- Cor. 6: 11—”And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
From what the Apostle himself says we have good reason to think that it occasioned him a great deal of anxiety to write this first letter to the Church at Corinth. We may believe, that fighting with beasts at Ephesus (ch. 15, v. 32), was in many ways easier for him than this particular duty! What evidently caused these serious misgivings on the part of Paul was the fear that he had laboured in vain, and it must be a very grievous consideration for any preacher of the Gospel to have fears lest such as have taken up a profession of godliness and obedience to Christ, are, after all, not, in truth, the people of God. Evidence in that very direction was to be found at Corinth where serious dissention had arisen and they were saying, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.” (1:12). Such a state of affairs is, continually, a plain symptom of spiritual malady in a congregation and is a call upon all concerned to examine the foundation of their profession. In respect of the Corinthians, however, Paul was persuaded better things of them, and it is part of the evidence in this connection that we may presently, as enabled, seek to consider. We may notice three things.
- Briefly, their former condition.
- The three-fold change that had taken place.
- The sphere of this change.
I. In the previous two verses we are told very plainly what many of these Corinthians had been in respect of their past lives; and, in taking into account the circumstances of Corinth as a busy sea-port with an infamous record in secular history, we may surely believe that the sins here mentioned were common among them. He accuses them of quite a variety of offences against the Seventh Commandment, and also against the Eighth and Tenth. Here were evil deeds, committed, in the first instance, against one’s fellow-creature, so that it is easier for man to recognize these things as sin. It may be seen even by natural man, whose views of moral requirements are so greatly blurred, that such things ought not to be done; and, as we are told in this chapter, open sin against the Seventh Commandment carries with it an added liability—not only is this sin against God and our fellow-creature but it is an evil committed even against one’s own body (v. 18).
When considering these gross, shameful acts of sin of which mankind has been, and continues to be guilty, it is right to remember that, from generation to generation, many are to be found in the category of natural, unregenerate men and women, who have not stooped to these excesses. Probably it is true to say that in Paul’s day the people of Athens were much superior (at least in this respect) to the inhabitants of Corinth. Now, against that factual background in respect of degrees of sinfulness, we may come to the position stated in the text where the Holy Spirit by the Apostle makes the unequivocal assertion that those who were at one time notoriously sinful in their lives were, at a later date, just as surely, partakers in the grace of God. Such a matter comes as a considerable surprise, more especially, in terms of man’s own carnal wisdom: we might be ready to imagine that it is such as are more upright and circumspect in their lives who stand in a fair position as candidates for salvation and yet the history of events, Biblical and otherwise, so often runs counter to any such notion. So in this present instance: men and women whose conduct had been reprehensible, and this must at all times be nothing other in itself but cause for shame, were, nevertheless, in the abounding mercy of God, partakers in the Divine favour,—“Such were some of you.”
II. Secondly, I come to record something of the three-fold change that was accomplished in this people. Although they had at one time been fornicators and idolators, such a marked difference could be recorded that they were now washed and were presently to be found actually in a cleansed condition. It may be helpful to take the precise sense in the words of the Apostle here as that is hinted at in the use of the present tense in our English Bible, “ye are washed.” Paul was reminding the Corinthians how this was now their happy condition because, in fact, they had allowed themselves to be washed. Now, in a general view of this matter, it must mean that their old ways of sin represented an unclean and filthy condition, more especially, in a spiritual sense. It is not difficult to see why there comes to be incorporated in the thought of uncleanness the idea of disease and contagion as, for instance, the leper in Israel, was spoken of as unclean. Clearly the Corinthians, in common with all sinners, came to be defiled in terms of outward shameful conduct in the world because the hidden sore of sin was in the heart. Again, the implication of the words before us is that, for these people of Corinth, a time came when, to the degree of suitable conviction they were brought to recognize the fact of this state of uncleanness, personally, so that they could not remain satisfied in this condition any more. They desired cleansing and the upshot was that they allowed themselves to be washed. To take a very simple example: the small child does not willingly submit to having his or her face washed, but in a few years time, when a better understanding of the situation is attained to, the child is then quite willing in this respect. So, man, in himself, is quite content in an unclean condition but, by the instruction of God’s Word and Spirit, a better understanding may be come to. The Corinthians had then submitted themselves to the ordinance of Christian Baptism and, still more, it was Paul’s belief that they had been baptized at heart. This we may believe was that precise matter to which he did presently draw attention, in the way of reminding the Corinthians and calling themselves to witness in this matter. “Was it not true that at the bar of conscience they must confess that they had experienced a wonderful washing and were now, as a consequence, in this cleansed condition,—’ but ye are washed’?” The faces of their souls, so to speak, had now been made clean.
