Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 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.
11. but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified ] The past tense is employed in the original ‘ye were washed, sanctified, justified.’ The allusion is to baptism, where by a solemn profession the disciple entered into covenant with and so put on (see Gal 3:27) Christ. The meaning of ye were washed in the Greek is either ye washed these things from you, or ye washed yourselves clean from them, cf. Act 22:16. There has been much controversy as to the meaning of the words sanctified and justified here, as their position is inverted from the usual order in which they stand. It is best to take sanctified in the sense of dedicated to a holy life ( halowed, Wiclif), see note on ch. 1Co 1:2, and justified as referring to the actual moral righteousness of life which is brought about by union with Christ through the operation of the Spirit. See also Rom 1:17.
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God ] The name of Christ stands for His power, almost, we might say, for Himself. The original has ‘ in the Spirit’ not by the Spirit of our God. Therefore something more is probably conveyed than a mere instrumental agency, though the Greek is often used in this way (as in 1Co 6:2 of this very chapter). A comparison of this passage with others in which the indwelling of the Spirit is implied, as in 1Co 6:19 and Rom 8:11, teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the instrument of our sanctification and justification by virtue of our dwelling in Him and He in us, making Christ’s death to sin, and His life in righteousness an accomplished fact in our hearts and lives. See also St Joh 3:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And such – Such drunkards, lascivious, and covetous persons. This shows:
(1) The exceeding grace of God that could recover even such persons from sins so debasing and degrading.
(2) It shows that we are not to despair of reclaiming the most abandoned and wretched people.
(3) It is well for Christians to look back on what they once were. It will produce:
(a)Humility,
(b)Gratitude,
(c)A deep sense of the sovereign mercy of God,
(d)An earnest desire that others may be recovered and saved in like manner; compare Eph 2:1, Eph 2:2; Eph 5:8; Col 3:7; Tit 3:3, Tit 3:6 – The design of this is to remind them of what they were, and to show them that they were now under obligation to lead better lives – by all the mercy which God had shown in recovering them from sins so degrading, and from a condition so dreadful.
But ye are washed – Heb 10:22. Washing is an emblem of purifying. They had been made pure by the Spirit of God. They had been, indeed, baptized, and their baptism was an emblem of purifying, but the thing here particularly referred to is not baptism, but it is something that had been done by the Spirit of God, and must refer to his agency on the heart in cleansing them from these pollutions. Paul here uses three words, washed, sanctified, justified, to denote the various agencies of the Holy Spirit by which they had been recovered from sin. The first, that of washing, I understand of that work of the Spirit by which the process of purifying was commenced in the soul, and which was especially signified in baptism – the work of regeneration or conversion to God. By the agency of the Spirit the defilement of these pollutions had been washed away or removed – as filth is removed by ablution – The agency of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is elsewhere represented by washing, Tit 3:5, The washing of regeneration. compare Heb 10:22.
Ye are sanctified – This denotes the progressive and advancing process of purifying which succeeds regeneration in the Christian. Regeneration is the commencement of it – its close is the perfect purity of the Christian in heaven; see the note at Joh 17:17. It does not mean that they were perfect – for the reasoning of the apostle shows that this was far from being the case with the Corinthians; but that the work was advancing, and that they were in fact under a process of sanctification.
But ye are justified – Your sins are pardoned, and you are accepted as righteous, and will be treated as such on account of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ; see the note at Rom 1:17; note at Rom 3:25-26; note at Rom 4:3. The apostle does not say that this was last in the order of time, but simply says that this was done to them. People are justified when they believe, and when the work of sanctification commences in the soul.
In the name of the Lord Jesus – That is, by the Lord Jesus; by his authority, appointment, influence; see the note at Act 3:6. All this had been accomplished through the Lord Jesus; that is, in his name forgiveness of sins had been proclaimed to them Luk 24:47; and by his merits all these favors had been conferred on them.
And by the Spirit of our God – The Holy Spirit. All this had been accomplished by his agency on the heart – This verse brings in the whole subject of redemption, and states in a most emphatic manner the various stages by which a sinner is saved, and by this single passage, a man may obtain all the essential knowledge of the plan of salvation. All is condensed here in few words:
(1) He is by nature a miserable and polluted sinner – without merit, and without hope.
(2) He is renewed by the Holy Spirit, and washed by baptism.
(3) He is justified, pardoned, and accepted as righteous, through the merits of the Lord Jesus alone.
(4) He is made holy – becomes sanctified – and more and more like God, and fit for heaven.
(5) All this is done by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
(6) The obligation thence results that be should lead a holy life, and forsake sin in every form.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 6:11-12
And such were some of you, but ye are washed sanctified Justified.
The great contrast
Note–
I. The past state of the redeemed. And such were some of you.
1. They were void of moral rectitude. Their conscience was burdened with guilt.
2. They were subject to impure influences. Their affections were defiled. When conscience loses its authority there is nothing to prevent the soul becoming the slave of the most debasing influences.
3. They were slaves of wrong habits. Their deeds were evil. When both the conscience and affections are wrong, the deeds must be inconsistent with truth and righteousness.
4. They were incapable of spiritual enjoyment. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? The unrighteous have no capacity, taste, or fitness for it.
II. The present state of the redeemed But ye are washed, &c. Note–
1. The change.
(1) An initiatory act. But ye are washed. There is probably an allusion here to baptism, the emblem of moral cleansing. But as the water of baptism cannot wash away sin, the apostle evidently refers to the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart.
(2) A progressive development. But ye are sanctified. This does not imply faultless perfection, but consecration. Christian graces, like living plants, gradually mature.
3. A beautiful completion. But ye are justified. This act, though mentioned last, is generally considered the first. There are three great causes at work in mans justification.
(1) The merits of Christ. Being justified freely by His grace, &c.
(2) The faith of the believer. Man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
(3) The influence of the Holy Spirit. And by the Spirit of our God. Think of a man who, having fallen overboard, is carried away by the current. At last a rope is thrown towards him–he eagerly grasps it–and he is thereby rescued. We have here a combination of causes. The kind friend who threw the rope–the rope itself–and the mans own eager grasp. Thus the Saviours merits, the penitents faith, and the influence of the Spirit are necessary to secure the salvation of the soul.
2. The means. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Nothing but that has sufficient power to change the heart.
3. The agency. And by the Spirit of our God. It is He that gives effect to the word preached–moves the heart, destroys the yoke of sin, and creates the man a new creature in Christ Jesus. (J. H. Hughes.)
The power of the gospel in changing the hearts and lives of men
I. The gospel of Christ is abundantly sufficient for saving the greatest sinners.
1. The salvation of a sinner consists in his deliverance from the guilt and punishment of sin; and his recovery to the Divine image, i.e., his justification and his sanctification. Let either of these blessings be wanting, and his salvation would be unfinished. But in both these respects the gospel remedy is abundantly sufficient.
2. The instance in the text is to the point. Surely, if there could have been any sinners, whose case the gospel remedy would not reach, these Corinthians would have been the persons. If you require any more witnesses, look at many celebrated in the Scripture for their piety, and see what they had formerly been. What had the Ephesian converts been? (Eph 2:1; Eph 2:3; Eph 2:12.) What had Matthew, Onesimus, and St. Paul himself been? But for all these the gospel proved sufficient, for the thief upon the cross, for the jailer at Philippi, for thousands among the wicked Jews–for tens of thousands among the idolatrous Gentiles.
3. Let us then apply the truth–
(1) For correcting a common error respecting others. When we see a person notoriously evil, how apt are we to speak of him as being past recovery! But remember that the same grace, which was sufficient for the Corinthians, will be sufficient for him.
(2) For consolation and encouragement to convinced and humbled sinners. Are you filled with anxious fears for your safety? Well, suppose that your former state has been as bad as that of the Corinthians, yet He who saved them can save you. But while the truth speaks comfort to the penitent, it leaves the impenitent without excuse. Is the gospel sufficient for saving the greatest sinners? Then why do any of you continue in the practice of sin? Is it not plain that you love darkness rather than light; that you prefer slavery to freedom; that you will not come to Christ, that you may have life?
II. A mans religion is to be tried, not by what he was, but by what he is.
1. True religion makes a real change in a man. Would we then know whether a man be truly religious or not, we must inquire what is his present conduct.
2. Let this truth then correct a too general practice. When a man begins to take up a serious profession of religion, nothing is more common than to hear all the irregularities of his former life charged against him as proofs of his present hypocrisy.
3. But while we apply this truth for correcting our wrong judgment of others, let us also use it for forming a right judgment of ourselves. Are we still the servants of sin? Or have we been made free from sin? (E. Cooper, M. A.)
Triumphs of the gospel at Corinth
One of the most common and powerful objections against Christianity is that many who profess it are by no means affected with it; that such professors cannot therefore believe it, or if they do, it must be destitute of moral power. But the badness of the copy is no proof of the badness of the original; the baseness of the counterfeit coin is no proof of the baseness of the genuine. Let the religion of Jesus be compared with its own standards; let it be tried by its own rules. With the crimes of religious professors we have nothing to do but to deplore and avoid them. What Corinth was, we know. To this focus of all that is horrible St. Paul went, and he did not preach in vain. What these Corinthians had been, St. Paul tells us in the context: but now they were washed, &c.
