So @marks,
What do you make of the following?:
1Co 6:9, Know ye 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,
1Co 6:10, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11, And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Gal 5:19, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told youin time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
It would seem that there is a list of don'ts that if we do them, we will not inherit the Lord's kingdom!
Hi JBF,
Let's look.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
"Know ye 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, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
Is this a list of "do's" and "don'ts"? I don't see that here.
There is a list of people. Let's follow through with one example, fornicators. Don't be deceived, fornicators won't inherit the kingdom of God.
Some of you were fornicators.
But you are washed, sanctified, justified.
What does God say a little later in the chapter?
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
So what is being taught?
Fornicators won't inherit the kingdom. Some of us were fornicators. But now we aren't. So flee fornication.
It's not that someone who commits fornication won't inherit. That's the teaching of the Legalist, who claims that if we are truly saved we do not ever sin, and that ever sinning means we are not In Christ, which, by Scriptural definition, is not saved.
The criteria is not on the behavior, but on the person. Who they are.
Gal 5:19, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
This is how the flesh acts. And the flesh does not inherit the kingdom. We need to examine ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith. Many who think they are, are not.
So here's a question. How is it that you do not do those things? You not do them by instead walking in the Spirit.
Legalism: Monitoring your behavior and thoughts for those things that do not conform to the Law of Moses, to the lists in the New Testament, to the Sermon on the Mount. Learning everything that God commanded the Israelites to do, learning everything that defines God's will, learning all the lists of flesh-works to be avoided, and living life according to doing and not doing all that we think we're to do and not do.
Grace: Loving Jesus all the time, doing whatever is next to do in love for Him, and love for others.
Much love!