Lesson 13 – 1 Corinthians Chapter 6:14-20 & Chapter 7:1-2

So far in chapter 6 we’ve learned that as believers, we should do our best not to sue another believer. True Christians are to live under the command from Jesus, that we are to love one another. Suing another believer for financial gain is not how we show the love of Christ to those around us.

We also talked about the freedom we find in Christ…

Gal. 5:1:
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

We enjoy our freedom in Christ, because through Him we are no longer under the yoke of slavery as we were before our salvation.

Gal. 5:13:
“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Verse 12 of chapter 6 addresses our freedom as well…

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.”

To say, “All things are lawful for me,” does not mean “anything goes” when it pertains to sinful actions.

We all have the propensity to sin even though we are no longer slaves to sin, and sinning is always a choice for the believer. When we read all things are lawful for me, it gets the attention of our flesh. Our flesh will stealthily find excuses to sin, while ignoring the promptings of the Holy Spirit not to sin.

This was the game the Corinthians were playing. They saw the opportunity to distort God’s Word just to satisfy their immoral desires. It’s a fool who thinks he can play games with God and win.

Proverbs 28:26 (ESV):
“Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”

The Corinthians made light of immorality, claiming that sex was no different than feeding your body, on the premise that the body needs food and sex, so “What’s the big deal?”

Paul points out that our bodies are not meant for immoral purposes. In fact, our bodies no longer belong to ourselves, we belong to Christ.

1 Cor. 6:14:
“Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.”

Paul is reminding us about the resurrection of both Jesus and ourselves. The nature of our salvation hinges on the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead. The day is coming when He will raise us from the dead as well.

Romans 8:11 (NLT):
“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”

As Christians, we have the hope that should the Lord delay His coming, once we are dead our earthly bodies will be resurrected from the grave.

In the twinkling of an eye, we will receive our changed bodies, our resurrected bodies… our glorified bodies. Can I get an amen?

Romans 8:23-25 (NLT):
“And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”

When we read Scriptures like this, it can stir up our souls and get us excited. Unfortunately, the Corinthians were anything but excited, they were too busy looking for loopholes to satisfy their lustful desires.

But will also raise us up through His power…

This is worth meditating on, that we should think about the power of God. People ask, “Should I be buried or cremated when I die?” It really doesn’t matter, because it’s the power of God that will raise us up to new life.

1 Cor. 6:15:
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!”

Paul continues to drill down on the point that we don’t have exclusive rights to our body anymore, that we are part of His body.

Eph. 1:22-23:
“And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Romans 12:4-5:
“For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?

(NLT) “Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute?”

Let’s go back to Romans 6:1 (NLT):
“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?”

The answer to both questions is a big fat NO! For the person living the Spirit-filled life, this answer is obvious, but for the person steeped in sin, not so much.

Paul says, May it never be! To paraphrase Paul, “Don’t you realize the you’re dragging Jesus into that sinful situation?” May it never be! We had better think twice about what we are including Jesus in.

1 Cor. 6:16:
“Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.”

In his book Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis says, “That each time a man and a woman enter into a sexual relationship a spiritual bond is established between them which must be eternally enjoyed or eternally endured. God takes sexual sin seriously because it corrupts and shatters spiritual relationships, both human and divine.”

We must ask ourselves the question, “How can we be joined to Christ and joined to sin at the same time?” As we ask that question, we will find that it is the Holy Spirit who will convict us of that sin.

The two shall become one flesh… Paul is quoting Gen. 2:24. He wants us to understand that there is a seriousness connected to this sin. The world in which we live says, “No big deal, My body my choice.” God’s Word teaches that this is a big deal… because when a man and woman have relations, their entire character is involved, which under the wrong circumstances can bring deep and long-lasting consequences. What are the wrong circumstances? Having sex outside the marriage covenant.

1 Cor. 6:17:
“But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

John 10:30 (ESV) :
“I and the Father are one.”

Jesus prayed to the Father right before He sacrificed His life for our sins….

John 17:21-23:
“That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

God the Father answered His Son’s prayer…

Gal. 3:27:
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

All this being said, Paul declares that every believer is one spirit with Him (God). The premise is, the Christian who commits a sexual sin is indeed bringing Jesus into that sin with them, which is disgraceful, dare I say, blasphemous.

1 Cor. 6:18:
“Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.“

Flee immorality… the Greek wording is such that it tells us that when it comes to immorality, we are to continually flee from it, run away from it, and we don’t stop till we see it in our rear-view mirror. It’s a continuous action on our part.

Let’s be clear, sexual sins can be one of the most tempting sins for people to deal with. Satan and his demons know this. Sexual immorality begins with a natural desire for intimacy, but if we have not allowed Jesus to become the greater passion in our life, satan may convince us that we must meet this desire our own way.

Our eyes play a major role in our decision-making. We see something we want, and our flesh just wants to go for it. We live in an age of constant visual overstimulation; everyday our eyes take in millions of bits of information, and unless we filter that information through a pure heart, our eyes can lead us down a path to sin.