I. The fearful state of unconverted men.
1. Nothing can be more clear than the doctrine of universal depravity; but this depravity exhibits itself under various aspects, and in various degrees. These Corinthians had been uncommonly vile. Nor they only. We know of the thief who was pardoned on the tree. This, indeed, is not uniformly the case. For in the characters of multitudes we see much that is pleasing, even the grace of God. There are many who are not far from the kingdom, and who yet appear never to reach it.
2. We ought to regard the depravity of man with deep sorrow and compassion, but not with despair. The very glory of the gospel is that it is a message of pardon and mercy to the guilty, the bankrupt, and the undone. But perhaps some of you may despair, not of the conversion of others, but of your own. Such should remember these Corinthians, and the apostle who converted them.
II. The renewed state of these Corinthians.
1. Ye are washed. Since sanctification and justification are mentioned directly afterwards, perhaps this refers to baptism.
2. Ye are sanctified, i.e., ye are more and more alienated from the world, and conformed to the image and the will of God.
3. Ye are justified, i.e., your sins are pardoned, and you are accepted as righteous before God, through faith in Christ.
III. The Divine method of sanctification and justification here exhibited. In the name of the Lord Jesus means–
1. Doing anything by the authority of Christ. Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name.
2. Doing anything for the honour of Christ: thus St. Paul says–Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, &c.
3. Receiving anything from the Father, through His dear Son: thus our Lord says Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, on account of My merits, He will give it you. The text, then, teaches us that the only method by which we can approach God, the only method by which God can display His grace and love to man, is through Christ. (G. Weight, M. A.)
Cleansed by the Spirit
There is a lonely little pool of water on the mountain side near Tarbet, Loch Lomond, called the Fairy Loch. If you look into it you will see a great many colours in the water, owing to the varied nature of the materials that form its bottom. There is a legend about it which says that the fairies used to dye things for the people round about, if a specimen of the colour wanted was left along with the cloth on the brink of the pool at sunset. One evening a shepherd left beside the Fairy Loch the fleece of a black sheep, and placed upon it a white woollen thread to show that he wished the fleece dyed white. This fairly puzzled the good folk. They could dye a white fleece any colour, but to make a black fleece white was impossible. In despair they threw all their colours into the loch, giving it its present strange look, and disappeared for ever. This may seem a foolish fable, but it has a wise moral. What the fairies could not do beside the Fairy Loch, the Spirit of God can do beside the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. He can make the blackest soul white. (Hugh Macmillan, D. D.)
The great change
A piece of canvas is of a trifling value. You can buy it for a few pennies. You would scarcely think it worth picking up if you saw it lying in the street. But an artist takes it and draws a few lines and figures on it, and then with his brush touches in certain colours, and the canvas is sold for a large sum. So Godtakes up a ruined, worthless human life which has no beauty, no attractiveness, but is repulsive, blotched, and stained by sin. Then the fingers of His love add touches of beauty, painting the Divine image upon it, and it becomes precious and glorious. (J. R. Miller.)
Moral transformations
There are marvellous transformations in the material as also in the moral world. Look in the material world. The full-fed maggot, that has rioted in filth till its tender skin seems ready to burst with repletion, when the appointed time arrives leaves the offensive matters it was ordained to assist in removing, and gets into some convenient hole or crevice; then its body contracts or shortens, and becomes egg-shaped, while the skin hardens, and turns brown and dry, so that, under this form, the creature appears more like a seed than a living animal; after some time passed in this inactive and equivocal form, during which wonderful changes have taken place within the seed-like shell, one end of the shell is burst off, and from the inside comes forth a buzzing fly, that drops its former filthy habits with its cast-off dress, and now, with a more refined taste, seeks only to lap the solid viands of our tables, or sip the liquid contents of our cups. Look again into the moral world. There you see a transformation as wonderful. The selfish debauchee, whose horrid taste has grubbed in every sort of immoral filth, and become habituated to the harsh, the cruel, and the dishonourable, has been brought into contact with the necessary spiritual conditions for a change, and behold from one stage to another he passes until at last his tastes are entirely altered, his existence is changed, and even he is able to soar in the light and purity of the world. Elsewhere, behold, the miser is transformed to the philanthropist, the coward into a hero. We watch the flys aerial circlings in the sunbeam, and remember with wonder its degraded origin. The preacher looks over his congregation, and he sees those who have become noble and virtuous, he is able to take heart for new work; for as he remembers in their presence the debased and the wicked who are yet to be transformed, he says, And such were some of you; but you are regenerated by the higher Power, and those others may be changed likewise. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. And such were some of you] It was not with the prospect of collecting saints that the apostles went about preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. None but sinners were to be found over the face of the earth; they preached that sinners might be converted unto God, made saints, and constituted into a Church; and this was the effect as well as the object of their preaching.
But ye are washed] Several suppose that the order in which the operations of the grace of God take place in the soul is here inverted; but I am of a very different mind. Every thing will appear here in its order, when we understand the terms used by the apostle.
Ye are washed, ; ye have been baptized into the Christian faith, and ye have promised in this baptism to put off all filthiness of the flesh and spirit: and the washing of your bodies is emblematical of the purification of your souls.
Ye are sanctified] ; from , privative, and , the earth; ye are separated from earthly things to be connected with spiritual. Ye are separated from time to be connected with eternity. Ye are separated from idols to be joined to the living God. Separation from common, earthly, or sinful uses, to be wholly employed in the service of the true God, is the ideal meaning of this word, both in the Old and New Testaments. It was in consequence of their being separated from the world that they became a Church of God. Ye were formerly workers of iniquity, and associated with workers of iniquity; but now ye are separated from them, and united together to work out your salvation with fear and trembling before God.
Ye are justified] . Ye have been brought into a state of favour with God; your sins having been blotted out through Christ Jesus, the Spirit of God witnessing the same to your conscience, and carrying on by his energy the great work of regeneration in your hearts. The process here is plain and simple:-
1. Paul and his brother apostles preached the Gospel at Corinth, and besought the people to turn from darkness to light-from idol vanities to the living God, and to believe in the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins.
2. The people who heard were convinced of the Divine truths delivered by the apostle, and flocked to baptism.
3. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and thus took upon them the public profession of the Gospel.
4. Being now baptized into the Christian faith, they were separated from idols and idolaters, and became incorporated with the Church of God.
5. As penitents, they were led to the Lord Jesus for justification, which they received through faith in his blood.
6. Being justified freely-having their sins forgiven through the redemption that is in Jesus, they received the Spirit of God to attest this glorious work of grace to their consciences; and thus became possessed of that principle of righteousness, that true leaven which was to leaven the whole lump, producing that universal holiness without which none can see the Lord.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the two last verses the apostle had pronounced a terrible sentence, especially to the Corinthians, who, having been heathens lately, had wallowed in a great deal of this guilt; he therefore here, that they might be humbled, and have low thoughts of themselves, and not be puffed up, (as he had before charged them), mindeth them, that some of them had been guilty of some of these enormous sins, some of them of one or some of them, and others of other of them. But, that they might not despair in their reflections upon that guilt, he tells them, they were washed, not only with the baptism of water, but with the baptism of the blood of Christ, and with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, born again of water and of the Spirit, Joh 3:5; yea, and not only washed, but sanctified, filled with new, spiritual habits, through the renewing of the Holy Ghost: having obtained a true righteousness, in which they might stand and appear before God, even the righteousness of Christ, reckoned unto them for righteousness; justified through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified through the Spirit of holiness. So that the washing, first mentioned in this verse, seemeth to be a generical term, comprehending both justification, remission of sin, and deliverance from the guilt of it; and also regeneration and sanctification, which is the proper effect of the Spirit of grace, creating in the soul new habits and dispositions, by which it is enabled and inclined, as to die unto sin, so to live unto God. This the apostle doth not say of them all, (for it is very probable there were in this church some hypocrites), but of some of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. ye are washedThe Greekmiddle voice expresses, “Ye have had yourselves washed.”This washing implies the admission to the benefits of Christ’ssalvation generally; of which the parts are; (1) Sanctification,or the setting apart from the world, and adoption into the Church: so”sanctified” is used 1Co 7:14;Joh 17:19. Compare 1Pe1:2, where it rather seems to mean the setting apart ofone as consecrated by the Spirit in the eternal purpose God.(2) Justification from condemnation through the righteousnessof God in Christ by faith (Ro1:17). So PARUS. Theorder of sanctification before justification shows thatit must be so taken, and not in the sense of progressivesanctification. “Washed” precedes both, and so must referto the Christian’s outward new birth of water, the sign of the inwardsetting apart to the Lord by the inspiration of the Spirit as theseed of new life (Joh 3:5;Eph 5:26; Tit 3:5;Heb 10:22). Paul (compare theChurch of England Baptismal Service), in charity, and faith in theideal of the Church, presumes that baptism realizes its originaldesign, and that those outwardly baptized inwardly enter into vitalcommunion with Christ (Ga 3:27).He presents the grand ideal which those alone realized in whom theinward and the outward baptism coalesced. At the same time herecognizes the fact that this in many cases does not hold good (1Co6:8-10), leaving it to God to decide who are the really “washed,”while he only decides on broad general principles.
in the name of . . . Jesus,and by the Spiritrather, “in the Spirit,” that is,by His in-dwelling. Both clauses belong to the three”washed,sanctified, justified.”
our GodThe “our”reminds the that amidst all his reproofs God is still the common Godof himself and them.
