1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Today we return to the topic of sexual sin, which
Paul addresses several times with the Corinthian church. A couple of weeks ago,
Carl spoke about the passage in chapter 5 where Paul rebukes the church for
tolerating an illicit relationship between a man and his stepmother. In a
society where immorality was widespread and generally accepted, Corinth as a
city was renowned for its promiscuity and its temple to Aphrodite, the goddess
of love and pleasure. This temple stood on the Acrocorinth, a rugged hill
overlooking the city. The Greek geographer Strabo wrote in about 20 AD:
“The temple of Aphrodite was once so rich that it
had acquired more than a thousand prostitutes, donated by both men and women to
the service of the goddess. And because of them, the city used to be jam-packed
and became wealthy. The ship-captains would spend fortunes there, and so the
proverb says: ‘The voyage to Corinth isn’t for just any man.’”
The Christians in Corinth needed to be different.
Paul was warning them: you can’t just go with the flow in this culture, where
all kinds of sexual relationships were accepted – incest, prostitution,
adultery, and homosexuality, mentioned in last week’s passage. His message is
just as relevant for us today. In America we don’t have temples glorifying
Aphrodite, but our Western culture is just as saturated with sex as the ancient
Greeks were. It is almost impossible to avoid the blatant sexuality in advertising,
movies, clothing styles, and all kinds of media. The temptations are all around
us, as real as the prostitutes lining the streets of Corinth. Girls and women
are given the message that they need to look a certain way to be considered
attractive. Boys and men are being told that their every desire can be
fulfilled anywhere, anytime, without commitment or consequence. What can we do?
Is purity even possible?
In our passage today, Paul tells us to flee from
sexual immorality. Run away! Does that mean to somehow withdraw from the world?
He didn’t tell the Christians to leave Corinth; in fact in chapter 5 he said
that that kind of running away was impossible. We can’t leave the world. We
certainly can’t physically run away from the sinful desires in our own hearts.
So what does it mean to flee? Let’s look at our passage for today.
“All things
are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for
me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and
the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The
body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the
Lord for the body. And God raised 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
prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute
becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one
flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee
from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside
the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you
have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a
price. So glorify God in your body.—I Corinthians 6:12-20
Here at the beginning Paul is addressing the issue
of freedom. The Corinthians had clearly understood that by His sacrifice on the
cross Jesus has set us free from having to fulfill the requirements of the law
to be acceptable to God. They had probably heard that Jesus had proclaimed
freedom from the strictures of clean and unclean foods, unnecessary rules for the
Sabbath, and other such legalistic, outward interpretations of God’s will for His
people. Jesus had indeed brought a wonderful message of freedom. But freedom
taken too far becomes license, and at least some in the church had crossed this
boundary into condoning sin.
Paul wrote to the Galatians:
You, my
brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom
to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.—Galatians
5:13
“Indulging the flesh” means to give in to sinful desires.
We are called to be free. God lifts the huge burden of religious practices and
expectations in our quest for salvation. We receive His amazing gift of grace,
unmerited favor and forgiveness and empowerment. But we need to use our freedom
in the right way.
“All things
are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for
me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. –I Corinthians 6:12
The way this is written gives us the clues that
Paul is responding to a specific statement used by the Corinthian Christians:
All things are lawful for me. They were using it as an excuse for doing what
they wanted. I can do what I want. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Paul does not deny this; he qualifies it. Freedom does not mean “anything goes.”
We need to consider the consequences of our decisions. Not everything is
helpful. Some things will draw us away from God and his will for us. If we give
into sin, it will dominate us. Especially sexual sin, which seems to have a
special way of ensnaring people and binding us into unhealthy relationships and
patterns of thought and behavior that are extremely difficult to escape. Paul
is giving a clear warning here. Keep your eyes open, think about what you are
doing. Where does this path of supposed freedom actually lead?
