Your Past Is Not Your Identity: Washed, Sanctified, Justified

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Scripture • World English Bible

1 Corinthians 6:9–11

WEB

⁹Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

¹¹Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

World English Bible (WEB) • Public Domain

Reflection

Paul does something both sobering and soul-saving in this passage. First he warns: those who persist in unrighteousness will not inherit God’s kingdom. That warning is honest and unflinching; it reminds us that sin has real consequences and that self-deception is dangerous. But then Paul turns and speaks hope directly to the Corinthians and to us: some of you were living in those sins, but you were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Notice the three decisive actions Paul names. Washed points to cleansing — your sin has been dealt with. Sanctified speaks of being set apart — you now belong to God and are being made holy. Justified means you are declared righteous in God’s court — your standing has changed. These are not gradual suggestions or mere moral encouragement; they are the work of God accomplished in Christ and applied by the Spirit.

That changes how we see our past. Our history may be full of choices we regret, patterns that once defined us, and seasons when sin felt like our identity. The gospel says those things no longer define us. But that does not mean we minimize sin, pretend nothing happened, or treat grace as a license to continue in wrongdoing. The same passage that forgives also calls us into a new life. The Spirit who applies cleansing also empowers ongoing transformation so our lives increasingly reflect the righteousness we have been given.

Past forgiveness frees us from guilt and from the fear that our past is all there is. It also gives us responsibility: live like the people you are. Live in the freedom of being washed. Take the practical steps repentance requires. Walk in community so the Spirit’s work has room to grow. Share your story so God’s mercy is magnified. When shame or doubt resurfaces, remember that identity is rooted not in your worst choices but in what Christ has done.

So hold both truths at once: sin matters and is to be turned from, and God’s grace in Christ is decisive and identity-changing. Let the verbs Paul gives—washed, sanctified, justified—shape your self-understanding, your prayers, and your actions. You are not what you were; you are who Christ has made you to be, and the Spirit is at work finishing that work.

Putting Faith Into Action

When feelings of shame or old labels return, speak the gospel aloud: name that you have been washed, sanctified, and justified. Repeat the memory verse and pray for the Spirit’s power to believe it.
Take a practical next step toward holiness: confess a specific struggle to a trusted brother, set concrete boundaries (technology filters, accountability apps, schedule changes), and ask others to pray regularly for you.
Use your testimony intentionally: share one short truth about how Christ changed you with someone tempted or stuck in their past. Serve where your gifts can point others to the transforming power of the gospel.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you that you do not leave us defined by our past. You have washed, sanctified, and justified us by your name and by your Spirit. Forgive our lingering doubts and give us boldness to live out our new identity. Strengthen us to turn from sin, to walk in the Spirit, and to encourage others with the hope we have. Amen.

Memory Verse

1 Corinthians 6:11 — Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. (WEB)

“Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.”

Keep Going Continue to Part 17 Honor God With Your Body: Freedom, Purity, and the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians · 1 Corinthians 6:12–20 Read the next devotional →

Bible Context

Read all of 1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 6

World English Bible • WEB

¹Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

²Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

³Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

⁴If then you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly?

⁵I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers?

⁶But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁸No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your brothers.

⁹Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

¹¹Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

¹²“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

¹³“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power.

¹⁵Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!

¹⁶Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.”

¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

¹⁹Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

²⁰for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.