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Afterwards, as he rides down the street he notices billboards everywhere advertising cars, stereos, cigarettes and soft drinks, and every billboard sports a t-bone steak regardless of the product. It doesn't take him long to think that something very strange is happening. A very legitimate pleasure, eating, in this society is being carried to a very ridiculous excess. Mr. Lewis suggests that if anyone were to visit America from another planet that he would conclude that something equally strange has happened to the sex drive among us.
We are living in the midst of sex hysteria today in America; it is a sex saturated society. We are much like the city of ancient Corinth which was the sin city of Greece. A Corinthian feast was nothing more than an orgy. In the center of the city was the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of sex. Every day ten thousand prostitutes were at work in the temple. Sexual immorality was very common in Corinth. Not only was immorality common, but it was not counted as sin by the Corinthian philosophers and teachers. The problem of the church in Corinth was very similar to the problem with the church in America today: the morally loose thinking of society had invaded the church. The church in America, like the church at Corinth, is infected with this preoccupation with sex. Ever since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, large segments of our society have subscribed to the "if it feels good do it" mentality. And even some in the church have bought into it. Many Christians and even many pastors have fallen to the sin of sexual immorality. The moral looseness of our society has invaded and now pervades the church of Jesus Christ. Our study of 1 Corinthians 6:12 is very appropriate for our particular society and for our situation in the church in America today.
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul confronts this immoral condition in the church at Corinth in a head-on attack. He deals with two major things in our passage: in verses 12-14, Paul refutes the Corinthian believers' excuses for moral laxity. Then in verses 15-20 he gives the biblical reasons for moral purity.
First of all, in 1 Corinthians 6:12-14, he refutes some of the excuses that the Corinthian Christians raised for their immorality. These three verses are surprising because of the excuses that they did not give. For example, the people in Corinth did not say, "Everyone is doing it, so why not go along with the crowd?" Although the Corinthians did not argue that way, many today use that excuse. The biblical response to that is, "Since when did the rightness or wrongness of an action become determined by how many people are doing it?" A Christian's standards are to be radically different from the world's standards.
Many people today excuse sexual immorality because they plan to get married anyway. In God's sight two people are not married until they make a covenant before God abiding by the regulations of the state. The covenant, not the consummation, makes the marriage. The Corinthians did not use a lot of the arguments that are used today to justify illicit sexual relationships. However, the two arguments they did use are just as relevant today as they were then. The first argument is found in verse 12: "All things are lawful for me." This was probably a Corinthian slogan which Paul is quoting. His use of a contemporary catch phrase begins a pattern that will frequently recur throughout the rest of the letter. By saying, "All things are lawful for me", the Corinthian believers are saying that they have liberty in Christ and can do what they want because all things are lawful. Paul does not contradict this, because there is a sense in which all things are lawful in the life of a Christian. But that liberty is li mited by some guidelines. So in verse 12 Paul quotes a Corinthian slogan and then gives two guidelines that must go with it.
1 Corinthians 6:12 (NKJV) "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Christ has granted us great liberty in the New Covenant. Freedom in Christ was a truth that Paul never tired of emphasizing.
Galatians 5:1 (NKJV) "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."
We are free from the encumbrances of the Old Testament ceremonial law. We are free from any dietary restrictions and we are free to enjoy all of the good things that God has created for us. There are really no limits on our enjoyment of God's good gifts. Of course, that does not include the freedom to sin because sin is bondage. It is freedom to enjoy all the good things that God has provided for us.
When Paul says "all things," he does not mean all in an absolute sense. The use of the word "all" in the New Testament does not always mean every single person or every single thing. We will be confused if we do not stop to ask, all of what? For example, Luke 2:1 says, "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered." This does not mean that Caesar Augustus taxed every single person in the world. In that case, all was limited to the Roman empire in the known world. In the same way the `all things' in 1 Corinthians 6:12 has it limitations. Obviously, activities that God forbids can never be allowed. Sin is not lawful. Christian freedom is not the freedom to do wrong. It is the freedom from externals, traditions, preferences. The Corinthian believers were applying the words "all things" to everything, including sexually immoral acts. But Paul makes it very clear in his teaching that there are restraints on Christian liberty.
Galatians 5:13 (NKJV) "For you, brethren, have been called to
liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another."
1 Peter 2:15-16 (NKJV) "For this is the will of God, that by doing
good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men; as free, yet
not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as
bondservants of God."
