Glorify God With Your Body
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Focus of 2025 as a church: Biblical Discernment
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
This will be a repeated theme throughout the year. Example: worldliness study in our morning Bible Study.
“Discernment is the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong.” —Tim Challies
This morning we are going to look at one of the great obstacles to biblical discernment. One of the great adversaries of biblical discernment is the uncanny ability of our sinful human hearts to rationalize evil. We are masters of rationalization!
Think with me for a moment. What does it mean to rationalize something?
“To rationalize is to allow my mind to find reasons to excuse what my conscience knows is wrong.” —Denny Burk
Paul talks about rationalization this way:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
This is exactly what it means to rationalize some kind of sin in our lives. We see something we know is sin, yet our desire for that sin becomes so intense that we begin to pontificate various astute and rational arguments for why this sin that we really want is really not a sin after all.
We are masters at convincing ourselves that there is some mitigating circumstance that nullifies and overrides the clear teaching of God’s Word.
Perhaps this is most true in situations involving sexual immorality or fornication. The Greek word is πορνεία.
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
This is a catch all word that describes any illicit sexual activity that is outside of the confines of marriage.
The moral and ethical issue of sexual immorality are ever present in our culture. They are part of the makeup of this ungodly world system that we live in. And if we are not careful we can allow ourselves to rationalize reasons and excuses to do what our conscience knows is wrong.
Now more than ever we as Christians need a strong Biblical ethic that will help us navigate all of the complex issues of our day. We must know our theology! We must have a firm conviction of what the Scriptures teach. Parents we must be teaching these things to our children! We must be teaching them to each other. We must be prepared so that we are able to withstand the evil of our day.
This is precisely the issue the Apostle Paul addresses in I Corinthians 6:12-20. The Corinthian believers were some of the most gift rationalizes that ever walk the face of the earth! There were many in the church who attempted to rationalize their sinful behavior in the area of fornication or sexual immorality.
Paul writes to these Corinthian believers to correct their sinful behavior by teaching them a Biblical theology of the body.
Friends, I want you to develop a strong Biblical theology of the body so that you will be able to discern truth from error and right from wrong in the area of sexual immorality.
What truths do we need to understand concerning our bodies that will help us be discerning in the area of sexual immorality?
I. The Ethic of Love and Lordship (12)
I. The Ethic of Love and Lordship (12)
Notice firstly that the context of this paragraph is one of judgement.
I Cor. 5- church discipline passage, the Corinthians were not exercising sound judgement in the matter of the sinful brother.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
Paul expected the Corinthian believers to make a good judgement call, that is, to exercise discernment- to apply God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong.
The first part of I Corinthians 6 is all about lawsuits between believers. Paul expressed that Christians ought to have the wisdom, the discernment, to settle legal grievances outside of court.
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
Now, in I Corinthians 6:12-20 Paul is again calling for the Corinthian believers to exercise discernment, this time in the area of sexual immorality.
So, the context is one of wise discernment.
Notice secondly, the rhetorical writing style that the Apostle Paul uses to carry forth his argument. If you are to understand I Corinthians you must understand the slogans that the Corinthians uses as excuses for their sinful ways.
Multiple times in this letter Paul indicates that he has heard of these slogans that the Corinthians have used and adopted to justify their behavior, and Paul even quotes some of these slogans. It is critical to our understanding of I Corinthians to know when Paul is speaking for himself and when Paul is quoting a Corinthian slogan.
12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Slogan: “I follow Paul” “I follow Apollos” “I follow Cephas” “I follow Christ”
Paul’s Response: Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Slogan: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
Paul’s Response: “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”
This is exactly what Paul does in our text in I Cor. 6. In fact he does it several times and we have to pay attention to these slogans or we miss Paul’s argument.
Look at the first slogan Paul quotes-
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.
Slogan: “All things are lawful for me.”
Paul: “But not all things are helpful.”
Slogan: “All things are lawful for me.”
Paul: “But I will not be dominated by anything.”
Now on the surface the Corinthian slogan doesn’t sound that bad.. “All things are lawful for me.”
That actually sounds similar to Paul’s teaching elsewhere in our NT.
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
The problem is that the Corinthians had taken Paul’s teaching that the believer is no longer under the law way beyond what Paul intended. The Corinthians turned Paul’s message of “not under law but under grace” into antinomianism or lawlessness. So much so that they used there slogan, “All things are lawful for me” to justify visiting prostitutes.
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!
