1 Corinthians 6:11,12 - What some of you once were

6:11

Now we get the words of hope, “and such were some of you”. We were washed, justified, sanctified by Christ and the Spirit. The cross and resurrection justify us completely, make us completely acceptable to God, and the Spirit cleanses us, He starts a work within us to change our nature, to make us ever more Christlike. This applies to any human being, no matter what we may have been guilty of. There are those who say clear Biblical teaching denigrates LGBT people, and there may be some who, claiming the name of Christ, do denigrate LGBT people, but nothing could be further from the truth. What the gospel says is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all can be saved through faith in Christ. So to the LGBT person the gospel most certainly does say that your behaviour is sinful, just as it does to all of us, but it also says that you were created in the image of God, that God considered you so valuable that it was worth Him sending His Son to die for you, and that if you will repent and believe then you will receive eternal life, just as can anyone else who repents and believes. The gospel is completely inclusive!

6:12

Corinth was infamous for its sexual immorality, and this was in a time when the rest of Greece and the Roman Empire were not exactly paragons of virtue. Paul now turns to these matters. “All things are lawful for me” says the ESV, NIV has “I have the right to do anything”, which perhaps captures the attitude more effectively. Man in rebellion against God thinks about himself and his rights. When we come to Christ all this should change, but the old self hangs around for a while! We are still influenced by worldly thinking more than we care to admit. We have been set free from the Law by the cross, but then our old self seeks to use this as an excuse to do what we like. This is completely wrong thinking. For one, if we sin we still becomes slaves to sin. Part of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control, if we give in to sin we lose control. So that is reason enough not to indulge in anything wrong.