1 Corinthians 6:9, commentary and pictures

The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, and no one should be deceived about that certainty. Those shut out are the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, the effeminate and those who abuse themselves with mankind, together with thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners. Covetous men are counted as idolaters, for covetousness is idolatry that bars a person from the kingdom. Doing wrong and defrauding brethren, especially when believers take their disputes before the unjust and unbelievers instead of before the saints, makes a person unrighteous under this warning. Yet those once guilty of these sins can be washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God, wholly changed in mind, character, temper and habits into children of God.

Those Excluded from Kingdom

The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, and no one is to be deceived about that outcome. Those who persist in the listed sins are shut out from the inheritance, while those who once lived that way can be washed, sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus and through the Spirit of God into a changed, reformed life. Doing wrong and defrauding fellow believers proves such unrighteousness and is incompatible with inheriting the kingdom.

The excluded are fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, the effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind, together with thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners. The terms for sexual sin cover sexual immorality generally, self-abuse, and same-sex acts, and impurity in these forms bars entry into the kingdom and leads to ruin unless the sinner turns to the path of life. Turning from a life of purity and holiness to corrupt and heathen practices brings this exclusion, and no one should be deceived about its consequence.

Covetous men are classed with idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, revilers and extortioners, and none of them will inherit the kingdom. Covetousness itself is idolatry that shuts a person out, so a covetous disposition allowed to take possession writes the name in heaven's records as an idolater. That fruit of selfishness opposes Christian beneficence, showing itself in neglect of duty and failure to use entrusted gifts to advance God's work, in determination to be rich regardless of God's claims rather than conversion to contentment with what one has, and even in diverting by pen or voice consecrated money raised for the Southern Field to other uses for which God holds men responsible.

Doing wrong and defrauding brethren makes a person unrighteous under this rule, especially when believers who have a matter against one another go to law before the unjust and unbelievers instead of before the saints. Such a course leans on the arm of the law and makes unbelievers a stay and support, doing what an honorable worldling would not do. Instead of cheating brethren and carrying disputes between brothers into unbelieving courts, believers should rather take wrong and suffer to be defrauded. Those in Battle Creek and every other place are to remember they work for eternity, obey the Word, bring its teachings into life-practice, speak the same thing with no divisions, and be perfectly joined in the same mind and judgment, since the saints will judge the world and angels and should be able to judge even the smallest matters of this life.

The same exclusion reaches those who indulge perverted appetite and destroy health by wrong eating and drinking, purchasing gratification of taste at the cost of fevered system, disease and death. Such self-murderers and gluttons will never enter the pearly gates of the golden city nor be exalted to the right hand of Jesus, whose life was constant self-denial and sacrifice, and funeral praise cannot carry them to heaven to a part in the better life and immortal inheritance, for a place is appointed for them among the unworthy. No liar can inherit the kingdom, so manufacturing falsehoods and misconstructions to exalt a man and make of none effect the testimonies will not pay but will ruin the soul and bring loss of eternal interest under the investigation of the judgment. Ambition and dishonest business that break God's law, such as charging exorbitant fees, also make a person unfit for the kingdom because he would carry the same practices into heaven, and work such as that of a real estate agent must be done according to God's plan; likewise those who remain untruthful, impure and unrighteous with evil natures undestroyed cannot enter heaven, and sin left undestroyed will destroy the sinner.

The warning is spoken to those who claim to be Christians, not to those making no profession of righteousness, and those who remain subjects of the enemy cannot be claimed as temples of God. It therefore requires making no concessions to the enemy, changing not one principle of truth received from God, holding no fellowship with those in league with evil angels, and never purchasing peace by compromise. God makes a difference between righteousness and sin, contrary to the teaching that wickedness, unbelief in God and the Bible, and living as one pleases do not bar anyone from heaven and that even the basest of men are there and highly exalted. That contradiction denies the divine origin of the Bible and tears away the foundation of hope and the light revealing the way to heaven, with lying spirits personating the apostles opposing what the apostles wrote at the dictation of the Holy Spirit when on earth.

