completely defeated
1 Corinthians 6:7–11 (NIV) — 7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. 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.
Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? I can think of lots of good reasons that I wouldn’t want to be wronged or cheated, starting with its just wrong. How about you? How would you answer those questions? Do you want to be wronged or cheated? Why not?
You have been completely defeated already. Paul answers his own questions about being wronged or cheated. He says it’s better than being completely defeated. He’s talking about lawsuits (v. 1-6) between Christian believers in pagan courts of law. How is taking a fellow Christian to court in a pagan court of law a defeat? How is that worse than being wronged by a fellow Christian?
In order to answer that, we have to take a look at it from a witness perspective. We are witnesses of Christ and the power of the gospel. How does taking a fellow Christian to court influence our witness? Is our witness to the transforming love of Christ worth more than a certain amount of money or personal reputation?
Paul goes on to talk about certain people who will not inherit the kingdom of God (v. 9-10). It’s quite a harsh list and you may or may not find yourself or others on that list. And that is what some of you were. That’s a past tense statement. What is it implying in the present tense – what is being implied that we are now? You may not be on the list that some of you were, but do you know what you are now?
Paul says we were washed, sanctified and justified. What does that mean? How did that happen? Who caused it to happen?
How is your life different from what you were before Christ, or perhaps could have been without Christ?