The Corinthian believers were using their liberty in an attempt to excuse their sin. Paul could simply have told them that fornication is sin, but because they did not view it as sin he takes the opportunity to teach them that even when an action is permissible there are two rules that must govern a believer's conduct. Although Paul agrees with the motto, he qualifies it with an adversative statement: "but all things are not helpful." The Greek word translated helpful is sumphero which means to bear together, to help, to be profitable. There are some things that are not wrong but they may not be profitable to the believer. Since the Corinthians did not believe that sexual immorality is sinful, Paul helps them evaluate it by the principle of expediency. Pre-marital sex and extra-marital sex are wrong because neither is expedient nor profitable. No other sin has more built-in pitfalls, problems, and destructiveness than sexual sin. It has broken more marriages, shattered more homes, caused more heartache an d disease, and destroyed more lives than alcohol and drugs combined. It causes lying, stealing, cheating, and killing, as well as bitterness, hatred, slander, gossip, and unforgiveness.
Paul gives the second guideline for evaluating behavior when he says, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." The Greek text reveals a play on words. We could translate this, "All things are within my power but I will not be overpowered by any." A Christian ought never to be in subjection to any habit, to any desire, to any appetite. This is a key text in the word of God against drugs. We are not to be slaves to any desire or appetite. Illicit sex makes a person a slave to his desires. We are to keep our bodies, including the sex drive, under subjection. One of the marks of a Spirit controlled man is self-control according to Galatians 5:22-23. As soon as a believer loses control of his sex drive, he has forfeited his liberty and entered into slavery. Our liberty is always to be limited by expediency and self-control.
The Corinthians had another excuse besides Christian liberty for their immorality and Paul deals with it in 1 Corinthians 6:13-14. Once again, their excuse sounds familiar to twentieth century listeners. In modern language, they were simply saying, "God made sex and sex is good, so why frustrate it?"
1 Corinthians 6:13 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.
The Corinthians' arguement could be summarized this way: nature demands satisfaction. When you are hungry eat something! That is a legitimate way to satisfy your hunger pains and your desire to eat. The stomach was made for food and food was made for the stomach. When you get the urge to eat, eat! The Corinthians put hunger pains and the sex drive on the same level and thus rationalized their illicit sexual behavior.
Paul has a couple of things to say about their premise. He draws a clear distinction between the drive of the stomach for food and the drive of the body for sex because there is a clear distinction to be made between the stomach and the body. For one thing, the stomach is temporary: "but God will destroy both it [the stomach] and them [foods]." He is simply saying that the whole eating process is a very temporary thing. There is going to come a day when we will not need to eat any more. On the other hand, the body is eternal and permanent. That's why he says, "And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power" (1 Corinthians 6:14). God is going to raise your body from the dead so there is a permanency associated with the body.
Philippians 3:20-21 (NKJV) "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."
The dignity of the body is great because it is not destined to perish but to come to glory. This was very important for the Corinthians to realize because, like all of the Greeks, they considered the body to be evil and the spirit to be pure. Greek thought was characterized by a dualism in which the spiritual world was good and the physical world was bad. Plato, for example, called the body a "prison" that held captive the soul. In the early centuries A.D. two schools of Greek thought developed around this dualism: Stoicism and Epicureanism. The Stoics treated their bodies harshly, denying themselves even the most simple pleasures. Spirituality, to them, consisted of depriving themselves of all comfort and pleasure. In contrast, the Epicureans readily indulged their bodies, gratifying every appetite. While very different in behavior, the Stoics and Epicureans shared a common disregard for the body. The Stoics demeaned it, so refused to satisfy it. The Epicureans demeaned it, so felt free to abuse it in the pursuit of pleasure. Early Christians who tended toward legalism adopted Stoic philosophy and lifestyles. Believers such as the Corinthians who elevated personal liberty gravitated toward the Epicurean ideals and behavior.
Epicurean philosophy is basically Freudian psychology: sex is the strongest God-given drive, and we are not to frustrate that drive. The Corinthian argument sounds remarkably modern. Hugh Hefner, the editor of "Playboy" says, "Sex is a function of the body. A drive which man shares with animals. Like eating, drinking and sleeping. It's a physical demand that must be satisfied. If you don't satisfy it you will have all sorts of neurosis and repression psychosis. Sex is here to stay. Let's forget the prudery that makes us hide from it. Throw away those inhibitions, find a girl who's like minded and let yourself go." He sounds like he must have been talking with the Corinthians. While other urges exist for our physical maintenance, sex does not. We will die without food and water. We will not die without sex.
