14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.”
17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
V. 14 - “Now God has not only raised the Lord” - Jesus Christ is the first to be resurrected from death to eternal life. (See: Matt. 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-20; Luke 24:1-53; John 20:1-21:25).
“will also raise us up” - In the previous verse Paul says our bodies will be done away with, our bodies will be for the Lord. I think this implies we receive new bodies, and this is confirmed in this verse. John in his first letter says, “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) Think on this: We will be like Him! What a wondrous thing to ponder - His perfect spiritual body, like that! His spiritual union with the Father and the Holy Spirit - like that! Being able to praise the Lord, to stand in His presence without fear and in great joy - like that!
V. 15 - “Do you not know” - Has no one told you? Or, have you forgotten what we taught you?
“your bodies are members of Christ?” - This is one of those theological miracles or mysteries - when we believe and Christ as Lord and Savior, we become part of Christ. That statement is fantastic! We get Christ’s life when we believe in Him. The eternal resurrected life is ours. It is not a life eternal separate from God’s life, but His life in us. “God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27)
“Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?” - This is distinctly different from the way our modern society views the sexual act between a man and a woman. We are told by some that sex is just an act, nothing special... We see that God intended this is to be an emotional and spiritual union in addition to the physical act.
Here, Paul takes us all the way back to Genesis. (The emphasis is mine.) “The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Gen. 2:20-25) That is the basis for Paul’s statement.
V. 16 - “the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her” - A reiteration of verse 15 above. This may seem to be a huge logical jump from settling personal disagreements about theology between believers to consorting with a prostitute. Because this section is more than disagreements over how often we should have communion; or whether communion bread should be unleavened wafers or pieces of sandwich bread; or whether we should baptize a new believer immediately, or whether the music is too loud. Did Paul really mean airing your differences is equal with committing adultery? Why, yes, I believe he did.
We can think, “I would never ever be with a prostitute! Think of the horrible image that would provide to the non-believing world.” One aspect of this message is that we must be careful to hold to the gospel and principles taught by Jesus and the apostles. Following a teacher of a false doctrine will lead us to disobeience and rejection of Jesus as Lord. Rejecting the gospel is rejecting God and Jesus - in essence spiritual adultery. On the other hand, perhaps we would not lose a moment of sleep thinking about the image of the lack of love and forgiveness is displayed by taking another person to court in order to resolve a difference. Taking a fellow believer to court is rejecting the principle of being kind, forgiving and at peace with your brother. The non-Christian world is always watching, analyzing, judging. We claim to have a better way. They want to see ‘proof of life’.
“The two shall become one flesh.” - Quoted from Gen. 2:24. As noted above, there were no animals that were suitable to be a partner with Adam. God knew the animals would not do it (See: Gen. 2:18). It was not good for the man to be alone. This is significant. Man’s greatest need was to have someone with whom to share his life. Not one beast, not one bird, not one farm animal - not one living creature - could fill the need. No one was a perfect match. God ‘sculpted’ the woman (Gen. 2:22) - the NASB uses the word ‘fashioned’ for the creation of the woman. Whereas, God built or constructed the man (See: Gen. 2:7) from dust. (Two different verbs are used in these verses.)
I do not mean that the man was less than perfect, starting from dirt, and the woman was started with finer materials. That would imply that God is limited in some way in His creative powers. Not true. God is perfect in all His ways. Man and woman are designed by the Lord God to be the almost perfect match for each other.
The only perfect match for mankind is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
V. 17 - “the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” - This theme, when we are in Christ, He is in us. We are joined together to become one. He lives in us. We live in Him. More than man and woman becoming “one flesh’, we have the Spirit of the living God in us.
Stop. Think about this. We have the Spirit of God Almighty, the LORD of Lords, the Creator and sustainer of the universe living in us. Why would you subject the Holy Spirit of God to be one with an adulterous person. This is not strictly a male problem, nor is it a female problem. It is demeaning the Holy God by joining Him to an immoral person by an immoral act.
V. 18 - “Flee immorality” - The admonition here is to flee sexually immoral behavior. The Greek word here is where we get our word “pornography”. Illicit sexual conduct, of all kinds, of any kind - man-and-woman, man-and-man, woman-and-woman, human-and-animal, self-gratification, movies, music, television, books, magazines - sexual immorality kills.
Sexual immorality brought the judgement during Noah’s time. Sexual immorality brought the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is interesting to note that Joseph did what Paul admonishes - Joseph fled from his boss’s wife when she tried to seduce him. However, David did not flee immorality and committed adultery with the wife of one of his warriors. (Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah).
“Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body,” - Whether murder, theft, disrespect of parents, or lying, these sins are committed against others or against God. It is not as if you are a third-party observer remotely watching yourself commit these acts. You are completely and fully involved in the planning, commission, and cover-up of these sins. Sexual sin is more personal, in that you are giving yourself to another person, intimately. All sin is a corruption of the plans of the Lord for you. Sexual sin is more corrosive, and destructive.
“the immoral man sins against his own body.” - For all the reasons stated above. Sexual immorality is more personal.
V. 19 - “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” - God the Holy Spirit lives within you when you commit your life to Christ. The Temple, and before that the Tabernacle, was where God dwelt with the nation of Israel. Michael Heiser identified this beautifully in his book “Unseen Realms” in the chapter on “Realm Distinction”.