This was part of the ungodly cult practices in the city of Corinth. Immorality and cult prostitution were everywhere. Apparently some of the members of the Corinthian church used slogans like “all things are lawful for me” to rationalize their sin.
So how does Paul respond? Now he could have responded with the authority of an apostle. He could have said, “Knock it off!” Instead, Paul develops for the Corinthians a theology of the body to help them exercise discernment.
And the first part of this theology of the body that Paul develops is what I am calling an ethic of love.
12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful.
What Paul does in v. 12 is not to refute the idea of Christian freedom, but to show that liberty does not mean total license. Christian liberty does not mean “anything goes.” Paul places two restrictions upon the Corinthians liberty. The first is the restriction of love.
Love for our brothers and sisters in Christ limits Christian freedom.
Helpful- that which is advantageous, or which confers a benefit, profitable or useful.
It is used two other time in I Cor. and in those instances the word parallels edification and seeking the good of one’s neighbor.
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
If the meaning of helpful in those two other instances is the idea of helpful not to oneself but to others, particularly within the body of Christ, then it most likely means the same thing here in our text.
What is Paul implying? The ethical question that we have to ask is not “It this or that activity okay for me to do?” The question is, “Will this or that activity be a help or a hindrance to my brothers and sisters in Christ?
And Paul applies this question to the theology of the body.
Corinthians slogan: “All things are lawful for me, therefore I can use my body however I want— including cultic prostitution.”
Paul’s answer: “Not all things are helpful. Does the use of your body help or hinder your brothers and sisters in Christ?”
So if you are to exercise sound discernment when it comes to your body you have to ask yourself not just the law question- “is this OK?” but also the lover question- “will this benefit my brothers and sisters in Christ?”
What is the obvious answer for the Corinthians?
The second part of this theology of the body that Paul develops is what I am calling an ethic of lordship.
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.
The first restriction Paul placed on the Corinthians liberty was love, the second restriction he place on their liberty was lordship, specifically the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Dominated- lit. has the idea of having a master. “I will not be mastered by anything.”
For Paul his only master was the Lord Jesus Christ.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
The Corinthians were presenting their bodies as instruments for unrighteousness. They were placing themselves back underneath their old task master- their sin nature. And because of that their sexual immorality was reigning over them. It was mastering their bodies!
But Paul says,
12 “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
No- Paul says I have been united with Christ in a death like his, and I know that I shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. My old man was crucified with Christ, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that I would no longer be enslaved to sin. I have died with Christ, therefore I have been set free from sin- so I will not be dominated, I will not be mastered by anything.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. Our Christian freedom has limits—what we do with our body has limits— it is limited by our love for others and by the lordship of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Friend, what about you? Is that your attitude toward sin? Or do you think like the Corinthians? “All things are lawful for me.”
Illustration: witnessing to the lesbian lady on State St. “Can I be a Christian and still be a lesbian?”
Do we treat of Christian liberties that way? Have we rationalized our sin?
This is especially difficult when it comes to sexual immorality. Do you have a biblical theology of the body? Does it consider the ethic of love and lordship? Might you use these principles to help you honestly discern your actions and attitudes? Would they help you separate truth from error or right from wrong?
How many of us need to repent of the sin of using our bodies as the instruments of unrighteousness?
What truths do we need to understand concerning our bodies that will help us be discerning in the area of sexual immorality?
II. The Ethic of Purpose and Destiny (13-18a)
II. The Ethic of Purpose and Destiny (13-18a)
Again, we are going to run into another Corinthian slogan. And it is critical that we determine exactly when Paul is quoting the Corinthians and when he is speaking for himself.
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.
Notice the ESV stops the quotation marks after the word food.
13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
The NIV has the quotation marks extending until the word “both.”
Some translations don’t have the quotation marks at all.
13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
There are no quotation marks in the original. Translates put them there. They make an interpretive decision for you. All translations do this by the way at some point or the other.
I happen to believe that the Corinthian slogan includes the full phrase.
Slogan: “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both one and the other.”
This is the Corinthian argument, this is their rationalization for their sin. These are the lies they tell themselves in order to justify sexual immorality with prostitutes.
If you break down the argument it falls into two categories
1). Teleological argument
2). Eschatological argument
Or and argument from purpose and destiny.
Let’s look at the argument from purpose first.
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.
Now how do they use this argument to justify their sexual immorality?
The Corinthians were making an observation that the human body’s design reveals its purpose.
Just as the stomach is made for food, so also God designed the body for intimacy. What could possibly be wrong with using the body according to its purpose?
