There are times when it is good to read the Bible backward. By that, I mean that we begin at the conclusion and work towards the beginning of the section. Today’s look at Corinthian Controversies is one such time.
Paul concludes this section (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) with, “For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NASB 2020) There were many different philosophies on how to think about our bodies when Paul wrote that. Many still exist today. For some philosophers, our bodies and their pleasure were all that mattered. For others, the body was just a shell to be discarded, so it didn’t matter what we did with them. Others went in the opposite direction with the shell idea and denied the body and pleasure. But the philosophy of the Bible is different than all of those. While God knows our basic construction of spirit, soul, and body, He sees them as a whole. What we do with our bodies matters to God.
If we have accepted Jesus Christ as savior and Lord then our bodies are more than sacks of meat; they are a dwelling place, a temple of the Holy Spirit. God lives within us. (Vs 19) So Paul asks, “Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? Far from it!” (1 Corinthians 6:15, NASB 2020) No. We are instead to join ourselves to the Lord and flee sexual immorality.
To be clear, “join” and sexual immorality are very broad terms that cover everything from emotional affairs and pornography to the extremes of sexual fetishes. Paul says that in these situations, we are sinning against ourselves. “Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18, NASB 2020)
Our bodies belong to Christ. The promise of Christ’s good news is that our bodies will be resurrected, glorified, and live forever in God’s Kingdom. They are not husks to be discarded. They are as much a part of who we are as our spirit, soul, personality, and thoughts.
In Christ, we have great freedom. Paul begins this section by saying, “All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12, NASB 2020) We do have freedom, but God expects us to live up to the life of Christ within us. In another letter, Paul wrote, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24, NASB 2020) We have freedom, but we are not our own. Therefore, we must glorify God in our bodies.
Let’s get practical for a moment. Sexual sins and habits can be very difficult to master. Freedom is only found through being honest with ourselves, God, and others about our problems. We must seek Christ and be open to the Holy Spirit’s work of revealing where we need healing of our desires and/or adjustments to our point of view. If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us and to set us on the right path (1 John 1:9) But like any addiction, there is often a journey to be lived before we are truly free. God’s grace endures; he wants to set you free.
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