1 Corinthians 6:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

When a man continually hears of the punishment awaiting others, he becomes more open to correction. He applies that punishment to his own sins as well.

The Apostle utters this threat here not because he knew all these sins among the Corinthians and reproached them for them. Rather, the hearer's attention is chiefly attracted and sustained when the speech does not touch him directly, but strikes his conscience indirectly and under cover.

Do not flatter yourselves. Here he has in mind certain people who said, as many say even now: God loves mankind and is good. He does not avenge transgressions. We have nothing to fear. He will never punish any sin.

For this reason he says, Do not flatter yourselves. It is extreme deception and error to hope for what is pleasant and receive the opposite. It is also error to think of God in a way one would not think even of a man.

Therefore the prophet says in the person of God: "You thought lawlessness, that I would be like you. I will reprove you and set your sins before your face" (Ps 49:21).

And Paul says here: "Do not be deceived: neither fornicators." He places first the sinner already condemned. "Nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor drunkards, nor revilers will inherit the Kingdom of God."

Many have condemned this passage as too harsh. The Apostle here places the drunkard and the evil-tongued man alongside the fornicator, adulterer, and one who lies with men. The sins are not equal. Why, then, are the punishments equal?

What shall we say to this? Drunkenness and reviling are not small sins, if even Christ declared liable to Gehenna the man who calls his brother a fool (Mt 5:22).

Murder has often arisen from this. Through drunkenness the Jewish people fell into very grievous sins. Moreover, the Apostle is not speaking here of punishment, but of deprivation of the Kingdom.

Both the one and the other will be equally deprived of the Kingdom. Whether there will be some distinction between them in Gehenna is not the time to say. That is not what we are now considering.

If he shames the Corinthians for the mere fact that lawsuits exist among them, he has chiefly in view the sinful and unchristian causes of these lawsuits.

This is clear from his further rebuking address to the Corinthians: "But you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that your brothers. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived ... neither thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:8-11).

According to St. John Chrysostom, "The Apostle here has in mind certain people who said, as many say even now: God loves mankind and is good. He does not avenge transgressions. We have nothing to fear. He will never punish any sin."

However absurd such thoughts are, sinners always hold them. Only when, by God's mercy, they begin to repent do they realize that they were deceived. Then they clearly see that with God mercy remains mercy, and righteousness remains righteousness.

"Having opened the eyes of sinners, which were closed by flattery, the Apostle enumerates them by kinds. He does this as he did above, when expelling them from Christian society (5:10). Two kinds of sins are listed: fleshly lusts in their most shameful forms, and covetousness with all its injustices" (Theophan).

All these sins were indicated by the Apostle not because he knew them among the Corinthians, but to warn them against these destructive sins. For the same purpose he reminds them of their illumination through baptism and their sanctification through chrismation and the other mysteries.

According to St. John Chrysostom's explanation, the Apostle speaks as though saying: "Consider from what evils God delivered you when He made you clean. Was that all? No, He also sanctified you. Nor is this all. He justified you and enriched you with countless blessings.

Therefore, beloved, knowing this and keeping in mind the greatness of the blessings granted us, let us live piously. Let us keep ourselves pure from all the sins that have been listed."

“Do not deceive yourselves,” that is, do not go astray, do not delude yourselves, do not flatter yourselves with empty hopes, as though sin were nothing. “Here the Apostle has in mind certain people who said, as many say even now: God loves mankind and is good. He does not avenge transgressions. We have nothing to fear. He will never punish any sin. Therefore he says: do not deceive yourselves. For it is extreme delusion and error to hope for what is pleasant and receive the opposite. It is also error to think about God in a way one would not think even about a man. Therefore the prophet speaks in God’s name: ‘You thought iniquity, that I would be like you. I will rebuke you and set your sins before your face’ (Ps 49:21)” (Chrysostom). However absurd such thoughts are, sinners always hold them. The enemy has so pressed them into their heads. Only when, by God’s mercy, they begin to repent do they realize that they were deceived. Then they see clearly that with God mercy is mercy, and righteousness is righteousness. He is boundlessly good, but no less righteous. Therefore let us fear His fear. Having opened the eyes of sinners, which were closed by flattery, the Apostle now lists them by kinds. He does so as above, when he was expelling them from Christian society (1 Cor 5:10-11). He mentions all those again and adds new ones. He does not thereby allow one to suppose that the door into the Kingdom will be open to other sinners besides these. Rather, he makes clear that, like these, all other transgressors of the commandments will have no entrance there. “Neither fornicators”: unmarried men who give themselves over to lust with unmarried harlots. “Nor idolaters”: those who, allowing themselves to eat things sacrificed to idols, fall there into other indecencies connected with it. “Nor adulterers”: those who violate the fidelity of the marriage bed. “Nor defilers”: in the original this word is not present. One must suppose that it was added to the following obscure word, “effeminate,” so that it should be read: “nor defilers, the effeminate.” By these it seems one must understand those who defile themselves with lustful pleasures, or masturbators. “Nor sodomites”: when a man has a man in place of a woman for the satisfaction of lustful passion;