Failure to Exercise Sexual Purity
6: 12-20
Failure to exercise sexual purity DIG: In one word how would you describe the moral climate in ancient Corinth, in one sentence? What was the Corinthians’ rationale for sexual freedom? How does this rationalization compare to modern-day attitudes towards sexuality? Why does God draw a line in the sand regarding sexual purity? What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility? What might be said to believers who think they are free to do as they please? Why is sexual immorality an offense to ADONAI?
REFLECT: Why is sexual intercourse outside of marriage so devastating? Why might some people bristle at the thought of accountability with another person? How does being held accountable by others help a person use his or her freedom for good? How should being united with Messiah impact how you view what you do with your body? How would you define sexual immorality? Why do you suppose Paul advocated fleeing sexual immorality instead of simply resisting it? Have you dealt with this issue in your life?
While demanding their freedom in Messiah,
the Corinthian believers had become controlled by their own fleshly desires.
One of the major problems in the church at Corinth was that the baby believers were dragging their worldly behaviors into the church. As has been said many times, the problem was not that the church was in Corinth, the problem was that Corinth was in the church! Hiring prostitutes was merely one of several examples.
Two Greek words dominate the present argument: porneia or sexual immorality, which in this context refers to sex for hire, and soma or body. The problem involves both words together: the body is not meant for sexual immorality (6:13), and whoever engages in sexual immorality sins against his own body (6:18). Porneia in the Greek culture at the time simply meant prostitution. The Greeks were generally ambivalent on that matter, depending in part, whether one went openly to the brothels or was more discreet and simply had an escort. The word, however, had been picked up in Hellenistic Judaism, always disapprovingly, to cover every kind of extramarital sexual sin, including incest (5:1-2a) and homosexuality. It could refer to any of these sins, as it does here with prostitution.
Paul argues that one may not take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute. Apparently some men within the Corinthian church were going to prostitutes and arguing for the right to do so. This was accepted in Greek culture, but not in the church. Being people of the Spirit, they imply, had moved them to a higher plane, the realm of the spirit, where they are unaffected by behavior that had merely to do with the body. What a mess! Therefore, Paul proceeds from his prior concluding encouragement: Some of you used to do these things. But you have cleansed yourselves, you have been set apart for God, you have come to be counted righteous through the power of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and the Spirit of our God (6:11), to a full frontal attack on that theological justification of theirs. The gospel was at stake, not simply the resolution of an ethical question.161
Sexual Sin Harms (6:12): As with failing to discipline an immoral brother (5:1-13) and failing to resolve personal disputes (6:1-11), Paul comes out swinging for the Corinthians failure to exercise sexual purity. You say, “For me, everything is permitted” (6:12a). This was a popular proverb of the day. It probably had its source in Gnosticism, a Greek philosophy that espoused the idea of a “dualism” between the body and the soul. The soul was recognized as good and of God, but the body was considered bad and not from God. In fact, the body was viewed as the jail that imprisoned the spirit. This notion affected behavior in two ways. Some people decided the body needed to be punished, so they denied practically all of its appetites. This was called asceticism and was behind many of the monastic movements. But the more popular reaction was not to neglect the body, but to indulge its every appetite with the feeling that what one did with one’s body had nothing to do with the soul or one’s religion. Today, there are people who never heard of the Gnostics, but who treat sex as an appetite to be satisfied just as casually as the need for food is met by having a snack.162
Maybe, but not everything is helpful (6:12b). Every sin that a believer commits is forgiven by Yeshua Messiah. But no sin is ever right or good, and no sin ever produces anything right or good. Sin can never be worthwhile, or helpful (Greek: sumphero, meaning profitable). In the sense that believers have freedom in Messiah (see the commentary on Romans Bu – The New Freedom in Messiah), and are no longer under the penalty of spiritual death, yes, everything is permitted. But the price for doing some things is terribly high, terribly unprofitable. Sin always takes you further than you want to go, costs you more than you want to pay, and makes you stay longer than you wanted to stay.
