1 Corinthians 6:9
in 1 Corinthians 6Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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,
KJV
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,
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 6
Commentary
23 notes on this verse[The apostle], foreseeing the wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized the works which he terms carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left to those who do dishonestly pervert his meaning, thus saying in the Epistle to the Galatians: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatries, witchcrafts, hatreds, contentions jealousies, wraths, emulations, animosities, irritable speeches, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and such like; of which I warn you, as also I have warned you, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
This site's exposition
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
on 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
The list puts sins Corinth might have counted respectable, the greedy, drunkards and verbal abusers, beside the sexually immoral and idolaters. Its warning falls on a settled, unrepented pattern of any of these sins.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Paul indicates that they are not sinning unknowingly, and so it is that much harder to excuse them.
Such ought those who are consecrated to Christ appear, and frame themselves in their whole life, as they fashion themselves in the church for the sake of gravity; and to be, not to seem such-so meek, so pious, so loving. But now I know not how people change their fashions and manners with the place. As they say that polypi, assimilated to the rocks to which they adhere, are in colour such as they; so, laying aside the inspiration of the assembly, after their departure from it, they become like others with whom they associate. Nay, in laying aside the artificial mask of solemnity, they are proved to be what they secretly were. After having paid reverence to the discourse about God, they leave within the church what they have heard. And outside they foolishly amuse themselves with impious playing, and amatory quavering, occupied with flute-playing, and dancing, and intoxication, and all kinds of trash. They who sing thus, and sing in response, are those who before hymned immortality,-found at last wicked and wickedly singing this most pernicious palinode, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." But not to-morrow in truth, but already, are these dead to God; burying their dead, that is, sinking themselves down to death. The apostle very firmly assails them. "Be not deceived; neither adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers," and whatever else he adds to these, "shall inherit the kingdom of God."
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 2.27.48-49 · Written before 253.
proposed
Let no one say: "I was young. Before I got married, I slept with prostitutes." Why did you not get married instead?
Come, now; who in the world has (ever) redintegrated one who has been "marred" by God (that is, delivered to Satan with a view to destruction of the flesh), after subjoining for that reason, "Let none seduce himself; " that is, let none presume that one "marred" by God can possibly be redintegrated anew? Just as, again, among all other crimes-nay, even before all others-when affirming that "adulterers, and fornicators, and effeminates, and co-habitors with males, will not attain the kingdom of God," he premised, "Do not err" -to wit, if you think they will attain it.
In like manner, let the young men also be blameless in all things, being especially careful to preserve purity, and keeping themselves in, as with a bridle, from every kind of evil. For it is well that they should be cut off from the lusts that are in the world, since "every lust warreth against the spirit;" and "neither fornicators, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, shall inherit the kingdom of God," nor those who do things inconsistent and unbecoming. Wherefore, it is needful to abstain from all these things, being subject to the presbyters and deacons, as unto God and Christ. The virgins also must walk in a blameless and pure conscience.
16 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers5 voices
Do not err, my brethren. Those that corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this as respects the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with any one who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified! Such an one becoming defiled [in this way], shall go away into everlasting fire, and so shall every one that hearkens unto him.
After this we say, "Hallowed be Thy name; "not that we wish for God that He may be hallowed by our prayers, but that we beseech of Him that His name may be hallowed in us. But by whom is God sanctified, since He Himself sanctifies? Well, because He says, "Be ye holy, even as I am holy," we ask and entreat, that we who were sanctified in baptism may continue in that which we have begun to be. And this we daily pray for; for we have need of daily sanctification, that we who daily fall away may wash out our sins by continual sanctification. And what the sanctification is which is conferred upon us by the condescension of God, the apostle declares, when he says, "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor deceivers, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such indeed were you; but ye are washed; but ye are justified; but ye are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God." He says that we are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. We pray that this sanctification may abide in us and because our Lord and Judge warns the man that was healed and quickened by Him, to sin no more lest a worse thing happen unto him, we make this supplication in our constant prayers, we ask this day and night, that the sanctification and quickening which is received from the grace of God may be preserved by His protection.
A commentator
CyprianTreatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. · Written before 258.
proposed
That all sins are put away in baptism. In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Neither fornicators, nor those who serve idols, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor the lusters after mankind, nor thieves, nor cheaters, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers, shall obtain the kingdom of God. And these things indeed ye were: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."