The Corinthians thought that they could do anything in their bodies without effecting or contaminating their souls. Paul is saying the body is not evil and it is an integral part of you. The evidence for the dignity of the body is that someday God is going to raise our bodies. Paul drives his point home with great force in the middle of 1 Corinthians 6:13 as he makes a second distinction, "Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." To put it simply, the stomach finds its fulfillment and satisfaction in taking in food. But the body finds its fulfillment not in sex but in being used to glorify God. The body is an instrument that God can use for his glory. The body was made for the Lord and it belongs to Him. Paul put it this way in Romans six:
Romans 6:12-13 (NKJV) "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."
The Greek word translated instruments is actually a word that means weapons. Our bodies can be used by God as weapons to advance His kingdom.
In 1 Corinthians 6:12-14 Paul refuted the reasons that the Corinthians were giving for their moral laxness. Now in verses 15 thru 20 he reviews his reasons for moral purity. Notice that Paul does not say that they should abstain from immoral living in order to protect their bodies. He could have said that. We are living in the midst of an epidemic of venereal diseases in the United States. Hundred of thousands of Americans die each year of venereal diseases. Thousands more are crippled morally and physically as a result of sexually transmitted disease. But Paul does not use that as one of his reasons for moral purity. He also doesn't call for them to abstain from immorality to avoid pregnancy, but he could have. We have thousands of illegitimate births every year in our country in spite of birth control and legalized abortion. Paul also does not argue for purity in the marriage relationship to protect one's marriage although he could have. It is a fact that premarital relationships are one of the greates t hazards to a happy marriage relationship. We might have expected Paul to argue for sexual purity to protect one's spiritual life and one's relationship with the Lord. Immorality fractures one's fellowship with God as 1 Corinthians 6:10-11 tells us.
Paul gives them three reasons for sexual morality in their Christian living. This is a review of things he had already taught them; each of these three phrases is introduced by the phrase, "know ye not." First, he calls upon them to live morally pure based upon their position in Jesus Christ.
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! (1 Corinthians 6:15)
Each believer's body is the member of Christ. A human body has many members. There are ten members on the hands called fingers. Two arms are members of most people's body. In the same way, every believer's body is a member or part of His body. Of course, His body is a spiritual body, the church. But your body is to His body what my fingers or arms or legs are to my body. Your body is part of His body, it is a member of His body. Sexual sin is so obnoxious because it takes a member of His body away from Him and from its proper use and robs Him of that member. Paul says "Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!" The Greek word for "take" is airo and it means to take away. In other words Paul asks, "Shall I take away from Christ one of the members of His body?" When a believer uses his body for an illegitimate purpose, he robs Christ of one of the members of His body and his right to use that body for the specific purposes that he has ordained. Moreover, sexual sin uses a part of Christ's own body in an act of fornication. The Greek word used for harlot is porne, a form of the word porneia which means fornication, sexual immorality. We certainly shouldn't take Christs' members and join them in sexual immorality. The believer's position as a member of the body of Christ is the basis of Paul's appeal to them for moral purity.
The second reason that Paul uses to appeal for moral purity is because of the priority of the spiritual relationship.
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." But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:16-17)
Paul's point is clear: when two persons engage in a sex act, a physical and spiritual union take place. Genesis 2:24 says, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." No one can say that he serves Christ in spirit but bodily is free to do as he pleases. Body and spirit are intimately connected. If a person involves himself in sexual immorality, his act involves not merely his physical but his spiritual being. Scripture shows that the verb to cleave refers to more than a physical union; it involves a bonding relationship that has spiritual implications. In Deut. 10:20 God commanded the Israelites to cleave to Him.
In 1 Corinthians 6:15, Paul noted that our bodies are members of Christ. In verse 17 he states that a believer's spirit is joined to Christ. Sexual immorality involves both the body and the spirit which are both intimately connected to Christ. Each believer has been joined to the Lord in a spiritual union. The spiritual union is a oneness of spirit between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul argues that the spirit union is damaged by the body's union with immorality. The actions of a believer with and in his body ought always to be governed by the higher spiritual union to the Lord.
Verses 19& 20 contain his third reason for moral purity: the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
A believer's body is the shrine, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. God has no temple on earth other than the human body; no church auditorium ought to be called "the sanctuary." Is this just semantics? No, words have meaning and God does not dwell in a building but in our bodies. Do you treat your body like the dwelling place of God? To commit sexual sin in a church auditorium, disgusting as that would be, would be no worse than committing the same sin anywhere else. Every act of fornication by a believer is committed in God's sanctuary. Paul says, "He is in you; your body is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When you put your trust in Jesus Christ your body became His home". In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul called the church, the corporate body of believers, the temple of God, but here the reference is to the individual believer's body. He goes on to say that the Holy Spirit has been given to the believer by God. We can infer two things from the fact that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The first is His presence in our bodies. I can never go anyplace apart from God being in me. I can close the doors, pull the shades, turn off the lights, but God is present because He indwells me. Moreover, we ought to be very careful about defiling the temple of God.
