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What Does It Mean That Our Body Is The Temple?
Contributed by Chris Swanson on Jan 14, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: We are to use our body to give God glory in all that we do.
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In these first few verses, Paul was portraying the qualities of unbelievers. He does not imply that these individuals are automatically and permanently prevented from going to heaven. Christians come from all foundations, including these. They might continue to battle with malicious longings; however, they ought not proceed in these practices. Paul unmistakably expresses that even the individuals who sin in these ways can have their lives changed by Christ. The individuals who say that they are Christians yet continue to endure in these practices with no regret “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Such individuals need to reconsider their lives to verify whether they really do trust and believe in Christ.
In a lenient permissive society, some Christians can easily ignore or endure some shameless practices while staying infuriated at others. We cannot participate in wrongdoing or support it in any capacity, nor should we be specific with regards to what we censure or excuse. Avoiding commonly acknowledged sin is troublesome, however it is no harder for us today than it was for the Corinthian Christians. God calls for his followers in any age to have and live by higher standards. (Isaiah 3:11; Galatians 5:21; Ephesians 5:5)
Paul proclaimed God’s activity in making the people new. The three parts of God’s work are all essential for our salvation: our transgressions were washed away, we were separated for exclusive use, and we were deemed innocent for our wrongdoings. Every one of the three individuals from the Trinity gives the capacity to our changed lives. (Acts 22:16; Romans 8:30; Hebrews 10:22)
Obviously, the church members were citing and twisting the words “all things are lawful unto me.” Some Christians in Corinth were pardoning their transgressions by saying that Christ had removed all wrongdoing, thus they had total autonomy to live however they wanted, and what they were doing was not rigorously illegal by Scripture. Paul addressed both of these reasons with while Christ has removed our wrongdoing, this does not give us the prerogative to continue doing what we know is not right. The New Testament explicitly restricts many sins (6:9-10) that were initially denied in the Old Testament (Romans 12:9-21, 13:8-10). Some activities are not wicked in themselves, but they are not fitting since they can dominate our lives and lead us away from God. Some activities might hurt others. Anything that we do that harms rather than helps other people is not right.
A large number of the world’s religions think the spirit or soul is significant and the body is not, and Christianity has here and there been impacted by them. In truth nonetheless, Christianity is extremely physical. We love the God who made the world that is physical. He even said that it was good. He guarantees us another earth where genuine individuals whose physical lives have been changed. They are not bodiless spirits floating on a pink cloud listening and playing harp music. At the core of Christianity is simply the account of God taking on flesh and coming to live with us, offering both physical and spiritual healing. (1 Corinthians 10:23)
Just like Adam, we are a people from the dust with a soul. Similarly, as our spirits influence our bodies, so do our actual bodies influence our spirits. We cannot submit sin and transgressions with our bodies without harming our spirits. Why? Because our bodies and spirits are indistinguishably joined. In the new earth we will have restored bodies that are not damaged by transgression. We will then be able to partake in the fulness of our salvation.
Freedom is a characteristic of the Christian faith, independence from transgression and culpability, and freedom to utilize and appreciate anything that comes from God. Yet, Christians ought not man-handle this opportunity and hurt themselves as well as other people. Drinking a lot of prompts liquor abuse, overeating leads to becoming overweight. We are to be cautious that what God has permitted us to appreciate does not develop into an unfortunate quirk (bad habit) that controls us.
Fornication (sexual sin) is an enticement we cannot get away from. In films and on TV, sex outside marriage is treated as an ordinary, even alluring, part of life, while marriage is regularly displayed as binding and dreary. We can even be peered downward on by others when we are associated with being unadulterated and pure. Nevertheless, God does not prohibit sexual sin just to be troublesome. He realizes its ability to annihilate us spiritually and physically. Nobody should disparage the force of sexual sin. It has crushed incalculable lives and obliterated families, networks, and even countries. God wants to shield us from harming ourselves as well as other people, thus he offers to fill us with himself from our sinful desires and unhappiness. (Matthew 5:17; Colossians 2:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:3)