1Co6:12-20. REFUTATION OF THEANTINOMIAN DEFENSEOF FORNICATION AS IFIT WASLAWFUL BECAUSEMEATS ARESO.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And such were some of you,…. Not all, but some of them; and of these everyone was not guilty of all these crimes; but some had been guilty of one, and others of another; so that they had been all committed by one or another of them. The Corinthians were a people very much given to uncleanness and luxury, without measure i, which was the ruin of their state: and among these wicked people God had some chosen vessels of salvation; who are put in mind of their former state, partly for their present humiliation, when they considered what they once were, no better than others, but children of wrath, even as others; and partly to observe to them, and the more to illustrate and magnify the grace of God in their conversion, pardon, justification, and salvation; as also to point out to them the obligations that lay upon them to live otherwise now than they formerly did.
But ye are washed; which is not to be understood of external washing, of corporeal ablution, or of their being baptized in water; so they might be, and yet not be cleansed from their filthiness, either by original or actual transgressions; nor of the washing of regeneration, which more properly comes under the next head; but of their being washed from their sins by the blood of Christ, through the application of it to them, for the remission of them; which supposes them to have been polluted, as they were originally, being conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity; naturally, for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? and internally, in heart, mind, and conscience; also universally, both as to persons, and as to the powers and faculties of their souls, and members of their bodies; and that they could not wash and cleanse themselves by any ceremonial purifications, moral duties, or evangelical performances; but that this was a blessing of grace they enjoyed through the blood of Christ, by which they were washed from their sins, both in the sight of God, his justice being satisfied for them, they were all pardoned and done away, so as to be seen no more, and they appeared unblamable and irreprovable in his sight; and also in their own apprehensions, for being convinced of their pollution, and being directed to Christ for cleansing, the Spirit of God took his blood, and sprinkled it on their consciences, to the appeasement of them, the removal of sin from thence, and a non-remembrance of it.
But ye are sanctified; which designs not their sanctification by God the Father, which is no other than the eternal separation of them from himself, or his everlasting choice of them to eternal happiness; nor the sanctification of them, or the expiation of their sins by the blood of Christ, this is meant in the former clause; nor their sanctification in Christ, or the imputation of his holiness with his obedience and death for their justification, which is intended in the following one; but the sanctification of the Spirit, which lies in a principle of spiritual life infused into the soul, in a spiritual light in the understanding, in a flexion of the will to the will of God, both in grace and providence, in a settlement of the affections on divine objects, and in an implantation of every grace; which is a gradual work, as yet not perfect, but will be fulfilled in all in whom it is begun.
But ye are justified; not by the works of the law, but by the righteousness of Christ. Justified they were from all eternity, as soon as Christ became a surety for them; and so they were when he rose from the dead, who were justified as their head and surety, and they in him; but here it is to be understood of their being justified in the court of conscience, under the witnessings of the Spirit of God; who having convinced them of the insufficiency of their own righteousness, and having brought near the righteousness of Christ unto them, and wrought faith in them to lay hold on it, pronounced them justified persons in their own consciences; whence followed joy, peace, and comfort.
In the name of the Lord Jesus; which may refer, as the following clause, to all that is said before: by “the name of the Lord Jesus” may be meant he himself; and the sense be, that they were washed by his blood, sanctified by his Spirit, and justified by his righteousness; or it may intend the merit and efficacy of Christ’s blood, sacrifice, and righteousness; as that their sins were pardoned, and they cleansed from them through the merit of the blood of Christ shed for the remission of their sins; and that they were regenerated and sanctified through the efficacy of Christ’s resurrection from the dead; and were instilled by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ: or else the name of Christ may design his Gospel, through which they received the knowledge of God’s way of pardoning sinners, and justifying them, and the Spirit of God, as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification:
and by the Spirit of our God; who sprinkled the blood of Christ upon them, to the cleansing of them; who sanctified their hearts, and revealed the righteousness of Christ unto them for their justification, and pronounced the sentence of it upon them. It is to be observed, that all the three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, are here mentioned, as being jointly concerned in those acts of grace.
i Aelian. Hist. var. l. 1. c. 19.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And such were some of you ( ). A sharp homethrust. Literally, “And these things (, neuter plural) were ye (some of you).” The horror is shown by , but by Paul narrows the picture to some, not all. But that was in the past (, imperfect indicative) like Ro 6:17. Thank God the blood of Jesus does cleanse from such sins as these. But do not go back to them.
But ye were washed (). First aorist middle indicative, not passive, of . Either direct middle, ye washed yourselves, or indirect middle, as in Ac 22:16, ye washed your sins away (force of ). This was their own voluntary act in baptism which was the outward expression of the previous act of God in cleansing (, ye were sanctified or cleansed before the baptism) and justified (, ye were put right with God before the act of baptism). “These twin conceptions of the Christian state in its beginning appear commonly in the reverse order” (Findlay). The outward expression is usually mentioned before the inward change which precedes it. In this passage the Trinity appear as in the baptismal command in Mt 28:19.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Washed – sanctified – justified. According to fact the order would be justified, washed (baptism), sanctified; but as Ellicott justly remarks, “in this epistle this order is not set forth with any studied precision, since its main purpose is corrective.”
Ye were justified [] . Emphasizing the actual moral renewal, which is the true idea of justification. This is shown by the words “by the Spirit,” etc., for the Spirit is not concerned in mere forensic justification.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) And such were some of you. (Kai tauta tines ete) and these things some of you all were – by both nature and practice, they had once lived such a pattern of life.
2) But ye are washed. (alla hegiasthete) but ye were and are from such washed, cleansed.
3) But ye are sanctified. (alla hegiasthete) but ye were and are sanctified or made holy.
4) But ye are justified. (alla edikaiothete) but ye were and are justified or made righteous. Tho having much imperfection the Corinth brethren were still children of God, involved in much wrong.
5) In the name of the Lord Jesus. Their washing, sanctification, and justification were in the name or by the authority of Jesus Christ.
6) And by the Spirit of our God. By the instrument or agency of the regenerating power and act of the Holy Spirit the Corinth brethren had become saints, saved, children of God, Joh 3:1-11; Joh 6:63; 2Co 3:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. And such were ye. Some add a term of speciality: Such were some of you, as in Greek the word τινὲς is added; but I am rather of opinion that the Apostle speaks in a general way. I consider that term to be redundant, in accordance with the practice of the Greeks, who frequently make use of it for the sake of ornament, not by way of restriction. We must not, however, understand him as putting all in one bundle, so as to attribute all these vices to each of them, but he simply means to intimate, that no one is altogether free from these vices, until he has been renewed by the Spirit. For we must hold this, that man’s nature universally contains the seed of all evils, but that some vices prevail and discover themselves more in some than in others, according as the Lord brings out to view the depravity of the flesh by its fruits.
Thus Paul, in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, piles up many different kinds of vices and crimes, which flow from ignorance of God, and that ingratitude, of which he had shown all unbelievers to be guilty, (Rom 1:21) — not that every unbeliever is infected with all these vices, but that all are liable to them, and no one is exempt from them all. For he who is not an adulterer, sins in some other way. So also in the third chapter he brings forward as applicable to the sons of Adam universally those declarations —
their throat is an open sepulcher: their feet are swift to shed blood: their tongue is deceitful or poisonous, (Rom 3:13)
—
not that all are sanguinary and cruel, or that all are treacherous or revilers; but that, previously to our being formed anew by God, one is inclined to cruelty, another to treachery, another to impurity, another to deceit; so that there is no one in whom there does not exist some trace of the corruption common to all; and we are all of us, to a man, by an internal and secret affection of the mind, liable to all diseases, unless in so far as the Lord inwardly restrains them from breaking forth openly. (342) The simple meaning, therefore, is this, that prior to their being regenerated by grace, some of the Corinthians were covetous, others adulterers, others extortioners, others effeminate, others revilers, but now, being made free by Christ, they were such no longer.
The design of the Apostle, however, is to humble them, by calling to their remembrance their former condition; and, farther, to stir them up to acknowledge the grace of God towards them. For the greater the misery is acknowledged to be, from which we have escaped through the Lord’s kindness, so much the more does the magnitude of his grace shine forth. Now the commendation of grace is a fountain (343) of exhortations, because we ought to take diligent heed, that we may not make void the kindness of God, which ought to be so highly esteemed. It is as though he had said: “It is enough that God has drawn you out of that mire in which you were formerly sunk;” as Peter also says,
“
The time past is sufficient to have fulfilled the lusts of the Gentiles.” (1Pe 4:3.)
