Can a believer ‘lose the inheritance’?

In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul warns his readers that the unjust shall not be enjoying the allotment of the kingdom of God. Or, as the more literal rendering puts it: they will not be enjoying an allotment in the Kingdom of God. In the following verse (:10), Paul clarifies what he means by “unjust”: paramours, idolaters, adulterers, and so on. Then he continues by saying (:11): some of you were these, but now you are bathed, hallowed, and justified.

Similar warnings about not enjoying an allotment in God’s kingdom are also found in Galatians 5:19–21 and Ephesians 5:5. That at the end of Christ’s reign death will be abolished, after which all humanity will be vivified, saved, reconciled, and justified (1 Cor.15:22–28), is beyond question. This blog, however, is about the period that precedes that, in which the unjust will not be enjoying an allotment in God’s kingdom.

I often come across the interpretation that the unjust, as mentioned in these passages, are believers who are indeed part of the Body of Christ but, due to their misconduct, will miss out on the bonus of the allotment. Below is a brief outline of that line of argument:

That Paul warns his readers against these practices indicates that it is evidently possible for them to lose their allotment in the Kingdom. Otherwise, the warning would be unnecessary. Paul does not mean to say that believers who engage in such practices will not enter the Kingdom, but rather that they will not obtain an allotment in it. The portion over which they would have had authority is forfeited. According to this interpretation, that is also what Paul refers to in 2 Timothy 2:12: if believers are enduring, they will also be reigning together with Christ, but if believers are disowning Him, then He also will be disowning them, and they will not be reigning together with Him.

Although this interpretation is often defended, I see a number of insurmountable objections that argue against it. I will list five:

1. In 1 Cor.6:11 we read: “And some of you were these…but you are bathed, but you are hallowed, but you were justified…” The fact that Paul writes that some of his readers were like this, but now are bathed, hallowed, and justified, means that these practices belong to the past for them. They are not only justified, but actually bathed (=cleansed from these practices).
2. The reason Paul warns against these practices is not because believers could lose their allotment (see point 4). What he is warning about is that name–believers may forfeit their supposed(!) allotment. This happens when, as pseudo-believers, they are exposed. Earlier in 5:11 Paul already warned not “to be commingling with anyone named a brother” who is a paramour, or greedy, or an idolater, or reviler, or drunkard, or extortioner… The type of wrongdoers Paul names here closely resembles the practices listed in 6:11. In 1 Corinthians 5, the specific occasion (5:1) is that someone was committing prostitution of the sort that is rare even among the nations (incest). And Paul says that one should not be associating with such a paramour (or other kind of wrongdoer) as with a brother. It is possible that he truly is a brother, but in that case, the Lord will again bathe him. Yet as long as he positions himself as a wrongdoer (see next point), he should not be treated as a brother.
3. In 6:9–11 Paul is not speaking about people who fall into sin (see 10:12), but about people who practice all kinds of sins (Gal.5:21). Falling is incidental and unintentional. Practicing sin, on the other hand, means deliberately engaging in sin as a pattern. One who does the latter is, in practice, acting as an unbeliever. Bathing and hallowing, just like justification, are marks of what God does with those whom He calls “through the name of our Lord Jesus” (6:11).
4. The idea that a believer could lose his allotment is foreign to Paul’s teaching. According to Ephesians 1:13 and 14, believers are sealed with God’s spirit “which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment” (see also 4:30). The believer’s allotment is guaranteed and inalienable. God Himself guarantees its acquisition.
5. 2 Timothy 2:12 does not teach that believers can deny the Lord. The “we” in verses 11 through 13 does not refer to believers, but to people in general. This yields the following meaning: “If we (as people) are enduring, we (as people) shall be reigning together also. If we (as people) shall be disowning, He also will be disowning us (as people).” The first group — those who are enduring — are believers. They will reign together with Christ. The second group — those who are disowning — are unbelievers. They will, in turn, also be disowned and will have no share in Christ’s reign.

Summary:
(1) Those who are called by God are justified and hallowed by Him, but also bathed. In other words: whoever is not bathed (i.e., who deliberately persists in evil practices) thereby proves not to be a called one (1 Cor.1:24; Rom.8:30).
(2) It is impossible for believers to lose their allotment, since they are sealed with the spirit of promise, which is an earnest of the allotment.

Delen: