Deeds of the Body
—1Corinthians 6
This chapter (1Corinthians 6) demonstrates the substance and practicality of Paul’s doctrine. The chapter has two parts. The first eight verses, are against Christians taking each other to law to resolve disputes. Verses nine to twenty, are about a Christian’s physical body and how it should be regarded and used.
1 Avoid Going to Law
Verses 1-6
Paul fired a string of rhetorical questions calling out the tendency to drag each other through pagan courts. Instead Paul taught that fellow Christians should be able to make righteous judgments to settle disputes out of court and on Christian principles.
When a dispute involves a sinful act, the steps to be taken were stated by Jesus himself. There are disputes, however, that do not involve one sinning against another, but the same steps can be taken as a pattern for settling the mundane matters with the least possible quarrel (Matthew 18:15-17).
2 Let Yourself be Cheated
Verses 7-8
Some disputes can be settled by just conceding to the other and dropping the matter. Paul understood that walking away may leave one cheated, but that may be better than a quarrel.
Once you get involved in litigation, you are expected to adopt an adversarial stance, even against your fellow Christian. You become opponents. The result is a winner and a loser, but likely not a reconciliation. Paul frowned on this.
3 Inherit the Kingdom of God
Verses 9-10
Worse still, when you get caught up in the ways of the world, you are likely to do evil against your opponent. Paul was very concerned to see this happening in the church at Corinth. Paul reminded those Corinthians of the extremes to which sin would go once they let it in.
Paul’s point was that their inheritance in eternity would be lost if they sinned against Jesus and against each other, or tolerated others who sinned thus. It had to stop, or better still, not even start.
Paul was aware that a great satanic deception was at work and he pleaded with the Corinthians not to be deceived. Paul warned that people in the church who practised sin do not inherit the kingdom of God. He exhorted the church to be different.
4 Be Sanctified and Justified
Verse 11
The Corinthians, before they became Christians, had committed all kinds of sin. However, as followers of Christ they were washed, sanctified, and justified by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ:
- washed, meaning they were blessed by God with a good conscience'
- sanctified, meaning they were purified and dedicated to Christ,
- justified meaning the sufficient righteousness of Christ was accounted to them.
5 Give Your Body to God
Verses 12-14
Paul at that point turned to some teaching about the human body. He quoted a maxim, "Everything is permissable for me" but qualified it by saying that not everything people do with their bodies is beneficial. Furthermore, some things can even become one's master, when only the Lord should be.
Some things are for the body. Paul gave this example: food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food. However sexual immorality is not for the body and the body is not for sexual immorality. Paul emphasised that the whole body is intended for serving the Lord and the Lord, as part of his great purpose, is for the body's resurrection and transformation.
Note:— No Such Right. Many people claim the right to do what they like with their bodies, but that claim is false. Their bodies belong to God, not to them, and they are answerable to God for how they use their bodies.
6 Keep Your Body From Harlots
Verses 15-17
Paul proposed that instead of uniting one's body with the body of a harlot, one should unite one's spirit with the spirit of the Lord, and (implied) unite one's body only with the body of one's spouse, that being the only moral union. He spoke of this because immorality was tolerated in the Corinthian church.
7 Make Your Body God’s Temple
Verses 18-20
Paul gave the Corinthians a new way to think about their physical bodies —the Christian’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Not only is a temple very valuable, but people are careful not to profane it, or offend the one who is worshiped in it. God has purchased Christians, body and spirit, for a very great price: the death of his Son Jesus Christ. Paul concluded that we should glorify God in our bodies and our spirits because they belong to him.
Temples of God
¶ Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.(1Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV).