Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
The Truth of Sin!
Sometimes we are so set in our beliefs, that we are not willing to accept the truth because it will mean what we already believe is wrong. When we come face to face with one of those truths, we need to decide what is more important to us. Do we push away the truth so we can continue to believe what we already accept, or do we change everything we believe in order to accept the truth?
When it comes to God, the most important thing we need to recognize is that the truth is all that matters. What we have been taught our entire lives does not matter. Who we learned it from doesn't matter. All that matters is that we learn the truth and we accept the truth. He will not care why you didn't accept the truth because we won't have a good enough excuse. The truth is in His Word. All we had to do is study His Word to know His truth.
There are different types of verses in the Bible. There are "primary" verses and "supporting" verses, then there are all of the rest of the verses.
A "primary" verses is any verse for a subject that is plainly written. When you read it, there is no trouble understanding what it says as well as what it means. It cannot be interpreted to mean anything other than what it says. These primary verses are the cornerstones to the truth. If a verse states something plainly and it simply cannot be interpreted to mean anything else than what it says, then that verse must be considered as the truth.
A "supporting" verse is any verse that can be interpreted to support a belief, but it is not plainly stated. If you are completely unbiased and honest, you can see how it can be interpreted to mean something else as well. These verses do not set the truth, but they simply support the truth. In some cases they can support different views at the same time.
When searching for the truth in God's Word, it is important to recognize the difference in Primary verses and Supporting verses. If you have a hundred supporting verses that all seem to support the same belief, that will give a lot of credibility to that belief. However, if you find even one single Primary verse that is clearly stating the opposite belief is true, then the Primary verse must be considered to be the truth. It doesn't matter if you have believed your entire life that the supporting verses were all true, if there is a single primary verse saying just the opposite, you must accept that as the truth if you want to believe in God's truth. There simply cannot be any direct contradictions to theology in God's Word.
I am going to set the stage for this by showing you something that most Christians do agree on first.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Corinthians 15:50-52
50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Some believe the rapture will be after the tribulation. That belief is impossible to align to scripture and you can read why at Rapture vs Second Coming. Most believe it will be before the Tribulation and some believe it will happen just before the midpoint of the tribulation. Whatever you believe, most every Christian agrees that the Bible says Jesus will return at one point to call us into the sky.
So the question then is, who will Jesus call up to Him? What will be the qualifications to being one of those Jesus comes to save?
Romans 10:9-13 (NASB)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
I am learning the vast amount of Christians believe that our salvation also depends on our works to some extent. Because this belief is so widely accepted, I feel I must address it here.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Romans 11:6 (NASB)
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
Notice that all of those verses are very plainly stated. These are primary verses. They do not make you assume any detail whatsoever. We are saved through faith and faith alone. It is a gift of God and has absolutely nothing to do with works in any way. To argue that we are saved by works at this point, you would need to explain how that lines up with the direct contradiction to these verses. Since there can be no direct contradictions in theology in God's Word, it is wrong to accept that we are saved by works.
Some will try to use James 2:14-16 as evidence that we are saved by works. They only do so because they are interpreting it to support their beliefs. This scripture does not ever plainly say that we are saved by works. It only says that faith without works is dead. What this scripture is telling us is that if your faith is in your heart, to result in salvation, it will also have a result of naturally wanting to do good things. If you say you have faith and it does not result in good works, then it is not true faith. You are not truly saved. Good works is a result of being saved, not a cause of it. It never once says you are saved by works.
So Jesus will return one day and call those who are saved up to him in the sky. We know they will be saved through their faith in Jesus and it will have nothing to do with their works. Here is where I will hit you with a truth that most Christians are not willing to accept.
Hebrews 9:28 (NASB)
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
First I want to point out that this is a "Primary" verse. It is very plainly stated and there is no other interpretation for it. What it says is just what will happen. When Christ returns to save us, and He calls us up to Him, He will do it "without reference to sin".
The only way you can say this verse is not the truth, is if you can come up with a reasonable alternate interpretation to what it means, or if you can somehow show evidence that it was not translated correctly.
When Jesus returns, he will call us up without reference to sin. Think for a minute what that is saying. It does not say without reference to forgiven sin. It just says without reference to sin. Sin (forgiven or unforgiven) will not even enter his mind at the time He is calling us up to Him.
If a man who is saved is seduced by a woman and he cheats on his wife, and has not had a chance to ask God to forgive him before he dies or gets raptured, he will still go to heaven. In fact if someone is in the middle of a sin when Jesus returns, they will still be raptured.
