Epistle for January 14, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is writing this letter to a group of Christians he knows pretty well.  His second missionary journey brought him to Corinth for about 18 months, from about 50 to 52 A.D. And in his third missionary journey he stayed in Corinth for about three months, sometime between 56 and 57 A.D.

He is likely writing this letter to Corinth either from Philippi or, more likely, during his longer tenure at Ephesus where he stayed for three years.

We are reminded that this was an extremely volatile time in the early church.  The message of the Gospel was brand-new to these Corinthian Christians and they had many questions about doctrine, practice and morality.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 in particular seems to be one answer on a list of several very important questions they had for their spiritual mentor.  Some of the questions must have gone something like this — was wisdom the way to salvation, or faith? what about sexual relations, and marriage and divorce? how should they handle disputes? what about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols?

Paul patiently answers each of their questions. But here, Paul is addressing the issue of sexual promiscuity.

It seems that Corinth in particular had a reputation in the ancient world for sexual libertinism.  Prostitutes plied their trade in this port city that drew sailors, soldiers, and merchants from all over the Roman world.

And the message of Christian freedom that Paul brought may have been misconstrued by some of these early Christians who thought that they could be devoted to Christ and still live a sexually promiscuous life.

So Paul applies the message of the Gospel to the very practical aspects of human life.  He quotes those who are arguing that sexual promiscuity is perfectly natural and normal, and then demolishes their arguments.

The advocates of sexual permissiveness say:

“All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul answers:

 but not all things are expedient.

The advocates of permissiveness say:

 “All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul says:

but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

Once more:  

“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,”

And Paul answers:

But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

These libertine Christians are arguing that Christian freedom means the Christian can live how they choose — and after all, just as the body’s need for food is natural and normal, so is sex.

Paul’s response is that we are not to be brought under the power of anything.  He sees the intoxicating, addictive power that sex has in a person’s life.  Moreover, he argues that the body isn’t meant for sexual self-indulgence but belongs to the Lord.

So, there are three primary arguments he makes against sexual promiscuity:

One, that we are raised with Christ in his resurrection and have become a part of his spiritual body, as he will develop later in 1 Corinthians 12.  If so, then when a person unites with a prostitute he is de facto uniting Christ’s body with prostitution.

He refers to Genesis 2:24:

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

But he is clear that we are instead to be united with Christ in spirit.

Two, Paul points out that sexual behavior is intensely intimate and personal.  Other sins are external, but sexual behavior reaches deep into one’s inmost being.

His third and most powerful argument is this:

Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

In other words, if all of the arguments he has presented are true — that our bodies are to be united spiritually with Christ, not sexually corrupted by promiscuity; and if sexual sin deeply impacts the psyche of a person — then it follows that we are not merely ‘believers,’ but that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  The logic here is that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the believer. The body has become a sacred residence for the Holy Spirit.

And, conclusively, he asserts that the Christian doesn’t belong to him or herself, but to Christ who has purchased their freedom from sin through his death on the cross.

The bottom line is, they are to:

glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

To engage in promiscuous sexuality is to unite Christ with sexual immorality, to pollute the temple of the body, and to betray the one who has purchased believers through his death.

APPLY:  

This is a sensitive topic that deserves more than a few paragraphs.  But I’ll try to be brief.

We live in a sexually obsessed culture, especially those who live in the West.  A click of a button on your computer will conjure up images that can penetrate to the dark places of a person’s imagination.  The message of our culture, especially popularized by the Playboy Philosophy introduced in the 1950’s, is that “sex is normal and natural and should be enjoyed as often as possible with as many different people as possible.”

Coincidentally, this was pretty much the same kind of sexually permissive culture that Paul encountered in the Greco-Roman world.

So, we must find the balance.  Paul is not saying that sexuality is inherently bad, something that some of our Christian ancestors seemed to think.  He understands that sex is a good gift from God, but that it is also to be expressed only between a husband and wife.  This is rooted in his understanding of creation and the revelation of Scripture (see 1 Corinthians 7:2-5).

