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Here we have another argument, which our apostle uses to dissuade them from all gross wickedness in general, and from such unchristian behaviour one towards another, as he had before reproved in particular: namely, that great and mighty change which had been wrought upon several of them by means of their conversion to the Christian religion, or the faith of Christ; Such were some of you; but ye are now washed. As if the apostle had said, "You are no longer swine, but sheep, and therefore must not wallow in the mire of sin as you formerly did."
Note here, 1. The black and filthy condition of a sinner, before conversion; the apostle had reckoned up the vilest and worst of sins that could be mentioned, and then says, Such were some of you. The original word is in the neuter, not in the masculine gender; not dtoi, such persons, but tanta, such sins; as emphatically demonstrating their wickedness, that they were not so much peccatores, sinners, as ipsa peccata, the very sins themselves.
Learn hence, That the converting grace of God is sometimes vouchsafed to the vilest and worst of men; and where it is vouchsafed, makes a very great and mighty change.
Note, 2. The particular expressions by which this change is represented: ye are washed, sacramentally washed in baptism; ye are sanctified, purified in your hearts and natures by the sanctifying influences of divine grace; ye are justified, that is, acquitted from guilt, and approved as righteous.
Note, 3. The means by which this change was wrought and effected; in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God. In the name of our Lord Jesus, that is, through the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit.
1. Here we have the defiling nature of sin supposed; all men by nature are polluted and defiled, and stand in need of washing.
2. Our Lord Jesus Christ will not disdain or refuse to justify by his blood, and sanctify by his Spirit, the greatest sinners, and the filthiest souls, that apply unto him, by faith, for pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace: Such were you, but ye are washed.
4. Though justification and sanctification are distinct and different in their nature, yet are they always inseparable in their subject: no person is justified but he that is sanctified: Christ justifies none by his blood, whom he doth not sanctify by his spirit. Though justification and sanctification are not the same thing, yet are they always found in the same person: by the former there is a relative change in our condition; by the latter, a real change in our conversation.