This is no small subject of enquiry which we propose, but rather about things which are of the first necessity and which all men enquire about; namely, whether hell fire have any end. For that it hath no end Christ indeed declared when he said, "Their fire shall not be quenched, and their worm shall not die." ...As I said then; that it hath no end, Christ has declared. Paul also saith, in pointing out the eternity of the punishment, that the sinners "shall pay the penalty of destruction, and that for ever." And again, "Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, shall inherit the the kingdom of God." And also unto the Hebrews he saith, "Follow peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord." And Christ also, to those who said, "In thy Name we have done many wonderful works," saith, "Depart from Me, I know you not, ye workers of iniquity." And the virgins too who were shut out, entered in no more. And also about those who gave Him no food, He saith, "They shall go away into everlasting punishment."
Having thus, you see, abashed them from arguments on general principles, and before that, from the rewards proposed; he shuts up the exhortation with a threat, making his speech more peremptory, and saying thus, "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 covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." What sayest thou? When discoursing about covetous persons, have you brought in upon us so vast a crowd of lawless men? "Yes," says he, "but in doing this, I am not confusing my discourse, but going on in regular order." For as when discoursing about the unclean he made mention of all together; so again, on mentioning the covetous he brings forward all, thus making his rebukes familiar to those who have such things on their conscience. For the continual mention of the punishment laid up for others makes the reproof easy to be received, when it comes into conflict with our own sins. And so in the present instance he utters his threat, not at all as being conscious of their doing such things, nor as calling them to account, a thing which has special force to hold the hearer and keep him from starting off; namely, the discourse having no respect unto him, but being spoken indefinitely and so wounding his conscience secretly. "Be not deceived." Here he glances at certain who maintain (what indeed most men assert now) that God being good and kind to man, takes not vengeance upon our misdeeds: "Let us not then be afraid." For never will he exact justice of any one for any thing. […]
The Medieval Church3 voices
Then when he says, Do you not know, he clarifies what he had said: first, as to what is altogether unlawful; secondly as to what is unlawful but not expedient (v. 12). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he presents a …
He concludes the exhortation with a threat, intensifying his speech and asking them about a matter known to all. Here he hints at those of the Corinthians who said that God is loving of mankind and will not punish, but will bring them into the …
Many ask why he placed drunkards and revilers alongside idolaters and those who commit abominable deeds? Because Christ also declared worthy of gehenna the one who says to his brother "fool" (Matt. 5:22), and because again the Jews went from drunkenness to idolatry. Furthermore, the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?.... A way of speaking much like that in the Talmud, הוי יודע שהעולם הבא אינו עשוי אלא לצדיקים "know thou, that the world to come is not made but for the righteous?" (h) Without a righteousness there will be no entrance into the world of bliss and happiness hereafter; and this must be a better righteousness than what a sinful creature is capable of working out, and no other than the righteousness of Christ.
These good-natured, harmless people are ranked with idolaters and sodomites! We may learn hence, that we are never secure from the greatest sins, till we guard against those which are thought the least; nor, indeed, till we think no sin is little, since every one is a step toward hell.
), shall not be owned as true members of his church on earth, nor admitted as glorious members of the church in heaven. All unrighteousness is sin; and all reigning sin, nay, every actual sin committed deliberately, and not repented of, shuts out of the kingdom of heaven.
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The Nineteenth Century5 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Know ye not ... - The apostle introduces the declaration in this verse to show the evil of their course, and especially of the injustice which they did one to another, and their attempt to enforce and maintain the evil by an appeal to the pagan tribunals. He assures them, therefore, that the unjust could not be saved. The unrighteous - The unjust ἄδικοι adikoi - such as he had just mentioned - they who did injustice to others, and attempted to do it under the sanction of the courts.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2661: “A Marvelous Change” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
THE Gospel is as holy as the Law. The Gospel is full of mercy to sinners, but it shows no mercy to sin. The Gospel speaks most tenderly to the ungodly, but it speaks most sternly to ungodliness. There is a great difference made, in the New Testament, between the sinner and the sin. And while the sinner is, in Infinite mercy, spared, encouraged to hope, and wooed by almighty love, sin is denounced as a dreadful thing, an abominable thing which God hates and must punish.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
unrighteous--Translate, "Doers of wrong": referring to 1Co 6:8 (compare Ga 5:21). kingdom of God--which is a kingdom of righteousness (Ro 14:17). fornicators--alluding to 1Co 5:1-13; also below, 1Co 6:12-18. effeminate--self-polluters, who submit to unnatural lusts.
