1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (ESV)
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Explanation:
First Corinthians is a letter Paul wrote to the church of Corinth to challenge them in some of the ways they were living. Specifically in this section, Paul is telling the church to flee from all sexual immorality. In 1 Corinthians 5, we see that the church of Corinth is defiled by sexual immorality, and they see no wrongs in their ways. Paul is confronting the people who are committed in the body of Christ to turn from their sexual sin and boasting, because they bear the name of Christ in a way that should not be associated with this behavior.
In today’s passage, Paul begins by saying “Flee from sexual immorality,” and ends with “So glorify God in your body.” He is saying the same thing in two different ways. The first is saying do not even come near sexual immorality or let it tempt you; rather, run away from it. Paul compares how sins committed are outside the body, but sexual sins are sins against the body itself. When Paul is addressing the church, he is reminding them that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and they should glorify Him with their actions. Living in sexual immorality is dishonoring the gift we are given from the price Jesus paid. Therefore, as Paul clearly states, “So glorify God in your body.”
Application:
Why is it so important to glorify God with our body?
Is it easy for you to think sin just affects things outside, rather than within ourselves?
How can you set up accountability and barriers to help you to flee from sexual immorality?
Prayer:
God, we thank You for being a God who challenges us to grow in our holiness and in our character. We ask that when there are temptations, You would put people in our lives to challenge us and to help us. Remind us that You have created us in Your image, and we are called to live like You and to glorify Your name. Lord, we love You and thank You for the many ways You love us. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
For Further Study:
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:12-13, ESV)