The specific type of sin Paul is talking about here is sexual sin. There is hardly a sin that a person commits that has more built-in pitfalls, problems, and destructiveness than sexual sin. It has broken more marriages (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Br – Do Not Commit Adultery), shattered more homes, caused more heartache and disease, and destroyed more lives than alcohol and drugs combined. It causes lying, stealing, cheating, and killing, as well as bitterness, hatred, slander, gossip, and unforgiveness. For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil (Proverbs 5:3).163
Sexual sin controls (6:12c): “For me, everything is permitted”? Maybe, but as far as I am concerned, I am not going to let anything gain control over me (6:12c). Paul had the freedom in Messiah to do as he pleased but he refused to allow himself to be controlled by anything or anyone other than Yeshua: For no sin will have authority over you; because you are not under legalism, but under grace (see the commentary on Romans Bv – The New Master in Messiah). He would not be enslaved to any habit and certainly not to any sin.
Practically no sin is more enslaving than sexual sin. The more it is indulged, the more it controls the indulger. It often begins with small indiscretions, which lead to greater ones and finally to flagrant immorality. James gives us some good advice when he says: God tempts no one. Rather, each person is being tempted whenever he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire. Then, having conceived, the desire gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers (James 1:14-15). When we willingly snuggle up close to sin, we will soon come to tolerate it, and then to practice it. Like all other sins that are not resisted, sexual sins will grow, and eventually it will corrupt and destroy not only the persons directly involved, but many innocent people as well. The Corinthian believers were no strangers to porneia, and unfortunately, many of them had slipped back into it. While demanding their freedom in Messiah, they had become controlled by their own fleshly desires.
It is not as easy to be in control of ourselves as we sometimes think. Many people are deceived into thinking they are perfectly in control of their thoughts and actions, simply because they always do what they want. However, the fact is that their desires and passions are telling them what to do, and they are going along with it. They are not masters of their own desires, but are willing slaves! Their flesh is controlling their minds.164
Sexual sin perverts (6:13-14): Sexual sin not only harms and controls, but it also perverts. It especially perverts God’s plan and purpose for the bodies of His people. A believer’s body was created for the Lord; it is a member of Messiah, and it is the temple of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. But the Corinthians would argue that all bodily functions are basically equal and irrelevant for the life of the future, “So what’s the problem?” Why not “sex for the body and the body for sex,” since both sex and the body are unrelated to the life of the future. In the end, they would argue, God will destroy both.165
The prevailing attitude in the Corinthian church was, “It’s my body. It’s my right to choose to do with my body whatever I want (does that sound familiar?).” Using that flawed logic, the Corinthians were only too happy to quote a second local proverb: “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” (6:13a).They reasoned the food was both pleasurable and necessary. When their stomachs signaled hunger, food was taken to satisfy them. So too, they argued sex was both pleasurable and necessary. When their bodies signaled sexual desire, they needed to be satisfied. Food was for the stomach, and sex was for sex. But Paul drew a sharp distinction between the stomach and the body. The body, in this context, meant more than just the physical frame; it referred to the whole person, composed of flesh and spirit.166
Paul responded by saying: You are right in one sense; God will put an end to both of them. But more than that, the bodies of believers are destined by ADONAI for much more than biological functions. Paul had a much better proverb in mind with that statement. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. The body is to be the instrument of the Lord, for His use and glory. God raised up the Lord, and He will raise us up too by his power (6:13-14). Our bodies are designed not only to serve in this life but in the life to come. They will be changed bodies (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Ba – A New Creation) – but they will still be our own bodies.167
So, while sexual immorality, like every other sin, is certainly forgivable, becoming a slave to our sexual impulses is certainly not beneficial, not for the Corinthians, and certainly not for us. Yet, that’s exactly what happened in Corinth. Just as the city of Corinth had degenerated into a sex-crazed mess, so had the church. The time had come for the spiritual father of the church (see Ay – Marks of a Spiritual Father) to have “the talk” with his sons and daughters in the faith.168