Getting a Head Start on Your Arguments!
Now many of you are shaking your head right now, saying I am way off base. What I teach is not scripture. Even though I am backing up each thing I say with not only scripture, but "Primary" scriptures.
In teaching this to others in Facebook groups, I have had Christians accusing me of not being filled with the Holy Spirit and teaching false doctrines. I have even been accused multiple times of having a secret sin that I don't want to give up, so I am trying to justify it by teaching sin does not send us to hell.
The truth is I do not have any secret sin. For over 30 years I was addicted to porn and I hated it. I hated myself for it. I fell away from God believing God had turned His back on me. A year and a half ago, God opened my eyes and called me back. For the first time I truly gave God my everything. I pray multiple times every day. I read His Word every day. I study His Word 3 to 5 nights a week. The more I filled myself with God, the more He changed me and took that sinful desire away from me. The only secrets I carry are from my past. I do not teach this out of selfish principles. I teach this strictly because it is the truth. This is truly what God's Word actually says and I am standing against the bad doctrines the churches have taught for so long.
You will want to go grab all kinds of verses stating that sin does send us to hell. I have had several thrown at me. Every one of them interpreted wrong or translated wrong. Every one of them supporting verses trying to be used to counter the primary verses I am using. That just doesn't work.
So I figured I will save you some trouble and make some of your arguments for you....
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NASB)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
First I want to point out the simplest mistake people are making with this verse. Fornicators is not a sin. It is a type of sinner. Fornication would be the sin. The same goes with idolaters, adulterers, and every other sinner this verse mentions. Those are all types of sinners and not types of sins.
What you are confusing here is the word "sinner". Every time the Bible uses the word "sinner" it is referring to the unsaved. It is never used when referring to those who are saved. Here when it names off the different types of sinners that will not inherit the Kingdom of God, it is speaking the absolute truth. Those sinners will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The problem is, it never says "why" they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Because it names off the types of sinners, people tend to just assume it is because of those sins that they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. That is a mistake because if you assume that, then you are saying sin sends us to hell and you are then in direct contradiction with Hebrews 9:28. You are saying that when Jesus returns, he would have to consider who is sinning and who has been forgiven for their sins and everything before he can call up only those who fit the rules of righteousness. Since Hebrews 9:28 clearly says Jesus will save us without reference to sin, it means He cannot even consider any of those sins when He saves us. He will save us strictly by our faith in Him.
Another mistake people make in reading 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, is not reading verse 11 with it. They take those two verses and read them by themselves and assume it says those sins send us to hell. It never says any such thing.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Paul was telling the members of the church that they were once all of those kinds of sinners, but they are no longer. He doesn't say they never sin anymore. He is just saying they are no longer sinners. They have been washed clean and sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God. This is not a message about what sins send us to hell. This is a message about how the unsaved can be saved no matter what sin it is they are caught up in.
Now you can say that is just my interpretation. I will reply with the fact that my interpretation does not contradict any primary verses. If you say those sins send us to hell, then you need to explain Hebrews 9:28 and Ephesians 2:8-9.
1 John 3:8-9 (KJV)
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
The first problem with this verse is that the KJV and other versions translation seems to say that anyone who even commits one sin is of the devil. We know that is not true because we know that everyone, even the saved, still sin from time to time.
1 John 1:8 (NASB)
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Everyone sins once in a while. Other than Jesus, there isn't anyone who never sins. So if you believe 1 John 3:8-9 is saying anyone who commits a sin is of the devil, then you either believe that there is not one person other than Jesus who will ever reach heaven, or you are in direct contradiction with 1 John 1:8. Either way it is clear that stance cannot be correct.
The problem with using this verse to say sin sends us to hell is in the translation. All it takes is to type 1 John 3:8-9 into Biblehub.com to quickly learn that half of the Bible versions use a word that is absent in the KJV bible. That word is"Practices".
Let's take a look at the NASB version. If you are wondering why the NASB version, there are many lists online where people rank Bible versions from most accurate (word for word) to least accurate. KJV often lands around 5th or 6th. NASB is usually ranked as more accurate than the KJV.
