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.
This verse begins with a conjunction, and. This means we need to connect it back to the previous verses to see what some of them were. To wit:
…neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Oh dear. Such were some of us. The problem is that in the Corinthian church, some still are! Paul seems to be incredulous that those who profess Christ could be involved in incestuous relationships and would sue each other in secular court. His list of besetting sins was besetting the church that he planted and, again, I cannot help but sense a bit of mockery in the beautiful articulation of the gospel. Again, I do not think Paul meant that.
We are washed in the blood of the Lamb that was slain. How could we sin intentionally? We are sanctified, growing in Christ. How can we go backward like this? We are justified by the cross. How can we mock the cross by grieving our Savior? We are all these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit he sent to convict us of these very things so we love Jesus more. We bear his name. Christians. Let us shed what we once were and grow in him!
Dear Lord, thank you for the washing, sanctification and justification by your grace. Help us bear the name of Jesus well. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church