<p>6:11 <i>And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God- </i>References to washing, the name, Jesus, the Spirit, God... all inevitably make this an allusion to our baptism into the Name, thus connecting us with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Because they had been justified, counted as sinless due to their baptism into Christ, therefore they should:<br />a) recognize their bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit, and therefore to glorify God in spirit and body<br />b) realize that they are not their own, to live their lives just as they wish<br />c) act as if they are indeed joined to Christ<br />d) let the power of Christ&rsquo;s resurrection and new life work in them<br />Clearly enough, the Corinthians were <i>still</i> fornicating and getting drunk. Yet, Paul says that this is how they used to be. Evidently he means that they have changed status- and they should live that out in practice. But Paul delves deeper into the psychology of sin&rsquo;s self-justification. They were saying that &ldquo;Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats&rdquo; (:13). In other words, we have basic human desires and there are ways to satisfy them. Paul&rsquo;s response is basically that if we are in Christ, then we have vowed to put to death those desires, and to fulfil them is to act as if they are still alive and well. Further, in baptism we are counted to have died to them; and we seek to live the new life, empowered by the resurrection life which is now in the Lord, whose body we belong to. The comfort and challenge comes to Christian alcoholics today: You are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified, counted as righteous. Think back to your baptism. That&rsquo;s what happened then. Now, try to live out that life. Act, or at least try to act, how God perceives you. The alcoholic needs to remember, as the Romans also needed to, the colossal significance of the fact they have been baptized. They have a responsibility and also tremendous, boundless possibility because of this. Remind them of it. Leave some photos or reminders of their early days in the Lord around the house. Talk about it...</p><p>Paul writes here about believers being sanctified and justified, in that order, and by so doing he reflects his absorption of how his Lord had referred to the Father as firstly sanctified and then justified in Jn. 17:11,25?</p><p>Isaiah 30:1 condemns the Jews for seeking forgiveness their own way rather than by the gift of God's Spirit: they &quot;cover with a covering (atonement), but not of my Spirit, that they may add (rather than subtract) sin to sin&quot;. Is. 44:3 describes the latter day forgiveness of Israel in similar terms: &quot;I will pour... floods upon the dry ground (spiritually barren- Is. 53:2): I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring&quot;. The blessing of Abraham's seed is in their forgiveness through Christ (Acts 3:25,26)- which is here paralleled with the pouring out of the Spirit upon the Jews. This is clearly the language of Joel 2 and Acts 2. Gal. 3:14 puts all this in so many words: &quot;That the blessing of Abraham (forgiveness) might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit&quot;. Thus 1 Cor. 6:11 speaks of being washed from our sins &quot;by the spirit of our God&quot;. There is a parallelism in Romans between us receiving &quot;grace... the atonement... the Spirit&quot; (Rom. 1:5; 5:11; 8:15), showing the connection between the gift (&quot;grace&quot;) of the Spirit and the forgiveness which leads to the atonement. It is hard to overstate how much the New Testament builds on the language and concepts of the Old Testament, especially in view of the large primarily Jewish readership the epistles would have had. Time and again in the Pentateuch and Joshua God promises to give the land to His people- &quot;the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it&quot; is a common phrase. The counterpart of the land under the new covenant is salvation; that is therefore the gift of God now in prospect, with its associated forgiveness of sins.</p>