On the other hand, we as Christians must understand that our sexuality is a deeply intimate part of our identity. We must understand that, as our allegiance to Christ must be primary in our lives, so our sexual fidelity to our spouses must reflect that devotion. And we must understand that we don’t belong to ourselves, we belong to Christ.

We are also aware that because our pleasures can become deeply addictive, they can lure us away from a devotion to Christ.

Two principles in this passage have tremendous implications in so many areas of our bodily and practical lives.

First:

your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God.

If that is so, then not only must we guard our sexual nature, but we must be careful what we eat, drink, ingest, read, watch on t.v.  If we wouldn’t have sex in church why would we do so something so shocking with our own bodies? If gluttony does damage to our bodies, are we not damaging the temple of the Holy Spirit? If we smoke cigarettes… I think the implications are clear.

Again, the Apostle doesn’t argue that we shouldn’t enjoy healthy sexual relations with our spouse, or take pleasure in a good meal — but immorality pollutes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and excess in eating and drinking can cause damage to it.

Finally, Paul declares that:

 You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

This is a wake-up call to narcissistic Christians.  We have a tendency to think that our bodies belong to ourselves.  We hear that rhetoric in relation to sexual morality, reproductive rights, and even the consumption of food or drugs.

‘I can do what I like with my body’ is the one thing a Christian cannot say.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  That price was the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.

RESPOND: 

Sometimes I treat my body, as a friend once said, as though it were an endlessly renewable resource. As though it will always bounce back no matter how I treat it.  I eat too much of the wrong foods at times.  At such times I need to remind myself that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I am very careful about eating nutritiously, getting enough exercise, and even occasionally fasting as a way of reminding myself of my dependence on God.  At such times I need to remind myself that I do these things because my body has been bought with a price.

Lord, we live in a sexually permissive culture, when sexual fantasies abound and are readily available online. And we in the West live in a culture where food and drink and drugs are readily available.  Remind us that you have purchased us through the precious body and blood of Jesus, and that we are to treat our bodies with great care as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“bought with a price” by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for January 17, 2021

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is writing this letter to a group of Christians he knows pretty well.  His second missionary journey brought him to Corinth for about 18 months, from about 50 to 52 A.D. And in his third missionary journey he stayed in Corinth for about three months, sometime between 56 and 57 A.D.

He is likely writing this letter to Corinth either from Philippi or, more likely, during his longer tenure at Ephesus where he stayed for three years.

We are reminded that this was an extremely volatile time in the early church.  The message of the Gospel was brand-new to these Corinthian Christians and they had many questions about doctrine, practice and morality.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 in particular seems to be one answer on a list of several very important questions they had for their spiritual mentor.  Some of the questions must have gone something like this — was wisdom the way to salvation, or faith? what about sexual relations, and marriage and divorce? how should they handle disputes? what about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols?

Paul patiently answers each of their questions. But here, Paul is addressing the issue of sexual promiscuity.

It seems that Corinth in particular had a reputation in the ancient world for sexual libertinism.  Prostitutes plied their trade in this port city that drew sailors, soldiers, and merchants from all over the Roman world.

And the message of Christian freedom that Paul brought may have been misconstrued by some of these early Christians who thought that they could be devoted to Christ and still live a sexually promiscuous life.

So Paul applies the message of the Gospel to the very practical aspects of human life.  He quotes those who are arguing that sexual promiscuity is perfectly natural and normal, and then demolishes their arguments.

The advocates of sexual permissiveness say:

“All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul answers:

 but not all things are expedient.

The advocates of permissiveness say:

 “All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul says:

but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

Once more:  

“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,”

And Paul answers:

But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

These libertine Christians are arguing that Christian freedom means the Christian can live how they choose — and after all,  just as the body’s need for food is natural and normal, so is sex.

Paul’s response is that we are not to be brought under the power of anything.  He sees the intoxicating, addictive power that sex has in a person’s life.  Moreover, he argues that the body isn’t meant for sexual self-indulgence but belongs to the Lord.

