Translation and Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 04 Jan 2009, 1 Nov 2026
9. Or have y’all not known that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived:
Neither the immoral nor idol-worshippers, nor adulterers, nor gays nor homosexuals, 10. nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards nor abusers nor graspers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And such were some of y’all,
but you washed yourselves,
but you were made holy,
but you were made righteous
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the Spirit of our God.
12. “All things are permissible to me,”
but not all things bear together.
“All things are permissible to me,”
but it’s not going to be me [who] is put under the authority of something.
13. “Foods to the stomach and the stomach to foods,”
but God will put out of commission both it and them,
and the body is not to sexual immorality,
but rather to the Lord – and the Lord to the body.
14. And God both raised up the Lord, and will raise up us through His power.
15. Haven’t y’all known that your bodies are members of Christ?
Taking up the members of Christ, shall I therefore make members of a prostitute?
Let it never be!
16. Or have y’all not known that the one who is stuck to the prostitute continues to be one flesh,
for “they will be,” it says, “the two into one flesh.”
17. But the one who is stuck to the Lord, he continues to be one spirit.
18. Be fleeing from sexual immorality;
every sin which a man might do is outside his body,
but the who is sexually immoral continues to sin into his own body.
19. Or have y’all not known that
your body is the inner sanctum of the Holy Spirit in y’all,
who y’all continue to have from God,
and y’all are not of yourselves?
20. For y’all were shopped-for with value.
Glorify God in your body already!
While I was working on publishing a Bible commentary I had written, it came to my attention that the electronic copy of the Hebrew Bible which I used for all my Isaiah sermons was copyrighted. I don’t have the right to make copies of that Hebrew text of Isaiah because I did not do the work to research and type up that text, so it is not mine to use as I see fit. However, I still wanted to use that Hebrew text because I had already done all my studies on Isaiah using that copyrighted text, and I already had the entire Hebrew text of the book of Isaiah copied up on my website. I figured if I could get the permission of the copyright-holder to keep his text up there on my website, I could save myself a heap of time and effort. So I emailed him and got back the following reply:
“…First, please read copyright notices on texts and respect them before you use them, as they are real limitations on our freedom to publish…
“But how did this escape your attention till today? It is written on the site and at the head of each file on our site!
“…The short answer is no. Sorry, but please remove your offending files from your site immediately… we would not [give you permission to print our text with your commentary] at any price…”
The copyright-holder has the right to restrict how I use his printed work, and he also asked a good question: How did it escape my attention?
In 1 Corinthians 5-6, Paul asks a similar question seven times: “Do you not know?/Haven’t you known?”
5:6 “Haven’t you known that a little leaven leavens the whole recipe?” i.e. Didn’t you know that if you tolerate a little sin, it will grow to destructive proportions? Get rid of sin in your midst, and excommunicate that man who is committing adultery with his father’s wife.
6:2 “Have y’all not known that the saints will judge the world?” and
6:3 “Have you not known that we will judge angels?” i.e. You’ve got what it takes to keep the peace among yourselves – don’t go dragging your dirty laundry out in front of non-Christians in civil courts!
6:9 “Have
y’all not known
that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” i.e.
You will burn for
eternity in the lake of fire, outside the gates of heaven, if you do
not look in faith to Jesus Christ to save you from your sin by His
death and resurrection. But that faith will be lived out practically
in doing what Jesus wants you to do in every-day life.
This
leads us to the passage before us, where Paul asks the question
again three
times:
6:15 “Haven’t y’all known that your bodies are members of Christ?”
6:16 “Have y’all not known that the one who is stuck to the prostitute continues to be one flesh…?”
6:19 “Have y’all not known that your body is the inner sanctum of the Holy Spirit…?”
Just as I should have known better with that copyrighted text, the Corinthians should have known better than to be involved in sexual adultery, but our hearts are so deceitful and wicked that we need to be reminded regarding this.
One reason we need to be reminded is that adultery is so common around us that we easily forget how sinful it is, and we easily overlook sin in our own hearts because so many other people around us are sinning so much more-boldly in this area.
In this passage, Paul uses the broadest term for sexual sin in the Greek language, so whatever your particular sexual temptation, it is included in this term. (Ratliff)
In Corinth, they had a big temple for the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the ‘goddess of love.’ In order to worship her, people would go to the temple and hire one of the thousands of prostitutes milling around at the temple. Everybody in town did it. It was no big deal. They thought, “‘Food for the stomach, and the stomach for food.’ We have bodies with sexual parts, so we might as well use these parts of our bodies as much as we can. If it feels good, do it!” They believed that hiring prostitutes and committing sexual adultery with them at the temple made the gods happy and brought good luck to their businesses and families. But, oh how wrong they were!
Things are not much different today: According to a May 2008 survey by the Barna Research Group, over one third of Americans between the ages of 18 & 25 had committed adultery within the last week*. That number would be far higher if the survey had included more than just the last week.
