Summary
What We Need to Hear
Paul's words to the Corinthians cut sharply before they comfort. After listing the kinds of lives that will not inherit the kingdom of God—the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—he turns and says, "And such were some of you. 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 6:9-11. The list describes lives characterized by unbelief; "wrongdoers" here is essentially synonymous with those outside of faith. The wonder of the passage is the pivot: but you were washed. That language is unmistakably baptismal. The Holy Spirit has called, gathered, enlightened—and now sanctifies.
Sanctification appears in Scripture in two senses. The wide sense is the whole work of the Holy Spirit by which He brings a sinner to faith in Christ and leads that person into godly life. The narrow sense is specifically the Spirit's ongoing work of producing the godly life itself. In 1 Corinthians 6:11, the wide sense is in view: God's whole sanctifying work, beginning at the font and continuing throughout the Christian's life.
That life, however, is a struggle. Even after baptism, the believer remains simul iustus et peccator—at the same time saint and sinner. Paul himself, writing as a Christian, confesses, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate" Romans 7:15. The old Adam and old Eve cling to us until the Lord takes us home. So what do we need to hear in the middle of this struggle?
Not a list. Not a pep talk. Not a fresh vocabulary of self-affirmation. More rules of the law cannot change the heart; the law was never given that power. Pep talks from the locker room of the church send us out to "try harder," but trying harder cannot kill what must die. And positive self-talk in front of the mirror cannot drown out the old sinner by sheer volume of compliments. The old Adam and old Eve are not candidates for self-improvement. They cannot be tweaked, smoothed at the edges, or converted. They must be put to death.
This is precisely what Holy Baptism does and continues to do. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" Romans 6:4. Luther asks in the Small Catechism what baptism means for daily living and answers that the old Adam in us, with all sins and evil desires, should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die, and that a new self should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. None of us is good enough for that washing—that is the point. It is 100% grace, the victory of the cross and empty tomb joined to ordinary water and applied to us. With Luther, the believer can say each morning, "I am baptized."
This is the Spirit's sanctifying work: He brings us daily to repentance, drowning the old self by the law and raising the new self by the gospel of forgiveness. Paul's testimony becomes our own: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" Galatians 2:20. That is what we need to hear—not a louder voice from ourselves, but the killing and life-giving Word of God doing in us what no list ever could “What We Need to Hear” 5-15-22.
Video citations
- “What We Need to Hear” 5-15-22 — Let us open our Bibles' Please for our study today. So first Corinthians, the sixth chapter. If you're using a Pue edition of Holy Scripture, you'll find that on page 148. First Corinthians, the…