So, there are three primary arguments he makes against sexual promiscuity:

One, that we are raised with Christ in his resurrection and have become a part of his spiritual body, as he will develop later in 1 Corinthians 12.  If so, then when a person unites with a prostitute he is de facto uniting Christ’s body with prostitution.

He refers to Genesis 2:24:

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

But he is clear that we are instead to be united with Christ in spirit.

Two, Paul points out that sexual behavior is intensely intimate and personal.  Other sins are external, but sexual behavior reaches deep into one’s inmost being.

His third and most powerful argument is this:

Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price.

In other words, if all of the arguments he has presented are true — that our bodies are to be united spiritually with Christ, not sexually corrupted by promiscuity; and if sexual sin deeply impacts the psyche of a person — then it follows that we are not merely ‘believers,’ but that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  The logic here is that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the believer. The body has become a sacred residence for the Holy Spirit.

And, conclusively, he asserts that the Christian doesn’t belong to him or herself, but to Christ who has purchased their freedom from sin through his death on the cross.

The bottom line is, they are to:

glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

To engage in promiscuous sexuality is to unite Christ with sexual immorality, to pollute the temple of the body, and to betray the one who has purchased believers through his death.

APPLY:  

This is a sensitive topic that deserves more than a few paragraphs.  But I’ll try to be brief.

We live in a sexually obsessed culture, especially those who live in the West.  A click of a button on your computer will conjure up images that can penetrate to the dark places of a person’s imagination.  The message of our culture, especially popularized by the Playboy Philosophy introduced in the 1950’s,  is that “sex is normal and natural and should be enjoyed as often as possible with as many different people as possible.”

Coincidentally, this was pretty much the same kind of sexually permissive culture that Paul encountered in the Greco-Roman world.

So, we must find the balance.  Paul is not saying that sexuality is inherently bad, something that some of our Christian ancestors seemed to think.  He understands that sex is a good gift from God, but that it is also to be expressed only between a husband and wife.  This is rooted in his understanding of creation and the revelation of Scripture (see 1 Corinthians 7:2-5).

On the other hand, we as Christians must understand that our sexuality is a deeply intimate part of our identity. We must understand that, as our allegiance to Christ must be primary in our lives, so our sexual fidelity to our spouses must reflect that devotion. And we must understand that we don’t belong to ourselves, we belong to Christ.

We are also aware that because our pleasures can become deeply addictive, they can lure us away from a devotion to Christ.

Two principles in this passage have tremendous implications in so many areas of our bodily and practical lives.

First:

your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God.

If that is so, then not only must we guard our sexual nature, but we must be careful what we eat, drink, ingest, read, watch on t.v.  If we wouldn’t have sex in church why would we do so something so shocking with our own bodies? If gluttony does damage to our bodies, are we not damaging the temple of the Holy Spirit? If we smoke cigarettes… I think the implications are clear.

Again, the Apostle doesn’t argue that we shouldn’t enjoy healthy sexual relations with our spouse, or take pleasure in a good meal — but immorality pollutes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and excess in eating and drinking can cause damage to it.

Finally, Paul declares that:

 You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price.

This a wake-up call to narcissistic Christians.  We have a tendency to think that our bodies belong to ourselves.  We hear that rhetoric in relation to sexual morality, reproductive rights,and even the consumption of food or drugs.

‘I can do what I like with my body’ is the one thing a Christian cannot say.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  That price was the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.

RESPOND: 

Sometimes I treat my body, as a friend once said, as though it were an endlessly renewable resource. As though it will always bounce back no matter how I treat it.  I eat too much of the wrong foods at times.  At such times I need to remind myself that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I am very careful about eating nutritiously, getting enough exercise, and even occasionally fasting as a way of reminding myself of my dependence on God.  At such times I need to remind myself that I do these things because my body has been bought with a price.

