July 15
________________________________________
THOSE WHO WON’T INHERIT GOD’S KINGDOM
And this to your brothers and sisters! 9 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 homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
-1 Corinthians 6:9-11
________________________________________
In this letter of Paul to the Corinthians, he enumerates those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. He specifically points out the unrighteous people who are the following:
• Sexually immoral- gotquestions.org defines this as “porneia” which is translated as “whoredom, fornication, idolatry. It means a surrendering of sexual purity and primarily used with pre-marital sexual relations. From this work, we get the English word “pornography”, stemming from the concept of “selling off.” It is the selling off of sexual purity and involves any type of sexual expression outside the boundaries of a biblically defined marriage relationship.
• Idolaters -Merriam Webster defines this word as the worship of a physical object as god or immoderate attachment or devotion to something or someone. Some synonyms would be: worship, adulation, deification, hero worship.
• Adulterers -for Christians, adultery is the sin of a married man having sexual relations with anyone other than his wife or a married woman having sexual relations with anyone other than her husband. James 4:4 specifically says that adultery to God is friendship with the world.
• Homosexuals- sexual relationship with same sex. Leviticus 18:22 prohibits this act.
• Thieves-getting something that isn’t yours, to satisfy your desire to have it.
• The greedy- Proverbs 1:19 says the greed takes away your life. It consumes you.
• Habitual drunks-Ephesians 5:18 says that habitual drinking leads to wickedness.
• Verbal abusers- Matthew 12:36-37 reminds us that we will be accountable for each word we utter. Verbal abusers will struggle with accounting for their wickedness.
• Swindlers-are dishonest and defrauders. They purposely do it to gain something for themselves.
________________________________________
REFLECTION
• Why do you think Paul enumerated to the Corinthians these sins?