1 Corinthians 6:12 – You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (NLT)
Have you ever known someone who professes to be a Christian, yet their life tells a different story? Such was the case with a number of the Christians who lived in Corinth. Some of them claimed that since they were saved through their faith, then they could live as they desired. (Surely, we don’t have Christians like that anymore!) Their argument was that since they were free in Christ, they could do anything. Paul responds in verse twelve, and even quotes their argument: “even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.”
Paul uses the word slave many times in his letters, even calling himself a slave of Jesus (Romans 1:1). In Romans, Paul makes the argument that everyone is a slave to something, it is our fallen/sinful human nature. We are either slaves to sin, or a slave of God. Romans 6:16 – “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” His argument in this passage with the Corinthians was that they had become a slave to sexual sins.
Some Corinthians claimed that since sexual relations were a natural human function, then any sexual relations were justified. They compared the naturalness of sexual activity to that of the natural act of eating. If our bodies were made to eat food, then it was justified to eat food, therefore they claimed they were justified to have sexual relations as they desired. Paul responds with the following: “You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.”
Paul goes on to share that sexual relations were for a higher purpose than procreation, or even recreation. The Word of God maintains that sexual relations are a gift from God to bring us into a close spiritual relationship with another. He writes: “Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”
Just as we have a spiritual relationship with God through Jesus, sexual relations allow us to nurture a deeper, spiritual relationship with another. Therefore, we cannot engage in sexual activity casually. In this passage he mentions ‘with a prostitute’, for that was the argument that the Corinthians were using. We can substitute ‘anyone other than one’s spouse’ to receive the full meaning of the text.
Sexual relations are not inherently bad, indeed, God commands us to have sexual relations! (Genesis 1:28). Just as any gift from God can be misused, sexual relations are wrong when engaged in casually. Paul tells us to run from sexual sin, for no other sin affects us as sexual sin does.
We should celebrate the gifts God has given, but let us use all those gifts in the manner in which God intended them to be used. We were made to glorify God in all things, today, let us glorify God in all we do and say.
Posted by Ramón Torres