Along with the fact that they had allowed themselves to be washed—for none are saved against their will—they were also to remember that they had been sanctified. It appears to be plain that this does not mean sanctification in the sense of being made holy, for, clearly none are so changed while still in the world but, rather, the meaning of the word is to be found in that other sense, quite common in the New Testament, of being consecrated. So, once more, this would mean for the Corinthians how that in former times their condition was one of being unconsecrated or profane. Quite simply, this is to say, that they belonged just to the mass of heathendom and, apart from being their Creator, God had no particular claim upon them nor interest in them. It might be said that their works of flagrant sinfulness were very much in line with that condition. The change witnessed to was then this—that they had become a consecrated people, they had been set apart, again, manifestly, in terms of Baptism and, actually, as their souls were anointed from above. Washing is the obvious and necessary prelude to consecration as it is normal practice, first to cleanse the vessel, that we set apart to an important use and it is no otherwise in the higher realm of the soul’s interests. And as the washing had special importance as before man’s own conscience so now the Corinthians were to be thought of as “set apart,” more particularly, in the view of their fellow-creatures and their own generation. Those who had at one time been profane heathens were now consecrated, baptized Christians.
In coming to the third part of that remarkable change which Paul is at pains to record in respect of his converts at Corinth we have present the most wonderful thought of all. For they were said to be justified and the wonder and importance of this transformation is derived from the fact that it has reference, not, as in the former two cases, to man’s conscience and the view of a generation, but to the judgment of God and the transactions of the Court of Heaven. They were now justified or their righteousness was declared and acknowledged according to the unerring and certain adjudication of the Most High. The implication present is, again, that in their former condition these Corinthians were not, and might not be, declared as righteous. Rather, as agreeable to their unclean, profane condition they must be condemned, as all men under the Covenant of Works are condemned, even already. But now, a very different situation had been witnessed, as before the throne of God, when in terms of their faith in Christ—this, also as related to their profession in Baptism—God was pleased to acquit these men and women and to recognize their total righteousness by way of a sure irrevocable decision. Here, certainly was a worthy matter for remembrance, alike, that Paul should recall the fact of it, and that the Corinthians themselves should bow in wonder at the thought of their own personal interest in anything like this.
III. We go on, lastly, to consider what I have, at present, called the sphere in which this change takes place. It is vital that we should determine this matter carefully for here is the consideration that lends weight and importance to all that has been said. Conceivably one might be washed, sanctified and justified in such a sphere as would not amount to anything of consequence: for example, in the rites of the Roman Catholic Church we meet with this kind of thing—in R.C. baptism which is considered to be so vital the priest uses water so that the participant may be said to be washed; again in the final rites there is present an anointing so that the party might be said to be consecrated or sanctified, while in connection with “Confession” there is such a thing as absolution so that again the person may be considered as being justified. But, obviously, all this adds up to what must be of little consequence or benefit if these changes are only outward and in terms of the power of man. It was, then, much otherwise with the Corinthians seeing that all that took place was after that specific manner that it was, ” in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
The clear teaching of this Scripture is, that each part of the three-fold change has its own direct reference to this sphere. So, first, this is how the Corinthians were washed. They had been baptized in the name of Jesus as related to the ordinance which He had instituted and had given it as a charge to His disciples in their work among all nations. This baptism was then the sign and seal of spiritual blessing even, ” the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost ” (Tit. 3:5). This means that the Divine Spirit did apply the blood of Christ, by which is intended, the merit of His death, to the guilty soul so that the sinner was now washed to the extent of, in the language of David, being made whiter than snow, i.e. ” washed . . . in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” The Lord Jesus is the meritorious cause and the Spirit the efficient cause of this washing.
A similar situation was present in respect of their consecration: they were set apart because in terms of His Gospel the Lord Jesus called them to the honour of discipleship and this consecration to that service became altogether real as the Spirit of our God came as the anointing of God upon the faculties of their souls. If we proceed to the third matter of asking, ” How were they justified? ” we discover that the references are still the same, viz. ” in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” God the Father, as the Custodian of the Divine justice declared the righteousness of the Corinthians only as He had respect unto Jesus Christ, the righteous One, and this judgment could only be given when these people did actually look by faith to Christ, something, once more, which could only transpire as the Spirit of our God did work in their hearts that precious faith. The summing up, then, is of this sort—that the Corinthians, and along with them all the true people of God in every generation were washed, sanctified and justified in the sphere of Divine merit and efficient grace so that their deliverance is sure.
Finally, we come to the practical instruction which the Apostle would derive from these considerations. For, their former condition was one which allowed room for much change for the better; this change had actually taken place as related to the wonderful sphere which he mentions; now, it was surely unthinkable that all this could be reversed so that the people who were washed, sanctified and justified should once again become defiled, profane and condemned. God will not permit this to take place, finally, but the argument, here elicited by Paul, comes to us as a strong incentive to duty—that we may be alive to that responsibility which our calling by grace lays upon us so that we may go on unto perfection never to return to our former ways.
May the Lord bless His word!