The body is a member of Messiah (6:15-18): Don’t you know that your bodies are parts of the Messiah? So, am I to take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute? Heaven forbid (Hebrew: chalilah, meaning that’s a contradiction, it makes no sense)! Sexual relations involve a union; the man and the woman become one flesh. The most essential meaning of the phrase one flesh, is sexual union (Matthew 19:4-6a). Don’t you know that a man who joins himself to a prostitute becomes physically one with her? For the TaNaKh says, “The two will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), but the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (6:15-17). The believer who commits porneia ends up getting the Lord involved in the act because he and Messiah are one (John 14:18-23, 15:4 and 7, 17:20-23). Since the believer is one with Him, and he is one with the prostitute, our Lord is placed in an unthinkable position in Paul’s reasoning. Messiah is not personally tainted with the sin, any more than the sunbeam that shines on a garbage dump is polluted. But His reputation is dirtied because of the association. Not good.169
Paul then draws a conclusion from everything he had said up to this point. Run away from porneia (6:18a)The Corinthians, when faced with sexual immorality, should respond as Joseph did – they should run (see the commentary on Genesis Ji – Potiphar’s Wife said: Come to Bed with Me! But Joseph Ran Out of the House). This is still good advice today. God’s Word says not just to avoid sexual temptations, but to run away from them. Each of us, no matter how cautious we live our lives, will face many temptations. But we ought not to underestimate their power to attract, nor should we overestimate our ability to resist. But where should we flee? Can we run away from ourselves? No! But we can relate everything in our lives to Messiah and find, in that relationship, a perspective from which to deal with every situation.170
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your gracious living in the body of those who love You. Yeshua answered and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him (John 14:23). Praise You that You live within both Jews and Gentiles. In Him [Messiah Yeshua] the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple for the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place in the Ruach (Ephesians 2:21-22).
Thank You for always being with Your children. For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5). It is such a comfort to know that when problems and trials come, You are right there with Your children to comfort and to guide us. Being alone in hard times makes the trial seem harder, but we are never alone for You are right there with us which brings us such comfort and peace. What a wonderful privilege Your indwelling presence is! We love You and desire to care for our body, Your temple. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
The body is a temple of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (6:18-20): But banning something is never Paul’s final word. So, he offers further theological reasons, closely related to what has already been said. The body . . . is for the Lord (6:13), he had reasoned; now he argues that porneia in particular is a sin against one’s own body, because it is also the temple of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but whoever engages in sexual immorality sins against his own body (6:18b). Commentators, have long asked how drunkenness, gluttony, suicide, and self-mutilation do not also qualify as sins against the body. But Paul is not referring to what might physically injure the body. He was talking about what would injure the whole person, mind, body, and spirit. The body is capable of becoming an instrument of wickedness or an instrument of righteousness; a slave of impurity or a slave of righteousness (Romans 6:19); something that brings glory to God (Philippians 1:20), or something that brings shame.171
As with all the biblical holy days, there are spiritual lessons to be learned from Hanukkah – light, courage, and faith, to name a few. Perhaps the most vital one is seen in its name. This festival commemorates a time when the true temple worship of God was restored in Yerushalayim. The Temple no longer stands today; it is the heart of each follower of Yeshua Messiah that is the temple where the Ruach Ha’Kodesh dwells. But too often, believers endanger the purity of this temple by allowing idolatry into their lives, just as Antiochus did in the Temple of old. Hence, the timeless encouragement from Paul:172
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple for the Ruach Ha’Kodesh who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves (6:19). As believers our bodies are not our own. Paul calls for sexual purity not only because of the way sexual sin affects the body, but because the body it affects is not even the believer’s own. For we are the temple of the living God (Second Corinthians 6:16). And the fact that believers are the dwelling place of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is clear in passages such as John 7:38-39 and 20:22; Acts 1:8 and Romans 8:9.
For you were bought at a price (literally, bought and paid for). The verb is in the aorist tense, which points to a single decisive action in the past. You should be aware that the ransom paid to free you from the worthless way of life which your fathers passed on to you did not consist of anything perishable like silver or gold; on the contrary, it was the costly bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah, as of a lamb without defect or spot (First Peter 1:18-19). Our bodies are God’s temple, and a temple is for worship. Our bodies, therefore, had one supreme purpose: to glorify God (6:20).
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