Some 40 miles from Rome, strategically located between the Aegean and the Mediterranean, lay the beautiful city of Corinth. Unlike Athens, where there were family connections and traditions, Corinth was a new city with fast money and loose morals. In Paul’s day to call somebody a Corinthian was derogatory or debasing – a pejorative term that could make someone fighting mad.
Paul’s words to the Corinthians were at times straight-forward, even blunt. He left no room for wondering what God expects of His own. For example, consider what he said: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Yet he doesn’t stop there. He adds, “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” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
Do you see the beauty of what Paul is saying? He no longer views them as being immoral, prostitutes, thieves, drunkards or swindlers, but as saints – ones who have been redeemed. He calls them “saints” – ordinary people who have been redeemed and have entered into fellowship with God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.
Paul further wrote, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong!” and that is what it takes today to live as the redeemed in a world of moral failure and licentiousness. It’s the life that you live that speaks to the world about Christmas.