***Commentaries by David Prior, Leon Morris and Simon Kistemaker have contributed greatly to this outline***

I. Introduction

It has been a few weeks since we were last in 1 Corinthians. While I was only away from church for one Sunday, I was out of the pulpit for two Sundays. So, it has been three Sunday’s since we last shared 1 Corinthians together. As refreshing as it is to be away and have some time off, I love being on this side of the pulpit more! It’s good to be back! 

Let’s remind ourselves of context before we get in to today’s text. In Chapters 1-4 Paul addressed the issue of division. The specific thing that the Corinthians were divided over was men. They favored one teacher over another. Paul addressed the issue of divisions as a whole and encouraged all the brothers to get a long. We learn from this portion of the letter that God desires His church to be unified. There is strict judgment for the person who destroys God’s church by causing division—God will destroy him.

In Chapter 5 Paul turns a corner and starts addressing more specific sins that plagued the Corinthian church. He addresses the issue of incest—a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. This is an act that believe it or not the Corinthians were arrogant about. They were puffed up in some way over this brother committing this sin. Paul says that their boasting is not good and that the sinning brother should be removed from the church. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Paul’s words “you have no business judging outsiders” speak loudly to our culture today. Our concern should be the purity of the church, not necessarily the purity of the world. God judges the world. 

In sticking with the theme of judgment, in Chapter 6 Paul calls to attention the astounding truth that believers are going to be used by God to judge the world and angels, therefore, we should be able to resolve disputes amongst ourselves without taking our litigation before secular courts. His main point is that secular people belong to an entirely different kingdom than believers. They do not even operate their lives by the same set of rules. They are not competent to properly judge the disputes amongst believers.

Last time we were in 1 Corinthians we looked at verses 12-14 of Chapter 6. There Paul reminded us that just because we have the right to do something doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do. We may have the freedom in Christ to partake of meat sacrificed to idols (the issue Paul will specifically talk about in Chapter 8) but if it prevents the Gospel from going forth then we shouldn’t do it. The body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body.

That brings us to our text for this week. But first, I’d like to tell you a story.

 NFL running back Shaun Alexander writes:

At the University of Alabama, I was meeting women from a lot of different backgrounds. My mother had taught me never to exploit women—that sex was meant only for marriage—and to treat women with respect. I knew the boundary lines it wasn't right to cross… I knew if I didn't keep my focus, I could fall. And it could occur anytime.

One time it almost did. It happened the first year of college when I'd gone home for a visit. To protect her privacy, I'll call her Sherron. One night we were alone in my room while my mom was gone. We were kissing, and I thought seriously about having sex with her. But something in me kept whispering, This isn't right.

Just then the phone ran. It was my mother, and she asked, "Is everything good, Shaun?"

"Uh…yeah, Mom," I said. "It's good."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," I answered. "Sherron is here and we're going to go out and eat and probably go to a movie. Something like that."

"Okay, that's fine," Mom said. "I'm going to stay in Covington with your grandma, so I'll call you tomorrow."

As I hung up, thoughts raced through my mind. What am I doing here? Something isn't right about this. This is so easy and nobody else will know. But I'll know, and God will know. It was more than wrestling with my thoughts. I was in a full-out fight. I had to decide who my body would serve.

Just then, Sherron leaned close to me and whispered, "I've brought condoms."

My thoughts were racing. Mainly I was thinking, Am I one of those rotten guys who says he loves Jesus but folds when it's easy or when he won't get caught? "No, we can't do this," I finally said.

"Why not?"

"We're not supposed to."

"What does that mean?" Sherron asked.

I jumped up and pulled her to her feet. "It means we're going out."

I hurried her out to the car, and we drove to the mall. That was the closest I ever got to having sex before marriage. Mom's phone call had kept me from making a big mistake. Many times I've been grateful to my mother for calling exactly when she did.

Shaun Alexander, in his book Touchdown Alexander (Harvest House, 2007); quoted in the September 2-3 entries of Men of Integrity (September/October 2008)

1 Corinthians 6:15-20 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.

II. Do you not know…your body belongs to Christ (6:15)

Paul is going to use three very familiar statements from this letter in this short five verse passage. “Do you not know” is a phrase that we’ve seen before (3:16; 5:6; 6:2, 3, 9). This seems like a natural place to break up this section of Scripture for the purpose of teaching, so that’s the structure we’ll use this morning.

1 Corinthians 6:15 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!

As a reminder, the phrase “do you not know” gives us indication that Paul taught them these particular truths while he was present with them. His oral teaching should have stuck with them. He asks these rhetorical questions expecting, even knowing, that the answer is “yes!” 

Let’s not forget that this is not just true of the Corinthians, it is true of us as well. All believers for all of time (past, present and future) are members of Christ. We belong to Him. Your actual, physical body belongs to Christ. The flesh, bones, tendons, muscles, organs, vessels, cartilage, appendages and senses are all His. 

You might be thinking that sounds like one weird body. If every Christian for all of time is a member of Christ what must that look like? Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? That’s because our finite minds cannot begin to comprehend an infinite God. These statements are all throughout Scripture; statements where the attributes of man are applied to God. Have you ever heard of phrases like “The eyes of God are on the righteous?” or, “God holds the waters of the Earth in the palm of His hand?” These are called anthropomorphic statements. Say what pastor? Anthropomorphic. It means ascribing the attributes of humans to things that are not human, especially a deity. God has chosen to do this many, many times in Scripture because that is the only way we could even begin to understand anything about Him!

