August 10th, 2025: Our Bodies Belong to God | 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24).

I would never let someone I didn’t trust have access to my personal business. There are things about me that only my closest friends know, some that only my husband knows, and even a few that I keep solely to myself. In order to draw close to God and willingly surrender to Him, we need to be able to trust Him. The good news is, He is trustworthy. 

We know from I Corinthians 3 that our bodies are the temples of God, that Christ is the foundation that our lives are built upon, and that we have everything we need in Jesus. Let’s now focus on the fact that a born-again believer does not belong to himself. We belong to our redeemer, and we have a responsibility to do His will and also to be a part of the church He’s building.

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

If you are a Christian, you are no longer under the burden of keeping the law. That does not mean that there is something wrong with the law. The law is the Word of God; it is right, just, and pure. We are free in Christ because He fulfilled the law perfectly in our place, and we have access to God through His blood. The wrath of God is no longer on us; “Old things have passed away, behold all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17). While we are not following the system of the law, God didn’t change what is right or wrong. The law shows us what sin is and how far we fall short of perfection.  Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30).

We are not going to Heaven because of our perfect obedience to the law. However, that does not give us permission to live a miserable and sinful life doing what is right in our own eyes.  Believers belong to Christ, and their lives are an extension of His. “Not being under the power of any,” is a phrase that declares that nothing should have a stronger influence on our actions than Jesus.  Sometimes people will ask, “Can Christians still (fill in the blank) after they are saved? It really doesn’t matter what you put there. If you are asking if you can keep your old, dead lifestyle after asking Christ to make you new, the answer is no. Living things behave differently than dead things.  

Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

Our flesh and our spirit are constantly at war, and will be until we leave this body and enter the new one that God has designed for eternity. Your flesh desires pleasure, power, and privacy.  Your spirit longs to be more like the Lord and to have peace with God and others. To be honest, your spirit desires to allow God to take the worst of us and replace it with what only God can produce in us, the Fruit of the Spirit.

And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

I probably don’t have to explain that a harlot sells her body for monetary gain, but maybe I do need to say that God is calling out not only that particular sinful act but many more. Anytime we sell out to get ahead in this world by violating the principles and the clear word of God, we are dragging Christ’s reputation down along with us. The world doesn’t see God all around them, they are blinded to what is obvious to a believer: His creation, His mercy, and His sovereignty. The world just sees us, His children, and we should live as though we are representing Him. Paul is talking about resurrection power, the power of God that brought Jesus out of the tomb. Church members will excuse and justify their sinful behavior, saying, “I can’t help it, that’s just how I am.” But when they say that, they are denying the power of God to deliver us from our sin. Don’t connect Christ to evil by choosing to act in a way that you know is wrong. When you sin, confess it, ask forgiveness for it, and move away from those things that tempt you to repeat the offense.  

 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

We live in a culture that has determined that intimate relationships are based on our legal age and personal preferences. We don’t have shame over behavior that the Bible condemns.  There is a reason that God reserved intimate sexual behavior for marriage only. The family is a sacred institution and a model for many things that God wants us to understand spiritually.  Marriage was created before the Ten Commandments, before the temple, and before the church. It is the starting place for the human race to learn of the standards, the devotion, and the values of God.  

Many say, what I do with my own body is no one else’s business, but nothing could be further from the truth. God says that the husband and the wife become one, that’s more than a lovely sentiment, that’s the word of God. Satan attacks the family most intensely because the destruction of the family affects every aspect of our lives. As a believer, your Spirit should rule over your flesh; you are given the Holy Spirit to enable you to do just that.  

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

All sin separates. It separates us from God and from other people, every time. But according to the Bible, there are differing consequences for sins. When you have sexual relations outside of a committed marital relationship, your sin is against God, but it is also against your own body. In other words, you weren’t designed for that, and your physical body will be negatively affected.  

Our culture says that this is puritanical, severe, and judgmental. Our institutions teach “responsibility and caution.”  But the Bible is clear on the subject. If you're tempted to shrug it off, consider the results of our rejection of God’s design: hundreds of thousands of individuals including children are the victims of human trafficking each year, pornography is a multi billion dollar industry that exploits the young and powerless, families are crumbling all around us, and the number one reason given for divorce in the US is infidelity, just to name a few issues. God wants far better things for His people.  

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

It shouldn’t be hard to identify a Christian. No, it won’t be by how long their hair is or by any other self-imposed religious law they impose on themselves. It will be by their behavior. The motivation for all their actions should be their love and respect for Christ. They should love and commit to their families and protect those God has entrusted to them. They should make the hard and unpopular choices that the world finds unnecessary and sometimes ridiculous, that show respect for the Savior who took the punishment on His own body on the cross for sins that we think aren’t a “big deal.”  

No one is perfect, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” the blood of Christ cleanses us from “all sin.” but that is not a reason to continue behaving sinfully if you are a child of God. Turn around, don’t choose empty temporary things over eternal ones. Defend the gospel of Christ with the life you lead. God made us for better things.

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!