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Who Will Not...

             Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (I Corinthians 6:9-10)

             I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (I Corinthians 15:50)

            The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

 

            Uh oh. Paul got radical. In chapter six, he listed ten sorts of people who won’t inherit the kingdom of God: wrongdoers, the sexually immoral, idolators, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, greedy folks, drunkards, slanderers, and swindlers.  Some would say that the list is controversial, but it’s not unusual for Scripture. In fact, if anything, it’s incomplete, but it takes in the world as the Corinthian people would have experienced it. These may well have been acceptable in the Corinthian society as many of them are in ours.

            In the letter, he stated that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom.  That is likely to get a second look. Some will shrug. They see heaven as a spiritual place, where bodies won’t exist, and therefore the sins mentioned in the earlier passage can’t be committed.  Problem solved. Others, who hold that there will a bodily resurrection, are unhappy but Jesus spoke on this issue as He made it clear that those who are not born again, who are merely flesh and blood, will not inherit the kingdom.

            If anything, Paul doubles down on the matter in Galatians.

            What are those of us who are born again to make of this? A big one is that we need to pray for those who claim to be Christians but who continue to practice sin, whether that person is someone else or ourselves. More importantly, Paul gives us the answer in the next verses in Galatians. People who do the things he has described will not inherit the kingdom of God

               But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  (Galatians 5:22-25

                It’s interesting that the lists of those who will not inherit the kingdom tend to focus on things they do. It’s not about their character and its weaknesses. It’s about their sin. On the other hand, for the Christian, it’s all about character strengths. Or it should be.

 

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