Posted by 1 Corinthians on Thursday, 7 January 2016
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
(12) 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.
(13) 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.
(14) And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
(15) 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.
(16) What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
(17) But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
(18) Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
(19) 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?
(20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
C. Failure to practice sexual purity (6:12-20).
The theme of legality continued as Paul turned to another problem troubling the Corinthian assembly. This problem was the issue of freedom from the Old Testament Law in the area of sexual relationships. Paul addressed this issue in the manner of a dialogue, the diatribe style, familiar to his readers. This also enabled him to prepare them for both his subject matter and his approach in the rest of the letter, which concerned answers to questions and objections they had raised.
The issue of the limits of liberty (v. 12) was developed later by Paul in chapters 8-10. To a degree this subject also colored the discussion on public worship in chapters 11-14. The question of a Christian’s relationship to food (6:13) was taken up in chapter 8. The resurrection of Christ (6:14) was expounded in chapter 15. The church as the body of Christ (6:15) was enlarged on in chapter 12. The sanctity of sex (6:16), about which Paul quoted Genesis 2:24 on the divine establishment of marriage, occupied his attention in chapter 7.
Excerpt from:
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985).
The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures.
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
