Holy Vessels for the Lord
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
1 Corinthians 6:13-19 “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. (14) And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. (15) 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. (19) 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?”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us about the dynamics involved in sexual intimacy. In this passage he explains that the believer’s body is a member of Christ and that it is a temple of the Holy Spirit. He says that it is unthinkable to take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot, and if you do then you are sinning against your body (which is the body of Christ). In another part of scripture Paul explains God’s view on our relationships with unbelievers. He states that the believer must not be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. He calls the believer the temple of God, and the unbeliever an idol. In effect, he is saying in the full context of the passage, that a believer must not have sexual intimacy with an unbeliever because that would have the same effect as taking the members of Christ and making them members of an idol.
1 Corinthians 7:12-14 “But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. (13) And a woman who has a husband, who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. (14) For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul teaches us that children born to unbelievers are unclean. So what does Paul mean by that statement? He is not saying that they are spiritually dead when they are born; otherwise it would mean that only children born to believers are born alive to God, which would mean that Paul himself would be disqualified, because his earthly parents were certainly not born-again. And you will recall that we have already seen that Paul was spiritually alive when he was a child. In context, Paul is talking only about the vessel in this passage i.e. the body being either unclean or holy i.e. separated to God. And so when Paul declares that the unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing spouse, he is referring to the sanctification of their physical bodies only, for it is not possible for a believing spouse to sanctify the unbelieving spouse’s spirit. Only the blood of Jesus can do that through the new birth. And so in effect Paul is saying that children born to unbelievers are not separated to God, for their bodies (vessels) are not classified as being holy. Nevertheless God’s grace is involved if one spouse becomes born-again, while the other spouse remains unsaved. God does not advocate divorce in this circumstance, because God is involved in the marriage covenant (even amongst unbelievers) and He will not separate that which He has already joined together (Matthew 19:6). And so, God’s grace works in the marriage so that the unbelieving spouse’s body is sanctified by the believing spouse, so that when they are sexually intimate it is as if Christ’s members were being intimate with another of Christ’s members, as in a marriage of believers. The result is that the children born from this marriage have bodies that are holy to the Lord.
Michael E.B. Maher
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