Does fornication mean my salvation is lost permanently?
Question:
Good evening,
I was wondering if you could help me with a question that has been haunting me for some time. My current husband and I partook in premarital sex for about a year and a half before we finally got married. We were both Christians at the time but fell prey to our sinful nature. We tried several times to stop and fell every time we tried. We are both so ashamed of our actions and would give anything to change our past, repentant of how far we backslid.
My problem comes around when I find sites in which "Christians" denounce other Christians who have committed fornication and state they will never find forgiveness as it is unforgivable due to verses like I Corinthians 5:1-9 and Ephesians 5:3-5, which state no fornicators will enter the kingdom of heaven. Now I am really worried. I know there are verses, like I John 1:9, that give evidence of forgiveness, but I know there are many verses that tell you those who obey Christ inherit the kingdom of God. But I have not been obeying.
So have I lost my salvation permanently? Is there any hope for my husband and me? Why does Ephesians 5:5 state that fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God? I'm sorry, this is a lot to read and answer, but I am in such distress and have almost come to the depressing conclusion that I am going to hell and was wondering what your input was. I know I love Jesus more than anything and the loss of being with Him is a very dire situation to me.
Thank you so very much for your time.
God bless!
Answer:
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (I Corinthians 6:9-11).
Among those in Corinth were people who committed a variety of sexual sins, yet they had been forgiven. Paul warns them not to think that they can stay in those sins and be a part of the kingdom, but this doesn't mean that a person who had left those sins is excluded.
One man, in particular, at Corinth has been having sex with his stepmother. "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's wife!" (I Corinthians 5:1). This was after the man was supposed to be a Christian. The Corinthians were commanded to withdraw from this man. The reason given is "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person" (I Corinthians 5:11).
The Corinthians did keep this command. "This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow" (II Corinthians 2:6-7). Because the man turned from his sins, the Corinthians were told that they had to forgive and comfort him. His sin was not permanent.
What is being overlooked is that passages like I Corinthians 6:9-10 and Ephesians 5:5 are written in the present tense. These are talking about current, ongoing sins. You cannot get to heaven while remaining a fornicator. That is not what happened with you and your husband. You changed, both in your behavior and in your attitude toward what you had done.
""But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?"" (Ezekiel 18:21-23).
If you are not currently obeying Christ, then that needs to change because remaining in your sins, no matter what they are will not get you into heaven.
