'Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love,

as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering

and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.  But fornication,

and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among

you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor

jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.  For

this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous

man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ

and of God.  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of

these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of

The words 'let no man deceive you' link this warning with that of 1

Corinthians 6:9, 'be not deceived', and with Galatians 5, where love is seen

as the fulfilling of the law, and the exhortation to 'walk in the spirit'

(Gal. 5:16) is on a par with the exhortation of Ephesians 5:2 'walk in love'.

Other references to the kingdom in Paul's epistles are 1 Thessalonians

2:12; 'walk worthy', which suggests the kingdom here is equivalent to the

calling, even as the words 'walk worthy' are linked in Ephesians 4:1.  On two

occasions the apostle wrote what the kingdom was Not:

'The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power' (1 Cor. 4:20).

'The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and

peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost' (Rom. 14:17).

The 'kingdom' in the Prison Epistles will be 'at His appearing',

epiphaneia (2 Tim. 4:1), a word linked in verse 8 with the attaining unto a

'crown' and is on all fours with the references in 2 Timothy to 'striving',

'reigning' and receiving a 'crown'.  Two references in 1 Corinthians 15

complete the number of occasions where Paul speaks of the kingdom:

'Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to

God, even the Father ... that God may be all in all' (1 Cor. 15:24 -

We cannot believe any believer who has even a glimmering of light could

confound this kingdom with the kingdom of heaven of Matthew or the kingdom

which is the sphere of the Church of the One Body.  This

is complete, comprehensive and final.  The only other reference is 1

Corinthians 15:50 where 'flesh and blood' cannot inherit the kingdom of God,

neither doth 'corruption inherit incorruption'.  Here the parallelism is

A

Flesh and blood.

B

cannot inherit.

C

The Kingdom of God.

A

B

cannot inherit.

C

The kingdom of God here, is the realm of incorruption and of resurrection,

but whether in the heavens, on the earth, or anywhere else is not in view.

Returning for a moment to those most solemn passages where those who

practise the gross sins listed cannot inherit the kingdom of God, we are