But ye are washed He makes use of three terms to express one and the same thing, that he may the more effectually deter them from rolling back into the condition from which they had escaped. Hence, though these three terms have the same general meaning, there is, nevertheless, great force in their very variety. For there is an implied contrast between washing and defilement — sanctification and pollution — justification and guilt. His meaning is, that having been once justified, they must not draw down upon themselves a new condemnation — that, having been sanctified, they must not pollute themselves anew — that, having been washed, they must not disgrace themselves with new defilements, but, on the contrary, aim at purity, persevere in true holiness, and abominate their former pollutions. And hence we infer what is the purpose for which God reconciles us to himself by the free pardon of our sins. While I have said that one thing is expressed by three terms, I do not mean that there is no difference whatever in their import, for, properly speaking, God justifies us when he frees us from condemnation, by not imputing to us our sins; he cleanses us, when he blots out the remembrance of our sins. Thus these two terms differ only in this respect, that the one is simple, while the other is figurative; for the term washing is metaphorical, Christ’s blood being likened to water. On the other hand, he sanctifies by renewing our depraved nature by his Spirit. Thus sanctification is connected with regeneration. In this passage, however, the Apostle had simply in view to extol, with many commendations, the grace of God, which has delivered us from the bondage of sin, that we may learn from this how much it becomes us to hold in abhorrence everything that stirs up against us God’s anger and vengeance.
In the name of the Lord Jesus, etc With propriety and elegance he distinguishes between different offices. For the blood of Christ is the procuring cause of our cleansing: righteousness and sanctification come to us through his death and resurrection. But, as the cleansing effected by Christ, and the attainment of righteousness, are of no avail except to those who have been made partakers of those blessings by the influence of the Holy Spirit, it is with propriety that he makes mention of the Spirit in connection with Christ. Christ, then, is the source of all blessings to us from him we obtain all things; but Christ himself, with all his blessings, is communicated to us by the Spirit. For it is by faith that we receive Christ, and have his graces applied to us. The Author of faith is the Spirit.
(342) “ Suiets a toutes sortes de vices, sinon entant que le Seigneur les reprime au dedans, afin qu’ils ne sortent dehors, et vienent “a estre mis en effet;” — “Liable to all kinds of vices, unless in so far as the Lord inwardly restrains them, that they may not break forth outwardly, and come to be put in practice.”
(343) “ Vne fontnine abondante;” — “An abundant fountain.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Such were some of you.The Greek for such is in the neuter, and implies of such a description were some of you.
Ye are washed.Better, ye washed them off. referring to the fact that their baptism was a voluntary act (Act. 22:16). The words sanctified and justified as used here do not point to those definite stages in the Christian course to which they generally refer in theological language. The sanctification is here mentioned before the justification, which is not the actual sequence, and it must not therefore be taken as signifying a gradual progress in holiness. What the Apostle urges is, that as they washed themselves in the waters of baptism, so they, by the power of Christs name and the Holy Spirit, became holy and righteous, thus putting aside, washing off as it were, that impurity and that unrighteousness which once were theirs, and with which they could not enter into the kingdom.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Washed Greek middle voice, Ye have washed yourselves; that is, by regeneration internally, symbolized by baptism, externally.
Sanctified And, therefore, these sensualities are the opposite of your character.
Justified And so such practices must forfeit your justification, and exclude you from the kingdom of God.
This paragraph condemns, 1. All idea that the being once justified insures, in spite of relapse into vice, a secured inheritance of God’s glorified kingdom; and, 2. All Antinomianism; that is, the doctrine that a Christian’s professional holiness renders his sin and vice righteous and safe, so that he may transgress with impunity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 6:11. But ye are washed “You are not only baptized, but divine grace has made a happy change in your state and temper, and you are purified and renewed, as well as discharged from the condemnation to which you were justly obnoxious, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of him, whom we are now taught, through that common Saviour, to call with complacency our God.” See Heb 9:10-23 ch. 1Co 10:10; 1Co 10:18 compared.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 6:11 . How unworthy are such of your new Christian relations!
] of persons in a contemptuous sense: such trash, such a set . See Bernhardy, p. 281.
] more exact definition of the subject of , namely, that all are not meant. It is the well-known (Khner, II. p. 156). Comp Grotius. Valckenaer says well: “vocula dictum paulo durius emollit .” Billroth is wrong in holding (as Vorstius before him) that belong to each other, and are equivalent to . In that case would be required, or . See Ast, a [935] Plat. Legg. p. 71; Bornemann, a [936] Xen. Cyr. ii. 1. 2; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 832.
. . . [937] ] describes from step to step the new relations established by their reception of Christianity. First of all: ye washed yourselves clean , namely, by your immersion in the waters of baptism, from the moral defilement of the guilt of your sins (you obtained, through means of baptism, the forgiveness of your sins committed before you became Christians). Comp Act 22:16 ; Act 2:38 ; Eph 5:26 ; 1Pe 3:21 . Observe the use of the middle , arising from the conception of their self-destination for baptism. Comp , 1Co 10:2 . We must not take the middle here for the passive, as most expositors do, following the Vulgate (so Flatt, Pott, Billroth, Olshausen, Ewald), which in part arose as in the case of Olshausen from dogmatical preconceptions; neither is it to be understood, with Usteri ( Lehrbegriff , p. 230) and Rckert (comp Loesner, p. 278), of moral purification by laying aside everything sinful, of the putting off the old man (comp Rom 6:2 ff.), against which the same phrase in Act 22:16 , and the analogous one, , in Eph 5:26 , militate strongly. This moral regeneration exists in connection with baptism (Tit 3:5 ), but is not designated by ., although its subjective conditions, and , are presupposed in the latter expression. The producing of regeneration, which is by water and Spirit , is implied in the which follows: ye became (from being unholy, as ye were before baptism) holy , inasmuch, namely, as by receiving the (Act 2:38 ) ye were translated into that moral altitude and frame of life which is Christian and consecrated to God (Joh 3:5 ; Tit 3:5 ; Eph 5:25 , ). Rckert and Olshausen take it in the theocratic sense: “ye became set apart, numbered among the .” Comp Osiander, also Hofmann: “ incorporated in the holy church .” But the progression of thought here, which marks its advance towards a climax by the repetition of the , requires, not a threefold description of the transaction involved in baptism (Calvin, Hofmann), but three different characteristic points, dating their commencement from baptism, and forming, as regards their substance, the new moral condition of life from which those who have become Christians ought not again to fall back.
] ye were made righteous . This, however, cannot mean the imputative justification of Rom 3:21 (de Wette, Osiander, Hofmann, with older commentators); because, in the first place, this is already given in the ; and secondly, because the , if used in this sense, would have needed not to follow the , but to precede it, as in 1Co 1:30 ; for to suppose a descending climax (Calovius) is out of the question, if only on account of the ., which so manifestly indicates the beginning of the Christian state. What is meant, and that by way of contrast to the notion of which prevails in 1Co 6:9 f., is the actual moral righteousness of life, [943] which has been brought about as the result of the operation of the Spirit which began with baptism, so that now there is seen in the man the fulfilment of the moral demands or of the (Rom 8:4 ), and he himself, being dead unto sin, (Rom 6:7 ), and (Rom 6:18 ), whose instruments his members have now become in the of the spirit and life (Rom 6:13 ). This does not stand related to the in any sort of tautological sense, but is the effect and outcome of it, and in so far, certainly, is also the moral continuatio justificationis (comp Calovius), Rev 22:11 .
The thrice repeated lays a special emphasis upon each of the three points. Comp Xenophon, Anab. v. 8. 4; Aristophanes, Acharn. 402 ff.; 2Co 2:17 ; 2Co 7:11 ; Wyttenbach, a [946] Plat. Phaed. p. 142; Bornemann, a [947] Xen. Symp. iv. 53; Buttmann, neut. Gramm. p. 341 [E. T. 398].
] is by most expositors made to refer to all the three points. But since . . [948] does not accord with . (for the Spirit is only received after baptism, Act 2:38 ; Act 19:5-6 ; Tit 3:5-6 ; the case in Act 10:47 is exceptional ), it is better, with Rckert, to connect simply with ., which best harmonizes also with the significant importance of the as the crowning point of the whole transformation wrought in the Christian. The name of the Lord Jesus, i.e. what pronouncing the name “ ” (1Co 12:3 ) affirms, this, as the contents of the faith and confession, is that in which the becoming morally righteous had its causal basis ( ), and equally had it its ground in the Spirit of our God , since it was He who established it by His sanctifying agency; through that name its origin was subjectively conditioned, and through that Spirit it was objectively realized. Were we, with Hofmann, to bring into connection with the which follows, the latter would at once become limited and defined in a way with which the antitheses . . [949] would no longer in that case harmonize. For it is precisely in the absoluteness of the that these antitheses have their ethical correctness and significance, as being the moral limitation of that axiom, which therefore appears again absolutely in 1Co 10:23 .
