I Corinthians 6:11

First Corinthians 6:11

In First Corinthians 6:11 the Bible says, "And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Christians are sinners who are saved by grace. In First Corinthians chapter 6 Paul had given a list of sins that would keep people out of the Kingdom of God. Since we have all sinned, we would all not be allowed in the Kingdom of God if it were based upon what we have earned or what we merit. But where sin abounded grace did much more abound. In speaking of the wonderful condition that a Christian is in because of Jesus, the Bible says in this verse that three things have happened to a Christian because of Jesus. A Christian has been washed, a Christian has been sanctified, and a Christian has been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

To say that someone has been washed is a symbolic term that speaks of the taking away of sin. A human being is tainted or disfigured, and in a spiritual sense is made dirty, by the sins that they have committed. The remedy is to be cleansed from the sins. As you go through life, you will find many answers from people about what is required to be cleansed from sin. According to this verse of the Bible, cleansing from sin is a result of a connection with the name of the Lord Jesus. The reason that this is true is because Jesus has the power to forgive sins. When Jesus was on the earth, He would commonly say to people, "Your sins be forgiven you." If you have the right connection to the name of Jesus because you have called upon Him and because you believe in Him, then you are washed.

The washing away of sin comes from having the right connection to the name of Jesus, and it also comes from the Spirit of God, according to the last part of First Corinthians 6:11. No one can have this connection with Jesus until the Spirit of God comes to them, and reveals to them their need of a Savior. This washing away of sin that comes in the name of Jesus is the spiritual birth that was spoken about by Jesus when He met with Nicodemus and Jesus said, "that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you that you must be born again."

If you are born again because you have turned from your sins and turned to Jesus and trusted in Him to forgive you, then you have been washed from your sins; and according to First Corinthians 6:11, you have also been sanctified. The word sanctified comes from the same word as the word holy and it means to be set aside without blemish for God. Something that is holy has no blemishes in it. It has no imperfections that would mar its purpose. The world only gives the name of saint to a few people that it thinks has accomplished something out of the ordinary in dedication or service. But the Bible calls everyone who believes in Jesus a saint. We are given by God sanctification, the status and rank of sainthood without earning it, based solely upon the name of Jesus and our personal connection with Jesus. Do you remember when Jesus said that except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees that we would not enter the Kingdom of God? This could be a great problem for us who are sinners. But God who is rich in mercy found a way so that sinners could be turned into saints. Those who were unholy by their own actions became holy by faith in God. The holy life that Jesus lived becomes credited to the account of those who believe in Him. That is exactly how only those who have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees will be permitted into the Kingdom of God. The believers in Jesus are allowed to enter the Kingdom of God, because instead of coming with their own righteousness, which is not good enough, they come with the righteousness of Christ because when they believed on Jesus, they were sanctified.

Through the name of Jesus and the Spirit of God we are washed, we are sanctified, and we are also justified. Justification is a term that refers to a courtroom proceeding and to the pronouncement of a judge at the end of a trial. In this situation the judge is God. The case has to do with how our lives were lived. A judgment must be made about each of our lives. If everything that you have done in your life was to be made open in this court of law, what would the evidence point to? Would the conclusion be that you are a sinner, or would the conclusion be that you are a righteous person without fault? Of course, we all know what the outcome would be because all have sinned and come short of the righteousness of God. The evidence would be clear and true. It would be stacked against us. There would be only one possible conclusion that the judge must come to: guilty, guilty, unjust, not justified.

But such is the miracle of forgiveness, that a believer in Jesus is justified. God looks at the evidence. It appears to be a clear case like all the others. Surely with all of the things that they have done, and with all of the evidence that is against them, we know what the judgment will be. But behold the amazing grace of God. God pronounces His judgment and He says, "I find in this person no fault at all." They are justified. How can this happen? It can happen because of the name of Jesus and because of the Spirit of God.

Do not ever forget that salvation is by the grace of God, and only by the grace of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." Because salvation is by the grace of God, it means that the keeping of the law is not the way to heaven. The law cannot make anyone righteous, because the demands of the law require that the entire law be obeyed without failure. The law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The difference between false religion and true religion is the difference between law and grace. You cannot know God by attempts to keep the law. If you attempt to get closer to God by how well you keep some list of rules or regulations or rituals, then you are connecting yourself with law instead of grace, and the Bible says, "by the keeping of the law shall no flesh be justified."

Those who have been saved by grace and who understand grace also understand that they are free from the law. That is why Paul said in First Corinthians 6:12, "All things are lawful unto me..." Because we are under grace, we are no longer under law. That is one of the reasons that Jesus said, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." When Christians forget this great truth, they start living according to the rules and regulations of law, and they become legalistic. That was the problem that the Galatians had, and that is why Paul wrote to them in Galatians 2:21 through Galatians 3:2 and said, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

There are people who do not understand the principle of grace, and therefore, their view of themselves is dependent upon their ability to keep the law or to keep a set of rules. That is legalism. Paul did not fall into this trap, and that is why he said, "all things are lawful unto me." But even though all things were lawful unto him, Paul’s primary purpose in life was not to exercise his freedom or to prove how great his freedom was. His primary purpose was to accomplish something, and in order to achieve his goals he had to be disciplined. One of the problems with our society is that too many people are out to have a good time, and their primary goal in life is to enjoy themselves. Paul said that there were certain things that were lawful for him, but that he would not do them because they were not expedient; that is, they did not help him accomplish what he was trying to accomplish. He said in First Corinthians 6:12, "all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

You have been put on the earth for a purpose, and you will only fulfill your place in life by fulfilling that purpose. You must be careful not to be sidetracked. You might be sidetracked by sin, but you might also be sidetracked by things that are perfectly lawful except they do not help accomplish God’s purpose for you. In First Corinthians 6:13 Paul mentions something that is lawful and something that is sinful and points out that both of them can be a detriment to you. The Bible says in First Corinthians. 6:13, "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body."

Of course, there is nothing wrong with eating food; but even the desire for food can be out of place. You must eat food in order to stay alive. It is the most basic human need of all. But no matter how secure your situation is in life so that you may never have to fear going without a meal, you are still going to die one day. So serving the Lord is more important than food or any other human need. The sexual drive is a basic human need, but that also can be misused to your own detriment. If you want to be a spiritual person, one of the great challenges that you will have, will be to keep your physical desires under control. There is a proper place for the fulfillment of the physical needs that God has given to you, but there is also the danger that these physical desires can destroy you. We will see in chapter 7 that Paul will point out that one of the reasons for marriage is so that human sexuality can be properly exercised.

Our own bodies and our own normal desires whether for food or for sex or something else can be our worst enemy. In this life sometimes we must struggle and fight against these desires. Always we must pray that God lead us out of temptation, and too often we must pray “Lord, forgive me." Think of the marriages that have been destroyed, the careers that have been ruined, and even the lives that have been lost because people could not control their own desires. But thanks be to God. There is a final and ultimate answer to this ageless problem. There is a solution that God Himself will give. We are reminded of it in First Corinthians 6:14. It says, "And God has both raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by His own power." When the Lord gives us a resurrected body, we will sin no more. We will have a body that will not get sick and will not grow old and will have no physical desires to tempt us.

But as long as we are in this life we will be tempted. The Christians in Corinth were tempted. They were tempted to partake in prostitution not only because of their own physical desires, but also because it was so common in ancient Greece. One way to turn away from temptation is to think things through and to understand what is really going on. Many sins that you are tempted to do are total foolishness, and common sense will give you some ammunition to use against the temptation.

Several reasons are given in the rest of First Corinthians chapter 6 as to why a Christian should not commit the sexual sin of fornication. First Corinthians 6:15-17 says, "Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. What? Know you not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? For two, says he, shall be one flesh. But that which is joined to the Lord is one Spirit."

In a spiritual sense the body of Christ on the earth is made up of all the true believers. If you are a believer, you are a part of the body of Christ. If you commit fornication with a prostitute, then you are taking part of the body of Christ and joining it to that prostitute. One of the reasons that God designed sex the way that He did is because it is meant to be symbolic of the joining of two into one. Marriage is meant to be a union and a partnership. Marriage is meant to be a change from two people going their separate ways, to two people who are now joined as one. And this intimate joining where two shall become one flesh is only for marriage.

If it is not enough for you to realize and think about the true purpose of sex which is for marriage and only for marriage. If you cannot reason it out, and thereby keep yourself under control, then the Bible has another piece of advice for you. It says in First Corinthians 6:18, "Flee fornication." If you have to, then turn around and run away from it as fast as you can go. That is what Joseph did when he was a servant in Potipher’s household, and the wife of Potipher tried to seduce him. One of the ways to avoid temptation is to go away from the place of temptation.

There are many lies being told by the philosophy of the world. One of the lies is that sex outside of marriage is ok and not only that it is ok, but that it is something to seek after. The truth is that sex outside of marriage is very dangerous and very destructive. Sex outside of marriage will easily destroy you and those whom you care about. The rest of First Corinthians 6:18 says, "Every sin that a man does is outside the body; but he that commits fornication sins against his own body." If everyone had sex only in marriage, there would be no sexually transmitted diseases. There would be no gonorrhea, no syphilis, no herpes, and no aides. Many people have caused destruction to their bodies because of fornication. If everyone had sex only in marriage, there would be no need for abortions and no children born out of wedlock. There would be very few single parents, and there would be a lot fewer divorces. When you have sex with someone, you do more than join your body with them. There are emotional and psychological forces at work that are very powerful. Sex outside of marriage is a cancerous force that destroys the family unit, harms individuals, and does untold damage to society. It is no wonder that Paul said, "Flee fornication."

___________________________________________________