•I Corinthians 6:9-11
•Do Not Be Deceived
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
(I Corinthians 6:9-11, ESV)
•μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται
• μαλακοὶ [Mal-ah-koy]
• “Soft” in line with “Effeminate boys or men” who act like girls/women to solicit sex
• The passive partner in the sexual act
• οὔτε [oo-tay]
• “:Not, nor, never” (negative)
• ἀρσενοκοῖται [arsen-o-koy-tai]
• Comes from two words
•ἀρσεν [arsen)
•“of males”
• κοῖται [koy-tai]
• “lying in bed”
•μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται (2)
• First: There are those who argue “homosexual” is not found in the Bible
• This is true as the word translated “homosexual” is ἀρσενοκοῖται which means “lying in bed with males”
• Even if “homosexual” is not used the concept of homosexuality is based upon the basic meaning by Paul
• Second: Those who argue this is about pederasty or prostitution
• This is not a problem with two people who love each other, but is more about unloving sexual encounters
•
•μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται (3)
• This does not work in context or in the broader understanding of the Scriptures
•22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” Leviticus 18:22
• כָ֔ר לֹ֥א תִשְׁכַּ֖ב מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י [Zakar low shakarv Mishkawv] [Hebrew]
• “Lying in bed with males.”
• μετά ἄρσενος οὐ κοιμηθήσῃ κοίτην [Greek]
• “With man not sleep bed”
•
•μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται (4)
•In Leviticus and Deuteronomy homosexual acts are rejected as immoral
• While this list includes μαλακοὶ [Mal-ah-koy] and can refer to pederasty and prostitution
• In I Timothy 1:10 has a similar list with ̓ρσενοκοῖται [arsen-o-koy-tai] without the added μαλακοὶ [Mal-ah-koy]
• Paul could see the cultural pederasty, prostitution, and even those who loved each other and still reject them all because the act itself is unlawful
• In the previous chapter the man sleeping with his father’s wife could say, “We love each other!”
•Yet it isn’t whether they love each other but that the act itself is immoral and therefore rejected
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
(I Corinthians 6:9-11, ESV)
•Main Point
• These verses further show immoral practices that should be rejected by the Church
• Those who practice these unrighteous lifestyles will not inherit the kingdom of God
• We should be on guard against these things individually and corporately
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived
• The powers of darkness have always attempted and succeeded at deceiving us
• These deceptions come from many sources whether demonic, other humans, even our own sinful selves
• It can be easy for us to see why such lifestyles would be deceptive
• They deceive us into believing they can provide…salvation…peace…power
• These lifestyles are then perceived as “good”
• That by practicing these things we are in the right
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived (2)
• We see this with sexual immorality especially regarding homosexuality
• We hear, “two people are in love” and it “is an innate part of their personhood”
• Homosexual acts are unlawful
• There is a difference between the individual who may have homosexual inclinations and those who act on those inclinations
• All because someone has an inclination it does not mean it is right or good to act on them
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived (3)
• The liar has a natural inclination to lie
• The thief has a natural inclination to steal
• Even if the individual is inclined toward these acts it does not mean it should be allowed or tolerated to act out in their inclination
• Homosexuality is the same
• We have allowed ourselves to be deceived into believing that the feeling of “love” supersedes the immoral act
• Like all other ways the darkness bring deception it takes something good
• Turning it to allow complete liberty for the individual
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived (4)
• It would also be wrong to just focus on one group of sins in this list
• Many will pick and choose which sins they do not struggle with and say they are bad meanwhile accepting the since they do struggle with
• There are 9 other unrighteous lifestyles depicted which have nothing to do with homosexuality and only two of which have anything to do with sexuality at all
• All of these lifestyle choices are to be rejected because they all go against God’s moral character
• We must each examine ourselves and each other to make sure we are not living in these sinful lifestyles and to seek repentance from them
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived (5)
• You and I need to ask ourselves if we struggle with anything on this list
• If we are known as an idolater, adulterer, robber, greedy, drunkard, or reviler
• Are you known as the one who uses their tongue harshly?
• Are you known as the swindler?
• If we are known for these things then what does that mean about us?
• Does that mean we are struggling Christians?
• No, it means we are willingly practicing an unrighteous lifestyle in which we will not inherit the kingdom of God
• It is one thing to struggle against them, it is one thing to be known to struggle against them, it is quite another to be known as them
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived (6)
• Some might conclude this is too harsh
• He is the One who judges by His own holy character and righteousness
• Both Paul and I are just as underserving as anyone else
• “And such were some of you.”
• The world will tell us that we are slaves to our own personalities, slaves to our inclinations, we can never be free
• Jesus, however, says, “No, you can be freed.”
• It will only be through Jesus and His Spirit that we can overcome
• In humility and submission to Christ we will attain that which the world tells us is unattainable
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived (7)
• There are actions that are bad, that are immoral, that are unrighteous
• No we do not get to pick and choose which ones
• If we want to walk in righteousness then it makes no sense to live in unrighteousness
• It is only God who can cleanse us, it is only God who can justify us, it is only God who can sanctify us
• How long will we allow ourselves to be deceived?
• Deception is a hard thing for us to notice by its very nature
• We cannot continue to justify wickedness just because we don’t want to hurt anyone's feelings
• Not only those outside the Church, but even those who claim to be believers in it?
Application Points
• Do Not Be Deceived (8)
• We must always ask ourselves if we are being deceived
• We must always seek to know the truth to guard ourselves from the lies
• There are many deceptions
• In sorrow we see how many are deceived into believe this abominable lie
• Be deceived no more
• You can be changed, you can be transformed, you can be washed clean
• Live in His grace and mercy knowing that through Him we can be redeemed from these unrighteous stains
• That by Jesus and His Spirit you can be freed
Application Points
• The Gospel of Christ
• Origins
• Fall
• Redemption
• Glorification