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A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2661: “A Marvelous Change” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THE Gospel is as holy as the Law. The Gospel is full of mercy to sinners, but it shows no mercy to sin. The Gospel speaks most tenderly to the ungodly, but it speaks most sternly to ungodliness. There is a great difference made, in the New Testament, between the sinner and the sin. And while the sinner is, in Infinite mercy, spared, encouraged to hope, and wooed by almighty love, sin is denounced as a dreadful thing, an abominable thing which God hates and must punish. Ah, dear Friends, it is not from Sinai, alone, that we have need to shrink if we are lovers of sin, for, if we are resolved to keep on sinning, Calvary also condemns us and, at last, even from the lips of Jesus Christ, Himself, willful sinners, continuing in their sin, shall hear the awful sentence, "Depart from Me, you that work iniquity." Let no man say, when we proclaim God's message of mercy to the very chief of sinners, that, therefore, we think lightly of sin! No, it is because of the shedding of the precious blood of Him whom we call Master and Lord, without whose agonizing death not a single sin could ever have been put away, that we are able to freely preach the mercy of God to those who truly repent of their transgressions. But, at the same time, we never hesitate to declare in the plainest possible terms, that God will not spare the guilty ones who refuse to repent, for only through the blood of His dear Son will He have mercy upon the ungodly sons and daughters of men, who turn unto Him, with full purpose of heart, trusting in the great atoning Sacrifice of Jesus! The highest standard of holiness is set forth under the Gospel.
The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom - The unrighteous, αδικοι, those who act contrary to right, cannot inherit, for the inheritance is by right. He who is not a child of God has no right to the family inheritance, for that inheritance is for the children. If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, Rom 8:17. There are here ten classes of transgressors which the apostle excludes from the kingdom of God; and any man who is guilty of any one of the evils mentioned above is thereby excluded from this kingdom, whether it imply the Church of Christ here below, or the state of glory hereafter. Several of the evils here enumerated will not bear to be particularly explained; they are, however, sufficiently plain of themselves, and show us what abominations were commonly practised among the Corinthians.
The words behind it
21 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἢ | e | Or | G2228 → | 342 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | surely | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| οἴδατε | oidate | you know | ||
| ὅτι | hoti | that | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| ἄδικοι | adikoi | [the] unrighteous ones | G94 → | |
| θεοῦ | theou | of God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| βασιλείαν | basileian | [the] kingdom | G932 → | 162 times |
| οὐ | ou | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| κληρονομήσουσιν;¶ | kleronomesousin | will inherit? | G2816 → | 18 times |
| Μὴ | me | Not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| πλανᾶσθε· | planasthe | do be deceived: | G4105 → | |
| οὔτε | oute | neither | G3777 → | 87 times |
| πόρνοι | pornoi | [the] sexually immoral | G4205 → | 10 times |
| οὔτε | oute | nor | G3777 → | 87 times |
| εἰδωλολάτραι | eidololatrai | idolaters | G1496 → | 7 times |
| οὔτε | oute | nor | G3777 → | 87 times |
| μοιχοὶ | moichoi | adulterers | G3432 → | |
| οὔτε | oute | nor | G3777 → | 87 times |
| μαλακοὶ | malakoi | effeminate | G3120 → | |
| οὔτε | oute | nor | G3777 → | 87 times |
| ἀρσενοκοῖται | arsenokoitai | homosexuals | G733 → |
ἢOr
eG2228 →342 times
οὐκsurely
oukG3756 →1664 times
οἴδατεyou know
oidate
ὅτιthat
hotiG3754 →1292 times
ἄδικοι[the] unrighteous ones
adikoiG94 →
θεοῦof God
theouG2316 →1312 times
βασιλείαν[the] kingdom
basileianG932 →162 times
οὐnot
ouG3756 →1664 times
κληρονομήσουσιν;¶will inherit?
kleronomesousinG2816 →18 times
ΜὴNot
meG3361 →1066 times
πλανᾶσθε·do be deceived:
planastheG4105 →
οὔτεneither
outeG3777 →87 times
πόρνοι[the] sexually immoral
pornoiG4205 →10 times
οὔτεnor
outeG3777 →87 times
εἰδωλολάτραιidolaters
eidololatraiG1496 →7 times
οὔτεnor
outeG3777 →87 times
μοιχοὶadulterers
moichoiG3432 →
οὔτεnor
outeG3777 →87 times
μαλακοὶeffeminate
malakoiG3120 →
οὔτεnor
outeG3777 →87 times
ἀρσενοκοῖταιhomosexuals
arsenokoitaiG733 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 18:22You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.
it leads to
- Romans 1:26–27
For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Timothy 1:10
for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jude 1:7
In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 20:13
If a man lies with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
- 1 Kings 14:24
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- Romans 1:26–27
Through
Leviticus 20:13If a man lies with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:22
You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.
- Deuteronomy 23:17
No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
- Leviticus 18:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
On this verse
About 1 Corinthians

This page draws on 22 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the First Epistle to the Corinthians; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2661: “A Marvelous Change” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 3; Cyprian, Treatise IV On the Lord's Prayer; Cyprian, Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.; Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians; Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book V; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 9; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 16; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 2.27.48-49; Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians 5; Tertullian, On Modesty; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.