Lord, we live in a sexually permissive culture, when sexual fantasies abound and are readily available online. And we in the West live in a culture where food and drink and drugs are readily available.  Remind us that you have purchased us through the precious body and blood of Jesus, and that we are to treat our bodies with great care as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“you-are-not-your-own_1024” by jubileelewis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for January 14, 2018

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is writing this letter to a group of Christians he knows pretty well.  His second missionary journey brought him to Corinth for about 18 months, from about 50 to 52 A.D. And in his third missionary journey he stayed in Corinth for about three months, sometime between 56 and 57 A.D.

He is likely writing this letter to Corinth either from Philippi or, more likely, during his longer tenure at Ephesus where he stayed for three years.

We are reminded that this was an extremely volatile time in the early church.  The message of the Gospel was brand-new to these Corinthian Christians and they had many questions about doctrine, practice and morality.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 in particular seems to be one answer on a list of several very important questions they had for their spiritual mentor.  Some of the questions must have gone something like this — was wisdom the way to salvation, or faith? what about sexual relations, and marriage and divorce? how should they handle disputes? what about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols?

Paul patiently answers each of their questions. But here, Paul is addressing the issue of sexual promiscuity.

It seems that Corinth in particular had a reputation in the ancient world for sexual libertinism.  Prostitutes plied their trade in this port city that drew sailors, soldiers, and merchants from all over the Roman world.

And the message of Christian freedom that Paul brought may have been misconstrued by some of these early Christians who thought that they could be devoted to Christ and still live a sexually promiscuous life.

So Paul applies the message of the Gospel to the very practical aspects of human life.  He quotes those who are arguing that sexual promiscuity is perfectly natural and normal, and then demolishes their arguments.

The advocates of sexual permissiveness  say:

“All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul answers:

 but not all things are expedient.

The advocates of permissiveness say:

 “All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul says:

but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

Once more:  

“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,”

And Paul answers:

But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

These libertine Christians are arguing that Christian freedom means the Christian can live how they choose — and after all,  just as the body’s need for food is natural and normal, so is sex.

Paul’s response is that we are not to be brought under the power of anything.  He sees the intoxicating, addictive power that sex has in a person’s life.  Moreover, he argues that the body isn’t meant for sexual self-indulgence but belongs to the Lord.

So, there are three  primary arguments he makes against sexual promiscuity:

One, that we are raised with Christ in his resurrection and have become a part of his spiritual body, as he will develop later in 1 Corinthians 12.  If so, then when a person unites with a prostitute he is de facto uniting Christ’s body with prostitution.

He refers to Genesis 2:24:

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

But he is clear that we are instead to be united with Christ in spirit.

Two, Paul points out that sexual behavior is intensely intimate and personal.  Other sins are external, but sexual behavior reaches deep into one’s inmost being.

His third and most powerful argument is this:

Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price.

In other words, if all of the arguments he has presented are true — that our bodies are to be united spiritually with Christ, not sexually corrupted by promiscuity; and if sexual sin deeply impacts the psyche of a person – then it follows that we are not merely ‘believers’ — our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  The logic here is that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the believer. The body has become a sacred residence for the Holy Spirit.

And, conclusively, he asserts that the Christian doesn’t belong to him or herself, but to Christ who has purchased their freedom from sin through his death on the cross.

The bottom line is, they are to:

glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

To engage in promiscuous sexuality is to unite Christ with sexual immorality, to pollute the temple of the body, and to betray the one who has purchased believers through his death.

APPLY:  

This is a sensitive topic that deserves more than a few paragraphs.  But I’ll try to be brief.

We live in a sexually obsessed culture, especially those who live in the West.  A click of a button on your computer will conjure up images that can penetrate to the dark places of a person’s imagination.  The message of our culture, especially popularized by the Playboy Philosophy introduced in the 1950’s,  is that “sex is normal and natural and should be enjoyed as often as possible with as many different people as possible.”

Coincidentally, this was pretty much the same kind of sexually permissive culture that Paul encountered in the Greco-Roman world.

So, we must find the balance.  Paul is not saying that sexuality is inherently bad, something that some of our Christian ancestors seemed to think.  He understands that sex is a good gift from God, but that it is also to be expressed only between a husband and wife.  This is rooted in his understanding of creation and the revelation of Scripture (see 1 Corinthians 7:2-5).

