What The Bible Says About Your Body

Alba 6-1-2025

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT YOUR BODY

I Corinthians 6:12-20

I found this story of two rednecks who lived in snow country, named Bubba and Isabella. They got up one morning and did their customary thing, they turned the radio on to get the local weather report and drink a cup of coffee.

The weather man said, “There will be 3 to 5 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the odd numbered side, so the snow plows can clear the other side.” Bubba said, “Isabella, I am going to put my car on the odd number side of the road.”

The next day, they turned the radio on and got the coffee going and the weather man said, “There will be 2 to 4 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the even numbered side of the streets so the snow plows can clear the other side.” Bubba got up from his coffee and told Isabella he was going to put his car on the even number side of the road.

Three days later, again they both are sitting down with their cups of coffee and the weather man says, “There will be 6 to 8 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the..."” and then the power went out and Bubba didn't get the rest of the instructions.

He said to his wife, “What am I going to do now, Isabella?” Isabella said, “Bubba, why don’t you just leave the car in the garage today!” It sounds like he wasn't thinking real clearly. And neither were the people in the church in Corinth. That is why the apostle Paul wrote his letters to that church. Things were going on in that church, and they were all bad. They were divided over which preacher they would follow. They were proud of a man who had an immoral relationship with his father’s wife. And instead of putting him out of their fellowship, they boasted about it.

They were confused over how to distinguish between dealing with fellow Christians and dealing with those who are outside of Christ. They had legal battles between one another and were taking them to court. And now, as we continue to look at I Corinthians chapter six, they don’t seem to understand the inconsistency with practicing sexual sin and being a Christian.

As in the case of Bubba, some people have cars, but seem that they do not have enough sense to have one. And... everyone has a body, but sometimes it makes you wonder why God gave them one. Because, they do not seem to have enough sense to know how to use it. In this first letter to the Corinthians eight times Paul used expression “Do you not know?” Again and again he had to say to them, "Didn’t anyone ever tell you about these things? Haven’t you been informed?

Could it be that the Christians at Corinth really did not know better, and had to be informed? After all, they had been saved from gross heathenism, dreadful superstition, and loose moral living. Perhaps they really didn’t know how to behave with their bodies as Christians. Or it could have been that the Corinthians were ignoring certain information given to them.

People today are also acting as if they have never been informed, or are ignoring what they should know. But as Christians, we have no excuse. Because there is a lot that the Bible says about our bodies. I Corinthians 6:12-14 says this: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.” That clearly says to Christians:

1. Your Body Is For the Lord and He Is For Your Body

An argument can be made that Christians have been set free from rules and regulations. Paul does not disagree with that. He simply points out that not everything we are capable of doing is beneficial for us. The phrase “all things are lawful for me” is believed to be a Corinthian slogan. The Corinthian church existed in the midst of a permissive society, where the philosophy of “If it feels good, do it,” was the norm.

Apparently another Corinthian slogan was “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.” So when it came to the use of their bodies, the Corinthians insisted that “All things are lawful”, “Everything is permissible” (1 Cor. 6:12) or “I have the right to do anything” (NIV) or “I am allowed to do anything” (NLT). A common belief among the people of Greece was that the flesh was separate from the spirit.