Observe, further, how, notwithstanding of the defective condition of the church in point of fact, the aorists . and . have their warrant as acts of God , and in accordance with the ideal view of what is the specifically Christian condition, however imperfectly as yet this may have been realized, or whatever backsliding may have taken place. The ideal way of speaking, too, corresponds to the design of the apostle, who is seeking to make his readers feel the contradiction between their conduct and the character which as Christians they assumed at conversion; . . [950] , Chrysostom. And thereby he seeks morally to raise them.
[935] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[936] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[937] . . . .
[943] There is therefore no warrant for adducing this passage, as is done on the Roman Catholic side (even by Dllinger), in opposition to the distinction between justification and sanctification. Justification is comprised already in . Comp. Weiss, bibl. Theol. pp. 342, 345 ff. Its subjective basis, however, is one with that of sanctification, namely, faith.
[946] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[947] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[948] . . . .
[949] . . . .
[950] . . . .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 11. Such were some of you ] Oh, the infinite goodness of God, that would once look upon such walking dunghills, such monstrous miscreants!
But ye are washed ] In general; as in particular, 1. Ye are sanctified And that by the Spirit of our God. 2. Ye are justified And that in the name, or by the righteousness, of our Lord Jesus Christ. His blood cleanseth us from sins, both guiltiness and filthiness. It is like to those sovereign mundifying waters, which so wash off the corruption of the ulcer, that they cool the heat and stay the spread of the infection, and by degrees heal the same. See Trapp on “ Rom 11:26 “ See Trapp on “ Rev 19:8 “ God never pays our debts, but he gives us a stock of grace.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 .] ‘These things were the former state of some among you: but ye are now in a far different state.’ These things (I cannot think with Meyer that is used with an implication of contempt, such a horde , or rabble : it is rather ‘ of such a kind ,’ see Winer, Gr. 23.5) were some of you ( limits the which is the suppressed subject of ): but ye washed them off (viz. at your baptism. The 1 aor. mid. cannot by any possibility be passive in signification, as it is generally, for doctrinal reasons, here rendered. On the other hand the middle sense has no doctrinal import, regarding merely the fact of their having submitted themselves to Christian baptism. See ref. Acts), but (there is in the repetition of , the triumph of one who was under God the instrument of this mighty change) ye were sanctified (not in the dogmatic sense of progressive sanctification, but so that whereas before you were unholy, by the reception of the Holy Ghost you became dedicated to God and holy ), but ye were justified (by faith in Christ, you received the , Rom 1:17 ), in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and in the (working of the) Spirit of our God . These two last clauses must not be fancifully (as Meyer, al.) assigned amongst the preceding. They belong to all, as De Wette rightly maintains. The spiritual washing in baptism, the sanctification of the children of God, the justification of the believer, are all wrought in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and are each and all the work of the Spirit of our God.
By the again, he binds the Corinthians and himself together in the glorious blessings of the gospel-state, and mingles the oil of joy with the mourning which by his reproof he is reluctantly creating.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 6:11 . : “And these things you were, some (of you)”. The neuter is contemptuous “such abominations!” softens the aspersion; the majority of Cor [956] Christians had not been guilty of extreme vice. The stress lies on the tense of ; “you were ” a thing of the past, cf. Rom 6:19 , Eph 2:11 f. “But you washed yourselves! but you were sanctified; but you were justified!” thrice repeated, with joyful emphasis, as in 2Co 2:17 ; 2Co 7:11 . The first of the three vbs. is mid [957] , the other two pass [958] in voice. refers to baptism ( cf. Act 22:16 , Col 2:11 f., Eph 5:26 f., 1Pe 3:21 ; see 1Co 1:13 for its signal importance), in its spiritual meaning; the form of the vb [959] calls attention to the initiative of the Cor [960] in getting rid, at the call of God, of the filth of their old life; in baptism their penitent faith took deliberate and formal expression, with this effect. But behind their action in submitting to baptism, there was the action of God , operating to the effect described by the terms , . These twin conceptions of the Christian state in its beginning appear commonly in the reverse order (see 1Co 1:30 , Rom 6:19 , etc.): in Rom 5:6 . they are seen to be related as the resurrection and death of Christ, and in Rom 6 . to be figured respectively in the and which formed the two movements of baptism; see notes ad locc. , also Tit 3:5 ff. The order of the words does not justify Calovius, Lipsius, and Mr [961] , with Romanist interpreters, in finding here “the ethical continuatio justificationis ,” an explanation contrary to the uniform Pauline signification of ; the Ap. is thinking (in contrast with 1Co 6:9 f.) of the status attained by his readers as (1Co 1:2 , 1Co 3:17 , 1Co 6:1 ), behind which lay the fundamental fact of their . The qualifying prpl [962] phrases both belong to the three closely linked vbs. Baptism is received “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (quoted with formal solemnity: cf. note on 1Co 1:2 ): “in the Spirit of our God” it is validated and brings its appropriate blessings ( cf. Joh 3:5-8 : water is the formal, the Sp. the essential source of the new birth).
[956] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[957] middle voice.
[958] passive voice.
[959] verb
[960] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[961] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).
[962]rpl. prepositional.
. was the distinctive work of Jesus Christ (Mat 3:11 , etc.); to be ( , ) is the distinctive state of a Christian, including every element of the new life (1Co 6:19 , 1Co 2:12 , 1Co 3:16 , 2Co 1:21 f., Rom 5:5 ; Rom 8:2 ; Rom 8:9 , etc.). Sanctification esp. is grounded in the Holy Spirit; but He is an agent in justification too, for His witness to sonship implies the assurance of forgiveness (Rom 8:15 ff.). The name of our Lord Jesus Christ sums up the baptismal confession ( cf. Rom 10:8 ff.); the Spirit of our God constitutes the power by which that confession is inspired, and the regeneration effectuated which makes it good: the two factors are identified in 1Co 12:3 (see note). “Our God,” in emphatic distinction from the gods in whose service the Cor [963] had been defiled (see 1Co 8:4 ff., 2Co 4:4 , Eph 2:2 ; cf. Psa 99:9 ).
[963] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
such. Literally these things.
some. App-123.
washed. Greek. apolouo. App-136. Only here and Act 22:16. Compare Joh 13:10.
sanctified. Greek. hagiazo. See Joh 17:17.
justified. App-191.
Lord. App-98.
Jesus = Jesus Christ. App-98.
Spirit. App-101.
God. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] These things were the former state of some among you: but ye are now in a far different state. These things (I cannot think with Meyer that is used with an implication of contempt, such a horde, or rabble: it is rather of such a kind, see Winer, Gr. 23.5) were some of you ( limits the which is the suppressed subject of ): but ye washed them off (viz. at your baptism. The 1 aor. mid. cannot by any possibility be passive in signification, as it is generally, for doctrinal reasons, here rendered. On the other hand the middle sense has no doctrinal import, regarding merely the fact of their having submitted themselves to Christian baptism. See ref. Acts), but (there is in the repetition of , the triumph of one who was under God the instrument of this mighty change) ye were sanctified (not in the dogmatic sense of progressive sanctification, but so that whereas before you were unholy, by the reception of the Holy Ghost you became dedicated to God and holy), but ye were justified (by faith in Christ, you received the , Rom 1:17), in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and in the (working of the) Spirit of our God. These two last clauses must not be fancifully (as Meyer, al.) assigned amongst the preceding. They belong to all, as De Wette rightly maintains. The spiritual washing in baptism, the sanctification of the children of God, the justification of the believer, are all wrought in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and are each and all the work of the Spirit of our God.
By the again, he binds the Corinthians and himself together in the glorious blessings of the gospel-state, and mingles the oil of joy with the mourning which by his reproof he is reluctantly creating.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 6:11. , such) The Nominative neuter for the masculine; or the accusative with understood, as , Php 2:6 : Even the accusative as an adverb may be construed with the substantive verb to be.- , , , but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified) you have been set entirely free from fornication and sins of impurity, in regard to yourselves; from idolatry and impiety against God; from unrighteousness against your neighbour, and that too, in relation both to the guilt and dominion of sin: chap. 1Co 5:7; 1Co 5:10.-, you have been sanctified) a man is called holy in respect to God.-, ye have been justified) corresponds to, the unrighteous, 1Co 6:9. I was formerly unwilling to commit to paper, what emphasis the apostrophe in adds to this verb more than to the two preceding (comp. 2Co 7:11), lest some one should hiss me. Consider however the antithesis, the unrighteous. Without an apostrophe, is emphatic, but when has the apostrophe, the accent and emphasisfall upon the verb, (which stands in opposition to that fault, which is reproved at 1Co 6:7, etc.,) namely, on the word , ye are justified, because the discourse here is directed against [injustice] unrighteousness; and so in 2Co 7:11. [ is apostrophised before] , revenge, for this is a principal part of the zeal, previously spoken of, arising from holy sorrow; add Mar 2:17.- , in the name) From this name we have the forgiveness of sins.- , by the Spirit) From this Spirit, the new life.-, of our) For these reasons, he shows them, that there is now no longer any hinderance to their becoming heirs of the kingdom of God.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 6:11
1Co 6:11
And such were some of you:-The Corinthians were noted for their indulgence in all these crimes. Their idols were of the licentious order, and Corinth was noted for its profligacy and crimes. Many of these Christians had been guilty of them before they obeyed the gospel. [The threefold but in the clause which follows emphasizes strongly the contrast between their present state and their past, and the consequent demand which their changed condition makes upon them.]