“Food is
meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both
one and the other.—I Corinthians 6:13
Remember who God is. He is not just the Creator and
Lord of all; He is the one who will one day bring everything to judgment. Food is meant for the stomach, but does that
mean we should eat whatever we want and as much as we want? No, we all know the
health consequences of that. So in the same way, we can’t take our sexual
equipment and do whatever we want with it – despite what our culture may be
telling us.
The body is
not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for
the body. –I Corinthians 6:13
We are starting to get a hint here of the intimacy
that the Lord desires. Your body is meant for the Lord, and the Lord is meant
for your body. This speaks not just of design and purpose but also of mutual
commitment. It also begins a clear statement of how sexual sin will edge the
Lord out of His rightful place in your life.
And God
raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.—I Corinthians
6:14
God is not only the destroyer; He is the life
giver. One day He will raise us up to be with Him forever. But even now it is His
resurrection power that allows us to have the victory over our flesh, our
sinful desires. As it says in Romans 6:4,
We were therefore
buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live
a new life.
This new life for the Corinthians and for us means
living in union with the risen Christ, in freedom from sexual sin.
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 prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that
he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is
written, “The two will become one flesh.”—I Corinthians 6:15-16
Here, then, is that intimate connection with Jesus
that He desires. Being part of the body of Christ does not just mean relating
to other believers in the church and fulfilling your unique role there. That is
certainly part of it. But this is a different aspect of being part of the body.
In what way are our bodies “members of Christ”? Well, I think we need to
realize that in this passage Paul is using the word “body” (soma, in the Greek) to mean something
other than our physical – bones, muscles, blood, nervous system – bodies. He is
referring to something much deeper than that, something that goes to the core
of who we are, our identity and our personhood, if you will. We are not joined
to Christ in our physical bodies. And although there may be a physical act with
a prostitute, that act is not what Paul is really concerned about here. The
physical, sexual act just reinforces what is going on at an emotional and
spiritual level. Jesus also made clear that adultery can happen in our minds. Joining
to a prostitute refers to the deep bond that is formed through sex. There is
actually no such thing as casual sex. Sex is always a serious thing because it
touches that deep part of who we are, that place of nakedness and vulnerability
and emotion and intense desire – the part of us that should be bonded to Jesus.
I believe that God created sex not just so that the human race could
conveniently continue but He designed it such that in a loving, committed
marriage relationship we can understand – or at least catch a glimpse of – the
depth of passionate love and intimacy and deep bonding that He desires to have
with each of us.
So why is God so against sexual immorality? It’s
not just because He is a jealous God who wants us to be totally and deeply
bonded to him. He is certainly not against people having fun. It’s because sex
of any kind outside of marriage is so destructive. The joining – that bonding
with another person – happens, whether we want it to or not.
Some years ago, Lisa developed a course for teens
called “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.” In talking about sex, she used two
illustrations that are very powerful. In the first, she gave each young person
a chocolate chip cookie and told them that as they ate it they should chew each
bite and then spit it out. She said that starting to get involved with sex prior
to marriage feels like that. There is a certain pleasure but there is no
fulfillment, and it becomes more and more empty. For the second illustration
she would take a paper heart and explain how when each sexual relationship
would end it would be like tearing a piece off the heart. The heart can be torn
in many ways, including sexual abuse (which is through no fault or decision of
heart owner). She would show with tape how the heart could be mended by God,
restored to its shape. But it would never be the same. The scars remain until
they are finally erased in heaven. This is a very powerful, important message,
especially for young people looking at the temptations in the world around
them, drawn to what their peers are doing, hearing the lies of Satan every day.
