Washed, Sanctified, Justified

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

1 Corinthians 6:11 · NKJV

Paul has just listed a hard catalog of lives, and then he puts the entire list in the past tense and leaves it there.

Such were. Were, not are. And what replaced it is three completed actions done to you. Washed clean. Set apart as holy. Declared righteous. All passive. All finished. All in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Maybe your list is not in Paul's catalog, but you have one. The years you spent angry. The relationship you are ashamed of. The version of you that your family still brings up at Thanksgiving. People may keep introducing you by that name for a long time. God does not. When He speaks about you, He uses the words Paul uses here: washed, sanctified, justified. Those are His introductions, and they are the ones that count in heaven. You do not have to win the argument at the table to know what the Father calls you.

That is why arguing with your past is the wrong fight. God did not argue with it. He ended it, and He named you by what He did rather than by what you came from.

Washed, sanctified, justified. Three finished verbs, and your name is on all of them.

Go deeper: Why God’s Not Looking for a Better Version of You →