And Such Were Some of You

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."  I Corinthians 6:9-11

The early church at Corinth was a mess. Instead of growing in Christ and in unity of the faith, the congregation fell into many sinful and prideful practices.  The Apostle Paul penned a letter to the church, giving them a spiritual smack-down, calling them back to sound doctrine and Christian love and unity.  Paul didn't doubt that the congregation was comprised of true believers, having been justified by grace through faith in Christ alone. He was, however, rightly concerned about their lives of cheap grace, evidenced by their disregard for walking in a manner worthy of their calling to Jesus.  So he calls them out on their sins. It's hard not to read the list above and receive my own spiritual smack-down in several areas, but then Paul writes these beautiful words of encouragement:

"And such were some of you."

Paul reminds Christians that we have been washed of all our filthiness, we have been declared holy, our relationship with God has been made right, all because of the righteousness of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, the "bookends of the Christian life," as Jerry Bridges refers to them. We will continue to battle temptations to sin, they are literally all around and in us, but as we remind ourselves of the gospel, that we were bought with a price, that we are no longer our own possession (I Corinthian 6:20), we will yield to the power of the Holy Spirit to do his perfecting work in our lives for his glory.    

We simply can't go back to a life of cheap grace, if we truly understand the gospel.