body — Faves of Dave - Bible Study

12 All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 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, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

In this text, we receive a theology of why sexual immorality is wrong. In other words, it’s not just the what; it’s the why. Notice that Paul says twice, “All things are lawful for me.” (v. 12) Are we to take that literally? Is Paul throwing out the Ten Commandments? You might argue, “Dave, you’re always making the point that repetition reinforces the importance of what is being repeated. Paul must be making a point that nothing is unlawful anymore.” My response would be, “I’m also always saying that we need to interpret the Scriptures in their context.” If you look at the context, Paul is actually arguing that sexual immorality is contrary to God’s law of what is right and wrong.

So, why does Paul say, “All things are lawful for me”? He’s actually quoting what some Gentiles might have been thinking or even saying. Perhaps the man sleeping with his father’s wife argued, “We’re not under the Law. All things are lawful for me.” Paul is echoing this mindset to expose its flaws. Even if all things were lawful, Paul argues, “not all things are helpful.” In fact, doing what is “lawful” might even be harmful. If there were no stop signs at an intersection, it would be lawful to drive through without even slowing down. But you might get hit and be injured or killed.

Paul continues by saying that even if something is lawful, it can control and dominate us. We see this in our society. People can legally drink alcoholic beverages, gamble, eat whatever they want, and so forth. But if we let any of those things dominate us, it will destroy us. Paul then builds an argument to counter the way they are thinking. This is important for us today. Namely, we can’t do whatever we want in our bodies because they belong to Christ, and the way we live needs to honor him.

Food and the stomach work together, don’t they? Food is useless to nourish the body if there’s no stomach to break it down for the body, and the stomach is pointless if there’s no food for it to process for the sake of the body. We cannot employ that argument to justify sexual immorality. Paul says, “the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” (v. 13) Notice the sequence of facts Paul gives.

God raised the Lord (from death) and will raise us. (v. 14)

Our bodies are members of Christ (As such, we should not be joined with a prostitute.) v. 15 Paul explains this from Genesis 2:24, describing God’s creation of marriage and the sexual relationship ordained within that union as the two becoming one flesh. (v. 16) Notice that this isn’t Paul’s ideas or bias. His theology is based upon what God has revealed and has been understood and accepted by the community of faith.

There is a spiritual union that occurs between the believer and Christ when the believer has accepted the gospel. (v. 17)

The conclusion then is that the believer must “flee from sexual immorality” (v. 18) because we are sinning against our own body (v. 18) that belongs to Christ.

Paul rephrases or reinforces the justification for not using personal liberty as an excuse to sin. He says, “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.” (vv. 19-20)

Look at that. Your body is indwelt by the Holy Spirit that God gave to you, and you are joined with Christ as a member of his body, and he paid the price of that privilege with his body on the cross. The Holy Trinity has a vested interest in how we use our bodies.

Paul concludes with, “So glorify God in your body.” (v. 20)

It’s so easy for us to talk about how our bodies are “under the curse” and are dying, and we’re looking forward to the resurrection. Those are all true. But, it doesn’t give us an excuse to do anything we want in or to our bodies. Our walk of faith should be one that says, “I want to honor the Lord in this body today. It is a tangible expression of our faith and love for Jesus Christ.”

Prayer: Lord - Help me honor you through my physical body and not just my words or thoughts.