Whose Temple are You?

1 Corinthians 6:15–20 AV

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The culture in which we live unavoidably affects us. That’s why becoming a Christian is such a radical thing. The Bible says that we must not be conformed to this world, but rather transformed by the renewing of [our] mind (Rom. 12:2). We must put off the old man and put on of the new man (Eph. 4:22–24; Col. 3:9–10). Following Jesus Christ requires us to change our lives, which means that new believers usually have a lot of baggage to throw away.

The Corinthians had plenty of their own baggage. Some of it was sexual in nature. In their culture, sexual sin was not only tolerated but also encouraged. In fact, a man named Athenaeus, who lived about a century after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, boasted to his friend Demosthenes, “We keep mistresses for pleasure, and concubines for cohabitation.” This is just what Corinthian men do.

It goes without saying, perhaps, that our culture hasn’t improved any. The Playboy mentality of the 1960s was bad enough, but since then the lust for lewd images has degenerated into the anything-goes, always-available porn of the internet. Nowadays a man or woman doesn’t even have to leave the couch to indulge his or her lustful fantasies. And thoughts of anyone, young or old, maintaining purity are denounced as ridiculous. Movies and television shows regularly mock the idea that intimacy should be confined to marriage. Just recently a story in the news told of a fifteen-year-old girl who was giving herself to as many as thirty boys a day in the boys’ restroom of her high school. For most young people, the phrase “hooking up” has nothing to do with gathering at the mall for a hamburger and chocolate malt.

Just like the Corinthians, we have to make sure that our minds are gloriously renewed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially in regard to sexual sins.

One-Flesh Cleaving

Our text for this evening begins with another of Paul’s “do you not know” questions. He wrote, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Here it’s important to note what Paul did not ask. He did not ask if the Corinthians knew that they were members of Christ. Rather, he asked them if they knew that their bodies were members of Christ. In other words, he wanted them to consider something more profound than they may have realized, viz., that there is more to our bodies than something to feed and bathe. It was as if he had said, “Do you understand the proper use of the human body?”

Now, it would seem that the right use of the body is so fundamental to our existence as human beings that no one could possibly miss it. Yet, the fact is that most people have no idea why they have bodies. Some think that their bodies are meant only to satisfy their appetite for pleasure with alcohol, drugs, sex or some other indulgence. Others, like the Gnostics, dismiss the importance of their bodies, believing that their bodies get in the way of finding greater fulfillment. How many people today deprive themselves of different kinds of foods and other enjoyments to force their bodies into submission? Still others think that their bodies (and minds) are just the result of evolutionary processes. But all of this shows only thing — that sin is so deeply rooted in every human heart that men have no understanding of even the most basic truths.

On the other hand, our text tells us that the relationship between Jesus and his people is so intimate that it extends even to our bodies. Our bodies are members of Christ, united to him by faith. Now, we know that we have a spiritual union with Jesus, but how often do we hear sermons about a bodily union? The whole idea seems rather strange to us. It makes us wonder what Paul meant.

Actually, the idea is pretty simple. Our bodies are members of Christ in the sense that he uses them to carry out his will, particularly in the advancement of the gospel. The human nature of Jesus is not now on earth. He doesn’t travel from place to place sharing the good news of his victory. He works through us. Our feet and hands become his feet and hands insofar as they are devoted to his service.

Do you see here why the doctrine of the resurrection of the body is so important? It’s obviously important to us. When our bodies turn to dust after death, we’ll want to be whole again. But it’s also important to the Lord because the bodies that he’ll raise to life when Jesus returns belong to him. They have been set apart, consecrated, sanctified to serve him. So, in the resurrection the Lord restores and honors the instruments by which he accomplished his will.

If you belong to Jesus and your bodies are members of Christ, then guarding the purity of your body must be a priority. Sexual sin is not just a momentary pleasure. It’s robbing Jesus of his hands and feet and eyes and ears. In fact, it’s a lot worse than that. Look at what Paul suggested at the end of verse 15. He said, Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? Here the word take (ἄρας) literally means to take away or to remove. Paul was asking if he should excommunicate the entire church and then perform a mass wedding ceremony in which each former member would be joined to a prostitute. Of course, he wasn’t serious about this. But unfortunately what he said is exactly what happens when professing Christians engage in sexual sin. They excommunicate themselves from the sweet, intimate fellowship of Christ and make themselves members of a harlot.

