1 Corinthians 6

All these things are included in our salvation. We receive this salvation by grace and through faith (see Ephesians 2:8 and comment; General Article: Way of Salvation).

Therefore, if the Corinthians, and we also, have truly been washed, sanctified, and justified, how then can we continue to behave as we did before we became Christians? if we are new creations, we must behave like new creations (see Romans 6:17-18; Ephesians 4:1 and comments).

12  “Everything (except sin) is permissible for me” was a common saying among the Corinthian Christians. But even though some action might not be a sin and therefore legally permissible, it still might not be beneficial for a person to do it. The action could result in harm both to the person himself and to his brother (see Romans 14:21; 1 Corinthians 8:9; 1 Peter 2:16 and comments).

Paul says: I will not be mastered by anything. Paul will allow no bodily desire to dominate him, or to “rule” over him. It is possible for us, through the very freedom we have found in Christ, to again allow ourselves to become slaves of our sinful desires. Our freedom in Christ is not for sinning, but for serving God! (see Romans 6:18,22; Galatians 5:13 and comments). Therefore, let us not again make sin our master (see John 8:34).

13 The Corinthians had another saying: “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.” This saying is true. In this life, the stomach and food are indeed made for each other. But in heaven there will be no need for either food or stomach; God will destroy them both.

However, the Corinthians also said: “Just as the stomach is made for food, so the body is made for sexual pleasure”—and that saying is not true. God will do away with our stomachs in heaven, but He will not do away with our bodies. Instead, He will raise our bodies (verse 14).

Our bodies are not made for sexual pleasure, or any other kind of pleasure; our bodies are made to serve the Lord. Our body is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (verse 19). Therefore, we must not be mastered by any pleasure. To be mastered by pleasure is to make our body a slave to sin all over again.

Just as food and stomach are made for each other, so the Lord and our bodies are made for each other. The Lord is spiritual “food” for our bodies (see John 6:54).

14 God raised Christ; He will also raise us. He will raise not only our spirits, but He will raise our bodies as well (see Romans 6:5,8; 8:11; Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:20-21 and comments).

15 Our bodies are members of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). If we sleep with a prostitute, then we no longer belong to Christ but to the prostitute.

In Corinth, the prostitutes practiced their prof ession in the temple of the Greek goddess of love. Therefore, whenever a man had intercourse with a prostitute, he also became united with the goddess of the prostitute; he became, in a sense, an idol worshiper. According to the Bible, idol worship is like adultery. When a man worships an idol, he is leaving the one true God and uniting himself with a false god or demon (Ezekiel 23:37: Hosea 5:4).

16 Just as a man and his wife become one flesh during intercourse, so a man who has intercourse with a prostitute becomes “one flesh” with that prostitute. Paul here quotes from Genesis 2:24, which is written about marriage. (Paul doesn’t mean here that the man and the prostitute become “married” by having intercourse; they do not. In true marriage a man and wife are united not only in body but also in heart and mind and spirit.)

Paul’s point is this: How can a man who is united with Christ in one spiritual body then go and unite himself in one body with a prostitute? This is a terrible sin against Christ. It is not only physical adultery; it is also spiritual adultery.

17 Just as a man and a woman become united in body, so does Christ become united in spirit with each believer (see John 17:20-23).

18 With the exception of sexual immorality, all sinful desires can be satisfied by objects that are not part of one’s body. The desire to drink alcohol is satisfied by alcohol. The desire to become rich is satisfied by money. But the desire to have sexual intercourse is satisfied only by the stimulation of one’s own body. Thus sexual immorality in a special way defiles one’s body, because during fornication one’s own body is given in sin to a prostitute or adulteress. This is what Paul means when he says that he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

Therefore Paul says: Flee from sexual immorality. Not only must we resist the temptation to sexual immorality; we must run away from it!

19 When we engage in sexual immorality, we are defiling not just our body but also God’s temple—because the believer’s body is itself God’s temple. By our sin we “destroy” or ruin God’s temple. if we do this, He will also destroy us (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

It is not only God’s temple that we destroy by sexual immorality; it is also the Holy Spirit’s temple—because the body of each Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We must not defile or make unholy the Holy Spirit’s temple—that is, our body. If we do, the Holy Spirit will leave us; He will not dwell in an unholy place.

Our bodies are the temple of God and of His Holy Spirit; therefore, our bodies belong to God. You are not your own, Paul says. The Corinthian believers thought that their bodies were their own, and that therefore they could do as they pleased with their bodies. They thought that God didn’t care that much about their bodies, but only cared about their spirits. How wrong they were!

20 How much does God care about our bodies? He cares so much that He bought our bodies! (see 1 Corinthians 7:23). What was the price God paid? The price He paid was the blood—the body—of His only Son Jesus Christ (see Mark 10:45; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:18-19 and comments). God has bought us. Therefore, we must hand over our bodies, our lives, to Him (see Romans 12:1 and comment). Our bodies, our lives, are God’s. All the parts of our bodies, our members, are not ours but God’s. Therefore, we must use our members not according to our own will but according to God’s will. In this world our lives have only one purpose, and that purpose is to glorify God with our entire selves—body, soul, and spirit.