“The concept of otherness was at the core of Israelite identity. Otherness was the core of holiness. The Hebrew vocabulary for holiness means to be set apart or to be distinct. While the idea has a moral dimension related to conduct, it is not intrinsically about morality. It is about distinction... Israelites were to be set apart (‘holy’) as Yahweh was set apart (‘holy’).
Yahweh’s complete otherness was reinforced in the minds of Israelites through worship and sacrifice.Yahweh was not only the source of Israel’s life - He was life. Yahweh was not of earth, a place where there is death, disease, and imperfection. His realm is supernatural; ours is terrestrial. The space He occupies is sacred and made otherworldly by his presence. The space we occupy is ‘profane’ or ordinary.
Many laws in the Torah illustrate this worldview and its messaging. Whether priest or not, male or female, people could be disqualified from sacred space by a variety of activities or conditions. Examples include sexual activity, bodily emissions, physical handicaps, contact with a dead body, and childbirth... These laws were not considered unclean out of prudishness... These laws kept the community conscious of Yahweh’s otherness.
Even within sacred space there were gradations of holiness or sanctity. The closer one got to Yahweh’s presence, the more holy the ground or the object in his proximity. The terms that describe the layout of the structure are evidence of this progression. From the entrance inward there was the court, the holy place, and the ‘most holy place’ (‘holy of holies’). The sacred space of the tabernacle got progressively more holy from the entrance to the innermost room.” (See note 1, below)
“who is in you, whom you have from God,” - The “who” in this sentence is the Holy Spirit. The Temple, and before that the Tabernacle, was the dwelling place for God among his chosen people, the Israelites. God never needed a place to “be”, but the Israelites (and other humans) needed a place where they could say they meet God. That dwelling place was centered in the Tabernacle and then the Temple. God judged Israel/Judah for their apostasy and the Babylonians took Judah captive and destroyed the Temple. It seems that at no time in the Second Temple period (515 BC to 70 AD) that God occupied the Holy of Holies.
Christ told the disciples/apostles that the Holy Spirit would be given them. (See: John 14:16, 17; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7-11; Acts 1:4-8; 2:1ff) The Temple is no longer applicable. An obsession to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem is human pride ignoring the facts on the ground. The believer is the Temple of the Almighty God, not some building in a particular city.
“and that you are not your own?” - When we accept Christ as Lord and Savior we make a decision to surrender ourselves to Him. Christ becomes part of us; He is in us. We become part of Christ; we are in Christ. We are no longer to be a rebellious independent entity. We are to be ‘bond-slaves’ of the Lord God. That means if you decide to have sexual congress with a prostitute, or any sexual immoral activity you are subjecting Christ to that act! (I don’t think that is too strong a statement.)
The equation seems to go:
You believe in Christ = Christ in you. (vs. 6:17)
You have sex with a prostitute = you and prostitute “become one”. (vs. 6:16) Therefore: Christ is one with the prostitute. (vs. 6:15)
May it never be! Never, ever defile the Lord by such behavior! (The Lord cannot be lowered or diminished. He is before and above all. We are defiling our relationship with Him when we do such things.)
V. 20 - “you have been bought with a price:” - God came to earth as a human. He lived and then was crucified for our sin. The price was paid in full by Christ’s death. He personally took the penalty of death for sin upon Himself. The price paid was acceptable to God the Father. Christ rose from death to eternal life. That eternal life is ours when we believe and commit to Him.
“therefore glorify God in your body” - We are not saved because we are good. We are not saved because we have earned it. We are saved by His grace, mercy and love. As a result we have Jesus and the Holy Spirit in us, in our bodies. We glorify God by our behavior that matches His standards and follow His directions. Nothing we do can make God greater than He already is. However, we are to be the image of God to the world. Our behavior, our actions as believers can show His glory and grace - our relationship with Him can glorify God to the world around us.
Many people go through life without thinking about God at all. Even Christians live without consciously thinking about the Lord. Jesus called us to be different than non-believers. “You shall be holy (“distinct, different”) because I am holy (“distinct, different”). (See: Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet 1:16) Why would anyone believe in Christ, based on my life and behavior, if I am not glorifying the Lord by my life and behavior?
As an example: Our son asked us how could we, as Christians, vote for Trump? (Seeing as how evil Trump was.) Wasn’t voting for Trump going against our faith in God? As it turns out, some or all of his objections to President Trump were not based on facts, but on news reports that either twisted the facts or outright lied. To him, a believer would not be able to cast a vote for such an evil person. We and he were not operating on the same set of facts (Trump lied, people died; kids in cages; etc.). That hardly matters, since he believed we were violating our Christian beliefs - further proof to him there is no value in faith in Christ.
I give this example because people are always watching us to see if the “peace that passes understanding” (Phil 4:7) is working in us; not to see if we are ‘religious’ but if we are showing Christ’s love and forgiveness. For it is not just about sex with prostitutes, but how does our lifestyle and actions glorify God to those around us. Does our love for others extend beyond our church buddies? Does our patience extend to clerks in the store; the waitress in the restaurant; the lady on the street that wants me to move so she can have six feet of space between us as she passes by (Covid-19 reference)? Are we patient, kind, and forgiving, just as the Lord was patient, kind, and forgiving with us? That is what people are looking for - they don’t care if you go to church every Sunday, carry a Bible, if you don’t treat them with Jesus’ love.
***Note 1: Michael S. Heiser; “The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible”; Lexham Press; 2015.
***End of Chapter (31-Dec-2025)
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