1 Corinthians 6:15-20

One of the running themes of 1 Corinthians is the difference between the church and the world and the mandate for the church to live and think differently from the world. In the last section, Paul gave several arguments for why the Christian should live differently—because of the danger of sin, because of the grace we have been given, because we want to live wisely, and because we do not want to be enslaved to anything that would hinder us. In the last two verses, Paul directly touches on the life of the body, pointing to the fact that it was created by God and that God has a purpose for it. That leads us directly into the discussion, which covers the rest of chapters 6 and 7; the problem of fornication. Paul states his opening proposition here.

The first-century Greco-Roman world had a very loose code of sexual morality. The high ideal of chastity, as taught by Christianity, was not practiced and, by and large, was not even tried for. As our own culture moves away from Christianity, we begin to have some idea of what it was like. And, even within that culture, Corinth had a reputation for immorality. Given that context, it makes sense that even in addressing the church, Paul had to make a statement about sexual purity. There is no suggestion that this was a problem actively in the church—though, as we'll see in chapter 7, there were some questions. This section may be more preventative than curative.

The central statement here is verse 18: “Flee fornication.” Paul's main idea is not merely a statement but a command, and not merely a command, but a command given with a sense of directness and urgency. He is not asking them to weigh and consider an ideal, but to make a choice. He told them, in effect, when faced with temptation to run for their lives. Robertson points out that the verb is a present imperative and interprets it as: “Have the habit of fleeing without delay or parley.”

Hopefully, this basic idea isn't anything startlingly new to you; this is an idea we should all be familiar with. However, Paul's argument here is interesting. Paul gives several slightly separate arguments, but they all revolve around one central idea.

One of the Jewish scribes came to Jesus and asked him which commandment in the law was the greatest. And this was Jesus' answer: “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:29-30)

This is the foundation of our relationship with God, the foundation of all spiritual life. We must acknowledge God—the true God—and devote ourselves to Him; we must use every aspect of our being in relation to Him. Jesus speaks of our heart, our soul, and our mind. You could debate about the difference between these; perhaps Jesus deliberately used multiple words to convey a broad spectrum of ideas. Certainly, this includes the moral or spiritual aspect of man, the emotions, and the intellect. All of these must be dedicated to God; they must become the means by which we love God.

But then we have one other word here: the word 'strength.' There are many kinds of strength, but in its most basic literal sense, strength is a function of the body; it is a physical, material thing. If that is the meaning, we might almost translate this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy BODY.”

And that brings us back to Paul's argument here. The central idea that runs throughout this passage is that physical things matter to spiritual things—that the actions we take with our body relate to our relationship with God. 

Think of something simple, like a block of wood. There's nothing exciting about it; certainly, you wouldn't call it spiritual or intelligent. It's just wood. It might be useful to hold open a door or balance a table leg, but that's about it.

And many people (both in the first century and today) see man's physical nature like that. It is just biology, just a hunk of matter. Even if they believe man as a whole is something important, they don't see much value or importance in his physicality. Certainly, they wouldn't see anything spiritual about it or anything relating to God.

Of course, many people make the opposite mistake—they think that all that matters about man is his physical aspect. Just as some people may like the appearance and texture of wood so much that they would be obsessed with a piece of wood just as it is.

But both of these viewpoints miss the truth that Paul is teaching. Remember the verses that come before this passage: “Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.” (1 Corinthians 6:13b) The physical aspect of our lives matters, not for its own sake, but as it is given to God and becomes a means by which we worship and serve God. In that light, our bodily existence takes on a new life, as wood takes on a new meaning when it is carved into something else.

And if the life of the body has a meaning to religion, then specifically, the sexual life has a religious meaning. It isn't simply an animal impulse below the level of moral or spiritual consideration. It isn't even merely part of collective human society to be governed by societal norms. It belongs to God. All of Paul's statements here are some variations on this idea.

Later in 1 Corinthians, Paul has a famous passage where he describes the church as a body with many organs that work together: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

This is the picture: all Christians are part of the body of Christ, all inhabited by a common Spirit which unites the body as one. But if the church is the body of Christ, then that means each individual within the church is a member of Christ. Now, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of the different individual members receiving gifts such as preaching, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues. And what do you need to do any of those things? You need a body.

So when we speak of all Christians being members of Christ, that means the whole Christian is a member of Christ and that includes the body. This is a roundabout way of getting to this truth: whatever we do with our bodies, we are doing with a part of the body of Christ. We have a spiritual link to God; we are connected by the Spirit; therefore, that connection should inform what lesser physical connections we form with other people.

Earlier, when speaking of the importance of the church, Paul wrote: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). Paul repeats that basic idea here in verse 19, but here, he narrows it down from the church as a whole to the individual Christian. The individual body of a particular Christian is the temple of God because in it dwells the Holy Spirit. And though Paul doesn't finish the thought, it is easy to suppose that there is likewise a punishment for defiling this temple.

The Christian's body is a temple of God, and it belongs to God. We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to God because we have been purchased. 1 Peter 1:18-19 explains this idea: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” God has redeemed us—that is, bought us—and therefore, we have a duty to live for Him, to glorify Him. And that means even something as mundane, even as crass as our bodily life should be lived to glorify God.

That is the foundation for Paul's sexual ethics. There can be a general case to be made for some kind of sexual ethics based on logic, on justice, and on societal survival. As I said before, the first-century Greco-Roman world was very lax, but they still had some kind of moral code. But Paul's code is built on a different foundation—on the fact that we belong to God, lock, stock, and barrel, and that includes our body and its sexual nature along with everything else.