1 John 3:8-9 (NASB)
8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
So now it is not anyone who commits a sin is of the devil, but anyone who makes a practice of sin. Then you have to wonder what the criteria is for practicing sin? If someone masturbates once a week, is that practicing sin? Even if they are trying to stop but can't help it? Heck, it can even be debatable on whether masturbation is actually a sin. Maybe practicing sin would have to mean to not care they are sinning and just live in sin. I don't know the criteria for what God constitutes as practicing sin. I don't need to know because 1) I don't believe sin sends us to hell. 2) I don't believe that is what this verse is talking about.
I have read different articles on people trying to explain these verses and they try to break down each verse. Whether each verse is speaking of the person or the Holy Spirit (Seed of God). Whether it is speaking of any sin or the practicing of sin. There are many different explanations and none of them seems to sit right with me as being fully correct. I truly believe the problem here is that we do not have a full understanding of the Hebrew or Greek (whichever was used here) enough to give it the perfect translation all the way through it. The fact that some versions use "who practices sin" and others just say "who sins" is evidence to that.
When you just read the entire chapter, you can come to a better understanding of what the message is. There is a discernible difference between those who are saved and those who are not. For those who are saved will love each other. The Holy Spirit will be seen in how they live. However, he warns that we should not live in practice of sin, because that is not what God would have us do. Practicing sin will allow Satan to get a hold of our lives. To draw us away from God and into the world.
I also see the advice of keeping your focus on Christ, for when one is focused on Christ, he will not sin. When we take our eyes off Christ, we will sin. So keep your focus on Christ at all times so we can live in righteousness.
I do not believe this is saying that if you ever sin, you are no longer saved. God does not expect us to live in perfection in order to go to heaven. As other verses plainly state, our salvation is not dependent on our own accomplishments.
Whether you agree with what I say here or not, all one has to do is look up "1 John 3:8-9 explained" and read a few articles and you quickly realize there are different ways to interpret what is being said. That simple fact means one must list this verse as a supporting verse and not a primary verse. To interpret it to contradict any primary verse is absolutely wrong.
Hebrews 10:26-27
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
Let's be honest. To read this and say it means sin sends us to hell, is to blindly read the bible looking for it to agree with what you believe. This simply does not mean that. Many of the experts believe this is a warning against apostasy. Real Christians choosing to live in sin and turn away from God. I believe it is possibly just a warning against those who know God is real and Jesus is the Christ, but just are not willing to leave their life of sin to turn to Christ.
Either way, this is not saying sin sends us to hell but it is talking about knowing the truth of Christ and choosing to reject him and continue living in sin.
This is Not a License to Sin!
That seems to be one of the main reasons people don't want to accept the truth that Sin does not send us to hell. They feel in believing that, it gives us a free license to sin. If you believe that, then you don't truly understand what happens at salvation.
If you want to read the details on it, feel free to read Salvation here at One God Logic. For now I will just run through it quickly.
People are inherently evil. We are slaves to sin and we are not even able to choose God over sin. The only way we can be saved is if God changes our spirit and gives us a desire for good. Through foreknowledge, the All Knowing God, chooses who will accept Him and gives them a new spirit. At that time we still desire sin as well and we still have free will. So we choose to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The moment we have faith in Christ and confess aloud that He is Lord, we are saved and God sends the Holy Spirit to us. (No we do not need to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and fill us.) At this point, we are no longer sinners. We are Saints and we will still sin. We will from time to time, fall short. But because we are no longer sinners and have been washed clean, we are going to heaven. Even if we die with some sins that we have not asked God to forgive.
Because we have a new spirit and the Holy Spirit enters us, it is no longer in us to want to live in sin. If we immediately start reading the Bible and studying His Word and praying every day, we will always desire to turn away from sin. However, if we do not diligently strive to be right with God and we do not ever ask God to forgive us for our sins, our sin will pile up and create a wall between us and God. That wall will continue to grow until we know longer hear God calling. The more we sin, the more we will desire sin until that sin draws us completely into the world again.
However much we sin, if we still have faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are still saved. What we miss out on is still very important however. We miss out on having that wonderful relationship with God as we deal with this world. Then in the afterlife, we will lose our rewards. We will be the lowest level of servants in the afterlife, but we will still be saved.
There is great debate as to whether someone can truly lose their salvation or not. Since we are saved by faith and faith alone, the only possible way we can lose our salvation is to lose that faith. I do not personally believe this is possible for one reason. Because God chooses us using foreknowledge. God knows who will accept Him and who will serve Him. I believe he chooses those who are worth saving. Those who will end up in heaven anyway. God is all knowing. God is perfect. God cannot possibly make a mistake and be wrong. So if he chooses to change someone's spirit and gives to them the Holy Spirit, I believe the odds of them losing their faith completely is zero. Otherwise God would not have chosen them. To believe we can lose our salvation is to believe God is not perfect.
