In their recent commentary on 1 Corinthians, LDS scholars Richard Draper and Michael Rhodes offered the following commentary on 1 Cor 6:11, capturing rather well the transformative nature of justification:
but ye are washed but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, / but you have been washed and purified and made innocent: The middle aorist ἀπελούσασθε (apelousasthe), means “to wash something away from one’s self” or “to cause a state of moral purity.” The force of the middle voice in the present context, however, likely acted as one of the self-interest and, therefore, did not imply that the Saints had washed themselves, but that they had let themselves be cleansed by Christ for their own spiritual benefit. Though the imagery of being washed tied to baptism, the words that follow suggest that what Paul had in mind included much more than a single act. He likely meant all that went into the conversion and transformation process. In short, to be washed meant becoming pure and therewith transitioning into a newness of life (Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4).
Paul described the Corinthian Saints as being in two additional states. The aorist passive verb ἡγιάσθητε (hēgiasthēte) meant “to be made holy,” thus “to be sanctified” or “purified.” An important nuance of this verb connoted that which was set apart for God’s purposes and, therefore, possessed, at least to a degree, the same qualities he did. The aorist passive ἐδικαιώθητε (edikōthēte, from δικαιοω dikaioō), in the strictest sense, meant “to be declared innocent or right,” but its range of meanings was much broader. Indeed, I was a word rich in significance and implication. Its breadth could better be understood by comparing its related adjective δικαιος (dikaios) with its antonym, κοινος (koinos), which described that which was “common, ordinary,” but also that which was “worthless, defiled,” or “profane.” Therefore, dikaios connoted such ideas as “uncommon, clean, sacred, and pure.” When used in association with the mystery religions, dikaios connoted “a radical inner change which the initiate experiences” such that it brings him or her closer to God and his character. Therefore, the religious nuance of the verb approached the sense “to become deified.” (Richard D. Draper and Michael D. Rhodes, Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians [Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 2017], 306-7 [note: I silently corrected a small spelling error in the main body of the text; they spelt it ηδικαιώθητε instead of the proper ἐδικαιώθητε])
