“And Such Were Some Of You” (Part 2)

by Micky Galloway

In the article last week, Chris Simmons introduced a series of articles under the heading “And Such Were Some Of You.” This is a brief quotation from I Corinthians 6:9-11 where Paul says, “Or 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 men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”

When Paul tells us that “such were some of you,” he tells us some things about several people. He tells some things about some of the Christians at Corinth, their past and their present. Corinth was an extremely immoral city. It was the capital of the Roman province of Achaia and was geographically located in such a place that it inevitably became a trade center of the ancient world. Because of this, people from all areas of the world and with different backgrounds and cultures moved to Corinth.

“One factor which contributed to Corinth's deep dive into the cesspool of immorality was the stream of commerce pouring through the city. Located on the isthmus which joined mainland Greece to the southern peninsula, it was a major seaport town … The waterfront anywhere in the world is always a tough neighborhood. Corinth teemed with sailors of all nationalities far from home. When they landed in Corinth they were looking for a good time. The pagan Corinthians were more than ready to provide them everything they were seeking” (C. Peter Wagner, Our Corinthian Contemporaries, pages 20-21).

The culture in Corinth was sex-crazed. Corinth “had a reputation for commercial prosperity, but she was also a by-word for evil and immoral living. The very word korinthiazesthai, to live like a Corinthian, had become a part of the Greek language, and it meant to live with drunken and immoral debauchery” (William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, page 3).

In his work entitled Flesh and Spirit, Barclay described the immorality of the ancient Graeco-Roman world. Here are some of the quotations from ancient writers used by Barclay to describe the condition of the ancient world:

Demosthenes: “We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for the day-to-day needs of the body, but we have wives in order to produce children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our homes.”

Seneca: “Roman women were married to be divorced and were divorced to be married.” “Innocence is not rare, it is nonexistent” (William Barclay, Flesh and Spirit, pages 24-25).

He went on to describe how prostitution was legalized and state brothels were opened with the profits from them being used to erect temples to gods. Even Messalina, the wife of Claudius Caesar, slipped out of the royal palace at nights to serve in public brothels. Homosexuality, unnatural vice that it is, flourished as well; many of the high government officials openly practiced homosexuality. Nero married a castrated youth called Sporus and went in a marriage procession with him throughout the streets of Rome.

Even though the general morality of the Graeco-Roman world was low, the morality at Corinth was below average. Other evidence of this fact was the presence of sacred temple prostitutes in Corinth. “Above the isthmus there towered the hill of Acropolis, and on it there stood the great temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. To that temple there were attached one thousand priestesses who were sacred prostitutes, and at evening time they descended from the Acropolis and plied their trade upon the streets of Corinth…” (Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, page 3).

Since the Corinthian culture so greatly emphasized sexual immorality, that the church in that city had problems with fornication and adultery should not surprise us (cf I Corinthians 5:1-3; 6:9-11,15-20). Our society has become nearly as sex-crazed as ancient Corinth. This is becoming more obvious every day. Merchants sell everything from cars to shaving cream to gasoline and oil through an appeal to sex. If this were not working, you can rest assured that another approach to selling their products would be used. Through the means of modern technology, we invite many immoral things into our homes, that we would not allow through the front door.

The warnings below are just as timely today as they were in Corinth.

I Corinthians 5:1-5 “It is actually reported that there is fornication among you … For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him that hath so wrought this thing, in the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

I Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or 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 men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

I Corinthians 6:15-18 “Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. Or know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? for, The twain, saith he, shall become one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”

Beloved, sin is not determined by the ethical norms of society or by one's own personal conscience; sin is determined by God's word! Anything which violates God's word is sin, regardless of what society's attitude toward it might be. Therefore, we must dare to be different! We must walk by God's commandments even when others “think it strange that ye run not with (them) into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of (you)” (I Peter 4:4). God's word, and not man's ideas, should determine how we live.