How does Paul refute this argument? With a biblical ethic of purpose for the body.
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.
While it is true that God designed our bodies for intimacy that design is only a subordinate one. It is not the ultimate one. While the body is designed for intimacy it is meant, that is to say it exists for the Lord. That is the ultimate end or the ultimate purpose for our bodes.
Our bodies were designed and created fro the Lord.
The Corinthians had so fixated on the subordinate end of the body (intimacy) that they had missed the ultimate end of the body, God’s glory!
Illustration: Buying my son a car so he could take his siblings to school, and instead all he does is store his extra clothes in the trunk. Yes one of the designs of the car is to be able to store stuff in the trunk, but that is not its ultimate purpose.
Intimacy is not to be enjoyed for its own sake but for God’s sake. We have to use intimacy the way God designed it- for his glory. That means rejecting every form of intimate act outside of the marriage covenant union of one man and one woman.
Our bodies exist for the Lord! He created us and He gets to determine our purpose. Sexually immorality with prostitutes is not one of them!
Application: I am sure there are not many of you that struggle with cult prostitutes as an issue in your daily lives. But that is why this passage is all about discernment. Paul didn’t merely command them to stop their scandalous act, he taught them theology and then expect them to apply that theology to their own unique lives. How might you apply this ethic of the purpose of your body to your daily lives?
Let’s look at the second part of the Corinthian slogan then in this section.
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.
Remember, If you break down the argument it falls into two categories
1). Teleological argument (Purpose)
2). Eschatological argument (Destiny)
Here is the second part of the Corinthian argument. The Corinthians observed that the physical body is ultimately destined for destruction. That is, God will destroy the body in death. Since every person is destined to die and their bodies will turn to dust, then God must not care much about or physical bodies. Since our physical bodies don’t overly matter much to God, then we can do with them what we want.
The Corinthians had bought into a form of Platonic dualism. They believed that the physical body was morally inconsequential. They were actually quite worldly in their thinking. They disdained the physical world and placed all value on the high plane of knowledge and wisdom, or spiritual existence.
Paul attacks this lie pointedly with the gospel!
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.
The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body!
14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
The Corinthians, by denying the importance of the physical body, were denying the hope of the gospel.
Death is not the ultimate end our our bodies. The believer’s body is not destined ultimately for death, but for resurrection!
This is the hope of the gospel, just as God raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and gave Jesus a resurrected body, so too he will also raise up every believer by that same power.
The destiny of our bodies is not destruction, but glorification!
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
This is the destiny of our bodies. Our bodies are bound up with Jesus’ body. Paul makes this point very clear in vv. 15-17
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!
Our bodies are bound up with Jesus. When we trust in Christ as our Savior we become united to Christ’s body spiritually. That union is so close that we are now considered member’s of Christ’s body. We are his hands, his feet, his eyes and ears. This is all part of the destiny of our bodies- it is part of the hope of the gospel.
Knowing this ethic then, how appropriate would it be to make the member’s of Christ’s body members with a prostitute? Should we ever allow that to happen? Never! Absolutely not! May it never be!
When the believer engages his or her body in sexual immorality, they are involving Christ’s own body parts in the same illicit act.
Do you think about your bodies that way? Do you have a proper theology of the body? Does it include the ethic of destiny?
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.”
Here Paul drives his point about our bodies home. Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute become one body with her?
Notice what Paul does here. He quotes from the OT. He is teaching the Corinthians theology and ethics using the principles of the Word!
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
By quoting Gen. 2:24 he is making the point that intimacy between one man and one woman effects a union between two people. This is a gift to be enjoyed within marriage.
Yet for the Christian to effect such a union with a prostitute thereby uniting his own body, a member of Christ, to a harlot is unthinkable! And yet, the Corinthians were rationalizing this sin! Our sinful hearts truly know no bounds!
Paul then finishes his logical theological arguement in v.17
17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Because all of this is true- what is the only logical conclusion for the Christian regarding sexual immorality?
18 Flee from sexual immorality.
Refutation: I am glad that I don’t commit acts of sexual immorality like the Corinthians did!
