"The Whole Book": 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20

Thursday, September 10, 2026

#1676 1 Corinthians 6 Part 2 Your Body Is A Sanctuary

12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20

1 Corinthians 6: 12-20

We left off with verse 11 in the last post saying, "and such were some of you." This followed a long list of sins which also included Christians who sue one another. It is interesting that he says, "such were", for the list starts with "wrong doers", to which all would belong, and we know that Christ didn't come to save the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance. The Bible is also clear that all have sinned, and that there are none righteous. Taking the whole counsel of God it becomes clear that some were still these things and not washed, sanctified or justified. There will always be tares amongst the wheat, not everyone who goes to worship on Sunday is a true believer, but true believers will almost be tempted as well. If you are being sanctified there will be grief over sin, and the culture will have less hold upon you. There is a lot going on at this church, and it is more influenced by the world than it is an influence upon the world. It's the same in our day, we want to "meet the moment, embrace the culture, resonate with the worldly", but Christ calls us to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, be a light in a dark place. We want to fit in, be liked, make light of sin, but He is saying, not possible, for you have been washed, made a sacred thing, sanctified, and this starts at the time you were justified, but it is evidenced and worked out through your life. Justification is your permanent standing before God in Christ, your position, but sanctification, though known from eternity and there perfected, starts with being a babe in Christ. It is shown by the fruit produced in those who believe, by what they no longer practice and by what they now practice. Such were some of you, let that now be true in your own walk, reflecting your position in Christ.

The unrighteous: This man who wronged his brother sets himself in bad company – in with fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, revilers, and extortioners; and none of those who live characterized by these sins will inherit the kingdom of God.

i. No doubt the man figured, “Sure, what I’m doing to my brother isn’t good but it isn’t that bad.” Paul wants him to know just how bad it was.

ii. We shouldn’t think that a Christian who has committed an act of fornication or homosexuality (or any of the other listed sins) is automatically excluded from the kingdom of God. Instead, since Paul describes these people by their sins, he means those whose lives are dominated and characterized by these sins. So, is an occasional act of fornication or homosexuality no big deal to God? Of course it is a significant matter, because it goes against everything we have been given in Jesus, and because a lifestyle of sin begins with single acts of sin.

iii. The man who cheated his brother had to see that if his life was dominated and characterized by this sin, just as much as any of the other people Paul described, he should also be just as concerned for his salvation as any of those other people.

d. Nor homosexuals: Since this is such a clear condemnation of homosexuality, those who would like to justify the practice say Paul speaks of homosexual prostitution, not a “loving, caring homosexual relationship.” But taken in context, there is no doubt God is speaking of homosexual acts of all kinds with the words malakoi (homosexuals, which literally refers to male prostitutes) and arsenokoitai (sodomites, a generic term for all homosexual practice).

i. Paul did not write in or of a “homophobic” culture. Homosexuality was rampant in the ancient world; 14 out of the first 15 Roman emperors were bisexual or homosexual. At the very time Paul wrote, Nero was emperor. Nero castrated a boy named Sporus and then married him (with a full ceremony), brought him to the palace with a great procession, and made the boy his “wife.” Later, the emperor lived with another man, and Nero was declared to be the other man’s “wife.”

ii. In this list of sins, homosexuality (not some “special” version of homosexuality) is described, but it is described right along with other sins. Some who so strongly denounce homosexuals are guilty of other sins on this list. Can fornicators or adulterers or the covetous or drunkards rightly condemn homosexuals? Of course not.

iii. Christians err when they excuse homosexuality, and deny that it is sin, but they also err just as badly when they single it out as a sin God is uniquely angry with. - Enduring Word

…31Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” 33Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”… Luke 5: 31-33

More on Matthew 12

Vs. 12-13 I will not be mastered by anything - Though we have Christian Liberty, and we are no longer under the ceremonial or food laws of the Old Testament, yet we are not to be ruled by our stomachs. It's okay for a Christian to eat pork, but it is not even of a secondary concern when it comes to the conscience of someone else. We just say what the Bible says when asked about these things, but if someone does not want to eat certain things then it is okay for them not to, and I would even accommodate them in preparing a meal for them at my house or going to lunch somewhere. Paul does not want to be mastered by the desire of his stomach though, which could lead to gluttony, which is not freedom but slavery. He also addresses Sabbath days in another letter where the Colossian church was being bothered by legalist who wanted force there will and preference.

b. All things are lawful for me: This was probably a phrase Paul had used in teaching the Corinthian Christians about Christian liberty. We can almost hear Paul telling the Corinthians exactly what he told the Colossians in Colossians 2:16-17: “When it comes to what we eat or drink or on what day we worship the Lord, all things are lawful for me. I am at liberty, and I should not let anyone put me under bondage, as legalists are prone to do.”

