Lasciviousness: (6:12-18):
Paul gives a strict warning and gives a contrast of benefits and dangers of liberty. Freedom is a mark of Christian life. We can have freedom from sin and guilt only in the Lord Jesus Christ and any fruit that comes from such a freedom we are to enjoy.
- With regard to food and sex: (6:12-13): Paul says food for the stomach and stomach for the food. One day both will decay and get destroyed. Corinthians have saying that my stomach wants food, so I will eat and my body wants sex, so I will indulge in sex. Further Corinthians have the reputation of having temple prostitutes and it is quite a sex free city. They did not find any fault in indulging in sex with prostitutes. Apostle Paul was condemning the very culture and thoughts of Corinthians that do not let food master over you. “The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord and Lord for the body.”
- Our bodies are the members of Christ: (6:14-17): Many Christians did not know and even now also that their sexual conduct with prostitutes would affect drastically to their relationship with Jesus. When an individual Christian commits sexual immorality, it disgraces the entire body of Christ, linking the body of Christ to immorality. It is God’s blessing to have sexual relationship between husband and wife. Outside marriage it is a curse. Further there is no such thing as casual sex outside marriage. When a person indulges in sex, both become one flesh. “Sex outside of marriage is like a man robbing a bank, he gets something that is not his and he will one day pay for it. Sex within the marriage can be like a person putting money into bank. There is safety, security and he will collect dividends” (Wiersbe). By joining our bodies with prostitutes, we are disgracing the body of Christ.
Christians are free to be all they can be for God. Sex outside marriage always hurts someone. It hurts God because it shows that we prefer following our own desires, instead of the leading of the Holy Spirit. It hurts others because it violates the commitment so necessary to a relationship. It also brings various diseases, anger, disappointment, desperation, guilty etc. But the one who unites himself with the Lord has all the satisfaction, contentment, peace and joy in the liberty which the Lord gives us.
- Flee from sexual immorality: (6:18):
Paul further says: “flee from sexual immorality.” He doesn’t use the word as be brave or try to resist, but says flee from it. Many fall because they underestimate the power of lustful passion and they think they are matured enough or brave enough to resist. We must take the example of Joseph who fled from sexual immorality even it cost him something (Gen. 39:7-21). Flee from sexual immorality also means that we avoid sexual intercourse with someone who is not married and even the sexual magazines, pornography books and sites in the internet etc. God gave sex as a precious gift to mankind, and uses it powerfully to bond husband and wife together in a true one-flesh relationship. Again in (Heb.13:4) says, the marriage bed must be undefiled. The sexual relationship between husband and wife is pure, holy, and good before God. But sexual immorality works against God’s good purpose for sex, working against a true, godly one-flesh relationship. Sex outside of marriage may seem exciting, but it is immorality and brings God’s judgement and curse.
- Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit: (6:19-20): Our body is the temple of God and has been purchased or paid by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people think that they have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies, because they think that is the freedom. But they are enslaved by their lustful desires. But our bodies are the temple of God. A temple is a place sacred to God and pure from immorality. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, this truth must influence through our sexual behaviour. And if we commit sexual immorality, we are polluting God’s temple. Since our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, our body belongs to Christ. We are not our own, but are bout with a price.
So it is the duty of every believer to take better care of that which belongs to Christ. Since our body belongs to Christ, we have no right to pollute and abuse God’s property. Again it applies more with our sexual conduct. Believers cannot indulge in sexual immorality which is nothing but polluting our bodies, selling our bodies to Satan thereby acquiring all the sins. But we must our bodies for glorifying God. It also means that believers must avoid smoking, drinking eating excessively, keeping unhealthy conditions, excessive usage of body for un-necessary things. Again believers should not keep their bodies idle or lazy, because an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. Because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, God Himself lives within us. This means we have the strength, the power over the sins of the flesh living within us. We should expect sexual purity from Christians more than from those who are not, because they do not have God living within them as we do. So let’s glory God through our body and God will take care of our spiritual needs and physical needs.