On the other hand, we as Christians must understand that our sexuality is a deeply intimate part of our identity; that as our allegiance to Christ must be primary in our lives, so our sexual fidelity to our spouses must reflect that devotion; and that we don’t belong to ourselves, we belong to Christ.

We are also aware that because our pleasures can become deeply addictive, they can lure us away from a devotion to Christ.

Two principles in this passage have tremendous implications in so many areas of our bodily and practical lives.

First:

your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God.

If that is so, then not only must we guard our sexual nature, but we must be careful what we eat, drink, ingest, read, watch on t.v.  If we wouldn’t have sex in church why would we do so something so shocking with our own bodies? If gluttony does damage to our bodies, are we not damaging the temple of the Holy Spirit? If we smoke cigarettes . . . I think the implications are clear.

Again, the Apostle doesn’t argue that we shouldn’t enjoy healthy sexual relations with our spouse, or take pleasure a good meal — but immorality pollutes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and excess in eating and drinking can cause damage to it.

Finally, Paul declares that:

 You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price.

This a wake-up call to narcissistic Christians.  We have a tendency to think that our bodies belong to ourselves.  We hear that rhetoric in relation to sexual morality, reproductive rights,and even the consumption of food or drugs.

‘I can do what I like with my body’ is the one thing a Christian cannot say.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  That  price was the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.

RESPOND: 

Sometimes I treat my body, as a friend once said, as though it were an endlessly renewable resource. As though it will always bounce back no matter how I treat it.  I eat too much of the wrong foods at times.  At such times I need to remind myself that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I am very careful about eating nutritiously, getting enough exercise, and even occasionally fasting as a way of reminding myself of my dependence on God.  At such times I need to remind myself that I do these things because my body has been bought with a price.

Lord, we live in a sexually permissive culture, when sexual fantasies abound and are readily available online. And we in the West live in a culture where food and drink and drugs are readily available.  Remind us that you have purchased us through the precious body and blood of Jesus, and that we are to treat our bodies with great care as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“you-are-not-your-own_1024” by jubileelewis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for Jan. 18, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

1 Corinthians 6: 12-20

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is writing this letter to a group of Christians he knows pretty well.  His second missionary journey brought him to Corinth for about 18 months from 50-52 A.D., and in his third missionary journey he stayed in Corinth for about three months, sometime between 56-57 A.D.

He is likely writing this letter to Corinth either from Philippi or, more likely, during his longer tenure at Ephesus where he stayed for three years.

We are reminded that this was an extremely volatile time in the early church.  The message of the Gospel was brand-new to these Corinthian Christians and they had many questions about doctrine, practice and morality.

Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians in particular seems to be an answer to a list of very important questions they had for their spiritual mentor: was wisdom the way to salvation, or faith? what about sexual relations, marriage and divorce? how should they handle disputes? what about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols?

Paul patiently answers each of their questions.

It seems that Corinth in particular had a reputation in the ancient world for sexual libertinism.  Prostitutes plied their trade in this port city that drew sailors, soldiers, and merchants from all over the Roman world.

And the message of Christian freedom that Paul brought may have been misconstrued by some of these early Christians who thought that they could be devoted to Christ and still live a sexually promiscuous life.

So Paul applies the message of the Gospel to the very practical aspects of human life.  He quotes those who are arguing that sexual promiscuity is perfectly natural and normal, and then demolishes their arguments.

The advocates of sexual permissiveness  say “I have the right to do anything,” you say—  and Paul answers but not everything is beneficial.  The advocates of permissiveness say “I have the right to do anything”  and Paul says but I will not be mastered by anything.  Once more:  You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.”  And Paul answers The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

These libertine Christians are arguing that Christian freedom means the Christian can live how they choose, and after all just as food is natural and normal, so is sex.