Now to be clear, there will be many who have faith in Christ who live deep in sin. They will still go to heaven. These are not people who just choose to reject Jesus and live a life of sin. These will be believers who for one of a thousand reasons have fallen into the world. I spent over 30 years believing God had turned His back on me. I never once stopped believing in God or Jesus and I never lost my faith that Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Every time the subject of God or Christianity was brought up with friends or at work or wherever, I always still took the side of God. I didn't hate God. I just truly believed God didn't want me.
I spent 30+ years feeling miserable and hating my life. Hating myself. I could have been happy all of those years if I had just understood the truth that I never fully gave God my all. I paid a heavy price for my resistance from serving God with all of my heart. I lost a lot of rewards in the afterlife as well, but since I always still believed in Jesus as the Lord, I still would have gone to heaven if I had died.
Can someone choose to live in sin and still go to heaven? Yes, so long as they truly believe in Jesus as Lord in their heart. But they pay a heavier price than people realize. For a few years of fun in the flesh, they will lose a lot of rewards for all eternity. It is not worth it! They also will spend those few years in the flesh having fun but never being happy inside because we cannot be happy inside when we are separated from God, even if it is just in our relationship with Him. A person would be a complete fool to choose to give up so much to gain so little. This is not giving someone a free license to sin. This is giving someone a free will to make the worst deal of their eternal lives. The only decision they could possibly make that would be worse is to reject Jesus altogether and go to hell.
I know this is not what the church has taught you. For centuries the church has taught the bad doctrine that sin controls whether we go to heaven or hell. The truth is however, that the Bible never says that. We have misinterpreted verses to believe that.
Every primary verse that is clearly stated will say our salvation is not by works but only by faith in Christ. That sin tears down our relationship with God but does not send us to hell.
You can choose to continue believing sin sends you to hell if you want. You do so with the understanding it creates a contradiction with the following verses...
Romans 10:9-13
Ephesians 2:8-9
Romans 11:6
Hebrews 9:28
To believe that sin sends you to hell, you would have to first explain those verses because the truth of God's Word simply cannot have any direct contradictions in theology.
When it comes to God, the most important thing we need to recognize is that the truth is all that matters. What we have been taught our entire lives does not matter. Who we learned it from doesn't matter. All that matters is that we learn the truth and we accept the truth. He will not care why you didn't accept the truth because we won't have a good enough excuse. The truth is in His Word. All we had to do is study His Word to know His truth.
There are different types of verses in the Bible. There are "primary" verses and "supporting" verses, then there are all of the rest of the verses.
A "primary" verses is any verse for a subject that is plainly written. When you read it, there is no trouble understanding what it says as well as what it means. It cannot be interpreted to mean anything other than what it says. These primary verses are the cornerstones to the truth. If a verse states something plainly and it simply cannot be interpreted to mean anything else than what it says, then that verse must be considered as the truth.
A "supporting" verse is any verse that can be interpreted to support a belief, but it is not plainly stated. If you are completely unbiased and honest, you can see how it can be interpreted to mean something else as well. These verses do not set the truth, but they simply support the truth. In some cases they can support different views at the same time.
When searching for the truth in God's Word, it is important to recognize the difference in Primary verses and Supporting verses. If you have a hundred supporting verses that all seem to support the same belief, that will give a lot of credibility to that belief. However, if you find even one single Primary verse that is clearly stating the opposite belief is true, then the Primary verse must be considered to be the truth. It doesn't matter if you have believed your entire life that the supporting verses were all true, if there is a single primary verse saying just the opposite, you must accept that as the truth if you want to believe in God's truth. There simply cannot be any direct contradictions to theology in God's Word.
I am going to set the stage for this by showing you something that most Christians do agree on first.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Corinthians 15:50-52
50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Some believe the rapture will be after the tribulation. That belief is impossible to align to scripture and you can read why at Rapture vs Second Coming. Most believe it will be before the Tribulation and some believe it will happen just before the midpoint of the tribulation. Whatever you believe, most every Christian agrees that the Bible says Jesus will return at one point to call us into the sky.
So the question then is, who will Jesus call up to Him? What will be the qualifications to being one of those Jesus comes to save?
