The “unrighteous” that Paul is referring to in 1 Corinthians 6:9 are unsaved people who have never been justified. They are “unjust” in contrast to “saints” (compare 1 Cor. 6:1). Contrary to what Hodges and Dillow teach, the “unrighteous” do not refer to a group of carnal believers who are eternally saved but who will not inherit the kingdom and will not reign with Christ. The passage teaches nothing of the kind.  Indeed, Paul teaches that all those who are saved are not unrighteous because they have been washed, sanctified and justified!  This would include the carnal Corinthians!

Those who profess faith in Christ but who then persist in a wicked and immoral lifestyle, such as characterizes the unregenerate, are giving evidence that they have never been born again. God’s Word certainly recognizes the problem of carnality among God’s saints (1 Cor. 3:1-4), but Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is contrasting those who are unrighteous with those, including the carnal Corinthians, who WERE unrighteous but who have been justified by faith. All those who are justified by faith are righteous in Christ and will inherit the kingdom. Those who “shall not inherit the kingdom” is not a description of fleshly believers who do not qualify for kingdom rewards. Those who “shall not inherit the kingdom” are the unregenerate, whose destiny is the lake of fire.

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