1Corinthians 6:9-11: you were like them but now you aren't

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.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that the unrighteous, those who reject Christ’s authority over them, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. He lists some character traits of the world and then reminds them that some of them once fell into those categories. But, now they have received Christ and are set apart for God’s purpose and are justified through Christ and by the Holy Spirit.

Fornication is linked with sexual sins which include adultery and even being just overtly sensual and sexual, something which our culture has long prided in their movie stars and pop singers.

Galatians 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

We think of idolatry as worshipping false gods or having idols like a person’s job, or entertainment, or hobby. But, idolatry is also linked with sexual sins. We know from reading the Old Testament that there was a high sexual content to ancient religion. It is also linked by Paul with sexual sins like fornication.

Colossians 3:5 ¶  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

    

An obsession, rather than a healthy sexual appetite based on age, health, and marital condition, is idolatry.

Effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind bear mention here. Paul has also discussed this issue in his summary of the religious history of the world.

Romans1:16 ¶  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

    19 ¶  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

In the ancient Greek and Roman world homosexual behavior was not frowned upon. There were homosexual rites in religion and the Roman male was free to engage with either men or women or even boys. The distinction was only in who was in the considered dominant position as a matter of status. I’ve read that there are no Latin words that translate specifically as homosexual or heterosexual. There are even writers like Juvenal and Martial who refer to male-male marriages. 

 Transgenderism was practiced by the effeminate priests of Cybele, as an example, who were even castrated as part of their devotion to and following of the god, Attis. This was written about by the poet, Catallus. So, this was the world in which Christianity was born as we have already discussed the intensely sexual aspects of ancient Near Eastern religion in previous commentaries. This is the world and the practices that Paul is condemning.

It must be understood that the word sodomite in the Old Testament is not merely a reference to someone engaged in sexual sin with a lover of the same sex but is a reference to a homosexual temple prostitute. In the ancient world bisexual behavior was common, often not frowned upon, and homosexual behavior, within social contexts was permitted and an important facet of much religious worship. The God who created us, throughout the Bible, limits sexual behavior to the relationship between husband and wife as male and female, in type Christ and His church.

None of these things Paul lists should be in the church. In fact, a full reading of Paul’s talk on the religious history of mankind reveals that certain behaviors flow from mankind elevating himself above God and glorifying the creature more than the Creator. To finish the passage in Romans;

1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Modern man is noteworthy in that he does not call his religion of Self, worshipping and glorifying himself, as a religion. But it is much the same as the ancient world. We have temples to Self in bars, nightclubs, academic conferences, sporting events, and Hollywood award presentations all lifting up man’s will and seeking to glorify what it means to be human rather than the God who created us. We worship the creature more than the Creator and we get what we, as a society and a civilization, deserve as evidenced by Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Paul here clearly condemns the effeminate and the abusers of themselves with mankind in the same context as a drunkard or an extortioner.