December 17, 2023
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
“Bodies for Blessing”
Service Overview: What we do with our bodies matters. Why? Because our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Which is why Paul hits hard on the matter of sexual immorality; something that abuses God’s plan for our bodies and causes great harm to people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Memory Verse for the Week:
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)
Background Insights:
- The social world of the ancient Corinthians differed greatly from ours. Prostitution was not only legal; it was a widely accepted social convention. “The sexual latitude allowed to men by Greek public opinion was virtually unrestricted. Sexual relations of males with both boys and harlots were generally tolerated” (Talbert, 32). Thus, the Corinthian men who frequented prostitutes were not asserting some unheard-of new freedom; they were merely insisting on their right to continue participating in a pleasurable activity that was entirely normal within their own culture. (Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, 102)
- This teaching about sexual immorality and prostitutes was especially important for the Corinthian church because the temple of the love-goddess Aphrodite was in Corinth. This temple employed more than a thousand prostitutes, and sex was part of the worship ritual. (Grant R. Osborne, Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Corinthians, 84)
- The phrase “Everything is permissible for me” was a Corinthian slogan that Paul quoted (v. 12). It possibly reflects a faulty understanding of grace and liberty in Christ (Fee, Corinthians, 2014, 278). (Daniel L. Akin, 1 Corinthians, 129)
- With verse 12 Paul begins a pattern that will frequently recur throughout the rest of the letter—quoting a Corinthian slogan, and thereby giving it a limited endorsement, but then at once substantially qualifying it. These Corinthian slogans (here the three sayings of verses 12–13 which the NIV encloses with quotation marks) all share four characteristics: (a) they are short, pithy, and proverbial; (b) they reflect the libertine wing of the church; (c) Paul himself could have conceivably uttered them in some specific context; and (d) apart from that context they were so misleading that abuse was almost inevitable. (Craig L. Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, 167)
- There was a great deal of sexual laxness in the city of Corinth. It was a permissive society with a philosophy similar to that which the world has today: Sex is a normal physical function, so why not use it as you please? Paul pointed out that God created sex when He made the first man and woman, and therefore He has the right to tell us how to use it. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Wise, 78)
What big ideas is Paul trying to get the Corinthians to understand?
- True freedom would be found by exercising self-control, not in exerting one’s “rights”.
(vv. 12-13, 18 | Proverbs 25:28; Acts 13:38-39; Romans 6:15-23; Galatians 5:1, James 1:25)
The Corinthians needed to learn that when they indulged their sinful desires, they actually were losing their freedom instead of gaining it. (Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on 1 & 2 Corinthians, 96)
“All things are lawful unto me” (1 Cor. 6:12). This was a popular phrase in Corinth, based on a false view of Christian freedom. We have not been set free so that we can enter into a new kind of bondage! As Christians, we must ask ourselves, “Will this enslave me? Is this activity really profitable for my spiritual life?” (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Wise, 79)
- What’s done with physical bodies has spiritual implications.
(vv. 13, 15-17 | Rom. 8:13; 1 Cor. 10:31; 15:44; Gal. 5:19-23; 1 Thes. 5:23; 1 Tim. 4:8)
Humans are a combination of material and spiritual. Just as the spirit affects the body, so too the physical body affects the spirit. People cannot commit sin with their bodies without damaging their souls because their bodies and souls are inseparably joined. (Grant R. Osborne, Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Corinthians, 83)
- Sexual activity is unique in its ability to affect both body and soul.
(vv. 13, 16-19 | Gen. 2:24; Prov. 5:18-19; 6:32; Eph. 5:22-33; 1 Thes. 4:3-5; Hebrews 13:4)
There may be no need for stomachs in resurrection bodies that do not need to eat, but there most certainly will be resurrection bodies! And sexual immorality affects one’s entire body in a way that overeating cannot, as verse 18 [explains]. (Craig L. Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, 168)
Sexual intercourse cannot be understood merely as a momentary act that satisfies a transient natural urge. Instead, it creates a mysterious but real and enduring union between man and woman. (Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, 104)
- Physical bodies are sacred space for God and should be treated thusly.
(vv. 19-20 | Rom. 12:1; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Gal. 3:10-14; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Peter 2:5; Rev. 5:9)
The relationship between believers and Christ is remarkably intimate such that believers represent Christ in what they do with their bodies. Therefore, joining what belongs to Christ to a prostitute is unthinkable and even outrageous. (Thomas Schreiner, 1 Corinthians, 128)
Conclusion… How does a passage like this challenge us in countering culture?
