Because the Corinthians did not use wisdom in living out their freedoms in Christ, sexual immorality was prevalent in their church body. Consequently, they were immature and stifled in their spiritual growth. Let's note how Paul applies the gospel to this sin struggle for their benefit and ours.
“Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. 18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:15-20 NLT
Question 1. According to 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 NLT, what happens when a believer involves themselves with sexual impurity?
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As believers, our bodies are parts of Christ. We would never want to unite Christ to prostitution or any other form of impurity. No, believers are “joined to the Lord” and are “one spirit with Him.” We must never forget that we are one with Christ, connected with Him in a deeply intimate spiritual bond like a husband and wife in sexual intimacy.
Paul goes on to explain that sexual sin is uniquely grievous, for “sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.” If we sin sexually, we not only sin against the Lord and our spouses (present or future), but we sin against our own bodies. But, as significant as this truth is, it is not the motivation for turning from sexual sin.
We discover our motivation for pursuing purity in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT).
Here we learn that our bodies are not our own; they are temples of the Holy Spirit, made so because Christ died on the cross to purchase us with His precious blood. We are not free to carelessly use what is not ours.
For this truth to impact our hearts, we must view the cross and remember the price Jesus paid. Look! Can you see Jesus, wounded and bleeding, pouring out His life to save yours? He is buying you to be the temple in which He lives. Can you see Him sacrificing Himself to God on your behalf, eradicating your sin as the wrath of God beats down on Him like a consuming fire? He is purchasing you to be His treasured possession, beloved bride, and home to live in.
Just like Jesus cleansed the Jerusalem Temple at the beginning of His ministry (John 2:12-22), at the end of His ministry, when He died on the cross, He cleansed you to make your body His temple. Please read the following passage, noting the purpose of Jesus’ coming to His temple:
“Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 2 “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes.”
Malachi 3:1-2 NLT
The cross of Christ was both the purchase of your body for His temple and the cleansing of that temple with the "strong soap" of Jesus' blood. We want to view the cross so long that our hearts are broken in love, mended by grace, and made strong in gospel power. As we remember the purchase price paid for us, we will be equipped to live in purity and honor God with our bodies.
Question 2. According to today's study, what is the ultimate reason no believer should be engaged in sexual immorality?
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