c. But all things are not helpful: The Corinthian Christians took the idea all things are lawful and applied it to areas Paul, or the Lord, never intended. They used their “liberty” as a license to sin. - E Word

16Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.… Colossians 2: 16-18

Vs. 13b -15 The body is not for sexual immorality - We were bought with a price, and this includes our present tabernacles. This goes back to previous talks about our losing sight and understanding of the sacred in our fallen nature. The Roman/Greek culture of that day had reduced sex to a function like drinking water or going to the drive through window for fast food. Sex in its proper context, the cojoining of a man and a woman in a committed, lifelong union called marriage, was a beautiful thing that led to the procreation of more little men and women to be taught about their Creator. There have been some movements over time that have looked down on the body, seen it only as a cage, regarded the material as evil. Some have gone so far in the treatment of sex as to teach and develop a priesthood that requires its members to not marry, as if that were more holy, and some have gone so far as to remove their own genitals. The Apostle Peter had a wife, Paul could have had one, but had the rare gift of singleness. Here we see that the body itself, like the temple, was not evil, but what was done in it is what could and did desecrate it. God looks at our hearts, and our very thoughts condemn us. Jesus uses the hyperbole that if your eye offends you then cut it out. It would be better to be blind. In other words, don't blame it on your eye, don't blame it on your natural urges, you may eat, but don't be a pig. You can have sex, but in the context and framework of marriage, between a man and a woman who are equally yoked. In verse 14 we can see that end goal is not to be without a body, but that God will also raise us up as He did Christ, with a glorified body, free of sin, and therefore free of death.

…4Have we no right to food and to drink? 5Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? 6Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?… 1 Corinthians 9: 4-6

…15By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.… 1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17

1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.… 2 Corinthians 5: 1-3

V. 16 The two shall become one flesh - This is beautiful in marriage and frightening when done out of that context. It is the same to take what God has called sacred and throw it into the dung heap. There is nothing simple about this, far from shaking hands or eating lunch, there is a spiritual element to this that does not find a comparison in other bodily functions like eating or drinking. You become one with that person, and that can only be repaired and severed by Christ. There is another shame in this in that you bring someone along with you in this sin as well. You profane the temple that belongs to God, and you take something set apart and make it an unholy thing. What a sad union, and that they and we, in our day, have done this with unbelievers, as if it say, "God has not spoken on such things, or I don't hold what God says to be of much value when it comes to my wants." Do not be led about by your feelings, start the fight at the thought level.

i. A person pursuing a casual sexual encounter may not want to become one flesh with their partner but in some spiritual sense, they do. Part of their self is given to that person, and it means there is less to give to the Lord and to the partner God intends for them. In the Biblical understanding of sex, there is no such thing as “casual sex.”

ii. Since we belong to Jesus – body, soul, and spirit – we have no right to give any part of our self away to an “unauthorized” person. “By being joined to her [a prostitute] in porneia the believer constitutes someone else, outside of Christ, as the unlawful lord over one’s own body.” (Fee)

iii. “Sex outside of marriage is like a man robbing a bank: he gets something, but it is not his and he will one day pay for it. Sex within marriage can be like a person putting money into a bank: there is safety, security, and he will collect dividends.” (Wiersbe) - E Word

Vs. 17-18 Flee sexual immorality - This is what Joseph did when Potiphar's wife chased him relentlessly. He ran in order to avoid doing something that would offend God, the woman's view of the Hebrew servant of Yahweh, and another man. We are not powerless in these moments of temptation, the problem is that we throw stumbling blocks before ourselves, trying to trip ourselves up. We have a thought come to our mind, we see an image, hear a joke, and we ponder it, we nurture it until it grows strong and finally bears unholy fruit. We need to stop, repent, ask God for forgiveness, strength and the ability to see sin like He sees it. We need to look at what God says about these things and put His words above the culture and our feelings.

…9No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?” 10Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her. 11One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside.…

12She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.

13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could.… Genesis 39: 9-14

…12So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall. 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it. 14Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.… 1 Corinthians 10: 12-14

Vs. 19-20 Your body is the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit - It's no longer "yours", Christ paid for it on the Cross. It was the sanctuary belonging to death because you were the slave of sin, but Jesus came in the flesh since it was man who sinned against a Holy God, and He lived the life of perfect obedience to the Father, the life we should lead but have not, for all have sinned. The wages of sin was death, and the sinless Savior went to the Cross to pay that in our stead.

More on the Sacred and what led up to this

Still more on the Sacred and problems within the Church