A. Don’t exert a freedom only to end up in slavery.
(Acts 13:38-39; Rom. 6:15-23; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Galatians 5:1; 5:13; James 1:25; 1 Peter 2:16)
True liberty consists exactly in self-determination in the direction of holiness. Man is never more free than when he moves consciously in the direction of God. (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 548)
To engage in unbridled immorality is to trade in our freedom of righteousness for shackles of lust. (Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on 1 & 2 Corinthians, 96)
Saving grace makes a man as willing to leave his lusts as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dungeon, or a thief his bolts, or a beggar his rags. (Thomas Brooks, Leadership, v. 16, n. 1)
B. Make every effort to care for your temple.
(Rom. 6:13; 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Timothy 4:8; 3 John 1:2)
Our bodies should be a doxology in response to so great a salvation that we have in Jesus. (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 134)
Salvation can never be understood as escape from the physical world or as the flight of the soul to heaven. Rather, the resurrection of the body is an integral element of the Christian story. Those who live within that story, then, should understand that what they do with their bodies in the present time is a matter of urgent concern. (Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, 104)
C. When it comes to sexual temptation, don’t just walk away, run!
(Rom. 13:13-14; 1 Cor. 6:18; 10:13; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:22)
Christian maturity is not indicated by the infrequency of temptation but by the infrequency of succumbing to temptation. (Douglas Moo, James, 76)
Our minds are mental greenhouses where unlawful thoughts, once planted, are nurtured and watered before being transplanted into the real world of unlawful actions… These actions are savored in the mind long before they are enjoyed in reality. The thought life, then, is our first line of defense in the battle of self-control. (Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, 138)
Sex is good, but sex is not God. It will not ultimately fulfill. Like anything else that becomes an idol, it will always take more than it gives while diverting the human heart away from the only One who is able to give supreme joy. (David Platt, Counter Culture, 164)
Imagination is the hotbed where [sexual] sin is too often hatched. Guard your thoughts, and there will be little fear about your actions. (J.C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 31)
Gospel Connection…
Your freedom was purchased by the death of God’s only Son. And those in him will never be put to shame.
(Ps. 31:1; 71:1; Rom. 9:33; 10:11; 2 Cor. 5:21; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 2:6; Rev. 5:9)
Every instance of treasuring images of sexual immorality in our hearts, every eager glance at pornography, all of our lustful gawking — everything — is paid for by Jesus in his death for sinners. (Heath Lambert, Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace, 21)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- How did the Corinthian Christians fail to apply the gospel to beliefs they’d inherited from their surrounding culture?
- How would Christianity be different if it did not value the body? How would Christianity be different if it only valued the body?
- Because the Corinthians did not have a proper view of their bodies, they committed sexual immorality. Are there any sins Christians could be tempted toward today due to an improper view of their bodies?
- What was the Corinthians’ rationale for sexual freedom? How does this rationalizing compare to modern-day attitudes toward sexuality?
- What hope do Christians have who have fallen into sin, sexual or otherwise?
Quotes to note…
God promises that our temptation is never stronger than He is… God provides His solemn word and sovereign promise that He will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to resist. (Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace, 100)
Jesus’ grace to change you is stronger than pornography’s power to destroy you. Jesus’ grace is stronger than your own desires to watch sex. (Heath Lambert, Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace, 28)
You don’t have to be ascetic, and you don’t have to be afraid of the goodness of physical pleasure, to say that sexual intimacy and sexual climax get their final meaning from what they point to. They point to ecstasies that are unattainable and inconceivable in this life. Just as the heavens are telling the glory of God’s power and beauty, so sexual climax is telling the glory of immeasurable delights that we will have with Christ in the age to come. There will be no marriage there (Matt. 22:30). But what marriage meant will be there. And the pleasures of marriage, ten-to-the-millionth power, will be there. (John Piper, This Momentary Marriage, 127)
Sexual intercourse is more than a physical act; it is a symbol of a spiritual relationship and the expression of the complete oneness of two persons in married love… It is…the means by which they are confirmed and nourished in that union. Sexual intercourse is the physical establishment and confirmation of that oneness. The true dignity of sex is in its ability to enhance this personal unity between two persons who have committed themselves to each other in love and marriage. In sexual intercourse the couple becomes joined in an indissoluble unity, called in the Bible “one flesh” (Dwight Small, Design for Christian Marriage, 82, 84)
When a person becomes a Christian and has authentic faith, he has a real mystical union with Christ, so that Christ really comes to indwell the believer. When we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, His righteousness is counted towards us and we are justified. At that same moment, Christ, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, comes to dwell inside of us. (R.C. Sproul, The Purpose of God, 85)
God gave sex to be the servant of love and never the slave of lust. God intends for love to express itself in the commitment of marriage, and only then for intimacy to unite us in the joys of sexual love (Richard and Sharon Phillips, Holding Hands and Holding Hearts, 143)
Freedom is a mark of the Christian faith—freedom from sin and guilt, and freedom to use and enjoy all things that come from God. But Christians should not abuse this freedom and hurt themselves or others. Drinking too much leads to alcoholism, gluttony leads to obesity. But we can also be mastered (enslaved or empowered) by money, sports, television, or any one thing that controls our life or robs our devotion to Christ or service to others. (Grant R. Osborne, Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Corinthians, 82)
The man who has to express his freedom is actually in bondage to the need to show he is a free man. The genuinely free man has nothing to prove. (Prior, 1 Corinthians, 96)