Sunday Sermons
The Body
The Body
1 Corinthians 6:13-20
“You'll note that Paul speaks of men in this section (and not women) as committing fornication, and with harlots (not simply women in general: 6:15). It is not hard at all to see that these harlots are connected with the heathen temples and the foods are those with the same connection. While Paul has made it explicitly clear that fornication is in violent opposition to the will of God(5:10-11; 6:9) he is not in this present section dealing with fornication in general. He is clearly dealing with fornication as it relates to idolatry”. Apparently some at Corinth were arguing that since meat sacrificed to idols was a matter of indifference, why not fornication with religious prostitutes? After all, are not both merely body functions? (6:13)
1 Corinthians 6:13 “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food”: This may have been a slogan that some in Corinth were using. Apparently Paul is answering one of their arguments. Since “eating” and “fornication” are both "natural functions or natural possesses of the body", and eating meats sacrificed to idols is a morally neutral practice, then so is fornicating with the temple prostitutes. “But God will do away with both of them”: That is, the stomach and food. “Neither meats nor the digestive system is destined to live beyond the grave. We will have no use for a digestive system in heaven”(Willis p. 197). “Yet the body is not for immorality”: Paul denies the supposed parallel between eating and fornication. Paul did not accept the view that the sexual relationship is just as casual as eating or breathing and that it is nothing more than a bodily function. “But for the Lord”: The Lord did not create the body for fornication, He created it for Himself! “The human body has a higher mission than the mere gratification of sensual appetite” (Robertson p. 121). In Greek culture the prevailing attitude toward the human body was that seeing it was to be destroyed it is inconsequential what a person did with their body. The Greeks actually looked down on the body from the misconception that matter was completely evil. Carefully note the view that God has of a human body. It is not evil, it does not have a mind of its own, rather it was created for His service (Ephesians 2:10).
Fee makes a good point when he says, “The net result is one of the more important theological passages in the New Testament about the human body. It should forever lay to rest the implicit dualism of so much that has been passed off as Christian, where the body is rejected or indulged because it is of no significance” (p. 251). Some today will argue, “My personal life does not have anything to do with my religion”, as if what they do with their body has no affect upon their soul. Paul immediately points out that the "body" is not like the stomach and food that will perish. In the end the body will be resurrected.
1 Corinthians 6:14 “Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power”: Demonstrating the dignity and destiny of the human body. “The body is not for fornication but for the Lord; and it is not destined for destruction but for resurrection, the proof of which is Christ's resurrection” (Fee p. 255). Sometimes we forget that our salvation also includes the redemption of our physical bodies (Romans 8:23; Philippians 3:21).
1 Corinthians 6:15 “Do you not know”: “Again it is implied that they had learned this already” (F.F. Bruce p. 64). “That your bodies are members of Christ?” Individual Christians compose the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12ff), we have been part of that body ever since our baptism (12:13), hence our bodies are literally limbs for Christ (Romans 6:13). “Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?” Paul points out. “ When a man engages with her in her vile prostitution, she uses his body for her idolatrous worship. In the sexual act she is worshiping! And he is surrendering his body to her. His body is her tool, not only is he committing fornication, he supports and promotes the false religion this woman represents” (McGuiggan p. 77).
1 Corinthians 6:16 “Or do you not know”: Another rebuke to their self-imposed ignorance. “That the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her?” “The act of fornication makes one single body of the two” (Lenski p. 263). And the proof of this last statement, “For He says, ‘the two shall become one flesh’”: This is a quotation from Genesis 2:24. Some may have tried to argue that sex with a temple prostitute was simply a business arrangement. After all, that was her job, and it was not like you were having sex with an ordinary woman. “In lying with a harlot they weren't taking another man's wife; this was her job and (as they now knew) it was an empty act” (McGuiggan p. 76). Yet Paul notes that the sexual relationship, whether lawful or unlawful unites something more than just two bodies. Now I do not believe that Paul is saying that one who lies with a harlot is married to her. “What if the man who joins himself to the harlot is already married? And how many people (men) would the harlot be married to?” (McGuiggan p. 78). In addition, more than just cohabitation is involved in forming a marriage, there must be mutual consent (Matthew 19:5-6), that is the choice to leave and cleave, and the fulfilling of the civil laws that govern this relationship as well (Romans 13:1ff). Rather I believe that Paul is showing the Corinthians that fornication with a harlot is not just a business arrangement nor is it nothing more than some casual bodily function. “That act expresses unity between two persons and so Paul reminds the Corinthians of how intimate an act they are carrying out when they combine with a harlot. It isn't like eating” (McGuiggan p. 79). Here is a great lesson for our culture that is tempted to believe the lie that one can fornicate without any mental and emotional ties being formed. “Fornication unites the personalities of the participants, there is no such thing as living together without commitment. Psychologists are recognizing that attachments are formed regardless of whether one intends to form them or not” (Willis p. 199).
McGuiggan has some good comments for the meaning of "one flesh" in marriage. “Genesis 2:24 is saying: "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife and the two will no longer regard themselves as independent of one another but that together they are one entity. And because they are not independent one of another, they have power over one another sexually. And this act is specifically ordained by God to express, as nothing else does, the closeness of their relationship” (p. 79).
1 Corinthians 6:17 “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him”: When I "joined" the Lord in the act of faith expressed in baptism, I took upon myself the obligation to become "one spirit" with Him. Because that's true, consistency would require that I conduct myself in a way that accords with the will of Christ (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 2:3-5; Colossians 3:1-2).
1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee fornication”: “Don't debate with it. Don't rationalize about it. Run!” (McGuiggan p. 80). “An echo, perhaps, of Joseph's literal fleeing from a temptation of this kind (Genesis 39:12)” (F.F. Bruce p. 65). “Present imperative. Have the habit of fleeing without delay or parley” (Robertson p. 122). “Avoid sexual looseness like the plague!” (Phi)
1 Corinthians 6:18 “Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body”: First, all sin starts from within the body (Mark 7:20-23; James 1:14). There are no mindless sins! The verse does not say that fornication is the most serious of all sins. Other sins also result in the abuse of the body, so fornication is not the only sin that results in physical consequences. “But the immoral man sins against his own body”: That is, fornication is a unique violation against God’s purpose (6:13) for the human body. “God ordained that the sexual act to symbolize and express the unity of man as male and female, and because that is God's choice, fornication is uniquely against all that the body, in God's view, stands for (McGuiggan p. 80).
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”: “What Paul seems to be doing is taking over their own theological starting point, namely that they are ‘spiritual’ because they have the Spirit, and redirecting it to include the sanctity of the body. The reality of the indwelling Spirit is now turned against them. They thought the presence of the Spirit meant a negation of the body; Paul argues the exact opposite” (Fee p. 264).“And you are not your own”: “So that you are no longer your own masters” (Knox); “You do not belong to yourselves” (Ber) “they have been bought and decisions have already been made for them. Harlots are out!” (McGuiggan p. 81). Right now, who is in charge of your body, Christ or self? “Sexual immorality is still sin, even though it has been justified under every conceivable rationalization. Those who take Scripture seriously are not prudes or legalists at this point rather, they recognize that God has purchased us for higher things”
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
