Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Corinthians 6:10 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 10. 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse continues the list across economic, substance, verbal, and exploitative harms.
The kingdom has a shape, and some of you were washed.
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–11
Read 1 Corinthians 6:10 with 6:9–11. This verse continues the list across economic, substance, verbal, and exploitative harms. The complete unit establishes: Paul warns that persistent injustice is incompatible with God's kingdom, names sexual, idolatrous, economic, addictive, and verbal harms, then reminds the Corinthians that some had lived in such patterns but were washed, sanctified, and justified in Jesus's name and God's Spirit.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The catalogue deepens the accusation of injustice while grace prevents fixed stigma and supplies a transformed identity. At 6:10, this verse continues the list across economic, substance, verbal, and exploitative harms.
Follow the Context
- A serious kingdom-inheritance warning addresses the unjust.
- The list spans sexual, religious, economic, substance, and speech harms.
- 'Such were some of you' prevents othering.
- Washing, sanctification, and justification name God's transforming action.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit”
In plain language: This verse continues the list across economic, substance, verbal, and exploitative harms.
It contributes specifically to Grace Names Wrong and Creates a New Communal Identity inside 1 Corinthians 6:9–11.
Why it matters: The verse carries enough interpretive or pastoral weight to require the full unit and its explicit limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Corinthians 6:10 does not turn the fact that it continues the list across economic, substance, verbal, and exploitative harms into a standalone universal rule.
What Remains True
This verse continues the list across economic, substance, verbal, and exploitative harms. This supports the unit's enduring conclusion: God's kingdom confronts exploitative and destructive patterns while grace gives people a new identity beyond fixed stigma.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Corinthians 6:10's contribution to 1 Corinthians 6:9–11. Include the surrounding argument, the named interpretive uncertainty, and one use the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 — Grace Names Wrong and Creates a New Communal IdentitySources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Major readings range from broad male same-sex conduct to more specifically exploitative practices; malakoi may be sexual, moral, or status language. The package leaves the modern mapping disputed while keeping the text's call away from sexual and economic wrong.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, repeated terms, and original-language discussion.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file 1Cor.txt, 6:9–11
Open the 1 Corinthians Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible - 1 Corinthians with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, textual variants, and interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 print view with translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET 1 Corinthians PDFLexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Independent morphology and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository morphology and lexical records for 1 Corinthians 6:9–11
Open source ↗modern open commentary
1 Corinthians
Eric C. Redmond
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Whole-letter movement, Corinthian setting, bibliography, major alternatives, and verse-level interpretation.
Exact location: Redmond, The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary: 1 Corinthians, introduction and section on 6:9–11
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access lexical and contextual article
Malakoi and Arsenokoitai: A Reflection on 1 Corinthians 6:9 from a Ghanaian (Akan) Perspective
Ernest Nyarko
E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 7(12), 2021
Supports: Lexical and reception-history review of the vice list, including disputed sexual terms.
Exact location: Nyarko, 'Vice List in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,' E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 7.10 (2021), pp. 201–214
Open source ↗