A Good Washing
Paul provides well-known instruction in 1 Corinthians 6 that Christians shouldn’t take other Christians to court. It ruins our witness before those who have no standing in the church (verse 4) and it doesn’t make sense since we’re to judge angels (verse 3). In other words, we should be wise enough in Christ to handle our disagreements. Even more, we should be mature enough in Christ to “suffer wrong” and “be defrauded” by a brother (verse 7). Unrighteous men give place to their grievances against others. Righteous men don’t.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9–11, ESV)
We’ve been bathed in Christ. We are saints. We will inherit a common kingdom. We will judge angels. We can enjoy communion together and the basis is the washing of our sin in Christ, a washing that all of us needed and that none of us deserved.
Being washed changes our eternity destiny, yes, and it severs our ties to temporal things in the world. It also changes our relationships with one another now. Being washed shapes what we expect from each other. Being washed influences how we resolve our disputes. We’ve been washed and our grievances against one another should go down the drain with the rest of the dirt.