You can almost imagine Paul’s jaw dropped low . . . his eyes stretched wide . . . as he glares unbelievingly (at least in his mind ) at those who will read his letter . . . and says, “Really!?!? Really!?!?” You, who are going to judge the world, . . . you, who are going to judge angels, . . . you can’t settle a dispute among yourselves? You need to sit before unbelievers to deal with lawsuits against each other? And that you’d even have lawsuits at all is unbelievable. Better that you suffered wrong . . . better that you be defrauded than take such disputes to the world for resolution. But, beyond that, that there should be a basis for a lawsuit does not compute . . . that a brother in the Lord would defraud another brother is inconceivable!

That’s the issue Paul deals with in the first part of the sixth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians. Unbelievable! Some among these saints persisted in living like sinners . . . defrauding their brothers . . . and it poured out into the world as they battled one another like the unsaved . . . and the name of Christ was shamed . . . the “new life” they proclaimed to possess looked a lot like the “old life.” Paul says, Stop it! That’s not who you are.

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.   (1Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)

“And such were some of you . . . ” Oh, the grace that flows from that short, but powerful, declaration!

Not because of our righteousness, were we wooed into the Family of Faith . . . not because we were better than anyone else, were we declared to be a holy and royal priesthood. No, “such were some of you” . . . sinners . . . far from God . . . at enmity with God. But no longer. That was then . . . we live in a very different now.

In the name of Jesus, those of faith have been washed by the blood of the Lamb and cleansed with truth of the Word . . . they have been set apart for holy purposes . . . they have been declared righteous and without fault . . . all through the active agency of the Spirit of God. They have had an encounter of the divine kind and it has changed everything. The old has passed away . . . the new is come (2Cor. 5:17). It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20).

Sometimes I think we Christians just need to get in touch with who we really are and, by His grace, and through the power of His Spirit, determine to walk in the light of that reality.

We are the people of God. God having started a work in us to conform us to the likeness of His Son. We should seek to walk in that likeness. Our conduct being above reproach, first and foremost, toward others in the household of God, and then, to those who are yet outside of Christ. We should forgive according to that likeness. Our tolerance for being wronged gauged against Jesus’ humiliation for our sake and not based on the letter of the law which defines “our rights.” Our desire for the kingdom fueled by that likeness, that the affairs of this world are considered, at best, secondary as we set our sights on another land.

“And such were some of you . . . ” Praise God for new life in Christ! By His grace, may we live out that life such that His Name is lifted up.

Really!!!!