By Robert L. Olsen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
Glorifying God
1 Corinthians 6:12–20
Focused on Christ’s Lordship (12–14)
The Church in Corinth was dealing with several unstable teachings that Paul needed to address. One of these teachings was that since Christians are free in Christ, ethics and morality could be disregarded. There is a major problem with this way of thinking however. Freedom in Christ does not insinuate a freedom to do whatever one wants with his or her body. Freedom in Christ is primarily freedom from sin. It seems that the Corinthians were viewing Christian freedom as freedom to sin.
Many think that because Jesus has fulfilled the Old Testament it is therefore negated. However, there is a moral law that runs throughout the Old Testament and is still applicable in the New Testament. Disregarding this moral law is sinful. For example, the law to love one’s neighbor is there in the Old Testament and repeated in the New Testament. The idea to care for others is a moral imperative not a time-based rule. Because of this, Christians need to remember that exerting their Christian freedom may cause problems within the body of Christ and needs to be curtailed for the sake of unity (see Rom. 14).
One of the ways the Corinthians were abusing their freedom was in their view of food and sex. Since the body perishes, they reasoned, it doesn’t matter what one does with the body because it is the spiritual things that are really the important things in life. In both instances though, abusing food and sex leads to problems. Obviously gluttony has its list of consequences; diabetes, heart problems and other health issues are associated with abusing food. Since Paul affirms that the body is the temple of God, we want to honor God with our bodies. Christianity teaches that there will be a bodily resurrection which means that God does not disparage the body but views it as important.
Joined with Christ (15–17)
This also applies with sexual immorality. The Corinthians were involved in sexual promiscuity, being involved with temple prostitution. There was a temple to Aphrodite in the city of Corinth that employed more than 1,000 prostitutes. For Christians in Corinth who knew that meat sacrificed to idols did not make the meat unclean, one can see why they may have interpreted temple prostitution in the same way. They may have thought “since there is no goddess Aphrodite, I am not truly taking part in a temple ritual and thus this is not a sinful act.” Paul is quick to overturn this thinking. Taking part in sexual activity actually unites a man and woman and is evident when Paul quotes Genesis 2:24, showing that “the two shall become one flesh.”
Our society has made sex to be just a physical transaction and this has led to so many problems within our culture. However, sex involves deep emotional attachment and sex outside of marriage undermines God’s design. For Christians today, we need to listen to the Bible and not our culture when it comes to how we should view sex.
Bought with a Price (18–20)
Paul encourages believers to flee from sexual immorality because sexual sin is a sin against one’s own body. While other sins also are against one’s own body — for example, doing illegal drugs obviously is damaging to health — sexual sin entails so much more than just a physical aspect and is much more dangerous spiritually. Paul points out that since the Holy Spirit resides in believers, we are the temples of God because God lives in us. Believers need to flee from sexual sin and seek to honor God with our bodies.
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