Glorify God in Your Body

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Christians in Corinth committed immorality based on certain premises or excuses

I. “All things are lawful for me” (verse 12; repeated in 10:23)

1. The expression “All things are lawful for me” may also be translated as:
a. “It is permissible for me to do anything”
b. “There is no law against anything that I want to do”
2. Based on this premise, Christians in Corinth justified immorality
3. Apostle Paul corrects it to say that this cannot be used when it comes to immorality (verse 12 )
a. Self-destructive behavior
b. Harmful to themselves, family, and corporate body

II. “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both” (verse 13-17)

1. The Corinthian Christians made a moral equivalence of food and body to sexual immorality
2. They thought that sexual relationship outside of marriage does not have any relevance for spiritual life
3. Just as eating does not have lasting spiritual effect, they thought that sexual immorality does not have lasting spiritual consequence
4. Apostle Paul corrects their argument
a. God has a plan for physical body, definitely not to be used for immorality
b. Believer’s act of fornication rejects God’s intended purpose for the body—to worship and serve Him in obedient love
c. When God saved a sinner, his/her physical body is included in it—it belongs to Him
d. Believer’s body will be resurrected
e. The physical body belongs to and is united to the Lord Jesus as in the mystery explained in Gen 2:24
f. To unite my physical body to an illicit sexual partner is to become one flesh with her or him (verse 16, cf. Gen 2:24)
g. The believer is united to Christ and is one with him in spirit
h. To form a sexual union with an illicit partner breaks this “one spirit” union with Christ
i. It is impossible to be united at the same time to two bodies (the Lord and the illicit partner)

III. “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” (verse 18-20)

1. Corinthian Christians justified their immoral behavior with this slogan
2. Therefore, they claimed no spiritual relevance
3. Apostle Paul corrects their justification
a. Fornication is an abuse of the body
b. Body of a believer is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit (a sacred shrine)
c. Acts of fornication defiles God’s dwelling place
d. In fact, a believer is purchased by God through Jesus Christ and they are not their own

Take Away

Glory God in your body by fleeing sexual immorality