Look how Paul explained this in verse 16. He said, Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

Not too long ago, in a television show that my wife and I were watching, a female character said this after a one-night stand: “It was just sex.” She didn’t want a relationship. She wasn’t looking for a commitment. What she and her paramour did had no more spiritual, social or religious significance than clipping her toenails. It was just their way of satisfying a biological urge.

This way of thinking has become a very popular justification for sin. But it’s not true. The sex act itself, whether it takes place within the context of marriage or not, creates a bond between the two people who engage in it. In fact, the Greek word translated joined (κολλώμενος) in verses 16 and 17 literally means glued. Intimacy glues a man to a harlot. It is inherently spiritual, social and religious. It cannot be otherwise. That’s why there can be no such thing as a purely sexual sin.

Consider Solomon. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. They were foreigners who worshiped gods other than Jehovah. How did the glue of intimacy affect him? He clung to his wives to the exclusion of clinging to God. For a time, his wives turned his heart away from the true and living God and he began to worship their gods (1 Kgs. 11:1–8). Sexual sin is not harmless. Solomon’s example shows that it leads to apostasy.

So, Paul’s response to his own suggestion of excommunicating God’s people that they might be glued to harlots is one of disgust and outrage. God forbid, he said. May it never be! Let such a thing never be named among the people of God!

There’s a much better path to travel. It’s true that a man must cleave to his wife (Gen. 2:24), but before that he should cleave to the Lord even more. Deuteronomy 10:20 says, Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. Our text also encourages you to cleave to the Lord. Verse 17 says, But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Real cleaving to the Lord is more than just yielding our bodies to his service. It’s becoming one spirit or one mind with him. His will becomes ours. His thoughts become our thoughts, just as in marriage husbands and wives start to think alike and eventually get to the place where they can complete each other sentences. The greatest intimacy is to think alike.

Our goal should be to become as one with Jesus as two distinct persons can be. And that cannot happen when sexual immorality enters the picture. You are either joined to Christ or you are joined to a harlot. Take your pick.

Using the Body Against Itself

After explaining this to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul left them with two commands. First he wrote in verse 18: Flee fornication.

The classic Biblical example of one who fled sexual immorality is Joseph. After his brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph gained a good reputation serving in Potiphar’s house. But Potiphar’s wife, seeing that he was an exceptionally handsome man, tried to seduce him. Joseph refused her, but she would not relent. One day, when Joseph was in the house and there were no other men around, she grabbed him by his outer robe and demanded that he comply. Rather than argue with her, he left his robe behind and fled.

There’s not a single word in Genesis 39 to suggest that Joseph seriously considered the offer of Mrs. Potiphar. He was not one spirit with her. He could have been. He could have reasoned to himself, “No one else is around. We can do this thing and Potiphar would never know about it. And perhaps if I give her what she wants, she’ll use her influence to help me in some way. And besides, she’s giving herself away for free. Wouldn’t I be crazy not to accept?” But what did Joseph do instead? Since Mrs. Potiphar wouldn’t let go of his clothing, he wiggled out of it and ran out of the house as fast as he could.

That’s what fleeing temptation is. We don’t stop to weigh its benefits against its potential losses. Rather we run, even if it means we have to leave something behind, even if refusing the temptation threatens greater grief in other ways. Remember that Mrs. Potiphar accused Joseph of attacking her and sent him to prison. That’s the price Joseph had to pay for his obedience to the Lord.

To the young men in our congregation I’ll give you just one word of advice: read, study and memorize Proverbs 7. Know and understand the nature of a seductress, so that, if you ever find yourself confronted by one, you can flee as soon as she rears her nasty head. Be a man who belongs body and soul to Jesus Christ. And when you’re looking for a wife, establish your relationship upon Biblical principles of godliness from the beginning.

In verse 18 Paul also gave a reason why we should flee sexual immorality. He wrote, Every sin that a man doeth is without [or outside] the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Sexual immorality is in a category all its own: first, it does not take place outside the body, as most other sins do; and second, it is fundamentally a sin against the body.

But you might wonder if immorality is really as unique as Paul says? Aren’t there other sins that would fit his description? What about drunkenness and coveting, for example? Not so. Sins like drunkenness and drug addiction don’t fit Paul’s description because they require things from outside the body. Coveting doesn’t work either because it does no direct harm to the body. But sexual immorality arises from within the body and it uses the body as a weapon against itself.