This is a natural outflow of people’s beliefs about God and mankind:
In Paul’s day, there were Greek philosophers who taught that physical things – including our physical bodies – were not important. Only spiritual ideals were important, so, they reasoned, it doesn’t matter what we do to our bodies; all that matters is that our minds think about great things.
Today in our context, many people don’t even believe that a spiritual world exists. They figure that if energy and matter have always existed – and if our bodies are nothing more than a random association of materials, then there is nothing special about the human body.
For example, at a public policy meeting on health care, I sat next to a K-State biology professor who had been teaching naturalistic evolution for decades. He argued that euthanasia should be accepted. Well, why not, if he believes there’s nothing sacred or holy about human life?
If we are no different from animals, why live according to any kind of moral limitations?
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul tells us that God has instituted laws to limit our behavior, and God does care about our physical bodies – very much.
Legalists
(like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day) are always asking, “Is this
lawful?” (And if there isn’t already a rule about it, they’ll
make one up!)
Libertarians say there are too many rules;
they just want the freedom to do anything they want.
But
Christians must live according to what the Apostle James
called “the law of liberty” (1:25, 2:12) which sets us free
from bondage to sin, and is oriented around doing the will of God,
rather than doing our own will or submitting absolutely to the will
of other men.
According to God’s will, all kinds of physical activity are permitted; they are just limited by context:
Speaking the name of Jesus while doing evangelism is a good way to obey God, but speaking His name in profanity is a violation of the third commandment.
The same act which is prohibited in the seventh commandment as evil with a prostitute is commanded and commended with your spouse.
Bending your index finger is harmless, but it is evil if you bend your index finger when you have a loaded gun in your hand that is pointed at an innocent person. (Clark)
There is nothing morally wrong in things that God has created – Genesis 1 tells us that God called everything He created “good”: There is nothing intrinsically sinful with Coffee, Soft drinks, Chocolate, Alcohol, Video games, Social networking, Shopping, Music, Football, Hunting, Building things – all have an appropriate place, yet every one of these things can be abused, all can be used in such a way that it hurts us, all can become a controlling, idolatrous factor in our lives. If not kept under limitations, anything can threaten the lordship of Christ alone over our body.
“Unlawful things ruin thousands; lawful things (unlawfully used), ten thousands.” ~ A. R. Fausset
Is there anything in your life that is out-of-control – that you do compulsively and that doesn’t submit to the will of God?
Consider the design of a guitar. What is it made for?
The body amplifies vibrations of strings – it’s made to generate sounds.
It fits human arms and fits the design of human fingers – it’s made for humans to play.
It has frets in the pattern of the Western 12-tone chromatic scale – it’s made to play Western folk music.
The very shape and design of a guitar tells us that it is made for a specific purpose: It was not made to cook eggs on, it was made for humans to play folk music.
Likewise, consider the design of the human body:
We have a combination of Mind, Spirit, and Flesh – to bring information, ideals, and action together.
We have ears, eyes, and brains built to receive information and communication from outside of us – ultimately from God!
We have legs and an insatiable desire to move – to do God’s will!
We have arms/hands with the ability to make things and do things – like God Himself makes and does things.
We have a mouth that works together with our mind to express thoughts with words – enabling us to both send and receive messages, like God does!
We have differences in gender and differences in abilities together with a drive for social interaction – intended for fellowship with God and the church.
We have the ability to reproduce children like ourselves – Jesus is begotten of the Father and begets us as His children, and he tells us in Malachi 2:15 that he “wants” us to beget children so that there will be more “godly offspring,” and He claims our “children” as “holy” to Him in 1 Corinthians 7:14. In a mysterious way, even our ability to have children is part of the image of God.
Our body is not a random collection of matter. It is a vessel carefully designed by God to correspond to His nature and to relate to Him and do His will.
Our body exists to be “in the Lord,” and the Lord exists to be “for the body.”
We as humans will find our greatest fulfillment, not in using our bodies however we want, but in using our whole body to relate to the Lord Jesus.
Similarly, what satisfies God is to draw humans into Himself.
Luke 12:32 “...it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Ephesians 1:5 “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will...”
Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (NKJV)
So, your body was created good, and it is special to God. It is different from food and from stomachs. (v.13)
And, if you have placed your faith in Jesus, you are connected to Him in such a way that whatever happens to Him will happen to you too, and whatever happens to you happens to Him too.
Remember what Jesus said to Saul on the road to Damascus? “Why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4) What Saul was doing to hurt Christians in First Century Jerusalem was felt personally by Jesus because they are His body. 1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ...”
Conversely, what happens to Him also happens to us: Remember what we confess from Romans 6? If Christ has died to sin, then we have died to sin, and sin no longer has dominion over us because it has no power over Him. Christ has also been raised from the dead, so you too have been made alive spiritually (after having been dead spiritually), and your body will also be raised to eternal life after you die1.
This connection with Christ is one reason why Christians can’t use the special vessel of their bodies for sexual immorality:
“The Lord Jesus and immorality fight for the bodies of Christians… [L]oyal to Him, they must renounce immorality, yielding to that, they renounce Him.” (Findlay)
“Since Christ has risen… it is impossible for me to draw Him into fellowship with pollution.” (Calvin)
It requires a disconnect from Christ in order to connect with an immoral person that He is not connected with.
