my question would be, if we are going to focus on sin, why pick on one and not all?     i may totally be missing your concern here.  for that i apologize.  

for now, i will say again, sin is no longer an issue for the New Creation to focus on, as if it has not already been dealt with.  we do not need to converse with one another as those who are alive to sin and dead to GOD.  we do need to and do desire immensely to speak to and with one another as those ALIVE to GOD and DEAD to SIN.  Life speaks to and recognizes Life.  Spirit speaks to and recognizes  Spirit.  Love speaks to and recognizes Love.  etc.

in case you misunderstand me, i am not denying that homosexuality is on the 'list of sins'.   it is not the only one.  i am more focused on what the apostle paul continued to say after that … 'but such were some of you ….'.   even while they may have actually been encouraged to continue to engage in sinful practices, (whatever they may have been - new to them or already very familiar to them) he encouraged them to remember and to realize that none of it was linked to their New and Living Identity or Reality or how they were defined in Christ.  it was no longer their obligation or bondage to the flesh.  his heart, determination and goal was to encourage them in their New Reality in Christ and not their mistaken identities and futile practices that were empty, dead-to-GOD activities and mentalities.  in other words, those engagements were their own proof of futility/emptiness, etc.

you wonder:  is this person deceived?  is he in denial?  how can he persist in his 'lifestyle' of sin if he is truly saved?

i thought i was answering that in my first post.   lol   theshovel has had some more wonderful digs that also answer that since we last posted as well.     good stuff of Life! 

so here is what i was thinking:  it is not that GOD accepts sin.  that is what Christ died for.  once and for all done deal … a HUGE deal!  no matter the 'sin' or sins plural.  the issue was their once hopeless, GOD-less nature of sin having been done away with  and their New Nature of GOD given them.  the issue is whether or not a person is Alive to GOD in Christ Jesus or …  dead to GOD … empty of the Life of Christ.   it is either Life or death …. Light or darkness …. Sight or blindness … etc.   it is not a matter of this sin or that sin.

if this person you speak of is convinced that his reality is merely that he is accepted by GOD in-spite of his 'sinful condition' (which is the nature of man having inherited it from the first adam) as opposed to having died with Christ and is now a New Creation (no longer a 'sinner', homosexual, or any other label he may think he needs to claim with GOD's approval) it could be considered a matter of denial and/or deception or even both in spite of his New Life, if indeed he has New Life.  or it could be a matter of him not yet being Alive to GOD, much less even knowing what that is or means.  you and i may not yet know what his true reality is, but our GOD and FATHER knows.  HE knows the heart.  i thank GOD that HE does not judge according to the outward appearance or by our being caught up in any particular deception, (for we are all plagued with plenty of that) but instead is according to the UN-seen Reality of His Spirit and work within.

don't know if that helps or not, or if it just adds to the confusion of things.  i try but often don't say things the way i would like, and certainly not with as few words as i would like.