1Co6

The gospel changes everything! What we were, we no longer have to be. God's grace has been poured out in our lives and we no longer are to be characterized by former sins.

Paul writes, "such WERE some of you, this is what you USED TO BE LIKE". We are no longer slaves of former sins. We are set free from those things that used to control our lives. Did you catch the list? Have you identified your former way of living? Often we point to those sins that don't characterize any phase of our lives and feel good about NOT being that! Clearly this is not Paul's desire. He wants us to recognize the change that Christ has brought in us.

I doubt that anyone struggles with everything on the list: sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, theft, greed, drunkenness, verbal abuse, or swindling. I would also say that all of us struggle with some of this list. The question is: Which things did you formerly struggle with that are now in your past because of Christ?

Jesus does not give us permission to sin, but rather, the power to overcome sin and put it in our past! We are to become the new person that Jesus desires us to be.