Put off/Put on: Sexual Immorality, Read 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

There is a fundamental approach to issues of sin/righteousness presented in the New Testament, especially in Eph. 4:22-24.  We are to put off the old man (repentance), as if taking off dirty clothes.  We are to be renewed in our minds so that we think differently about the issue at hand.  And then we to put on the new man (faith), Christ (Rom. 13:14).  This approach is evident in today’s passage even though the specific wording may not reveal it.

The issue has to do with the use of our physical bodies.  Paul begins (v12) with a statement which might reflect the way the Corinthians were thinking.  They may have taken freedom from the law to mean there was nothing to prevent them from engaging in sexual relationships that were contrary to the law.  That would explain Paul’s formula (also used in 1 Cor. 10:23).  He acknowledges freedom from the law but renews their minds with the thought that they cannot become slaves to some other master.  This was his argument in Rom. 6:15-23 after he had demonstrated that we no longer under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14).

With that foundation established he then goes to the issues of repentance.  Why should they flee sexual immorality?  The answer centers around my connection with Christ, established by His death and resurrection and made real in conversion.

·        6:13: My body belongs to Christ.

·        6:14: I was raised with Him and will be raised bodily as He was.

·        6:15: I was and am joined to Christ, invoking the baptism picture from Rom. 6:1-11.  

It is because of this that Paul can be adamant about repentance.  Shall I join my body to a harlot?  Of course not!  That denies who I am.  That is why sexual immorality is not helpful (v12): it is not helpful to me in my service to Christ.

What should I do instead?  And first, why should I be different?  Paul again seeks to renew our minds with two powerful thoughts. 

·        My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (v19).  Thus what I do with my body matters very much (v18).  Sexual immorality is a sin against the body, God’s temple.  But it is not simply that the Spirit indwells me; it is the fact that He is given to me by Christ to help me.  When the Holy Spirit fills me the result is that rivers of living water flow from my heart (John 7:37-39). 

·        Christ bought me at the price of His blood on the cross; therefore I do not belong to myself (v19-20).  That is why, in the beginning, Paul’s basic thought had to do with the control of my life.  I will not be brought under the power of any, he said, because I belong to Christ.

My only choice, as one who is yielded to Christ (Rom. 12:1), is to make it my aim to glorify God, both in my body and spirit.  When we allow Scripture to renew our minds the Holy Spirit can help us to glorify God!  May it be so today.