but ye were washed,-They had through faith in Jesus Christ died to sin, had been buried with him in baptism, wherein they were also raised with him to walk in newness of life. [They had washed away their sin exactly as Paul was commanded to do. (Act 22:16). Their seeking baptism was their own act, and they entered the water as voluntary agents just as Paul did (cf. 2Ti 2:21), seeking the forgiveness promised in the gospel, fulfilling the divinely ordained condition, and they actually received the remission of their sins (Mar 16:15-16; Act 2:38).] but ye were sanctified,-They were set apart to a life of holiness. [The crisis, of which their baptism was the concrete embodiment, had marked their transition from the rule of self to the service of God.] but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, -As servants of Jesus Christ they were justified [having passed from the condition of guilty sinners to that of pardoned children of God.]
and in the Spirit of our God.-They were led by the Spirit of God which they had received.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
are washed were, and so throughout the verse.
justified Justification. Gal 2:16; Luk 18:14; Rom 3:28.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
such: 1Co 12:2, Rom 6:17-19, Eph 2:1-3, Eph 4:17-22, Eph 5:8, Col 3:5-7, Tit 3:3-6, 1Pe 4:2, 1Pe 4:3
but ye are washed: Psa 51:2, Psa 51:7, Pro 30:12, Isa 1:16, Jer 4:14, Eze 36:25, Joh 13:10, Act 22:16, Eph 5:26, Tit 3:5, Heb 10:22, 1Pe 3:21, Rev 1:5, Rev 7:14
but ye are sanctified: 1Co 1:2, 1Co 1:30, Act 26:18, Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23, 2Th 2:13, Heb 2:11, 1Pe 1:2, 1Pe 1:22
but ye are justified: Isa 45:25, Isa 53:11, Luk 18:14, Act 13:39, Rom 3:24, Rom 3:26-30, Rom 4:5, Rom 5:1, Rom 5:9, Rom 8:30, Rom 8:33, Gal 2:16, Gal 3:8, Gal 3:11, Gal 3:24, Tit 3:7, Jam 2:21-26
Reciprocal: Exo 19:10 – sanctify Lev 8:6 – washed Lev 11:40 – eateth Lev 14:48 – shall come in Lev 15:28 – General Lev 22:6 – General 2Ki 5:10 – wash 2Ch 4:6 – ten lavers Job 25:4 – how can Isa 29:24 – also Eze 16:9 – washed Dan 12:10 – shall be Zec 3:4 – and I will Zec 13:1 – a fountain Mat 20:4 – Go Mat 21:29 – he repented Luk 23:42 – Lord Joh 3:5 – and of Joh 5:4 – was made Joh 13:5 – to wash Joh 13:8 – If Joh 19:34 – came Act 20:32 – which are Rom 3:28 – General Rom 6:19 – for as ye 2Co 1:1 – all Eph 2:2 – in time Eph 2:11 – remember Eph 2:13 – are Eph 4:28 – him that Col 3:7 – General 1Th 4:3 – your Heb 10:10 – we Heb 13:12 – sanctify 1Jo 1:7 – and the 1Jo 1:9 – and to
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LIVING MIRACLES
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.
1Co 6:11
The Evangel preached by St. Paul works miracles. It acted in some measure on all ranks of society; it even saved the waifs and strays of heathen cities like Rome, Ephesus, and Corinth. Men sometimes ask for ethics, for morality to be preached. But such preaching has been tried and it has failed over and over again. It softens no hearts, saves no souls, transforms no lives. Our subject divides itself.
I. There is the former state of these people.They had been fornicators, adulterers, and such like. The very hand of the devil had been on them.
II. Now think of their present condition.
(a) But ye are washed. St. Paul did not say, But you atoned for your sins by repentance. St. Paul did not say, But you amended your lives. St. Paul did not say, But you reformed yourselves. St. Paul said, But ye are washed.
(b) But ye are sanctified. They had been set apart for the service of God. They had found the blessed lifethe Divine ideal of what life should be. They belonged to Christ. They were to occupy till He came. They themselves, talents, time, and money all belonged to Him. They were only stewards: all they had was only held on trust.
(c) But ye are justified. Justify means to pronounce just or righteous. We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings (Article XI).
III. How the change came about.In the name of the Lord Jesus. This name has not lost its wonder-working power. It can still work moral miracles. It can still transform and uplift human hearts and lives as in the far-off ages. Christ can touch the strings of the human heart, however hopeless that heart may seem to be, and when He touches the strings, sweet music is hearda new song of praise and gladness. And by the Spirit of our God. For it is He that convinces men of sin and unites them to Christ, and reveals His unsearchable riches.
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustrations
(1) If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me, so Christ says. O solemn words! which leave no alternative behind them; but shut up the soul into a dilemma. You may have great virtue, as the world calls virtue; you may have great honour, as the world calls honour; you may have great love, as the world calls love; but the question comes back upon us, simple, irresistible, aloneAre you washed? Has the blood of Christ ever yet been applied, by faith, to your poor soul? If not, it is all tinselall the rest is an empty showyou are not safe, you are not safe. Not for a moment. If you have any peace, it is false; if you have any hope, it is a lie. Not one grape of Eshcol may you eat; not one promise may you grasp; not one spot of Canaan can you call your own. You are not washed; you are not washed; therefore you have no part in Christ. No part in Christ? Then where is your part?
(2) One day an old violin was put up at a London auction mart, and the auctioneer could scarcely get a bid. But when it was going for a mere song, a stranger came in and asked to see it. He took it up and began to play. He touched the upper strings and every one was thrilled. He played in quickened time and they wanted to dance. He began on his favourite G string, Home, sweet Home, and they all sobbed. It was the Master of Musicians, the great Paganini himself, and the despised violin was knocked down for one hundred guineas.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THREE STEPS TO HEAVEN
St. Paul draws a very dark picture of the past of the Corinthian Christians. And such, he says, were some of you. Will conscience speak very wrong in saying, Such are some of you? In that black catalogue do you find your case, either in the letter of it or in the spirit of it? Were you not once, or are you not now, one of those ten classes? Does not the Spirit whisper that in one of those things Thou art the man! Be faithful to yourself; be faithful to God in answering that question.
It is of such materials that the Church on earth, and the Church in heaven, is made. A place for us all; hope for us all; mercy for us all; heaven for us all.
I. But the first thing of all is to get rid of the past.To separate that which was, and that which is to be. To cut off the sequence; to recast the life; to start another man. To this end, the first requirement is, to have the old all washed out; in some way obliterated. Like the stains, like the darkened colour of some old, defiled garment, they must be washed quite out.
II. We need more than this; we need to be positively holy.It will not be enough to be found without sins, we must be like God, if we are to live with God. He must see His own reflection in us. Now let us go on to see how this is done. We, being in Christ, the Holy Ghost comes and dwells in us. He has already come to you in the faith by which you receive the washing; but now He comes in all His holy, special, seven-fold offices. He comes to teach; to relieve; to comfort; to reprove; to purify; to heal, or, in one word, which includes all, He comes to sanctify, and make us holy. The Holy Ghost in the heart is a Real Living Being; not simply a spiritual person. He draws; He speaks; He restores; He leads; He teaches; He imparts good thoughts and holy desires; He actually prays in our souls; and He empowers us with everything, and assimilates us with God in heaven; while in harmony with the inworking of the Spirit, God makes all outer things to work together for the same end. The whole of life becomes a school of sanctification. Alike our sorrows and our joys, they have all the same end in view. They co-operate with the inner workings of the Divine Presence; some to humble us; some to cheer us; but all to help us to maintain the spirit of Christ. The imparted sanctification is the work of the Holy Ghost; the imputed sanctification is the holiness of Christ laid on, above all, and over all, hiding all deficiencies, and clothing the believer in a garment which covers the whole.
III. This leads to the third step, justified.Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. In the Bible, the word justified means a person is accounted righteous before God, though he is not really righteous in himself, but rather a poor, miserable sinner! If we were sanctified to the utmost point we can reach, we are not perfect; we are not good in the sight of a holy God. The whitest heart in this church is black by the side of the perfections of God. Therefore God provideth the remedy; now He hath made a way whereby He can be just, and yet our Justifier. God sees every believer, every real believer in Christ, covered with Christ. He imputes to that man the very beauty, the holiness of the whole life of Jesus. He, poor sinner, is as though he had lived Christs life, for he is one that is perfect and entire, wanting nothing. That is justification.
