1 Corinthians | Body Belongs to Christ

Bethany Lutheran Church

Lawsuits, greed, sex. In a sense beliefs lead to behavior and until this point a lot of Corinthians has been pretty theological and this section and part of chapter 5 sort of bring this all together. If you are a temple and Christ dwells within you then your body is important. We tend to downplay the body in our culture. Even the way we talk about spiritual things we tend to separate it from the body and think of ourselves as some disembodied spirits. However there is special emphasis on sin of one body to another body. It isn’t abstract like envy but very tangible. This is also a call to contrast how we live and worship over and against the Corinthian origies and temple prostitute worship. A lot of word play here to call out not only what is wrong with Corinth but also to remind those in Christ how to live and grow faithfully together.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NIV)
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 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. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Matthew 6:22-23 (ESV)
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!