by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Paul mentions a list of sins which included thieves, drunkards, adulterers, and homosexuals (I Corinthians 6:8-10) and said, “such were<\/strong> some of you”. They were washed from such sins, justified, and sanctified. What was the motivation that moved them to change? They did not argue that they were born this way and couldn’t change, so what made them realize that they needed to change?<\/p>\n It was a combination of factors that led to their change. The good news of Jesus’ love meant that He wanted them in His fellowship, and fellowship with Jesus demanded a commitment to righteousness and holiness. Someone wonderful like Jesus, who loved them enough to commit Himself to the death for them, was surely someone worth living for.<\/p>\n When you perceive the moral perfection of Jesus and His holiness, you get a sense of your moral filth, and a need to get clean. Remember Isaiah getting that sense in Isaiah 6? He felt dirty, a man of unclean lips. When we learn the glory of Jesus and His perfect moral holiness, we sense our need to repent of sins, especially when this One is offering a way of escape from moral filth.<\/p>\n The Corinthians came to know Jesus, His holiness, His love, and His great salvation opportunity He was extending to sinners. When people know Jesus they want <\/b>to change. They want what He is offering, a chance at justification (forgiveness of sins), a chance at being sanctified (set apart as special from the corrupt world), and a chance at being washed (cleansed). A chance to start over with a new purpose, a meaningful purpose, and a hope to live eternally with the One who loved us so.<\/p>\n When you know the Lord, you want to change and be better. Knowing Jesus means we can never stay the same! Have you learned Jesus? If you have, you know why the sinners at Corinth wanted to change. So will you!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Paul mentions a list of sins which included thieves, drunkards, adulterers, and homosexuals (I Corinthians 6:8-10) and said, “such were some of you”. They were washed from such sins, justified, and sanctified. What was the motivation that moved them to change? They did not argue that they were born this way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[66,390,1572,35,728,179],"class_list":["post-48541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-adultery","tag-conversion","tag-fornication","tag-homosexuality","tag-i-corinthians","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62928,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-the-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":48541,"position":0},"title":"Why the Change?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When the gospel was preached at Corinth, those who were fornicators, adulterers, and homosexuals stopped practicing those sins. \"Such were some of you\" (I Corinthians 6:8-11). Did the preachers actually preach against those lifestyle choices? Did no one worry that this kind of preaching was not politically correct? Are people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/homosexuality-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":48541,"position":1},"title":"Homosexuality (Frazier)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ken Frazier via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 2, June 30, 1989 Homosexuality and the Church of England The general Senate of the Church of England, trying to satisfy both conservative and liberal wings, has decided that homosexual acts are not outright sin, but \"fall short\" of Christian ideals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33370,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-and-repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":48541,"position":2},"title":"Love and Repentance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton It is common these days to hear people use scriptures that say that God \"loves\" everyone and commands us to love everyone. But they use this to mean that God \"accepts\" everyone regardless of their sin and attitude toward sin. They often call this \"unconditional love.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14379,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/it-had-to-have-been-a-miracle-to-cause-the-corinthians-to-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":48541,"position":3},"title":"It had to have been a miracle to cause the Corinthians to change","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm finding a hard time believing that the people of Corinth actually repented, as you call it. 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