Do you understand how much harm sexual sin causes? There are physical consequences of course — things like unplanned pregnancies and STDs. But that’s not what Paul meant. The damage caused by sexual sin is primarily spiritual and theological. It results, first, in two persons being unlawfully joined together as one flesh, so that the one who calls himself a Christian ceases to be a fit instrument of God’s grace to others; and, secondly, it involves the attempted union of these two persons with Jesus Christ. That’s the apostasy that we mentioned earlier.

In light of this, how can sexual sin do anything but arouse the wrath of a holy God? When Balaam introduced Moabite prostitutes to Israel, God’s anger burned hotly against his people. He said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. And when one man mocked God’s righteous judgment by openly taking one of the prostitutes into his tent, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, killed them both. The Lord commended Phinehas because he had turned God’s wrath away from his people (Num. 25:1–15).

Our God is a jealous God. He will not allow anything, especially the misuse of our own bodies, to come between himself and his people.

God’s Dwelling-Place

The last two verses of our text take us to the heart of the matter. Yes, we harm ourselves when we engage in sexual immorality, but what we do to ourselves is nothing compared to the incredible abuse that we heap upon the Lord. Paul wrote, Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.

Our individual bodies are members of Christ and constitute the temple of God. They are his dwelling-place. They belong to the Lord, who made them and then redeemed them with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Now, beloved people of God, this has some powerful theological implications behind it. The obvious one is that God’s presence is not limited in an earthly temple. That’s what Jesus said to woman of Samaria: Believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father (John 4:21). Rather, God must be sought in his people who are scattered all over the world. This is the fulfillment of the new covenant. After Ezekiel prophesied to the dry bones and the Lord made them live again, God said, Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Ezek. 37:26–27).

Sexual immorality, then, goes right to the heart of our relationship with God. It turns a holy sanctuary into a brothel, and expels God, who alone is the only rightful occupant of that sanctuary.

Another implication of the fact that we belong to Jesus Christ is that it reminds us that there are limits to what we can do with our bodies. Some people use the last two verses of our text to resist anything that harms the body — excessive smoking, drunkenness, gluttony, and so forth. But the same principle also applies to anything that mutilates the body. Perhaps that’s why we find less mutilation in cultures that have been more heavily influenced by the gospel.

Instead of misusing or abusing our bodies, the Word of God calls us to use our bodies to honor the one who made them and saved them. This takes us to Paul’s second command, which we find in verse 20: Therefore glorify God in your body, and in spirit, which are God’s. Everything about our lives has one grand purpose in God’s created order. That purpose is the glory of God.

Since the whole universe of necessity glorifies God — the rocks and trees, as well as evil men — we need to know how our glorification of God differs from theirs. That’s easy. Rocks and trees glorify God because they demonstrate the diversity of things that the God of the Bible can make. Thus, day cries out to day and night to night to tell our Maker’s praise. Evil men glorify God because God uses them to reveal some of his attributes that we could not have seen apart from the presence of sin in our world. Proverbs 16:4 says, The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. And in Romans 9 Paul described unbelievers as vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (v. 22). But in contrast to inanimate creation and evil men, you, as the people of God, glorify God consciously and purposely by praising him for all of his attributes and by living lives of thankful obedience for his great love in Jesus Christ. Everything about you — body and soul, thoughts and words and conduct — must recognize the sovereign reign of your Lord and God.

The reorientation or transformation that I spoke of at the beginning of today’s message will never be complete in this life. When we wake up each morning, we have to choose that day to put away the lusts that burn without our hearts and live as members of Christ, as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and as men and women and children whose lives have been given entirely to glorify and honor our great God and Savior.

This is covenant theology in its most practical form. God’s covenant with us binds us to him forever. The marriage covenant, which the Lord gave to make us complete, binds us to our spouses as a visible illustration of the relationship between Christ and his church. Job went one step further. To avoid sexual sin, he made a covenant with his eyes not to think upon a maid (Job 31:1).

When we live in submission to God’s covenants and rejoice in their rich promises, they will protect us from entering into illegal covenants, particularly the disgraceful covenant of fornication. Why? Because when we live under God’s covenants, we live by grace — not trusting our own wisdom and strength to keep us pure, but looking to the great mercy of the one who bore our sins on the cross. He alone can guard and keep us.

When the world, the flesh or the devil offers you something other that what he promises you, run away as fast as you can. When temptation arises, look to Jesus. Those who look to him in the hour testing will never be disappointed. He never fails to satisfy our deepest needs. Amen.