What does it mean that a person will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)?

The apostle Paul mentions those not inheriting the kingdom of God in his first letter to the church at Corinth: “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men a nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10).

By saying wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God, Paul is stating that the wicked are not children of God; they have no inheritance in heaven. They are not heirs of eternal life (cp. Romans 8:17). The list of sins is not comprehensive, but it covers a lot of ground: fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, theft, greed, drunkenness, slander, and cheating are indicative of a person who is excluded from the kingdom of God.

Does this mean that anyone who has ever committed one of these sins will be denied entrance to heaven? Praise the Lord, no. God’s forgiveness is available to anyone and everyone who repents and turns to Christ in faith. That’s the glorious hope given in the next verse: “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). The Corinthians used to engage in such sins, but now they know Christ. By grace, they are forgiven, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and declared righteous before God.

Paul’s point in this passage is the need to put away the old nature and live according to the new nature, received in Christ. The sins he lists are part of the old life, not the new. Such sins keep the ungodly out of heaven; believers have been called to righteousness. We should not dabble in the old, destructive ways.

The Christian life is different from that of a non-Christian. Christians struggle against sin but have the God-given ability to overcome it. Unbelievers, who do not have the Spirit of God, remain slaves to their sin. Even if a Christian falls and lapses into sin, he will always eventually return to the Lord, and the struggle against sin will continue. But the Bible does not support the idea that a person who perpetually and unrepentantly engages in sin can indeed be a Christian. First Corinthians 6 lists sins that are the hallmark of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. A person who indulges in these lifestyle sins gives evidence of not being redeemed by Christ.

The Christian’s response to sin is to hate it, repent of it, and forsake it. We still struggle with sin, but by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, we are able to resist and overcome sin. The mark of a true Christian is the decreasing presence of sin in his or her life. As Christians grow and mature in the faith, sin has less and less of a hold on them. Our abhorrence of sin becomes greater as we mature. Like Paul, we are distressed that sin still exists in our flesh, causing us at times to do what we don’t want to do and looking to Christ for relief from this “body of death” (see Romans 7:18–25).

The bottom line is that, if a person actively, perpetually, and unrepentantly lives a homosexual lifestyle, the lifestyle of a thief, a greedy lifestyle, a drunken lifestyle, etc., that person is showing himself to be unsaved, and such a person will not inherit the kingdom of God. The good news is that the grace of God can give us new hope for the future: “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11, NLT).