Reflection on 1Cor 6:9-10
The Word of God says that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. The opposite of unrighteousness is righteousness. He is righteous who gives God what is due to God and man what is due to man. It is written about Saint Joseph that he was a righteous man. The Holy Scripture, however, speaks above all about the righteousness of God which consists in the fact that sin was justly punished. Dying on the cross, Jesus suffered the punishment for all our sins and all our unrighteousness. Only if we have believed in Christ, i.e. put on His righteousness, we can be saved. We cannot make amends for sins or the root of sin in us by our own efforts.
These verses enumerate ten forms of the bondage of sin which make man unrighteous and a slave of a particular sin. The following verse says that we were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is for free, through faith; it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8). The Word of God emphasizes: Do not be deceived! The meaning of these words can also be translated as follows: Stop deceiving yourselves! People like deceiving themselves and refuse to call a sin a sin, to fight against it or to break with it. The core of true repentance is that a person resolves to combat a certain form of bondage, even if it is a hidden form and even if he has the experience of being unable to liberate himself by his own strength. But if he perseveres in this fight and prays to God for help, God will either save him immediately, e.g. from alcoholism, or He will let him fight this sin for a period of time so that he may gain experience of fight. Such person, however, is no alcoholic or fornicator etc. anymore because he does not mean to give consent to this sin in his heart. Though he is overcome by this sin at the moment, he continues to fight and does not give up. It is the consent to sin which makes man an alcoholic, fornicator, thief, idolater etc. When we fight, we fight for the crown of eternal glory, eternal life. It is partly a fight with our flesh which is infected with original sin, partly with the system of the world which boycotts God, the law of God and the righteousness of God, and finally, it is a fight with the forces of darkness. Therefore, we need prayer, God’s Word, a living fellowship and the sacraments. Jesus is the Victor, but He must be the Victor in us too. We have to pray and call on Him to give us the strength. So we need to unite to Him time and again in this spiritual fight for eternal life. We need to have personal contact with Jesus in private prayer.
At the present time, liberal theologians, heretics, boycott repentance and establish antirepentance by legalizing sin through heretical theologies, modern psychologies, sociologies and philosophies. This all is, in essence, manipulation and deceit intended to keep man in the bondage of sin. In addition, this all is built on pride, on so-called theological erudition, but in fact it is a heresy which deprives man of the strength to fight, makes him a slave and obstructs his salvation.
Download: Reflection on 1Cor 6:9-10