Romans 10:9-13 (NASB)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
I am learning the vast amount of Christians believe that our salvation also depends on our works to some extent. Because this belief is so widely accepted, I feel I must address it here.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Romans 11:6 (NASB)
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
Notice that all of those verses are very plainly stated. These are primary verses. They do not make you assume any detail whatsoever. We are saved through faith and faith alone. It is a gift of God and has absolutely nothing to do with works in any way. To argue that we are saved by works at this point, you would need to explain how that lines up with the direct contradiction to these verses. Since there can be no direct contradictions in theology in God's Word, it is wrong to accept that we are saved by works.
Some will try to use James 2:14-16 as evidence that we are saved by works. They only do so because they are interpreting it to support their beliefs. This scripture does not ever plainly say that we are saved by works. It only says that faith without works is dead. What this scripture is telling us is that if your faith is in your heart, to result in salvation, it will also have a result of naturally wanting to do good things. If you say you have faith and it does not result in good works, then it is not true faith. You are not truly saved. Good works is a result of being saved, not a cause of it. It never once says you are saved by works.
So Jesus will return one day and call those who are saved up to him in the sky. We know they will be saved through their faith in Jesus and it will have nothing to do with their works. Here is where I will hit you with a truth that most Christians are not willing to accept.
Hebrews 9:28 (NASB)
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
First I want to point out that this is a "Primary" verse. It is very plainly stated and there is no other interpretation for it. What it says is just what will happen. When Christ returns to save us, and He calls us up to Him, He will do it "without reference to sin".
The only way you can say this verse is not the truth, is if you can come up with a reasonable alternate interpretation to what it means, or if you can somehow show evidence that it was not translated correctly.
When Jesus returns, he will call us up without reference to sin. Think for a minute what that is saying. It does not say without reference to forgiven sin. It just says without reference to sin. Sin (forgiven or unforgiven) will not even enter his mind at the time He is calling us up to Him.
If a man who is saved is seduced by a woman and he cheats on his wife, and has not had a chance to ask God to forgive him before he dies or gets raptured, he will still go to heaven. In fact if someone is in the middle of a sin when Jesus returns, they will still be raptured.
Getting a Head Start on Your Arguments!
Now many of you are shaking your head right now, saying I am way off base. What I teach is not scripture. Even though I am backing up each thing I say with not only scripture, but "Primary" scriptures.
In teaching this to others in Facebook groups, I have had Christians accusing me of not being filled with the Holy Spirit and teaching false doctrines. I have even been accused multiple times of having a secret sin that I don't want to give up, so I am trying to justify it by teaching sin does not send us to hell.
The truth is I do not have any secret sin. For over 30 years I was addicted to porn and I hated it. I hated myself for it. I fell away from God believing God had turned His back on me. A year and a half ago, God opened my eyes and called me back. For the first time I truly gave God my everything. I pray multiple times every day. I read His Word every day. I study His Word 3 to 5 nights a week. The more I filled myself with God, the more He changed me and took that sinful desire away from me. The only secrets I carry are from my past. I do not teach this out of selfish principles. I teach this strictly because it is the truth. This is truly what God's Word actually says and I am standing against the bad doctrines the churches have taught for so long.
You will want to go grab all kinds of verses stating that sin does send us to hell. I have had several thrown at me. Every one of them interpreted wrong or translated wrong. Every one of them supporting verses trying to be used to counter the primary verses I am using. That just doesn't work.
So I figured I will save you some trouble and make some of your arguments for you....
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NASB)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
First I want to point out the simplest mistake people are making with this verse. Fornicators is not a sin. It is a type of sinner. Fornication would be the sin. The same goes with idolaters, adulterers, and every other sinner this verse mentions. Those are all types of sinners and not types of sins.
What you are confusing here is the word "sinner". Every time the Bible uses the word "sinner" it is referring to the unsaved. It is never used when referring to those who are saved. Here when it names off the different types of sinners that will not inherit the Kingdom of God, it is speaking the absolute truth. Those sinners will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The problem is, it never says "why" they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Because it names off the types of sinners, people tend to just assume it is because of those sins that they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. That is a mistake because if you assume that, then you are saying sin sends us to hell and you are then in direct contradiction with Hebrews 9:28. You are saying that when Jesus returns, he would have to consider who is sinning and who has been forgiven for their sins and everything before he can call up only those who fit the rules of righteousness. Since Hebrews 9:28 clearly says Jesus will save us without reference to sin, it means He cannot even consider any of those sins when He saves us. He will save us strictly by our faith in Him.
