Sunday, October 11, 2009

Inheriting the Kingdom - 1 Corinthians 6:9

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind (KJV)

Then: Paul's statements about lawsuits are more than reminders that the unrighteous will not make it to heaven. It's a shock to the heart of Corinthians taking these particular remarks lightly. He's including them in a list of unrighteous degenerates. That meant using secular courts to defraud others, especially believers, put them in dangerous company.

Now: The last "Don't you know?' rhetorical question (Collins, p. 228) is like the first in verse 2. Both bring up eschatologic or end-of-the world issues. Fee (p. 242) refers to the problem of how it can be that anyone who is already saved will not - according to this verse - have a part in the kingdom. He doesn't try to reconcile the conflict, but does state the verse is addressed to the whole church community.

Extra source: First Corinthians by Raymond F. Collins and Daniel J. Harrington (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, c1999) http://books.google.com/books?id=c4VXq9fKoRwC&dq=Sacra+Pagina+and+1st+Corinthians&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=NqEJS7XzEITklAeejdiEBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CDUQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=&f=false
The First Epistle to the Corinthians by Gordon D. Fee (Eerdman's 1987) online at http://books.google.com/books?id=XlBp10nUTXAC&dq=Gordon+Fee+Bible+commentator&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=SwLNSu3nA4v6Mf2XlDo&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=12#v=onepage&q=&f=false

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