter into the full inheritance of it in the age to come. Do not be deceived (planao) neither fornicators (pornos), nor idolaters (eidololatres) , nor adulterers (moichos), nor effeminate (malakos - NIV = "male prostitutes"), nor homosexuals (arsenokoites) - Do not be deceived is a present imperative with a negative (see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) which means stop being deceived or do not allow yourself to begin to be deceived! The Corinthians were continually wronging and defrauding their brethren (1 Cor 6:8) and in so doing were in effect continually being deceived by Sin (note that deceived is passive voice indicating a power working on them from without) (see Hebrew 3:13+ and topic Deceitfulness of Sin) It would seem that there were some in the Corinthian assembly who have professed Christianity as a system of doctrine, but not as a rule of life. The apostle warns that this is a fatal mistake (cf Mt 7:21,22,23+). No one who continually allows themselves to indulge in sin (not speaking of perfection but of general direction, sinning without repentance) should presume that they are going to heaven (cf. Heb 10:26–27; 1 John 3:6–9).This passage proves that Paul and James are in basic agreement. Both affirm that genuine faith produces good works (cf. Ep 2:8-9, 10+), and that the absence of good works indicates the lack of faith (cf. Jas 2:14-26+). Stop being continually led astray by other's specious arguments and rationalizations to cover up sin as animal behavior or personal choice. One cannot wantonly sin (continually as one's lifestyle) and pretend to call themselves a "Christian", a new creature in Christ, for old things have passed away and new things have come (2 Co 5:17+). To put it succinctly and bluntly Profession is not necessarily possession (Titus 1:16+). John has some sobering words regarding living an unabated lifestyle of sin Everyone who practices sin also (present tense - continually) practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He (Jesus) appeared in order to take away sins (cf 2 Ti 1:10+, Titus 2:11-14+ = "to redeem us from every lawless deed,"); and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him (present tense - continually) sins; no one who (present tense - continually) sins has seen Him or knows Him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you (same verb as in 1 Cor 6:9 planao in present imperative with a negative); the one who (present tense - continually) practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who (present tense - continually) practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God (present tense - continually) practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God (BELOVED READ THAT LAST VERSE AGAIN - JOHN COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY CLEARER!). (1 John 3:4-9+) Comment - Be aware that some well known commentators teach that John is not describing unbelievers but believers who had made a profession of faith in Christ, and the then went the rest of their life living in sin, without evidence of either holiness or fruit (which is completely counter to the lives of those who have a holy power source within them, the Holy Spirit)! Do not be deceived by this dangerous teaching. If you made a profession of faith (say at a youth camp) and thereafter experienced no change whatsoever in your patterns of behavior (you continued living unabated in a worldly manner) Jesus gave a somber warning to all who continue to practice sin and think they will go to Heaven declaring in Mt 7:21-23+. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who (present tense - continually) does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ("DOING" GOD'S WILL DOES NOT SAVE US, BUT IT IS STRONG EVIDENCE WE ARE TRULY SAVED) 22 “MANY will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never (STRONG NEGATIVE, NEVER AT ANY TIME) knew you; DEPART (aorist imperative) FROM ME, YOU WHO (present tense - continually) PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ Be deceived (be misled, be led astray)(4105)(planao from plane which describes "a wandering" and gives us our English word "planet") means literally made to wander and so to go (active sense) or be led (passive sense as of sheep in Mt 18:12-13) astray. Note that in this passage planao is in the passive voice which indicates an outside force or influence (e.g., the unregenerate heart in unbelievers in this context aka Sin) is causing the deception that leads one down the wrong path. Scripture teaches us that various things or classes of people can deceive a person including the following… Signs, sorcery, pretenders coming in Jesus' name (Mt 24:4, 5, Mark 13:5, 6, Luke 21:8), False teachers (1 Jn 2:26, 3:7), False Christs and false prophets (Mt 24:11,24, see note on Jezebel the false prophetess Re 2:20-note), Not understanding the Scriptures or the power of God (Mt 22:29, Mark 12:24), One's own self (evil flesh) ("self deception" 1Co 6:9, 1Co 15:33, Gal 6:7, Titus 3:3-note, 1 John 1:8) One's heart (synonymous with evil flesh - Hebrews 3:10-note) Evil men and imposters (2Ti 3:13-note), The devil (Rev 12:9-note, Rev 20:3-note; Re 20:8-note;Re 20:10-note),Rev 20:3; 20:8; 20:10), Babylon (Revelation 18:23-note) The Antichrist's false prophet (Rev 13:14-note, Re 19:20-note)