Paul says “No, never!” to immorality. You can and
should bring Christ into your marriage relationship, but you can’t bring him
into a relationship with a prostitute. Becoming one body in that kind of
relationship, bonding at a deep level but then ripping that apart will also rip
apart your relationship with Jesus. The two becoming one flesh is a reference
to Genesis 2, at the end of God’s creation process and the naming of the
animals:
But for Adam
no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the
man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of
the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then
the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of
the man, and he brought her to the man. The
man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be
called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That
is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and
they become one flesh.—Genesis 2:20-24
In some amazing way, as God made Eve out of Adam, a
man and woman coming together in marriage complete each other as they are
bonded together. Becoming one flesh is more than just having sex. It is the
process of truly becoming one with another person. The uniting here is the same
as the joining that we have talked about in our Corinthians passage.
But he who is
joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. –I Corinthians 6:17
The ideal for unity in Christian marriage, on a
physical and emotional level, matches exactly the spiritual unity that the Lord
desires to have with us. What does that mean? He needs to be our first love. We
live in His presence. We walk in step with His will and direction. We delight
in worshiping Him. We do not allow anything to cloud the brightness of His
glory in our lives, as we turn quickly to His forgiveness and grace. It is
important here that we make the connection with the Lord’s Supper – or breaking
bread, as it is referred to in this church. Why did Jesus say, “This is my
body,” as He gave the bread to his disciples? What was He offering them, and
what does He offer us, each time we take communion?
Earlier in his ministry, as we read in John 6,
Jesus had referred to Himself as the Bread of Life:
I am the
living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will
live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world.”
Then the
Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give
us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to
them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of
Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the
last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just
as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one
who feeds on me will live because of me.—John 6:51-57
This was a foreshadowing of the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus makes this statement in an obscure, jarring way to test the faith of those
listening. Eating His flesh and drinking his blood? No wonder it caused
arguments and led to many turning back from following Him. “Whoever eats my
flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.” This is the deep
bonding and intimacy that we have been talking about. When we get up to chapter
11 of 1 Corinthians we will study Paul’s warning there that taking communion is
a serious matter:
So then,
whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will
be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to
examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For
those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink
judgment on themselves.—I Corinthians 11:27-29
I had not really noticed the connection here
before, how this passage is illuminated by our text for today. What does it
mean to discern the body of Christ? I believe it means to recognize the type of
relationship that Jesus wants to have with us. Jesus offers us His body in the
same way that a husband and wife offer their bodies to each other. Not just
physical bodies – as I have been saying – rather that deepest, intimate part of
who we are as people. What an amazing gift from the Lord! No wonder the
consequences are so dire if we fail to recognize what we are actually being
offered.
Well, we need to carry on in chapter 6.
Flee from
sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the
body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.—I Corinthians
6:18
Here again we have to consider something other than
our physical bodies, otherwise this verse makes no sense. The word “other” does
not actually appear in the Greek. Every sin affects us and other people in some
way, even if it is just in our minds and never expressed. There are plenty of lifestyle
sins that affect our physical bodies. But sexual sin touches that deepest part
of who we are in a unique way. I believe that is why homosexuality is such an
emotive issue in our society at the moment and many homosexuals are desperate
not just for acceptance but for approval. Why is this such a big deal? We are
talking about something that touches the depths of our soul, our identity, our
most intimate relationships. Homosexuals desperately want to swallow the cookie,
but they will never be able to. God didn’t make us that way. They will never be
fulfilled until they become joined to the Lord, becoming one spirit with Him,
forsaking all other loves that tear apart that ultimate unity and fulfillment.
The same principle goes for heterosexuals who have sex outside of marriage.
Or do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you
have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a
price. So glorify God in your body.—I Corinthians 6:19-20
The image of the temple brings to mind the Holy of
Holies, where the Shekinah glory of the Lord dwelt. If we invite the Holy
Spirit to take up residence inside of us, in that inner place at the core of
who we are, He will bring with Him that holiness and that glory. Jesus paid
with his own blood to wipe away our sins, so we are under an obligation of love
to live for His glory, to allow the glory of God to shine out from us to the
people around us. God is not limited, but our sin can dim the light of His glory
within us. That is why this passage commands us to flee from sexual immorality.
