I Corinthians 6:12-20 – Glorify God in your body

The Corinthians stressed a lot on personal freedom. Many of them objected to the idea of losing their personal rights. So in these verses Paul set about to deal with that mentality. He used a style of conversation known as the diatribe where he put up an imagery conversation between himself and the Corinthians. It is likely that the believers in Corinth could have based on some kind of philosophical ideas to create slogans to express their freedom in Christ. They could even have surmised from Paul’s teaching about freedom in Christ. They must have thought that Paul’s teaching of God’s unconditional grace would free them to do whatever their fleshly desires would dictate. Being aware of such an attitude, Paul set out to tackle them.   

 

In his presentation, Paul had put in place a boundary on the liberty that believers could exercise. Much like a train on the railway track. It has the liberty to run but only on the track. This principle of freedom is only limited in its application to things that would not jeopardize one’s salvation. So Paul began first by discussing about the usefulness of any practice. While a Christian is free to do anything, he must consider if what he would be doing is needful or useful. Next Paul went on to consider the matter of one’s spiritual freedom. His point is this: since believers have the liberty, why should they be controlled by any impulse.   

 

In verse 13, the apostle showed that it may seem legitimate to infer that since stomach is for food therefore all things suited for food must be allowable. Yet he said that it is true only when it pertains to things earthly and temporary. This cannot be applied to sexual immorality. Why? Because the body is not designed for that purpose. The body belongs to the Lord and is indivisibly connected to Him. Then from verses 15-17, he elaborated by stating that it’s because of this indivisible intimate connection with Christ that sexual immorality is so heinous. It is totally inconsistent with our union with Him as partakers of His spirit. Committing sexual sin is to go against the body and would end up destroying it. Hence, Paul prefaced it with an imperative. Flee immorality!

 

In verse 19, the apostle tells us that the body is God’s temple and it’s the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And if it is profaned by immoral practices, it would ceased to be His dwelling place. And since our bodies are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, we should therefore devote them for His glory.   

 

While grace had re-written our lives, it is not a license to do any and everything. God’s generous grace showered on us should cause us to carefully evaluate the purpose of life. Let’s consider where we were brought from and where we could have been, had it not been for the grace of God. Let us live to glorify Him!