What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy
Ghost
What is said in ( 1
Corinthians 3:16 1
Corinthians 3:17 ) of the saints in general, is here said of
their bodies in particular. The Holy Spirit, in regeneration and
sanctification, when he begins the good work of grace on a man,
takes possession of his whole person, soul and body, and dwells
therein as in his temple. So the Jews F15 call
the body of a righteous man (Nkvm) , the "habitation" of the Holy Spirit. Now it is
most abominably scandalous and shameful that that body, which is
the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, which is sacred to him as
a temple, should be defiled by the sin of fornication: it is
added,
which is in you, which ye have of God;
meaning the Holy Spirit which was in them, as in his temple;
which dwelt in their hearts, and influenced their bodies, lives,
and conversations; and which they received of God as a wonderful
instance of his grace and love to them; that he should be
bestowed upon them, to regenerate, renew, and sanctify them, to
implant every grace, to make them a fit habitation for God, and
meet for the inheritance of the saints in light:
and ye are not your own:
their own masters, at their own dispose, to live to their own
lusts, or the lusts of men; men have not power over their bodies
to abuse them at pleasure by fornication, or such like
uncleanness, neither single nor married persons; see ( 1
Corinthians 7:4 ) and of all men, not the saints, who are
neither their own nor other men's, nor Satan's, but God's; not
only by creation, but by choice and covenant; and Christ's by
gift, by purchase, and powerful grace, and in a conjugal relation
to him; wherefore fornication ill becomes them.