1 Tim. 6:11:
“But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.”

2 Tim. 2:22:
“Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

For us to flee indicates that we have a choice to make. When it comes to our “thought life,” we always have a free-will choice. We also have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us to help us overcome any temptation… from satan, the world, or those around us.

When we use the word “habitual” it’s usually in a negative light, but when it comes to us fleeing, we should do that habitually.

Someone once said, “While it is often claimed that there is safety in numbers, there are times when there is more safety in a swift exit.”

Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body…

Paul doesn’t really expand on what he’s saying here. One way to look at this is the sins that are committed outside the body would be like the sin of drunkenness, but when it comes to immorality, it’s like going to a house of ill repute and taking Jesus with you.

Sexual sin has an influence on people like no other human impulse, and when it is satisfied, it affects the body like no other sin. By taking part in this… man sins against his own body.

John MacArthur says, “Because sexual intimacy is the deepest uniting of two persons, its misuse corrupts on the deepest human level.”

John continues, “Some years ago a sixteen-year-old girl came into my office in complete despair. She had committed so many sex sins that she felt utterly worthless. She had not looked in the mirror for months, because she could not stand to look at herself; and to me she looked nearer 40 than 16. She was on the verge of suicide, not wanting to live another day. I had a special joy in leading her to Jesus Christ and seeing the transformation He made in her life. She said, “For the first time in years I feel clean.”

Perhaps when the Corinthians were reading Paul’s letter, the Holy Spirit was convicting them, causing them to have a renewed desire to be clean again.

1 Cor. 6:19:
“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?”

Or we could paraphrase by saying, “Don’t you remember, like I told you before, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.”

Paul told them this in 1 Corinthians 3:16, and he will tell them for a third time in 2 Corinthians 6:16… Paul does not give up easily.

Some say that the way Paul is saying this should be seen as a sarcastic question… he’s driving home the point, that as Christians, our bodies do not belong to us, they belong to God… that you are not your own.

Remember, sex is good, God designed it for us. He intended that the husband and wife become one… it’s biblical. It’s just not meant for outside the marriage covenant.

Immorality is of satan, it’s his counterfeit to what God meant to be pure and undefiled.

The Corinthians had alienated themselves from God, they weren’t even thinking about God, the only thing that mattered was themselves and their lustful desires.

God created our bodies, Jesus redeemed our bodies, and God the Holy Spirit indwells them. This makes our bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit of God.

Eph. 1:13:
“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation… having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

It’s good for us to have reminders that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and that He is the pledge of our inheritance.

When we buy a car, we’re always interested in what kind of warranty we can get. God gave us the Holy Spirit as an eternal warranty that has no expiration date.

The Holy Spirit will forever be in us. I can’t find anything in the Scriptures that says that the Holy Spirit ever leaves us at some point. That tells me that even when we’re in the New Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit will be in us.

We need to live with the awareness that God is always with us and in us, so how can we choose to drag Him into our sins? This is the message that Paul is trying to get across to the Corinthians, laying a guilt trip on them… my words not Paul’s.

1 Cor. 6:20:
“For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

We have been bought with a price… perhaps one of the most profound statements in the Bible.

It’s like we were kidnaped by sin, in fact we were held captive by sin making us slaves to sin, and Jesus looked that kidnaper right in the eye, and paid our ransom.

1 Tim. 2:5:
“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”

1 Peter 1:18:
“Knowing that you were not redeemed (or ransomed) with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

We were bought with a price, a heavy price… “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Like we’ve sung many times, “there’s power in the blood, wonder working power.”

Just as the blood coursing through our veins sustains our life, the Blood of Christ gives us new life, grafting us into the family of God.

We are no longer our own, God made us, ransomed us, and He lives in us.

Therefore glorify God in your body…

Every child of God has one purpose, and that is to glorify God.

“But I thought spreading the gospel was our main purpose.” When we tell others about God’s salvation, that’s glorifying God. “I thought making disciples was most important.” Making disciples glorifies God. Jesus said I should love Him and all those around me… when we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength as well as our neighbors, that glorifies God.

Therefore glorify God in your body…

This command was given because the Corinthians were using their bodies for sinful purposes, which was in no way glorifying to God. What they were doing left a stain on the church, they were giving Christianity a bad reputation.

There’s the story about a person who took his friend to a large Catholic cathedral on the east coast. The friend wanted to pray at the station of his favorite saint, but upon arriving at the station, he was startled to find that there weren’t any candles lit, and a sign saying, “Do not worship here; closed for cleaning.”

There needed to be a sign like that in front of the Corinthian church, because the congregation was filthy with sin.

Chapter 7

Paul is going to switch gears here and begin teaching on marriage.

Believe it or not, the Corinthians had written Paul a letter asking him questions, and it is thought that it was delivered perhaps by Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus. We find their names in chapter sixteen. It might be a case of, be careful of what questions you ask, you might not like the answers you get.