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“In Christian circles adultery and homosexuality often capture more headlines, but I am persuaded that in terms of sheer numbers they cannot hold a candle to the devastation of pornography. Last year I counseled six people struggling with homosexuality and around eighteen caught in adultery and fornication. I don’t know exactly how many I helped who were locked in pornography, but the number is in the dozens. As bad as that number sounds those people are not the ones I am concerned about. . . . The people who concern me are the ones that did not seek out me or anyone else. These people pose the deeper problem. They are the ones who are hiding in the dark while destroying their marriages, ministries, and Christian witness under the radar.” —Heath Lambert
Friends, we need to become people of discernment. We need to know our theology. We need an ethic of purpose and destiny when it comes to our bodies. We need to see just how destruction using our bodies for sin can be. We need to repent and confess our sins, we need to bring them into the light so we can change.
Are you using your body for the purpose that God made it for? His glory!
Do you understand the destiny of your body? It is united to Christ’s own body. What you do with your body effects your Savior. The destiny of your body is bound up with Christ. How does that ethic change your life?
What truths do we need to understand concerning our bodies that will help us be discerning in the area of sexual immorality?
III. The Ethic of Unity and Ownership (18b-20)
III. The Ethic of Unity and Ownership (18b-20)
Again, the issue of the Corinthian slogan will play a key roll in our interpretation of this passage. V. 18 is a notoriously difficult passage to exegete.
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.
What is the world does Paul mean here? Every other sin a person commits is outside the body?
There are actually two different ways to interpret this verse.
One way is how the ESV has translated v. 18. The translators have actually inserted the word, “other” into the translation. Many modern translations do this including the CSB, NASB, NIV.
Essentially this would mean that Paul is teaching that sexual immorality is a sin of another kind and to a different degree. That is sexually immorality effects our bodies in a different way and to a different degree than other sins do. And this is a possible interpretation of this verse.
The other way to interpret this verse is to remove the word other from the translations like the NKJV.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
Now, this doesn’t really clear things up until you understand the first part of this verse as another Corinthian slogan.
18 Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body”—but the immoral person sins against his own body.
Notice how the NET translates this verse. They put quotation marks around the phrase- “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body”
Slogan: “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body.”
Paul: “But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
Thus it is not Paul, but the Corinthians who argue that every sin a person commits is outside the body.
This is another form of Platonic dualism where the physical body doesn’t matter only the spiritual aspects of man.
The Corinthians did not deny the possibility of sin, they would argue that sin is only possible on the level of motive and intention. They would reject the notion that sin could be evaluated on the actions themselves.
It doesn’t matter what I do physically so long as my motives are pure. That is why they could say, “Ever sin a person commits is outside of the body.”
Sexually immorality with prostitutes is not sin, because sin is only commited outside of the body.
Then Paul refutes this ridiculous claim directly: “But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body!”
This is what I am calling the ethic of unity. You can’t divide the human being into body and spirit, material and immaterial. God created us as embodied souls. There is an essential unity in our makeup. What the body does effects the spirit and vice versa. The Corinthians were wrong about the moral value of the physical body.
Our physical bodies are important. They should be to us because they sure are to God. How important are our physical bodies to God?
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,
Why are our bodies morally relevant to us today? Because our bodies, as believers, are temples of the Holy Spirit.
This is what I am calling the ethic of ownership.
Our bodies are temple of the Holy Spirit within us, Who we have from God. And our bodies are not our own.
We do not own our bodies. As believers we have relinquished ownership or our bodies to the Lord. How can Paul claim that?
20 for you were bought with a price.
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.
And now, after 20 verses of theology Paul makes his final point. He sums everything up. He basically gives us the so what?
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
All of Paul’s theological and ethical arguments lead to this statement: glorify God in your body.
When Paul uses the word body, what is the context of this passage? Sexual immorality. That means that when it comes to matters of intimacy the ultimate question we must ask ourselves is not, “Is this lawful?” The ultimate question we must as is, “Does this glorify God?”
This where discernment plays such a key role. We are facing issues today that Paul did not face. Transgender issues, the technology that allows us to change our bodies, the internet, virtual reality, etc…
The Bible does not speak specifically to these issues, but it does give us everything we need for life and godliness.
Glorify God with your body!
Maybe I didn’t speak to the exact sin issue you are struggling with right now. That’s ok, I don’t need to- glorify God with your body.
Take the theology of the body that we have developed this morning and use its principles to make application and implementation in all avenues of life.
How can the body ethics of love, lordship, purpose, destiny, unity, and ownership transform your daily walk? How can they guide and govern the way you use technology? Young people how can these principles shape your dating standards? Parents how can these principles shape the way you will disciple your children?
Let’s stop rationalizing our sin, and start using discernment and the theology of God’s Word to transform our lives according to holiness.
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