1 Corinthians / Question
After listing various wrongdoings, Paul says, “such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11). He contrasts their past with their new status: “you were washed…sanctified…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
In 1 Corinthians 6:8–11, Paul rebukes the Corinthians for harming fellow believers through wrongdoing and cheating. He then warns that people characterized by certain patterns of behavior will not share in God’s coming rule, urging them not to fool themselves. This section closes Paul’s confrontation about believers taking each other to court and publicly shaming one another (1 Corinthians 6:1–8).
Paul’s point is not only about lawsuits. He says the Corinthians have started doing the very harm he earlier said it would be better to suffer: wronging and cheating fellow believers (verse 8). That is the immediate problem he names. He then widens the frame: people he calls “the unrighteous” will not “inherit the kingdom of God” (verses 9–10).
A common mistake is to turn the wording into a slogan. The better reading keeps the phrase tied to the passage, the speaker, and the problem the book is addressing.
Start with 1 Corinthians 6:11, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
11Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.