I think it’s safe to say, that if you were born in Corinth, you were handicapped from the beginning. Corinth, as we have studied, was a pagan and morally corrupt society with many downfalls. The society accepted fornication, adultery, homosexuality, polygamy, and prostitution… all considered to be the norm.

Divorce was also common. Marriage vows were pretty much thrown to the side. It was not uncommon to find those who had been married and divorced some twenty times. Making James Cameron with 9, Martin Scorsese with 8, and Christy Brinkley with 6 divorces all looking like amateurs.

The Corinthians had questions like; “What do we do now that we are believers?” “Should we get divorced if our spouse is an unbeliever?” “Should we become, or remain, single?”

So, let’s continue our journey with Paul and see what the Spirit of God has to say.

1 Cor. 7:1:
“Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.”

The phrase, to touch a woman… was a common Jewish expression for sexual intercourse, it wasn’t a simple touch as some might think. (See, you can’t just casually read the Bible, you might miss the deeper meanings).

Proverbs 6:29:
“So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her will not go unpunished.”

It is good for a man not to touch a woman… or, “it is good for a man not to have intercourse with a woman.” It’s possible that Paul is addressing the question, would he approve of “celibacy” as an obligation for all? This could be a kneejerk reaction from the Corinthians concerning their flagrant immorality problems, maybe saying, “We’ll fix this, let’s just not have sex at all.”

They may have been desiring a legalistic approach, hoping Paul would give them a command to be celibate; that would make it black and white for them.

Gen. 2:18:
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

God knew before He created mankind that men and women were to be relational, they would have a need for companionship, and with that, God ordained marriage.

Many of us would agree and say, thank God He did!

For some people, marriage just isn’t in their DNA, and as Paul will tell us, that’s perfectly okay as far as God is concerned.

Looking back to the Old Testament, Jewish tradition held on to the Scripture of Gen. 1:28a, “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,” The Jews said to themselves, “Okay Lord, that sounds good, we’re going to run with that.”

It’s entirely possible that there were some Messianic Jews in the congregation, pressuring the Gentile believers to get married; they may have had some over-zealous matchmakers in the church, “David, come over here, I want you to meet my niece, Bethany.”

As to being single, this may have been an over-reaction on the part of the Gentiles because of their sexual sins in the past. It really doesn’t matter what their motivation was, they had every right to remain single, that singleness is good, honorable, and excellent. Paul did not come out and say that singleness is more spiritual than being married… both can be good.

1 Cor. 7:2:
“But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.”

But because of immoralities…

Paul’s not making a blanket statement here, insinuating that everyone in the church was dealing with immorality. That’s like saying all communists live in red houses. But a good number of the believers had fallen into sexual sin.

Let’s be real, sex is hot, it can be a torch that burns within, and it burns even hotter when we’re young. Just like any human, Paul knew of these temptations, and when our sexual desires are unfulfilled it can become a burning flame. This was especially true for those who weren’t married.

Each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband…

We must not misinterpret what Paul is saying here, he is not saying run out and grab the first Christian you come across and get married just so you don’t fall into sexual sin. Sadly, I’m sure this has happened to many people throughout the generations, trying to avoid sexual sin.

Paul takes marriage very seriously as should we.

Eph. 5:22, 25:
“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord……….. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,”

A man is to have a wife, and a woman, her own husband. One of each, one man one woman. God doesn’t want anything else, which translates to no polygamy, no homosexual marriages, and no, a person can’t marry their pet!

Marriage isn’t the “fast track” to having all your sexual desires fulfilled, although that can happen in a healthy loving marriage. Paul’s intent is to identify the sexual temptations that can occur in the single life, and that if it becomes too overwhelming, marriage is a valid outlet.

As we know, God created marriage, and there many benefits to marriage. As I mentioned before, “be fruitful and multiply,” so mankind can reproduce itself. A little side note, this is happening less and less in the United States today.

To be sure, there is pleasure in marriage.

Proverbs 5:18-19 (NLT):
“Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love.”

Is it getting hot in here?

Marriage is for purity, in that it protects from sexual immorality, it does so by meeting the physical needs of each partner.

A marriage is a partnership, a companionship, a friendship…

Gen. 2:18:
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

A friendship between husband and wife is one of the key ingredients of a good marriage. Come, let us grow old together, so we can help one another and love one another.

Lastly, marriage becomes a picture of the church.

The world rails against this, but the husband is to have authority over and to love his wife, just as Jesus has authority over and loves His church.

Eph. 5:31-32:
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”

The divine reality hidden in the metaphor of marriage is that God ordained a permanent union between His Son and the church.

Geoffrey W. Bromiley (1915 – August 7, 2009) was a renowned church historian and historical theologian. Geoffrey Bromiley is right when he says, “As God made man in His own image, so He made earthly marriage in the image of His own eternal marriage with His people” (God and Marriage, p. 43).

As God willed for Christ and the church to become one body, so He willed for marriage to reflect this pattern… that the husband and wife become one flesh.

We have to stop for now, but Paul has so much more to bless us with… so read ahead and next week we’ll examine God’s Word together.