You Were Bought With A Price

You Were Bought with a Price: A Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 NKJV

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.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The Corinthian Church was at the same time the best of churches and the worst of churches. By the help of the Spirit, Paul, Apollos. Cephas?, and others had labored to establish a church there. Corinth was known for its gross immorality. Even the Romans thought the city to be profligate. It took mighty leadership to make the church work there. The church had to emerge from this culture. It was a city given over to brothels, Pagan temples, and amateur philosophers who would argue over a topic just for the sake of presenting an argument. From what Paul describes was going on in the church there, it is hard to believe that he called the church “called saints.” Perhaps this was to help them to remember what they were called to be, separated unto God, This would increase the rebukes Paul thought necessary to address. But they were still a church. They were loved by God and Paul as well. So even when Paul speaks out of frustration, it is because he wants them to become what God has already called them to be — saints.

One of the themes of the Gospel is liberty or freedom. But what is meant by freedom here? Freedom was a concept among the Greco-Roman culture as well. To them, one of the definitions of freedom was being able to do as one pleases without external restraint. While there were some cultural restraints such as observing the distinctions of the classes in society, Greco-Roman society was quite libertine, especially for men. Those of the higher classes could seduce those of the lower classes, but “inferiors” were never to do so. The lower classes could indulge their passions with others of the same class. Pedophilia was rampant. Prostitutes were everywhere. But this is not the Christian definition of freedom. Paul’s argument ends with “You were purchased with a price; therefore, glorify God with your bodies.” This is what to define Christian conduct. We are not free to indulge our passions. We are owned by the Lord. In other words, we are slaves who have changed masters. Each master of a household set the rules for the people who were part of the household. In the upper classes, this would include his servants, slaves, and family. So, whatever freedom and privileges we might have in the Lord’s household is determined by Jesus Himself.

So let us now examine this passage in light of the conclusion. Paul begins in 1 Corinthians 6:12:

1 Corinthians 6:12 NKJV

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.

At first this could be interpreted as supporting a libertine lifestyle. “All things are lawful for me” might have been a slogan among the Christians at Corinth as a justification to live a worldly lifestyle. Another slogan may have been “Meat is for the belly and the belly for meat.” The extension of this thought is that the body is made for sex and should then be indulged in. This is a gross misunderstanding of the liberty which Paul presented to the Corinthians in the Gospel. What the Greeks considered to be freedom is actually slavery, slavery to one’s passions. It is true that food is necessary for the body. Likewise, sex is needed for procreation. It is not that sex is evil. There were some Greeks who went to the opposite extreme and practiced asceticism. This is also an abuse, as one becomes a slave to ideas which are contrary to God’s design for us. The way to freedom is to remember that true freedom is based upon responsible use of the gift of sex. Sex is the means to an end, that is to produce children. The blessing of God upon sex appears in Genesis where God commands: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Sexual desire is the means of seeing that the man and the woman would have incentive to conceive seed. The attraction of male and female within the scope of marriage is meant to keep the man and the woman together that these children might be raised by both parents in a godly home.