None of us shall ever defile God's temple without incurring the wrath of God and the guilt of sin. Because our body is His temple, it is his possession. Paul emphasizes this in the end of verse 19 and 20: "and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price." That price is the blood of Jesus Christ: he died for you and he paid your sin debt. He created us for Himself, but our sin separated us from Him. He purchased us with His blood. He literally bought back what belonged to Him.
1 Peter 1:18-19 (NKJV) "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."
When God bought you, he bought your spirit and body. Your body is his and you are living in rented quarters. Our bodies are His possession to do with as he pleases. "You are not your own". Do you live with that truth? Why do you do the things you do? Most often, we do things to please ourselves. No one has the right to take his body which is on loan and use it in a way that would defile Him or displease Him. And we certainly have no right to abuse another person's body. The body is the place of proper worship and is to be dedicated to the Lord.
Romans 12:1 (NIV) "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship"
Our bodies are to be keep under control; they are not to be allowed to express themselves as they wish.
1 Corinthians 9:27 (NKJV) "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
All of Paul's arguments have been building up to a climax which is in verse 18: "Flee sexual immorality." He says, "For all the reasons that I have given you, flee fornication!" That imperative is strengthened by the rather difficult phrase that follows: "Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body." This does not mean that fornication is the most serious of all sins, but fornication is a unique sin. Every other sin is outside the body but fornication is against the body. Even the effects of gluttony are usually reversible by an increase in sweat and a decrease in calories. But some effects of illicit sex can never be undone (though they can be forgiven). Memories and emotions stay with us for a lifetime. Illicit sex has a unique effect on a person's psyche. Dr. Max Leven, who is a urologist and psychiatrist in New York City, said, "I am among those who regard pre-marital chastity as the desirable ideal to hold up to our young people. As a physician I speak strictly from the standpoint of mental health." And he goes on to talk about the psychological stresses and the emotional disturbances that come from sustained sexual relationships outside marriage.
Flee sexual immorality. This imperative is not isolated; on thirty-eight occasions in the Bible, believers are commanded in one way or another to flee fornication. Hugh Hefner says sex in any occasion; the new morality says sex within a love context; the Bible says sex within a marriage context and only within that marriage context.
At times this may mean an actual literal fleeing from fornication, like Joseph had to flee from Potiphar's wife (Gen. 39:12). But it may also require refusing intimate friendships with people to whom one is improperly attracted, refraining in dating relationships from bodily contact that prematurely arouses sexual desires, or avoiding places that make pornography available in print or other media. It applies to the mental level. We are to flee any thing that will cause us to lust, to fuel our illicit desires. To most of us this is a call to flee mentally from any lustful thoughts. "Let him wo thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall."
The dangers and harm of sexual sin are nowhere presented more vividly and forcefully than in the Proverbs.
Proverbs 7 (NKJV) "My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you. 2 Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," And call understanding your nearest kin, 5 That they may keep you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words. 6 For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice, 7 And saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, A young man devoid of understanding, 8 Passing along the street near her corner; And he took the path to her house 9 In the twilight, in the evening, In the black and dark night. 10 And there a woman met him, With the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart. 11 She was loud and rebellious, Her feet would not stay at home. 12 At times she was outside, at times in the open square, Lurking at every corner. 13 So she caught him and kissed him; With an impudent face she said to him: 14 "I have peace offerings with me; Today I have paid my vows. 15 So I came out to meet you, Diligently to seek your face, And I have found you. 16 I have spread my bed with tapestry, Colored coverings of Egyptian linen. 17 I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; Let us delight ourselves with love. 19 For my husband is not at home; He has gone on a long journey; 20 He has taken a bag of money with him, And will come home on the appointed day." 21 With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, With her flattering lips she seduced him. 22 Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, 23 Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life. 24 Now therefore, listen to me, my children; Pay attention to the words of my mouth: 25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths; 26 For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong men. 27 Her house is the way to hell, Descending to the chambers of death."
The Bible's advice for avoiding fornication is simple: stay as far away as possible from the persons and places likely to get you in trouble. Passion is not rational or sensible, and sexually dangerous situations should be avoided or fled, not debated.
Are you fleeing fornication? Or are you toying with it? This is a very destructive sin that causes much damage. May we realize its seriousness and keep on fleeing from it. We are to flee fornication because of our position in Christ, because of the priority of the spiritual relationship, and because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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