READING TIME: 2-4 MINUTES
September 27, 2019
David, the Corinthians were living in such a carnal lifestyle, it’s hard for me to understand how they could have been believers. Were they believers?
My friend Pastor/Dr. Tom Stegall (at Duluth Bible Church) gives an excellent answer to this question.
If the Corinthians needed to manifest inner renewal and walk in newness of life to obtain final salvation, then apparently, they were eternally doomed. Paul explicitly states in 1 Corinthians 3:4 that they walked just like the unsaved. Yet, despite looking like the unsaved in their lifestyle, Paul regards the recipients of his letter to be genuine possessors of eternal life rather than mere professors of salvation. The evidence for this conclusion from 1 Corinthians is abundant and overwhelming.
• The Corinthians were called “brethren” twenty times (1 Cor. 1:10, 11, 26; 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 7:24, 29; 10:1; 11:2, 33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26, 39; 15:1, 50, 58; 16:15).
• They were consistently contrasted with “unbelievers” (6:6; 7:13-14; 10:27; 14:22-23; cf. 14:1).
• They were said to have “believed” the gospel (3:5; 15:11). They were “called” by God (1:2, 9, 26).
• They were “chosen” in Christ (1:27-28).
• They were said to be “in Christ” (1:30).
• They had been “baptized” into Christ by the Holy Spirit (12:12-13). They were “sanctified in Christ” and “saints” (1:2).
• They were considered to be temples of the Holy Spirit individually (6:19) and His temple corporately (3:16).
• They were spiritually deficient in “no gift” of the Spirit (1:7).
• They were “Christ’s” own possession (3:23), and they did not belong to themselves (6:19-20).
• They were instructed by Paul to expect instantaneous transformation at the Rapture when Christ would come again (15:51-52; 11:26).
• They were told by Paul that they would “judge the world” one day (6:2), even angels (6:3), as part of reigning with Christ (4:8; 15:25).
• They were “begotten” or regenerated (4:15). They were “washed,” “sanctified” (positionally in Christ, 1:2; but not practically, 3:1-4), and “justified” in Christ (6:11).
A more complete description of a congregations’ genuine salvation cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament epistles. Yet despite the Corinthians’ evident salvation and perfect standing in Christ, their spiritual state or walk with the Lord was deplorable. The epistle of 1 Corinthians is clear that although the Corinthians were genuine saints, sanctified or set apart in their position in Christ, it is equally clear that they were carnal, worldly, and sinful in their overall spiritual state.
• They were judging the apostle Paul (4:3).
• They were “puffed up” with pride (4:6-7, 18; 5:2).
• They were tolerating a known case of a man committing fornication with “his father’s wife” (5:1-2).
• They were going “to law against one another” (6:6-7).
• They were doing wrong and cheating fellow believers (6:8).
• They were likely abusing their spiritual liberties (8:12; 10:23-33).
• They were questioning Paul’s apostleship and authority (9:3).
• The women were likely being unsubmissive to the headship of their husbands (11:3-17).
• They were selfishly hoarding food and getting drunk at their fellowship meals before the Lord’s Supper (11:20-22).
• They were chastened by the Lord to the point of weakness, sickness, and even death because they would not exercise self-judgment (11:30-32).
• They were likely exercising their spiritual gifts in an unloving way for self-edification (13:1-14:1, 4, 20).
• They were claiming “there is no resurrection of the dead” (15:12).
• They did “not have the knowledge of God” (15:34).
The biblical evidence is unmistakable in the case of the Corinthians. Concerning their position, they were “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and “called saints” (1:2), but concerning their practice, they were sinful rather than saintly. Thus, the walk of the Corinthians neither proved nor disproved the validity of their standing since everyone with a position in Christ’s body, the universal church, is truly justified and regenerate.
Source Used
Stegall, Thomas L. Must Faith Endure for Salvation to Be Sure?: A Biblical Study of the Perseverance versus Preservation of the Saints (Kindle Locations 2880-2931). Grace Gospel Press.