Washed Sanctified Justified

Paul's warning that the unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom is immediately followed by hope, for some who once lived in those very sins were washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. The list that shuts men out — sexual sin, idolatry, theft, greed, drunkenness, reviling, extortion — once described them, yet they were wholly changed from their former sinful lives. This belongs to a call to reformation, showing that persistent sinners need not remain what they were.

The change comes through faith and the Holy Spirit in Jesus, received in His name. Truth remakes the mind, character, temper and habits, turning sinners into children of God. Devotion, piety and sanctification of the entire man come through Jesus Christ as righteousness, who puts a new first love in the heart.

Genuine sanctification is not merely professing and teaching the word while boasting to be sinless, rich and beyond temptation and falling. It is living in conformity to God's will with a sense of weakness, going to Jesus for light, grace and strength. It is seeking to become like Christ and to live by the principles of His holy law in entire dependence on God. Those truly sanctified do not claim to have reached highest perfection, but keep Christ's purity before the mind, grow day by day in divine likeness, and have assurance of one day beholding the glory of the kingdom.

That washed and sanctified life is kept only by constantly cultivating the love of God. Ardent love to God spreads outward in love to all men made in His image, shining out as a living, active love sanctified in Christ Jesus. It shows itself in active work to win back erring souls whom God still loves. Denying Jesus Christ as righteousness brings lack of devotion, piety and sanctification of the outer life.

Evil natures in themselves cannot inherit heaven, and those who remain untruthful, impure or unrighteous cannot enter it. Unless men make Christ their personal Saviour and become true, pure and holy, they cannot be admitted. Sin left undestroyed will destroy the sinner.

Call to Reformation Living

The verse belongs to a call to reformation in which those who have done wrong can be changed from their former sinful lives. It requires seeing oneself as one is and working to undo the harm of past influence. It requires stopping criticism and faultfinding and accusation and railing against brethren. It requires becoming kind and pure and unselfish, with a Christlike example and spiritual influence, in order to enter the narrow way through the gate into eternal life.

In disputes between brethren, believers must remember they are working for eternity and bring the teachings of God's Word into life-practice as spiritual food. They must speak the same thing, allow no divisions, and be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Since the saints will judge the world and will judge angels, they are able to judge even the smallest matters of this life, so when one believer has a matter against another it should be brought before the saints and before a wise man among them rather than taken to law before the unjust and unbelievers. Going to law with a brother before unbelievers is a fault and a shame, and doing wrong and defrauding brethren in this way makes a person unrighteous and shuts him out of the kingdom. It is better to take wrong and suffer to be defrauded, and this is first instruction to be followed in order to purge out malice and wickedness and to live with sincerity and truth.

Those in ministry and medical missionary work who lean on the arm of the law and make unbelievers their stay and support do what an honorable worldling would not do. Their course hinders the advancement of the cause and the warning message. Such unrighteous ones should be relieved of responsibilities in connection with the work of God.

The chapter is a lesson that ministers and medical missionaries should study. It calls the watchmen to wake up and give the warning message for this time. It means gospel ministers and medical missionaries need to be healed of the maladies of sin and unbelief, to refuse the teachings of the prince of darkness, and to have Satan cast out of the heart. All who come humbling their poor defective hearts before the Lord will receive help.

Those who remain subjects of the enemy cannot be claimed as temples of God. The warning is spoken to those who claim to be Christians, not to those who have made no profession of righteousness. Therefore there must be no concessions to the enemy, no changing of one principle of truth received from God, no fellowship with those in league with evil angels, and no purchasing of peace by compromise.

The warning is to be used to turn people from sexual impurity to the path of life, since such impurity bars entry into the kingdom and can lead to ruin. It calls those fully resolved to be rich regardless of God's claims upon them to be converted from covetousness to a life without covetousness and content with what they have, since they cannot afford to remain in that class. It calls dishonest workers, whose ambition and dishonest business breaks God's law such as charging exorbitant fees, to work according to God's plan, since a dishonest person is unfit for the kingdom because he would carry the same practices into heaven. It shows that manufacturing falsehoods and misconstructions to exalt a man and make of none effect the testimonies given will not pay but will ruin the soul and bring loss of eternal interest under the investigation of the judgment, since no liar can inherit the kingdom.