We could never earn our way into God’s family, but Jesus Christ willingly paid the penalty on our behalf
1 Peter 1:3-5 (KJV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Corinth was a city characterized by sexual immorality and many other forms of ungodliness. (See 1 Cor. 6:9-11.) Believers there had once been like their fellow citizens—filled with greed, envy, wickedness, deceit, anger, and malice. But now they were new creations in Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and adopted into the family of God. The Corinthian lifestyle no longer matched who they’d become in Jesus.
In that passage from 1 Corinthians, Paul reminded the believers not to be influenced by their culture or old patterns of thinking. The apostle was not warning them that they might miss out on the kingdom. Instead, he was encouraging them to abandon their old ways and bring their behavior in line with who they really were—children of God.
We, too, should know salvation is permanent and faith should positively affect conduct. What’s more, understanding the basis for our salvation—Jesus’ finished work on the cross—banishes fear and fills us with hope.
We could never earn our way into God’s family, nor could we pay our own sin debt. But our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ willingly paid the penalty on our behalf, satisfying divine justice and the Law’s demands (Rom. 3:25-26). To show the sacrifice was accepted, God raised Jesus to life and brought Him to heaven, where He reigns at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19).
What God has accomplished—pardoning our sins, giving us a new nature, and adopting us into His family—no one can undo. That gives us a living hope to sustain and uplift us all our days.
InTouch Ministries
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (KJV)
9 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 mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
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.
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