deemer's kingdom — but also those who break any of the com- mandments of God, as this and other passages of Scripture dis- tinctly teach.
Behevers are, in the Bible, often called heirs. Their in- heritance is a kingdom ; that kingdom which God has estab- lished, and which is to be consummated in heaven, Luke 12, 32. Matt. 24, 34, &c. &c. From this inheritance all the im- moral, no matter how zealous they may be in the profession of the truth, or how assiduous in the performance of religious services, shall be excluded. Let it also be remembered that immorality, according to the Bible, does not consist exclusively in outward sins, but also in sins of the heart ; as covetousness, malice, envy, pride, and such like. Gal. 5, 21. No wonder that the disciples, on a certain occasion, asked their master, Lord, are there few that be saved ? or that the Lord answered them by saying, " Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it," Luke 13, 24.
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.
And such were some of you. This is understood by many as equivalent to Such were you. The word {jivii) being re- dundant, or the idea being, ' Some were impure, some drunk- ards, some violent, <fec., or raiira rtves being taken together as equivalent to toiovtoi. The natural explanation is, that the apostle designedly avoided charging the gross immoralities just referred to upon all the Corinthian Christians in their previous condition. With regard to the three terms which follow, washed., sanctified., justified^ they may be taken, as by Calvin and others, to express the same idea under diiferent aspects. That idea is, that they had been converted, or com- pletely changed. They had put ojff the old man, and put on the new man. Their sins, considered as filth, had been washed away ; considered as pollution, they had been purged or puri- fied ; considered as guilt, they had been covered with the righteousness of God, Rom. 1, 17. The majority of commen- tators take the several terms separately, each expressing a distinct idea. In what precise sense each of these words is to be understood, becomes, then, somewhat doubtful.