Paul’s response is that we are not be mastered by anything. He sees the intoxicating, addictive power that sex has in a person’s life.  Moreover, he argues that the body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

So, there are three  primary arguments he makes against sexual promiscuity:

One, that we are raised with Christ in his resurrection and have become a part of his spiritual body, as he will develop later in 1 Corinthians 12.  If so, then when a person unites with a prostitute he is de facto uniting Christ’s body with prostitution.

He quotes Genesis 2:24 “The two will become one flesh.” But he is clear that we are rather to be one with Christ in spirit.

Two, Paul points out that sexual behavior is intensely intimate and personal.  Other sins are external, but sexual behavior reaches deep into one’s inmost being.

His third and most powerful argument is this: 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.  

In other words, if all of the arguments he has presented are true – that our bodies are to be united spiritually with Christ, not sexually in promiscuity; that sexual sin deeply impacts the psyche of a person – then it follows that we are not only ‘believers’ but our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  The logic here is that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the believer.

And, conclusively, he asserts that the Christian doesn’t belong to him or herself, but to Christ who has purchased their freedom from sin through his death on the cross.

The bottom line is, they are to ‘honor God with their bodies.’ To engage in promiscuous sexuality is to unite Christ with sexual immorality, to pollute the temple of the body, and to betray the one who has purchased believers through his death.

APPLY:  

This is a sensitive topic that deserves more than a few paragraphs.  But I’ll try to be brief.

We live in a sexually obsessed culture, especially those who live in the West.  A click of a button on your computer will conjure up images that will penetrate to the dark places of a person’s imagination.  The message of our culture, since the Playboy Philosophy of the 1950’s began to popularize it, has been “sex is normal and natural and should be enjoyed as often as possible with as many people as possible.”

Ironically, this was pretty much the same kind of culture that Paul encountered in the Greco-Roman world.

So, we must find the balance.  Paul is not saying that sexuality is inherently bad, something that some of our Christian ancestors seemed to think.  He understands that sex is a good gift from God, but that it is also to be expressed only between a husband and wife.  This is rooted in his understanding of creation and the revelation of scripture.

On the other hand, we as Christians must understand that our sexuality is a deeply intimate part of our identity; that as our allegiance to Christ must be primary in our lives, so our sexual fidelity to our spouses must reflect that devotion; and that we don’t belong to ourselves, we belong to Christ.

We are also aware that as our pleasures can become deeply addictive, they can lure us away from a devotion to Christ.

Two principles in this passage have tremendous implications in so many areas of our bodily and practical lives.

First, your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you. If that is so, then not only must we guard our sexual nature, but we must be careful what we eat, drink, ingest, read, watch on t.v.  If we wouldn’t have sex in church why would we do so something so shocking with our own bodies? If gluttony does damage to our bodies, are we not damaging the temple of the Holy Spirit? If we smoke cigarettes . . . I think the implications are clear.

Again, the Apostle doesn’t argue that we shouldn’t enjoy healthy sexual relations with our spouse, or a good meal – but immorality pollutes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and excess in eating and drinking can cause damage to it.

Finally, Paul’s argument that  You are not your own; you were bought at a price  is a wake-up call to narcissistic Christians.  We have a tendency to think that our bodies belong to ourselves.  We hear that rhetoric in relation to sexual morality, reproductive rights, the consumption of food or drugs.

I can do what I like with my body is the one thing a Christian cannot say.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  That  price was the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.

RESPOND: 

Sometimes I treat my body, as a friend once said, as though it were an endlessly renewable resource. As though it will always bounce back no matter how I treat it.  I eat too much of the wrong foods at times.  At such times I need to remind myself that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I am very careful about eating nutritiously, getting enough exercise, and even occasionally fasting as a way of reminding myself of my dependence on God.  At such times I need to remind myself that I do these things because my body has been bought with a price.

Lord, we live in a sexually permissive culture, when sexual fantasies abound and are readily available online. And we in the West live in a culture where food and drink and drugs are readily available.  Remind us that you have purchased us through the precious body and blood of Jesus, and that we are to treat our bodies with great care as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.