1 Corinthians__6
Scripture
1 Corinthians 6:18-20
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 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; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Observation-What does it say?
Paul is speaking to the Corinthian church who have given themselves over to idols and to the flesh and approving of those who do these things as well. Sin was rampant in the church and they were doing the very things that Christ came to die and save them from. Paul was exhorting the church specifically on the practices of sexual immorality in this chapter/section of his letter.
Understanding-What does it mean?
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
I never truly understood what this meant until I taught in kids church about King Solomon building the temple for the Lord in the book of 1 Kings in the Old Testament. The physical temple was made from the best materials and where the presence of God was to be found. It was also where the ark of the covenant was moved. Anyhow, after Jesus came, we no longer needed a physical building or temple to house God’s presence. God’s presence, through the Holy Spirit, is able to live inside each one of us after submitting our lives to Christ! We are the Temple! This is why we are to keep it pure.
Life Application
We are the temple for the Holy Spirit to reside in. What are we putting inside of our temples?
Many people who eat healthy and exercise regularly use our bodies as being the temple of the Lord as the reason for the importance of doing those disciplines. While I’m not disagreeing with that, in context of Scripture, Paul is talking about sexual immorality.
Just like King Solomon built the temple with only the best materials and it was so beautiful, we must take care of our bodies by keeping it pure. We must guard our hearts and minds and FLEE from sexual immorality. We are to honor the Lord with our bodies and use them for His purposes alone. We are not our own and Jesus bought us with a price, as verses 19-20 says.
If you are struggling with lust, fleshly desires or sexual immorality, please confess it to Jesus right away and ask for His help to conquer it. Tell another trusted Spirit filled believer about it to keep you accountable and also pray for/with you. I also want to take away the stigma that it’s only a struggle that men face in the church, because I personally know and knew of several women who also struggle(d) with it. Any shame or even justification associated with sexual immorality is the devil’s attempt for it to be kept hidden in the dark. Complete healing comes when we bring sin to light, so please invite Jesus into that darkness and impurity. Let us all have clean and pure temples for the Holy Spirit to dwell in! He deserves the best because He gave us His best, plus more!
“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.””
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 NIV
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!....But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Romans 6:15, 17-18 NIV
Blessed are the PURE in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
-Michelle Gaddi