When Isaiah was given a glimpse of heaven and he saw God seated on the throne (Is. 6) he saw that not because God is actually seated on a throne—a throne couldn’t contain God—but because that is the way that God chose to reveal Himself to Isaiah so that Isaiah would have some sort of understanding about what he had just seen. 

God doesn’t actually sit on a throne; Jesus isn’t actually sitting at his right hand. These are all images that are intended to help us understand the relationship of God to the world (King) and Jesus to God (equally in command).  Even then we cannot fully understand it but this does help us to get a better grasp on it.

When we stop and remember that God is spirit it is not hard to imagine that we can all be members of Him. Paul expected the Corinthians to understand this phenomenon and I suspect he would expect you to understand it, too.

He then follows it up with another question. “Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?”  He was setting them up with the question that he knew they would know the answer too. I imagine that he expected them to know the answer to this question as well, but he doesn’t leave it open for discussion. He gives an emphatic answer, “Never!”

I get the sense that Paul has a bit of disdain in his voice with this emphatic answer. The absurdity of a positive answer to this question would make him sick. It makes no sense. 

Now, a question or two might arise as you read this. The big one that comes to my mind is…why a prostitute? Why did he jump to that issue? Well, the answer is fairly simple. Corinth was home to the Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of sex. A man would “worship” by paying money to have sex with one of the temple prostitutes. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the brothel was on temple property. They would go to the temple to sleep with these women as an act of service to their god. It seems the Corinthian Christians continued to adapt to this cultural practice and Paul is disgusted by it!

But why? 

III. Do you not know…your body belongs to the person(s) you give it to sexually (6:16-18)

1 Corinthians 6:16-18 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.

The second “do you not know” statement in this passage is used by Paul to show us that sex is not just some random act. It joins our body to the body of the person with whom we have given ourselves too. This union outside the confines of marriage is a dangerous one. However, within the confines of marriage it is one that God blesses (we’ll be looking at that more in the weeks to come <Ch. 7>). By joining their bodies with prostitutes the Corinthians have become one with them. 

Let me just take a minute and point out that Paul was addressing the union between a man and a prostitute specifically because that was the issue that the Corinthians were struggling with. However, the principle of sexual purity transcends the illustration of prostitution and the gender of male. Paul could have just as easily used the illustration of the woman down the street, the attractive co-worker, the cute neighbor, or the UPS man. Interestingly enough, the word translated “sexually immoral” in verse 9 is the word porneia which is where we get our word pornography, and that certainly applies in this context, as well.

So the question needs to be asked. Who are you joined to? Paul says that the person who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him, but the person who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her. So, who are you joined to? God? Porn? Holiness or immorality? God honoring or God defying?

What should you do? Flee! That’s Paul’s injunction. Flee sexual immorality! Think of the contrast between the union of a person’s soul with God and the union of a person’s body with a prostitute. Prostitutes are temporary, God is eternal. Prostitutes are full of disease, God is ripe with holiness. 

If you are married and floundering around with other people, either in real life or in the cyber world, you must flee! You cannot enjoy the benefits of matrimony if you are defiling the commitment that you made to God when you said, “I do.” Pursuing sexual pleasure outside of the marriage relationship because you are unhappy with the sexual relationship of your marriage is like putting a band aid on a broken arm—useless. You cannot find true pleasure when you defy God’s plan. 

When you commit the sin of sexual immorality you commit it with your body. It is the only sin that involves your body. The desire comes from within and the pleasure comes from within. When you commit sexual sin you sin against your own body…oh, but that body is not really yours, it is a member of Christ (vs. 15).

IV. Do you not know…your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (6:19-20)

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 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.

Paul’s final “do you not know” question points us to the reason why we must flee sexual immorality. Our bodies are the dwelling place of God’s Spirit.

Now, there is something interesting that we need to look at. Notice, if you will, back in Chapter 3 Paul used a similar phrase:

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (17) If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

What’s neat is that while these two passages seem similar, they are actually different. In Chapter 3 the “you” is plural. Paul said, “Do you not know that y’all are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in all y’all.” (Paul was from Texas! J) Here, however, the “you” is singular. Paul is saying, “you individually are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.” The church as a whole is God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells there; and each individual member of that global church is a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. 

Notice that in Chapter 3 Paul said that God’s Spirit dwells in the corporate church; but in Chapter 6 it is the Holy Spirit who dwells in each believer. Is there a difference? No! Paul is just using the distinction of “holy” to indicate the severity of sexual immorality. 

Then, Paul does something really interesting. He says that we are not our own, we were bought with a price. That doesn’t sound too interesting at first hearing, but it is always important to keep in mind the context of the passage. Paul was talking about the sin of giving your body to a prostitute. Prostitutes are bought with a price. He is drawing a parallel between what they were doing as an “act of worship” and what God did as an act of love. 

We have been bought with something much more precious and valuable than money. We were bought with the blood of Christ. The sacrifice of God’s Son on Calvary is the price that had to be paid for the sin of all mankind. God desires to have a relationship with the apex of His creation (humans) and thus was willing to pay the price of His own Son for that relationship.

The temple prostitutes were glorifying their god by offering their bodies; Paul’s command is that we glorify the God of the universe with our bodies. Do you catch the correlations there? They are very powerful and very convicting.

Who are you glorifying with your body? 

V. Conclusion

 Shaun Alexander glorified God with his body. We need more people with that sort of conviction and resolve! We’re here to help, please let us pray for you.