Another mistake people make in reading 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, is not reading verse 11 with it. They take those two verses and read them by themselves and assume it says those sins send us to hell. It never says any such thing.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Paul was telling the members of the church that they were once all of those kinds of sinners, but they are no longer. He doesn't say they never sin anymore. He is just saying they are no longer sinners. They have been washed clean and sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God. This is not a message about what sins send us to hell. This is a message about how the unsaved can be saved no matter what sin it is they are caught up in.
Now you can say that is just my interpretation. I will reply with the fact that my interpretation does not contradict any primary verses. If you say those sins send us to hell, then you need to explain Hebrews 9:28 and Ephesians 2:8-9.
1 John 3:8-9 (KJV)
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
The first problem with this verse is that the KJV and other versions translation seems to say that anyone who even commits one sin is of the devil. We know that is not true because we know that everyone, even the saved, still sin from time to time.
1 John 1:8 (NASB)
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Everyone sins once in a while. Other than Jesus, there isn't anyone who never sins. So if you believe 1 John 3:8-9 is saying anyone who commits a sin is of the devil, then you either believe that there is not one person other than Jesus who will ever reach heaven, or you are in direct contradiction with 1 John 1:8. Either way it is clear that stance cannot be correct.
The problem with using this verse to say sin sends us to hell is in the translation. All it takes is to type 1 John 3:8-9 into Biblehub.com to quickly learn that half of the Bible versions use a word that is absent in the KJV bible. That word is"Practices".
Let's take a look at the NASB version. If you are wondering why the NASB version, there are many lists online where people rank Bible versions from most accurate (word for word) to least accurate. KJV often lands around 5th or 6th. NASB is usually ranked as more accurate than the KJV.
1 John 3:8-9 (NASB)
8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
So now it is not anyone who commits a sin is of the devil, but anyone who makes a practice of sin. Then you have to wonder what the criteria is for practicing sin? If someone masturbates once a week, is that practicing sin? Even if they are trying to stop but can't help it? Heck, it can even be debatable on whether masturbation is actually a sin. Maybe practicing sin would have to mean to not care they are sinning and just live in sin. I don't know the criteria for what God constitutes as practicing sin. I don't need to know because 1) I don't believe sin sends us to hell. 2) I don't believe that is what this verse is talking about.
I have read different articles on people trying to explain these verses and they try to break down each verse. Whether each verse is speaking of the person or the Holy Spirit (Seed of God). Whether it is speaking of any sin or the practicing of sin. There are many different explanations and none of them seems to sit right with me as being fully correct. I truly believe the problem here is that we do not have a full understanding of the Hebrew or Greek (whichever was used here) enough to give it the perfect translation all the way through it. The fact that some versions use "who practices sin" and others just say "who sins" is evidence to that.
When you just read the entire chapter, you can come to a better understanding of what the message is. There is a discernible difference between those who are saved and those who are not. For those who are saved will love each other. The Holy Spirit will be seen in how they live. However, he warns that we should not live in practice of sin, because that is not what God would have us do. Practicing sin will allow Satan to get a hold of our lives. To draw us away from God and into the world.
I also see the advice of keeping your focus on Christ, for when one is focused on Christ, he will not sin. When we take our eyes off Christ, we will sin. So keep your focus on Christ at all times so we can live in righteousness.
I do not believe this is saying that if you ever sin, you are no longer saved. God does not expect us to live in perfection in order to go to heaven. As other verses plainly state, our salvation is not dependent on our own accomplishments.
Whether you agree with what I say here or not, all one has to do is look up "1 John 3:8-9 explained" and read a few articles and you quickly realize there are different ways to interpret what is being said. That simple fact means one must list this verse as a supporting verse and not a primary verse. To interpret it to contradict any primary verse is absolutely wrong.
Hebrews 10:26-27
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
Let's be honest. To read this and say it means sin sends us to hell, is to blindly read the bible looking for it to agree with what you believe. This simply does not mean that. Many of the experts believe this is a warning against apostasy. Real Christians choosing to live in sin and turn away from God. I believe it is possibly just a warning against those who know God is real and Jesus is the Christ, but just are not willing to leave their life of sin to turn to Christ.
Either way, this is not saying sin sends us to hell but it is talking about knowing the truth of Christ and choosing to reject him and continue living in sin.