Where does sexual immorality start? It starts with
lust, the desire for sexual gratification outside of the bounds that God has
established in marriage between a man and woman. Lust is different for males
and females, since in general, their sexual desires and motivations are
different. The secular, slightly cynical viewpoint is that men give love to
have sex, and women give sex to have love. That is so far from God’s ideal, but
it is an indication of how men and women are wired differently. But lust is a
temptation for each. The folks who wrote, “Every Man’s Battle” realized that
there needed to be another book about “Every Woman’s Battle” – and “Every Young
Man’s Battle” and “Every Young Woman’s Battle” and “Every Single Woman’s
Battle” and so on. I don’t know how far the series goes now. Part of that is
good old-fashioned American marketing of course, but the point is that lust and
its consequences are a pitfall for everyone.
How much lust is okay? It seems like we are
assaulted with temptation at every turn. How can someone live a pure life?
Jesus says, “Be perfect.” But is that realistic? Well, as my mom used to say,
“You can’t stop the birds from flying overhead, but you don’t need to let them
nest in your hair.” Our lives are made up of a million little decisions, and
each of us is responsible for the decisions that we make. Every moral decision
will either bring us closer to God or pull us away from Him, and God has given
each of us a conscience and His Holy Spirit to guide us. Every sexual sin
begins with one of those little decisions to turn away from God’s way. People
don’t just fall into sin.
However, sometimes we take the risk of dabbling
just a little, entertaining a lustful thought here and there. No one has the
strength for that. That’s why Paul tells us to flee sexual immorality. We can’t
stand in front of the temptation and expect to master it. We need to just get
out of there. There needs to be humility and brutal honesty in that,
acknowledging what we can and cannot handle.
Besides the Holy Spirit within us, God has given us
each other, as brothers and sisters, to help and exhort and encourage each
other in this struggle against temptation. Sharing our struggles with someone
else can be a huge benefit. God doesn’t want us to fight alone. When we bring
our sin into the light rather than hiding it, we see it for what it is, and
that makes it lose some of its power over us. But we miss out on that blessing
if we feel there are things we can’t talk about. When I was a teenager I didn’t
feel free to talk to my dad about all I was struggling with – and it made it
much more difficult. So I wanted to be sure that my kids have felt free to talk
to me about anything at all that they are going through. I think that has been
a help to them. I have certainly seen God do amazing things in their lives. So
I would like to say that I am open to anyone who would like to talk about
anything. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I can bring it before God
with you and see how he directs the process. We need to know that we are all in
this together. God doesn’t want us to struggle on alone, trying to maintain
some facade of impregnability.
Well, there is so much more that could be said on
this subject of sexual temptation and sin. I haven’t even mentioned
pornography, which is a huge issue in our society today, but still not
addressed very well by the church. My kids tell me that nowadays it is just
sort of accepted as a part of life by most young people. And it is not just a male
problem, as more and more girls get sucked into the addiction. But even secular
psychologists are recognizing how destructive it can be, distorting or damaging
or even replacing normal relationships. “Porn kills love” is the slogan of
fightthenewdrug.org. I read there that “stepmom” was the most frequently
searched topic on porn websites last year. So nothing has changed since the
time of the Corinthians, except the technology.
Flee from sexual immorality. We need to be
committed to doing this in response to temptation in our own lives, but we definitely
don’t want to run away from dealing with the problem. I am out of time today,
but I hope we can talk more as a church about how to effectively minister to
people damaged by sexual sin.
So what should be our takeaway from this message?
First, Christ has indeed set us free, but we should not use that freedom as an
excuse for sin. Second, God desires intimacy with us, but sexual immorality of
any kind will draw us away from that. We need to evaluate every little decision
that we make in light of our relationship with Him, fleeing from temptation
when we need to. Third, we need each other. As we gather, we are an expression
of the body of Christ. As we bear each other’s burdens in this area of purity,
we will be able to glorify God together more and more.
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