The Unrighteous Will Not Be Saved Unless They Repent
1 Corinthians 6:9–11
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
President Spencer W. Kimball wrote:
“Certainly, the kingdom cannot be populated with such men as Paul had found in the Church branches where he worked. It could hardly be glory and honor and power and joy if the eternal kingdom were made up of fornicators, adulterers, idolaters, sexual perverts, thieves, covetous persons, drunkards, liars, rebels, reprobates, extortioners, and such people. But Paul’s next thought is comforting as well as clarifying: ‘And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God’ (1 Cor. 6:11).
“This is the great secret. Some of those who inherit the kingdom may have committed such grievous sins but are no longer in those categories. They are no longer unclean, having been washed, sanctified, and justified. Paul’s hearers had been in those despicable categories, but having now received the gospel with its purifying, transforming powers they were changed. The cleansing process had been applied and they were washed clean and had become eligible for the First Resurrection and for exaltation in God’s kingdom.”
(The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 351–52.)