So we are first washed, then sanctified, then justified. Washed with the blood of the Son of God, sanctified by the Holy Ghost, justified by the Father.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Co 6:11. Some of the Corinthians had been guilty .of these evils, but the Gospel had shown them the way to be redeemed from such practices. Yet they were in constant danger of going back to them if they were not vigilant, hence the apostle is sending them this teaching contained in several of the verses. Washed, sanctified and justified all refer to the work of becoming a Christian, which was completed by having their bodies washed with pure water (Heb 10:22).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Here we have another argument, which our apostle uses to dissuade them from all gross wickedness in general, and from such unchristian behaviour one towards another, as he had before reproved in particular: namely, that great and mighty change which had been wrought upon several of them by means of their conversion to the Christian religion, or the faith of Christ; Such were some of you; but ye are now washed. As if the apostle had said, “You are no longer swine, but sheep, and therefore must not wallow in the mire of sin as you formerly did.”
Note here, 1. The black and filthy condition of a sinner, before conversion; the apostle had reckoned up the vilest and worst of sins that could be mentioned, and then says, Such were some of you. The original word is in the neuter, not in the masculine gender; not dtoi, such persons, but tanta, such sins; as emphatically demonstrating their wickedness, that they were not so much peccatores, sinners, as ipsa peccata, the very sins themselves.
Learn hence, That the converting grace of God is sometimes vouchsafed to the vilest and worst of men; and where it is vouchsafed, makes a very great and mighty change.
Note, 2. The particular expressions by which this change is represented: ye are washed, sacramentally washed in baptism; ye are sanctified, purified in your hearts and natures by the sanctifying influences of divine grace; ye are justified, that is, acquitted from guilt, and approved as righteous.
Note, 3. The means by which this change was wrought and effected; in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God. In the name of our Lord Jesus, that is, through the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit.
1. Here we have the defiling nature of sin supposed; all men by nature are polluted and defiled, and stand in need of washing.
2. Our Lord Jesus Christ will not disdain or refuse to justify by his blood, and sanctify by his Spirit, the greatest sinners, and the filthiest souls, that apply unto him, by faith, for pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace: Such were you, but ye are washed.
4. Though justification and sanctification are distinct and different in their nature, yet are they always inseparable in their subject: no person is justified but he that is sanctified: Christ justifies none by his blood, whom he doth not sanctify by his spirit. Though justification and sanctification are not the same thing, yet are they always found in the same person: by the former there is a relative change in our condition; by the latter, a real change in our conversation.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 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 Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul has been addressing the feeling of fear; he now appeals to the higher motive, that of Christian honour. He thus returns to the feeling which had dictated the first word of the passage, , has any one the courage? The vices he has just enumerated belong to a past from which a series of Divine facts have separated them for ever. These facts are, first, baptism, then the consecration and reconciliation to God of which baptism is the symbol. Such a fathomless depth of grace is not to be recrossed!
, and it is true.
There is in the verb , ye were, more than the recalling of polluting acts; the term identifies their person with the pollutions to which they gave themselves up.
But, by the , some, the apostle restricts the application of his saying, not only in the sense which Reuss ascribes to the words (one who was guilty of one of those vices, another of another), but so as to bring out that there was, after all, among them a goodly number of men who before their conversion had lived exempt from all those external pollutions. Billroth has made an attribute, and connected it as such with in the contemptuous sense, such a set of men! This would have needed , or (Meyer).
The following verbs denote the three acts which constituted the entrance of believers into their new state. They are joined together by the of gradation: but moreover (2Co 7:11); from which it does not follow that the order in which these acts are placed is necessarily one of chronological succession, it may equally be one of moral gradation. For the apostle’s intention is to bring out by each stroke, with more and more marked emphasis, the contrast between the former state of believers and the new state into which these acts had brought them.
All are at one in applying the first of the three verbs to baptism. In fact, outwardly speaking, it was the act which had transferred them from the state of heathens to that of Christians, from the condition of beings polluted and condemned to that of beings pardoned and purified. The Middle form of the verb , ye washed yourselves, expresses the freedom and spontaneity with which they had done the deed; comp. the , 1Co 10:2 (in the reading of the Vatic.); Edwards also compares Act 22:16.
The term bathe, wash, is explained by the two following terms. Baptism, when it is done in faith, is not a pure symbol; two purifying graces are connected with it, sanctification and justification. The verbs which express these two facts are in the passive; for they signify two Divine acts, of which the baptized are the subjects. The two verbs in the aorist can only refer both of them to a deed done once for all, and not to a continuous state. This is what prevents us from applying the term sanctify to the growing work of Christian sanctification. This word here can only designate the initial act whereby the believer passed from his previous state of corruption to that of holiness, that is to say, the believer’s consecration to God in consequence of the gift of the Spirit bestowed on him in baptism; comp. Act 2:38; 2Co 1:21-22; Eph 1:13. They entered thereby into the community of saints which is presided over by Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God.
The verb sanctify is placed before justify, because, as Edwards says: Paul, wishing to contrast the present moral condition of believers with their former state, lays special emphasis on the characteristic of sanctification. This is also the feature which most directly applies to the passage 1Co 6:7-10.
From the fact that the term justify is placed second, many, even Meyer, have concluded that it could not here have its ordinary Pauline meaning, and that instead of imputed righteousness it must denote exceptionally the internal righteousness which God infuses into the hearts of believers during the course of their life. But this meaning is, whatever Meyer may say, incompatible with the use of the aorist (ye were justified), a tense which necessarily denotes the initial moment of the new state of righteousness, the transition from the state of corruption to that of regeneration. Besides, it would be impossible to distinguish from this point of view the meaning of the two acts sanctifying and justifying, and to understand how they could be joined, or rather contrasted, with one another by an of gradation: but moreover. It is therefore, also, wholly mistaken when Catholic theologians, and even Protestants, like Beck, make use of this passage to deny the notion of justification as the imputation of righteousness in Paul’s writings. When an entire dogmatic view is thus made to rest on the succession of two terms, it should be remembered that the inverse order is given in 1Co 1:30. We have already indicated the reason why Paul emphasizes sanctification in the first place: it is to point out clearly the contrast between the normal state of the Christian and the degrading vices which were invading the Church; comp. 1Co 1:2. But thereafter he feels the need of ascending to the hidden foundation of this sanctifying action of the gospel, to the state of justification in which the believer is put by it. The question at the outset of the passage was whether Christians did not possess in themselves the standard of righteousness, by means of which they might regulate their mutual differences. From this point of view Paul had called the heathen , the unrighteous. By closing with the idea of the justification bestowed on believers, he points to them as the true possessors of righteousness, first in their relation to God, and thereby in all the relations of life.
But what is it that gives to baptism such efficacy, that, when it is celebrated with faith, it is accompanied with such graces, and draws a line of demarcation so profound between two states in the believer’s life? The apostle indicates the answer in the last words of the verse: in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. It seems to me that there is an unmistakable allusion in these words to the formula of baptism: In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In the two passages we find the three names whose invocation constitutes the peculiar characteristic of this institution.
The construction of the sentence does not allow us to apply the first of these clauses exclusively to the one of the last two verbs, the other to the other (Flatt). It seems to me equally impossible to connect them both with the last verb, as Rckert and Meyer propose. I think that both together apply to the first verb, , ye were washed, and therefore to the two following verbs, which, as we have seen, are merely epexegetical of the first. As this verb expressly points to the ceremony of baptism, these two subordinate clauses reproduce the formula of invocation which was pronounced when the rite was celebrated. The name of Jesus denotes the revelation of His person and work, which has been granted to the Church. It is because of this knowledge that the Church carries out this act of spiritual purification on those whom it receives as its members.
The Spirit of God is the creative breath which accomplishes the new birth in the heart of the man baptized, and thus separates him from the pollutions of his past life. I cannot possibly understand why Meyer alleges that this second clause cannot apply to the verb as well as the first. Is not the action of the Spirit in the heart of the baptized, whereby he deposits in it the principle of consecration, the purifying act by way of excellence? (Tit 3:5). By adding of our God, the apostle expresses the idea of the fatherly and filial relation formed by Christ between God and the Church, and in virtue of which He communicates to it His Spirit. The apostle never fails, while paying homage to the two Divine agents, Christ and the Spirit, to ascend to the supreme source of all this salvation, even God, who reveals Himself in Jesus, and gives Himself by the Spirit.
Hofmann has taken the strange fancy to connect these two clauses with 1Co 6:12 : In the name of Christ, and by the Holy Spirit, all things are lawful to me. But if the maxim, All things are lawful to me, had been qualified from the first in this way, Paul would not have needed to limit its application afterwards, as he does on two successive occasions, and by two different restrictions in 1Co 6:12 (see Meyer).
The formula of baptism in the Apostolic Church.
The idea has often been expressed, that the formula of baptism in the Apostolic Church was not yet that which is mentioned Mat 28:19 : In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and that it was limited to the invocation of the name of Jesus (Act 2:38; Act 8:16; Act 10:48; Act 19:5). The passage which we have been studying does not appear to me to favour this view. For, as we have pointed out, the mention of the three Divine names contained in the formula Mat 28:19, is supposed by the terms used by the Apostle Paul. The idea even of God as Father seems implied in the pronoun , our God.
