Sexual Immorality Series

Paul now quotes a third Corinthian slogan: “all sins a person commits are outside the body.” If you noticed, I dropped out the word “other” which the NIV adds because they do not see this line as a Corinthian slogan. I believe it is a Corinthian slogan arguing that sin is spiritual so it does not matter what you do with your body. Paul counters strongly by arguing that sexual sin is against your own body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The word for against can also mean into. Sexual sin invades the body in the most intimate way. No other sin is so bodily intimate.

The big point is not just that you sin against your own body, but that you sin against the Spirit who lives in your body, another amazing truth. Many people think that the Spirit indwells your soul or your spirit, but Paul explicitly says that your body is the temple of the Spirit. A temple is a holy place. As a redeemed person your body is a holy place where the Holy Spirit lives. He is in you as a gift you have received from God. So, if you sin sexually, you are not only violating Christ, but you are also violating the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to argue that you could do something with your body that does not involve the Spirit. What are you doing with the temple? Flee sexual sin to honor God with your body because the Holy Spirit lives in your body.

Paul wraps up his argument with one more powerful closing exclamation to top off his Trinitarian rationale. Not only will God raise your body eternally and Christ is united to your body and the Spirit lives in your body, but also you are not your own. You were bought with a price, a high price. Sexual sin is against your own body which ironically is not your own, but God’s. In verse twenty the concept of being bought with a price draws on the imagery of a slavery auction familiar to the Corinthians. Interestingly Paul does not use the Greek word most common in legal contracts for buying a slave’s freedom. Instead he uses a word that refers to the sale of a slave by one owner to another owner. We belong to a new owner who has bought us at a price to serve him. The price has not bought our freedom, but changed owners. Thus our bodies are not their own to do with as we please, but God’s to do with as God pleases.

Now all of this is true only if you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior. You are not united to Christ nor does the Spirit live in you, if you have not trusted in Jesus Christ to be your new owner. Jesus paid the high price on the cross, but it does not apply to you until you receive the gift that God offers in his grace to be your Master, your Father. Trust in him.

Then the last line of the chapter makes sense, the second command in the text: honor God with your bodies. The word honor can also be translated glorify. This is the only conclusion if you have gasped the Trinitarian rationale. If God the Father will raise your body and Christ is united to your body and the Spirit lives in your body, how could you not do everything possible to honor God with your body? In the book of Romans Paul talks about offering the members of your body as instruments of righteousness and offering your body as a living sacrifice of worship to God. How can you use your body to honor God? Use your body to bless others. Serve them. Love your spouse with your body. Keep your body pure and holy.