1 Corinthians 6:15-18 “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! (16) 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." (17) But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (18) Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”
This section on sexual immorality falls under the heading of that which God requires of us, because it deals with sin in the body and the unique impact that this particular sin has on the body of Christ. The only sexual act condoned by God is the one between a husband and a wife. God reinforces this truth to us by condoning the sexual act between spouses even when one spouse is in His kingdom while the other is not (1 Corinthians 7:14). The reason God condones this act is because He is the one who put it in place, for the Lord Jesus has taught us that from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mark 10:6-9). And so God classifies every other sexual act as being sexually immoral and strictly forbids it. Obviously the world fully rebels against God’s commandment in this area by condoning nearly every form of sexual perversion known to man, for which they will incur their just punishment on their day of judgement. Nevertheless undeterred by their impending judgement, the world would try forcing all of mankind to disregard God’s commandment in this area by condemning all who refuse to accept sexual perversion as being the “new” normal in society. Because false ministers of the gospel always walk in sync with the world view, they also proclaim to the church that to walk in “love” is to embrace all the sexual perversion that the world endorses and thus they openly reject God’s word on the subject. And so sadly, because of worldly pressure and much false teaching, many in the church have begun to abandon God’s commandment in this area, and have started to embrace the world’s view of condoning nearly every form of sexual perversion known to man. Nevertheless the point remains, that the believer who is sexually immoral cannot fulfil God’s requirement that they present their bodies as a living sacrifice which is holy and acceptable to Him. We have seen earlier that under the new covenant that our bodies belong to God and this truth is expanded to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that our bodies are in fact part of Christ’s body. The Holy Spirit then goes on to explain that the believer who commits sexual immorality is actually using the Lord’s body to commit that act. And so, when the Holy Spirit says that he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body, He is not only referring to the body of the believer, but ultimately He is referring to the body of Christ. Clearly our bodies belong to God and we are not to defile them through any act of sexual immorality.
Michael E.B. Maher
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