1 Corinthians 6:11

11. ye are washed--The Greek middle voice expresses, "Ye have had yourselves washed." This washing implies the admission to the benefits of Christ's salvation generally; of which the parts are; (1) Sanctification, or the setting apart from the world, and adoption into the Church: so "sanctified" is used 1Co 7:14; Joh 17:19. Compare 1Pe 1:2, where it rather seems to mean the setting apart of one as consecrated by the Spirit in the eternal purpose God. (2) Justification from condemnation through the righteousness of God in Christ by faith (Ro 1:17). So Paræus. The order of sanctification before justification shows that it must be so taken, and not in the sense of progressive sanctification. "Washed" precedes both, and so must refer to the Christian's outward new birth of water, the sign of the inward setting apart to the Lord by the inspiration of the Spirit as the seed of new life (Joh 3:5; Ep 5:26; Tit 3:5; He 10:22). Paul (compare the Church of England Baptismal Service), in charity, and faith in the ideal of the Church, presumes that baptism realizes its original design, and that those outwardly baptized inwardly enter into vital communion with Christ (Ga 3:27). He presents the grand ideal which those alone realized in whom the inward and the outward baptism coalesced. At the same time he recognizes the fact that this in many cases does not hold good (1Co 6:8-10), leaving it to God to decide who are the really "washed," while he only decides on broad general principles. in the name of ... Jesus, and by the Spirit--rather, "in the Spirit," that is, by His in-dwelling. Both clauses belong to the three--"washed, sanctified, justified." our God--The "our" reminds the that amidst all his reproofs God is still the common God of himself and them. 1Co 6:12-20. Refutation of the Antinomian Defense of Fornication as if It Was Lawful Because Meats Are So.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Verse 11. And such. Such drunkards, lascivious and covetous persons. This shows

(1) the exceeding grace of God, that could recover even such persons from sins so debasing and degrading.

(2.) It shows that we are not to despair of reclaiming the most abandoned and wretched men.

(3.) It is well for Christians to look back on what they once were. It will produce

(a) humility,

(b) gratitude,

(c) a deep sense of the sovereign mercy of God,

(d) an earnest desire that others may be recovered and saved in like manner. Comp. Eph 2:1,2, 5:8, Col 3:7, Tit 3:3-6. The design of this is to remind them of what they were, and to show them that they were now under obligation to lead better lives--by all the mercy which God had shown in recovering them from sins so degrading, and from a condition so dreadful.

But ye are washed. Heb 10:22. Washing is an emblem of purifying. They had been made pure by the Spirit of God. They had been indeed baptized, and their baptism was an emblem of purifying; but the thing here particularly referred to is not baptism, but it is something that had been done by the Spirit of God, and must refer to his agency on the heart in cleansing them from these pollutions. Paul here uses three words--washed, sanctified, justified--to denote the various agencies of the Holy Spirit by which they had been recovered from sin. The first, that of washing, I understand of that work of the Spirit by which the process of purifying was commenced in the soul, and which was especially signified in baptism--the work of regeneration or conversion to God. By the agency of the Spirit, the defilement of these pollutions had been washed away or removed--as filth is removed by ablution. The agency of the Holy Ghost in regeneration is elsewhere represented by washing. Tit 3:5, "The washing of regeneration." Compare Heb 10:22.

Ye are sanctified. This denotes the progressive and advancing process of purifying which succeeds regeneration in the Christian. Regeneration is the commencement of it--its close is the perfect purity of the Christian in heaven. Jn 17:17. It does not mean that they were perfect--for the reasoning of the apostle shows that this was far from being the case with the Corinthians; but that the work was advancing, and that they were in fact under a process of sanctification.

But ye are justified. Your sins are pardoned, and you are accepted as righteous, and will be treated as such on account of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 1:17''; Rom 3:25, Rom 3:26; Rom 4:3. The apostle does not say that this was last in the order of time, but simply says that this was done to them. Men are justified when they believe, and when the work of sanctification commences in the soul

In the name of the Lord Jesus. That is, by the Lord Jesus; by his authority, appointment, influence. Acts 3:6. All this had been accomplished through the Lord Jesus; that is, in his name remission of sins had been proclaimed to them, Lk 24:47; and by his merits all these favours had been conferred on them.

And by the Spirit of our God. The Holy Spirit. All this had been accomplished by his agency on the heart. This verse brings in the whole subject of redemption, and states in a most emphatic manner the various stages by which a sinner is saved; and by this single passage a man may obtain all the essential knowledge of the plan of salvation. All is condensed here in few words.

(1.) He is by nature a miserable and polluted sinner--without merit, and without hope.

(2.) He is renewed by the Holy Ghost, and washed by baptism.

(3.) He is justified, pardoned, and accepted as righteous, through the merits of the Lord Jesus alone.

(4.) He is made holy--becomes sanctified--and more and more like God, and fit for heaven.

(5.) All this is done by the agency of the Holy Ghost.

(6.) The obligation thence results that he should lead a holy life, and forsake sin in every form.

(c) "such were" Eph 2:1,2, 5:8, Col 3:7, Tit 3:3-6 (d) "washed" Heb 10:22 (e) "sanctified" Heb 2:11 (f) "justified" Rom 8:30

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Verse 11 And such were some of you - It was not with the prospect of collecting saints that the apostles went about preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. None but sinners were to be found over the face of the earth; they preached that sinners might be converted unto God, made saints, and constituted into a Church; and this was the effect as well as the object of their preaching. But ye are washed - Several suppose that the order in which the operations of the grace of God take place in the soul is here inverted; but I am of a very different mind. Every thing will appear here in its order, when we understand the terms used by the apostle. Ye are washed, απελουσασθε; ye have been baptized into the Christian faith, and ye have promised in this baptism to put off all filthiness of the flesh and spirit: and the washing of your bodies is emblematical of the purification of your souls. Ye are sanctified - Ἡγιασθητε; from α, privative, and γη, the earth; ye are separated from earthly things to be connected with spiritual. Ye are separated from time to be connected with eternity. Ye are separated from idols to be joined to the living God. Separation from common, earthly, or sinful uses, to be wholly employed in the service of the true God, is the ideal meaning of this word, both in the Old and New Testaments. It was in consequence of their being separated from the world that they became a Church of God. Ye were formerly workers of iniquity, and associated with workers of iniquity; but now ye are separated from them, and united together to work out your salvation with fear and trembling before God. Ye are justified - Εδικαιωθητε· Ye have been brought into a state of favor with God; your sins having been blotted out through Christ Jesus, the Spirit of God witnessing the same to your conscience, and carrying on by his energy the great work of regeneration in your hearts. The process here is plain and simple: - 1. Paul and his brother apostles preached the Gospel at Corinth, and besought the people to turn from darkness to light - from idol vanities to the living God, and to believe in the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins. 2. The people who heard were convinced of the Divine truths delivered by the apostle, and flocked to baptism. 3. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and thus took upon them the public profession of the Gospel. 4. Being now baptized into the Christian faith, they were separated from idols and idolaters, and became incorporated with the Church of God. 5. As penitents, they were led to the Lord Jesus for justification, which they received through faith in his blood. 6. Being justified freely - having their sins forgiven through the redemption that is in Jesus, they received the Spirit of God to attest this glorious work of grace to their consciences; and thus became possessed of that principle of righteousness, that true leaven which was to leaven the whole lump, producing that universal holiness without which none can see the Lord.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain