1 Corinthians 6:13-18
“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
Tag: Sexual Sins
In chapters five and six of 1 Corinthians, Paul is addressing sexual sins in the church. He has already (chapter 5) confronted a young man who is living with his step-mom. He has chided and instructed the church to deal with it. He has talk to them about the matter of having issues with each other (6:1-11). Here, above, he returns to the subject of sexual sins in the church, with no apparent example. He is simply wanting the church to understand that the character of sexual promiscuity, is especially wicked in the church and life of the believer. Notice what one commentator/preacher says about this passage:
John MacArthur: Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Our bodies are designed not only to serve in this life but in the life to come. They will be changed bodies, resurrected bodies, glorified bodies, heavenly bodies—but they will still be our own bodies.
The stomach and food have only a horizontal, temporal relationship. At death the relationship ceases. But our bodies are far more than biological. For believers they also have a spiritual, vertical relationship. They belong to God and they will forever endure with God. That is why Paul says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:20-21). We need to take serious care of this body because it will rise in glory to be the instrument that carries our eternally glorious and pure spirit throughout eternity.
We are to understand that sexual sins are of a unique nature. We ought to understand that we are united with Christ. Therefore, sexual sins, done within the body, are wounding to the Spirit of God who lives within us. Hence Paul ends this chapter:
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
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