Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– 1 Corinthians 6:19
The Temple of the Spirit
The Apostle Paul warned the Corinthian church to “flee from sexual immorality” because “every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18). If you commit adultery or fornication by having sex outside of marriage, you are actually becoming one with the partner you’re having sex with; and who knows how many partners they’ve had sexual encounters with before they met you! This is a deadly, serious sin because it’s sinning against our own bodies, unlike other sins, which are outside of the body.
The Avoidance of Sexual Immorality
Paul reminds the church (and us) that “you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20) since “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Can you imagine having a prostitute do his or her thing in the temple with some fornicator? In ancient times God would have immediately killed them, but that’s just what we do if we have sex outside of marriage. We are polluting the temple of God–our bodies–because we have the Holy Spirit living within us and we are the living temple of God today, but we really grieve God’s Spirit when we live in such sin.
Glorifying God in Our Bodies
Paul seems to be pleading with the church at Corinth, who were having several issues with some living in sexual immorality. So he writes, “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13), and then asks them, “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” (1 Corinthians 6:15)! We cannot ever glorify God in our bodies when we (and our bodies) are involved in sin.
Conclusion
If you or someone you know is living is sin, and especially the deadly sin of sexual immorality, you must warn your brother or sister immediately to flee from this grievous sin. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we had better not defile it. We must remember that God paid for us by His Son’s very own blood, and He did so with the intent and purpose of our living a holy life that glorifies God in our words, actions, and deeds, particularly in our bodies.
