Paul
the apostle told the church members in Corinth, “there
is utterly a fault among you, because you go to law one with
another”,
and he asked, “Why do you not rather
take wrong? why do you not rather suffer
yourselves to be defrauded?”
He declared, “no, you do wrong, and
defraud, and that your brethren”,
and in chapter six and verse nine of First
Corinthians, Paul asked the church members in Corinth if they knew,
“the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God”
where we read:
Know
you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be
not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
The
verse begins, “Know
you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?”
Paul began
with the words, “Know you not”
which means
“do the church members not perceive, notice, discern, discover and
observe” “that the unrighteous”
which refers to “that those who are sinful and deceitfully violate
or has violated justice” “shall not
inherit”
which means “will not receive a lot, be an heir, become partaker of
and obtain” “the kingdom”
or “the royal power, kingship, dominion, rule and authority” “of
God” which
refers to the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God
the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Paul is very clear
when he states that people who are sinful and violate justice” will
not be “heirs” of God's “kingdom”.
The verse continues,
“... Be not deceived: neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind,...”
Paul added
the words, “be not deceived” which
is the Greek phrase “planaō mē
planaō”
and means “to not be caused to stray, led astray or lead aside from
the right way; to be lead away from the truth, lead into error and
sever from the truth”: “neither
fornicators” which
refers to “not ones who prostitute their bodies to another's lust
for hire or indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse”, “nor
idolaters”
or “not worshipers of false gods”, “nor
adulterers”
which means “not faithful toward God or ungodly”, “nor
effeminate”which
literally means “soft or soft to the touch” and metaphorically
means “a catamite, a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man
or a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness”, “nor
abusers of themselves with mankind”
which is all one Greek word “arsenokoitēs”
which
means
“one who lies with a male as with a female, a sodomite or
homosexual”. Paul did not want the church members in Corinth to be
“led astray from the right way and truth” because “fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, effeminate and abusers of themselves with
mankind”
shall not “inherit the kingdom of
God”.
When
we think through these words from Paul, we see his warning for the
church members not to “be deceived”
which means there is a possibility to be so. Rather than compromise
God's truth, Paul was straightforward in his words. “Fornicators,
idolaters, adulterers, effeminate and abusers of themselves with
mankind” will
not inherit God's kingdom. Jesus Christ came to save people from
their “sins”,
and none of these listed by Paul are unredeemable. Jesus said, “God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the
world through him might be saved” and He added “this is
the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every
one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved.” (John
3:17,19-20) Perhaps there were people within the Corinthian church
who used to be involved in these sins who continued to be tempted in
these areas. Whichever the case, the fact that God gives them warning
through Paul's word demonstrates God's desire for everyone to turn
from their “wicked ways” and “inherit”
His “kingdom”.
Next
time Paul adds to his list of those who “shall
not inherit the kingdom of God”
which includes, “thieves,
covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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