As promised, we continue our study of what is called in theological circles "Lordship salvation." Having investigated Paul's letter to the Romans, we now proceed to survey the rest of his corpus.
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul is still addressing some of the sin issues found in the Corinthian congregation that he began in chapter 5. There, Paul rebukes the church for their boasting in a 'brother' who had been having sex with his mother-in-law, something which even the unbelieving "outsiders" were ashamed of. People guilty of such arrogant & unrepentant sin were not to be associated with the church; thus Paul commands the congregation to "purge the evil person from among you" (5:13).
In chapter 6, Paul again expresses his shame over the fact that those who had been professing the name of Christ were acting more like the world than like Jesus. To ratchet up the seriousness of his discourse, Paul drops the bomb on anyone who thinks that they can go on living & looking like the world: "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" (6:9-10).
What I take from this is what the rest of the Bible (especially the NT) teaches, namely that those who claim to have been made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ will inevitably begin to become more & more righteous in their conduct. Or, as we have seen innumerable times, that the root will show fruit. A heart that has been made righteous will bear righteous fruit. A heart that has not been regenerated will not bear righteous fruit.
Since I can already hear the accusation of legalism or works' righteousness being leveled against me, let me make it clear that Paul says that people who are characterized or identified by a life of sexual immorality, etc. are the ones who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. In other words, it is not merely those who do the odd unrighteous act that are refused salvation; rather it is those who are unrighteous.
I know of true lovers of Christ who hate sin who have fallen prey to some or all of the sins listed in the passage above. However, rather than living in the sin, and perhaps even boasting of it (as the man of ch. 5 did), those who are truly born again will repent of it. Is this not what Paul implicitly says in the next verse? "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." (emphasis mine)
This is the exact same rationale for holy living that Paul uses in Romans 6, where he writes, "How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (vv. 2-4, emphasis mine) He continues his line of argument a few verses later: "We know that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin...So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (vv. 6-7, 11).
In verse 15 he continues his barrage against any form of easy believism that eliminates the notion that those who are believers will fight for holiness, rather than live in complacent unholiness: "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."
Again, Paul is relentless in his attack, as he concludes the chapter the way he started it: "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life" (vv. 22).
For those who have been truly regenerated from their wicked, sin-inclined, evil-deeds-addicted hearts, "sin will have no dominion over them" (Rom. 6:14). Those who show that they are still slaves to sin evidence that they still have a heart like Adam (see Romans 5). Those who claim to know Jesus as Savior, but do not have any desire to live for His glory reveal that they do not truly belong to Him nor have His Spirit residing in them (Rom. 8:9). Those who show no fight against sin or desire to obey God from the heart simply are not Christians (see Romans 7). In the language of 1 Corinthians 5, such people are not to be considered "brothers", and are not to be considered those who truly belong to Christ, since those who are His sheep will indeed hear His awful words of rebuke and quickly respond in contrition and repentance (the way David did in Psalm 51).
In the penultimate chapter of the book, Paul deals with questions & confusions regarding the resurrection. However, before he begins his discourse, he prefaces it with a reminder that those who are not living lives consistent with the gospel should have no confidence that they will be partakers of this glorious hope that is for true believers only. In 1 Cor. 15:1-2 we read, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you are standing, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to to the message I preached to you - unless you believed in vain" (my emphasis).
Again, we see a condition clause. Simply stated, those who do not hold fast to the message Paul preached should be given no confidence that they were saved. If there is no present salvation from present sins, then any claim that a person has been delivered from past sins is suspect at best, and blasphemous at worst. As this Scripture shows, salvation is not a mere isolated act in the past. Salvation is continuous: it is past, present, and future. It is not enough to say "I have been saved" (fancy theological terminology = "justification"). No, we must, with Paul, say that we are "being saved" (fancy theological terminology = "sanctification"). Those who have been justified will indeed by glorified (Rom. 8:30). However, it is only those who are being conformed increasingly into the image of Jesus Christ (8:29) who can boast of this promise. Those who have had salvation "worked in" must "work it out" (Phil. 2:12-13).
What is the message that Paul preached to the Corinthians? Jesus Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2) and Jesus Christ as Lord (2 Cor. 4:5). Those who receive Jesus must receive Him not only as Savior, but also "as Lord" (Col. 2:6, NET [ESV mistranslates the double accusative as "Jesus Christ the Lord"]). Anyone who has believed in a Jesus who is not Lord has, in the words of Paul, "believed in vain." This is scary stuff.
The reason why we have so many false believers in our modern evangelical context is because so many pulpits preach "another Jesus". Preachers should be aware that they will give an account for their ministries (see 1 Cor. 3 & 2 Cor. 5), for when they preach a message that tickles ears, they produce a whole bunch of people who call themselves sheep, but are nothing more than goats with sheep clothing & sheep vernacular. Instead of preaching Jesus as Lord, many preach Him as friend, cheerleader, genie, 'savior', encourager. In most pulpits, Jesus is not preached as the thrice holy God of Isaiah 6 (see John 12); no, He is preached as someone who loves us just the way we are. Though sentimental, this is absolutely not biblical! Jesus died to save us from our sin, not for our sin. Oh how wicked, blasphemous, and God-hating this false gospel is!
To get back on track (people no longer can read long posts in our soundbite age), I close with Paul's closing words of 1 Corinthians: "If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed!" (16:21, emphasis mine) Let us remember that Jesus Himself said that those who truly love Him are those who keep [present tense] His commandments (John 14:15, 21, 23). People who love - er, use - Jesus as their ticket to heaven but do not love Him as Lord of their life will be damned! As harsh as this sounds, it is what the inspired apostle says here. A half gospel produces a half Christian, which is no Christian at all.
As expected, Paul's theology of Lordship salvation is consistent in 1 Corinthians, just as we saw in every other book of the NT so far. Back to the sources, people, back to the sources!
In Christ Jesus the Lord,
Pastor Ryan Case
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