THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS - Chapter 6 - Verse 9

Verse 9. Know ye not", etc. The apostle introduces the declaration in this verse to show the evil of their course, and especially of the injustice which they did one to another, and their attempt to enforce and maintain the evil by an appeal to the heathen tribunals. He assures them, therefore, that the unjust could not be saved.

The unrighteous. The unjust adikoi—such as he had just mentioned—they who did injustice to others, and attempted to do it under the sanction of the courts.

Shall not inherit. Shall not possess; shall not enter into. The kingdom of heaven is often represented as an inheritance, Mt 9:29; Mt 25:34; Mr 10:17; Lu 10:25; 18:18; 1 Co 15:50; Eph 1:11,14; 5:5.

The kingdom of God. Cannot be saved; cannot enter into heaven. See Barnes "Mt 3:2".

This may refer either to the kingdom of God in heaven, or to the church on earth—most probably the former. But the sense is the same essentially, whichever is meant. The man who is not fit to enter into the one, is not fit to enter into the other. The man who is fit to enter the kingdom of God on earth, shall also enter into that in heaven.

Be not deceived. A most important direction to be given to all. It implies,

(1.) that they were in danger of being deceived.

(a) Their own hearts might have deceived them.

(b) They might be deceived by their false opinions on these subjects.

(c) They might be in danger of being deceived by their leaders, who perhaps held the opinion that some of the persons who practised these things could be saved.

(2.) It implies, that there was no necessity of their being deceived. They might know the truth. They might easily understand these matters. It might be plain to them that those who indulged in these things could not be saved.

(3.) It implies that it was of high importance that they should not be deceived. For

(a) the soul is of infinite value.

(b) To lose heaven—to be disappointed in regard to that, will be a tremendous loss.

(c) To inherit hell and its woes will be a tremendous curse. Oh, how anxious should all be that they be not deceived, and that while they hope for life, they do not sink down to everlasting death!

Neither fornicators. See Ga 5:19-21; Eph 5:4,5; Heb 12:14; 13:4.

See Barnes "Ro 1:29.

Nor effeminate, malakoi. This word occurs in Mt 11:8, and Lu 7:25, where it is applied to clothing, and translated "soft raiment;" that is, the light, thin garments worn by the rich and great. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament except here. Applied to morals, as it is here, it denotes those who give themselves up to a soft, luxurious, and indolent way of living; who make self-indulgence the grand object of life; who can endure no hardship, and practise no self-denial in the cause of duty and of God. The word is applied in the classic writers to the Cinaedi, the Pathics, or Catamites; those who are given up to wantonness and sensual pleasures, or who are kept to be prostituted to others. Diog. Laer. vii. 5, 4; Xenoph. Mem. iii. 7, 1; Ovid, Fast. iv. 342. The connexion here seems to demand such an interpretation, as it occurs in the description of vices of the same class—sensual and corrupt indulgences. It is well known that this vice was common among the Greeks—and particularly prevailed at Corinth.

Abusers of themselves with mankind. arsenokoitai. Paederastae, or Sodomites. Those who indulged in a vice that was common among all the heathen. See Barnes "Ro 1:27".

{b} "fornicators" Ga 5:19-21; Eph 5:4,5; Heb 12:14,18; 13:4; Re 22:15