This is Not a License to Sin!
That seems to be one of the main reasons people don't want to accept the truth that Sin does not send us to hell. They feel in believing that, it gives us a free license to sin. If you believe that, then you don't truly understand what happens at salvation.
If you want to read the details on it, feel free to read Salvation here at One God Logic. For now I will just run through it quickly.
People are inherently evil. We are slaves to sin and we are not even able to choose God over sin. The only way we can be saved is if God changes our spirit and gives us a desire for good. Through foreknowledge, the All Knowing God, chooses who will accept Him and gives them a new spirit. At that time we still desire sin as well and we still have free will. So we choose to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The moment we have faith in Christ and confess aloud that He is Lord, we are saved and God sends the Holy Spirit to us. (No we do not need to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and fill us.) At this point, we are no longer sinners. We are Saints and we will still sin. We will from time to time, fall short. But because we are no longer sinners and have been washed clean, we are going to heaven. Even if we die with some sins that we have not asked God to forgive.
Because we have a new spirit and the Holy Spirit enters us, it is no longer in us to want to live in sin. If we immediately start reading the Bible and studying His Word and praying every day, we will always desire to turn away from sin. However, if we do not diligently strive to be right with God and we do not ever ask God to forgive us for our sins, our sin will pile up and create a wall between us and God. That wall will continue to grow until we know longer hear God calling. The more we sin, the more we will desire sin until that sin draws us completely into the world again.
However much we sin, if we still have faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are still saved. What we miss out on is still very important however. We miss out on having that wonderful relationship with God as we deal with this world. Then in the afterlife, we will lose our rewards. We will be the lowest level of servants in the afterlife, but we will still be saved.
There is great debate as to whether someone can truly lose their salvation or not. Since we are saved by faith and faith alone, the only possible way we can lose our salvation is to lose that faith. I do not personally believe this is possible for one reason. Because God chooses us using foreknowledge. God knows who will accept Him and who will serve Him. I believe he chooses those who are worth saving. Those who will end up in heaven anyway. God is all knowing. God is perfect. God cannot possibly make a mistake and be wrong. So if he chooses to change someone's spirit and gives to them the Holy Spirit, I believe the odds of them losing their faith completely is zero. Otherwise God would not have chosen them. To believe we can lose our salvation is to believe God is not perfect.
Now to be clear, there will be many who have faith in Christ who live deep in sin. They will still go to heaven. These are not people who just choose to reject Jesus and live a life of sin. These will be believers who for one of a thousand reasons have fallen into the world. I spent over 30 years believing God had turned His back on me. I never once stopped believing in God or Jesus and I never lost my faith that Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Every time the subject of God or Christianity was brought up with friends or at work or wherever, I always still took the side of God. I didn't hate God. I just truly believed God didn't want me.
I spent 30+ years feeling miserable and hating my life. Hating myself. I could have been happy all of those years if I had just understood the truth that I never fully gave God my all. I paid a heavy price for my resistance from serving God with all of my heart. I lost a lot of rewards in the afterlife as well, but since I always still believed in Jesus as the Lord, I still would have gone to heaven if I had died.
Can someone choose to live in sin and still go to heaven? Yes, so long as they truly believe in Jesus as Lord in their heart. But they pay a heavier price than people realize. For a few years of fun in the flesh, they will lose a lot of rewards for all eternity. It is not worth it! They also will spend those few years in the flesh having fun but never being happy inside because we cannot be happy inside when we are separated from God, even if it is just in our relationship with Him. A person would be a complete fool to choose to give up so much to gain so little. This is not giving someone a free license to sin. This is giving someone a free will to make the worst deal of their eternal lives. The only decision they could possibly make that would be worse is to reject Jesus altogether and go to hell.
I know this is not what the church has taught you. For centuries the church has taught the bad doctrine that sin controls whether we go to heaven or hell. The truth is however, that the Bible never says that. We have misinterpreted verses to believe that.
Every primary verse that is clearly stated will say our salvation is not by works but only by faith in Christ. That sin tears down our relationship with God but does not send us to hell.
You can choose to continue believing sin sends you to hell if you want. You do so with the understanding it creates a contradiction with the following verses...
Romans 10:9-13
Ephesians 2:8-9
Romans 11:6
Hebrews 9:28
To believe that sin sends you to hell, you would have to first explain those verses because the truth of God's Word simply cannot have any direct contradictions in theology.