Flee Sexual Immorality - FLEE - 1 Corinthians 5-6

 1 Corinthians 6:17-18 (ESV)

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.

The above two verses are taken right out of an entire paragraph on Paul addressing the church at Corinth about sexual sins.   The section actually started in chapter five when he addressed (and condemned) a believing young man in their church who was living with his father’s wife.  Paul, from that point begins to write to the church about their purity within the context of the world (both with sexual matters and legal matters and then back to sexual matters).   Apparently, not only was this one young man doing something (as a believer) that even the pagans would not do (5:1), but others where engaged with sexual relations (as believers) with prostitutes.   This would not be uncommon at the time of this writing.    There were many prostitutes that we actually part of religious ceremonies in those days.   Paul is trying show that the believing church that we are not like the world.  This is why he writes in the above line, “... flee from sexual immorality.”  The tense of the verb is to keep fleeing and keep on fleeing until you are completely away from the danger.   The reason for this command is twofold in his argument.  

1. We are “joined to the Lord” and “one spirit with Him.”   This is truly an amazing thought about our lives in general, much less specifically with sexual matters.  Paul’s argument throughout his letters is the power, beauty and mystery of our union with Christ.  All of our inheritance is wrapped up in the doctrine that we are “united with Christ.”   This is a powerful argument about sexually immorality because we are literally united with Him.  Any blessing of Christ is ours and (so Paul’s argument goes) any involvement of sin in our lives (especially sexual matters) grieves and taints Christ (both in reputation and the power we have by that mysterious union).   When we commit sexual sin (any sin) we damage that union.  Our sin does not make Jesus sin.  As one commentator states it, “sunlight shining on dirty garbage is not tainted by the garbage.”   But, our sin does damage that union (especially before the eyes of the world ... the context of this very chapter). 

2. Sexual sins damage the body.   The word “other” in the above text does not appear in the original Greek of this passage.   So, that makes it hard to understand Paul’s argument.  But, it is evident that he believes that sexual sins (unlike other sins) not only damages our relationship with Christ, it actually, also, damages our human bodies in some particular manner.  

Paul is too general for us to draw more in-depth meaning but suffice it to say that he is warning us that sexual sins WILL damage our reputation before the world, it WILL bring shame onto Christ name and it WILL do something physiological to our human composition.  Today’s medical, psychological and sociological studies shed much light and in-depth understanding of this, by the way.  But, the truth of Scripture, written well before the organization of these disciplines already tells us all we need to know.  Sexual immorality is one of the most dangerous sins mankind can be engaged in.  Yet, it is freely one of the most pervasive and permissible and practiced sins in the world today.   May it not be for believers ... Paul’s point!!