There is another fact which seems to me to confirm this result; that which is related Act 19:1-6. Paul asks some disciples who have not yet heard speak of the Holy Spirit: in what ( ) then () they have been baptized? The logical relation, expressed by then, between the ignorance of those persons in regard to the Holy Spirit and the apostle’s question regarding the baptism which they have received, would not be intelligible if the mention of the Holy Spirit had not been usual in baptism as it was celebrated by the Apostolic Church. Now if the name of Jesus and that of the Holy Spirit were solemnly pronounced in baptism, that of God could not be wanting. Hence I conclude that the phrase: to baptize in the name of Jesus, frequently used in the Acts, is an abridged form to denote Christian baptism in general. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that in the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles the Trinitarian formula found in Matthew is used side by side with the abridged form of the Acts; comp. 1Co 7:1 and 1Co 9:5.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
And such were some of you [they had been true Corinthians]: but ye were washed [Act 22:16; Eph 5:26; Tit 3:5 Heb 10:22], but ye were sanctified [set apart to God’s uses], but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ [counted righteous after the remission of your sins], and in the Spirit of our God. [The work being consummated by the Holy Spirit– Act 2:38]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
11. And such were some of you. We see that the grace of God, under Pauls ministry at that time, those memorable eighteen months, had reached down to the bottom of slumdom and saved all sorts of the most terrible criminals, debauches, libertines and thieves. Neither was it any bogus salvation. While some of them had never reached rock-bottom, and others had fallen, yet the church abounded in noble examples beautifully illustrative of the sovereign mercy and transcendent grace of God. How exceedingly consolatory these Scriptures! Thrillingly inspiring to all soul- savers, and Heaven bells of mercy ringing in the ears of the vilest of the vile. But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. Some have been perplexed over this arrangement, as we see sanctification preceding justification. Such perplexity disappears upon a literal exegesis of the sentence. Here we have three statements:
(a) Ye are washed, i. e., regenerated, which includes justification as a necessary and invariable antecedent.
(b) Ye are sanctified, here standing as a second work of grace, which is in harmony with the uniform teaching of Gods Word.
(c) Ye are justified. This is not primary justification, which is involved in regeneration as a logical antecedent, but it is justification in that ultimate sense in which we all receive it after we have been sanctified not the reversal of the condemnatory sentence which took place when you fell beneath the cross and cried for mercy, recognizing your meekness only for damnation and casting your soul on the commiseration of God in Christ; but there is a broad and final sense in which you are justified from all iniquity, intrinsical and extrinsical, which prepares you to stand before the great white throne. It is in this ultimate and legal sense that all saved people are justified after they get sanctified; primary justification having an expiatory attitude, and, with the sanctification which follows, extirpating inbred sin and thus preparing the way for that legal justification which we ultimately have in Christ, qualifying us to meet the open books of final judgment.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1Co 6:11. Supports the foregoing solemn warning by the contrast of their entrance to the Christian life. When Paul speaks of sin in the abstract, he says, There is no difference: for all have sinned, Rom 3:22; Rom 5:8 ff. But, when speaking of gross and open sins, he says some of you. For there may have been at Corinth men who, like Paul, (Act 26:5,) were outwardly moral from their youth.
You washed yourselves: close coincidence with Act 22:16, Baptize thyself (or, have thyself baptized) and wash away thy sin. God designs the Christian life to be one of purity, i.e. free from the inward conscious defilement, causing shame, which always accompanies sin. To this life of purity, Baptism, as a public confession of Christ and formal union with His people, was the divinely appointed outward entrance. Only thus, in ordinary cases, could men obtain salvation: Mar 16:16; Act 2:38. And the use of water set forth in outward symbol the inward purity which God requires, and is ready to give. Therefore by voluntarily receiving Baptism, not only did the early converts profess their desire for the purity promised in the Gospel, but, by fulfilling the divinely ordained condition, they actually obtained it in proportion to their faith. Consequently, by coming to baptism, they practically washed themselves from the stain of their sin. Cp. Tit 3:5, He saved us by means of the laver of regeneration. This does not imply purification in the moment of baptism, or apart from the converts’ faith and steadfast resolve to forsake sin. But these words reminded the readers that, unless it was a meaningless and an empty form, their baptism was a renouncing of all sin. The allusion here is similar to the mention of baptism in Rom 6:2 ff: see notes.
You were sanctified: as in 1Co 1:2. When God rescued you from sin and joined you to His people, He claimed you for His Own, and thus placed you in a new and solemn relation to Himself.
Justified: a solitary instance probably in the New Testament of the simplest sense, made righteous. For Paul is dealing here (cp. 1Co 6:9 a) with practical unrighteousness: and with him the justification of pardon always precedes (e.g. 1Co 1:30) sanctification. But we have the opposite order here, because practical conformity with the Law is an outflow and consequence of devotion to God. Therefore, by claiming us for His Own, and by breathing into us the devotion He claims, God makes us righteous. You washed yourselves, reminds the readers that by their own act they renounced sin: therefore to continue in sin is to retrace their own act. You were sanctified etc., reminds them that by One greater than themselves they were devoted to the service of God and made righteous: therefore, to sin is to resist God. Thus the change of expression sets before us two sides of the Christian life.
In the Name etc.; belongs probably to all three verbs. Their baptism was an acknowledgment that Jesus claimed to be their Anointed Master, whose Name they were henceforth to bear. Cp. Act 2:38; Act 8:16; Act 10:48; Act 19:5. They were sanctified in Christ, 1Co 1:2. And moral uprightness was imparted to them in view of their confession of the Name of Christ, and for the honor of that Name.
The Spirit of God: the inward and immediate source, as the Name of Christ is the outward professed source, of the Christian life. This Spirit they received at Baptism, 1Co 12:13 : Act 2:38; Act 19:5 f: (though not by mechanical necessity but by faith, Gal 3:14; Gal 3:26 f: Gal 4:6 : Eph 1:13; and therefore not necessarily in the moment of Baptism:) and He was the source of (Rom 15:16; 2Th 2:13) their loyalty to God; and of (Rom 8:4) their conformity to the Law.
In this section, as frequently, Paul deals with matters of detail by appealing to great principles of wide application. Not only are there at Corinth legal disputes, but these are carried into the common law-courts. The litigants insult the majesty of the church, forgetful of the dignity awaiting its members, by submitting their disputes to the decision of men on whom they themselves look down with contempt as aliens from God, as though the church did not contain even one man wise enough to decide them. That there are lawsuits at all, is a spiritual injury to them, an injury they would do well to avoid, even at the cost of submitting to injustice. It is needful to warn them against the error of expecting that bad men will enter the kingdom of God; and to remind them that, when they entered the church and so far as their profession was genuine, they renounced sin, became the people of God, and therefore righteous men.
The above does not imply that in that early day there were regularly constituted Christian law-courts. The readers are simply urged to settle their disputes privately by Christian arbitration rather than by a public legal process. A century later there were regular, though private, Christian courts; in which the bishops gave judgment between church-members.
To us, the argument of 1Co 6:1-6 is modified by the fact that our public courts are for the more part presided over by excellent Christian men. But the injury inflicted upon a church by lawsuits between members, and the spirit of unscrupulous grasping, in one or both parties, which lies at the root of nearly all lawsuits, are the same in all ages. And, in proportion as men are moved by the Spirit of God, disputes about property will become rare; and the disputants will decide them, not in a public court, but by private arbitration, and by arbiters who themselves are guided by the same Spirit. Whether, in any one case it be more for the advancement of the kingdom of God that we defend our property or submit to injustice, must be determined by that spiritual wisdom which God has promised to give. From 1Co 6:8 we learn that there are cases in which we shall do well to choose the latter alternative.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the {f} name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
(f) In Jesus.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Some of the Corinthian Christians had been fornicators and had practiced the other sins Paul cited before they trusted in Christ. However the blood of Christ had cleansed them, and God had set them apart to a life of holiness (1Co 1:2). The Lord had declared them righteous through union with Christ by faith (cf. 1Co 1:30) and through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who indwelt them. He had made them saints. Consequently they needed to live like saints.
"The quite unconscious Trinitarianism of the concluding words should be noted: the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit, our God. Trinitarian theology, at least in its New Testament form, did not arise out of speculation, but out of the fact that when Christians spoke of what God had done for them and in them they often found themselves obliged to use threefold language of this kind." [Note: Barrett, p. 143.]
This verse does not support the idea that once a person has experienced eternal salvation he will live a life free of gross sin. Normally this is the consequence of conversion thanks to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. However believers can grieve and quench the Holy Spirit’s ministry in their lives. In this letter we have seen that not only were some of the Corinthian saints fornicators before their conversion, but one of them had continued in or returned to that sin (1Co 5:1).
Paul’s point in this whole section (1Co 6:1-11) was that genuine Christians should not continue in or return to the sinful practices that mark unbelievers. We should become what we are because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. This appeal runs throughout the New Testament and is latent in every exhortation to pursue godliness. It is especially strong in this epistle. Rather than assuming that believers will not continually practice sin, the inspired writers constantly warned us of that possibility.
This passage does not deal with how Christians should respond when pagans defraud or sue us. But if we apply the principles Paul advocated in dealing with fellow believers, we should participate in public litigation only as a last resort.