Earlier in v. 9, Paul wrote that people who practice any kind of immorality will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Adultery, that is, sexual immorality of any kind, is mutually exclusive of union with Christ.
Our body is like an extension cord that is too short.
It is not possible to use a human body to connect God to rebellion against God.
You can’t have both God and immorality; you can only get one or the other.
If immorality continues to be a part of your life, you are not plugged-in to God. You need to unplug from sin (repent), and plug in to God (trust and obey Jesus).
There are more reasons why using your body to commit sexual immorality is so serious:
This is talking about a relational sin with another person, not an impersonal act like eating food.
In God’s eyes, the covenantal obligations of marriage come into force when you give your body to another person – whether or not you intended to get married.
One of my favorite rock groups is a Christian band called the 77’s. In the mid-80’s they released a song called “Something’s Holding On” that exposes the lie that no bond is formed in a casual sexual relationship:
“Your
body's got a hold on me.
It's hard to understand how your flesh
can take control of me –
when I don't care that much for
you...
And I want to know why something's holding on
(when
I'd really rather be alone)
Something's holding on...”
The Apostle Paul, quoting Moses explains the truth: a sexual relationship with another person creates a real “bond” that doesn’t just disappear automatically when that relationship ends.
Proverbs 6:25-33 warns young men against a sexually-promiscuous woman, “Lust not after her beauty in your heart; neither let her take you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread; And the adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? So is he that goes in to his neighbor's wife; whoever touches her will not go unpunished… He that commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding: He destroys his own soul… Wounds and dishonor is what he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away.” (ASV, edited by NAW)
v. 18 further elaborates that “every sin which a man might do is outside his body, but the one who is sexually immoral continues to sin against [lit. into] his own body.”
Every time you sin, it warps your thinking (often in ways you don’t even notice), and it makes righteousness and holiness even more difficult to grasp.
Of all the 10 Commandments, committing adultery is the only one that is a violation of your own body – it immediately defiles the body.
And it has long-term impact on other people too, especially if a child was begotten in adultery. That child and their children after them will have a harder live to live as a consequence of your sin.
Sexual immorality has its own set of unique damages which should make us afraid to commit that sin, but there are also positive reasons to keep from this sin:
1 Peter 1:18ff explains what that price was: that we were bought from bondage to sin with the “precious blood of Jesus Christ” which He shed when He was crucified to pay for the sins we have done.
Jesus wanted you – all of you, including every part of your body. He died to buy you. You are now free from bondage to sin and the Devil, but now you belong exclusively to Jesus.
You no longer have a say in how your body is to be used. It is now to be used for His purposes only, not yours.
Your body becomes like that copyrighted text that I had no right to use because I didn’t own the copyright.
You can’t use your body any way you want; you don’t have permission. You don’t own the rights to decide for yourself what to do with you body anymore. You belong, body and soul, to Jesus, Who redeemed you.
When you trust in Jesus, you make a spiritual connection. You become a special, holy place for the Spirit of God Himself to live in and operate in. This connection captures your spirit as well as your physical body. You then enjoy the awesome privilege of the presence of God!
This union with Christ demands that you keep your body pure.
Here’s an example: If the President of the United States were to knock on your door and ask to rent a bedroom in your house (and let’s assume, for the moment, that he would be the sort of person you would WANT living in your house), and he offered to pay you, say, $20,000.00 per month, how would you keep your house? You’d keep the floors swept and the yard mowed, and you’d maintain good pest control, wouldn’t you?! You certainly would NOT invite drug dealers to come in and do business in your home, otherwise the President might just decide to call it all off. Likewise, if we are going to host the Lord of Glory in our bodies, we must keep a clean house and never invite impurity in, and quickly and effectively deal with any impurity that creeps in, just as we would deal with a poisonous snake or spider that crept into our house!
The first imperative in this Bible passage that started in v.12 is in v.18: “FLEE immorality…”
Here’s
an illustration: What do you do if the building you were in caught
fire?
Would you say, “I kind-of like it – it’s finally
getting warm in here!”?
Would you say, “Just a minute, let
me finish my game of Solitaire.”?
No! You would get out of
that building as fast as you can – any old way you can!
In
the next chapter, sexual immorality is likened to a fire. When it
comes to this sin, flee as fast as you can – any old way you can!
Be like Joseph, who took off running when Potiphar’s wife started trying to seduce him.
The present tense of the word “flee” in Greek indicates continuous action – make a habit of fleeing from sexual sin.
Here are some practical thoughts on fleeing immorality:
Confess your sin, not just to peers, but to those who have authority in your life and ask for their help.
Avoid the people, places, and situations where you know you will face temptation. Be willing to limit your liberty in order to preserve your freedom!
Dress and carry yourself modestly so as not to invite immoral attention.
Take a buddy with you when you travel.
Buy an Internet filter or accountability program for your computer.
Don’t be caught dead alone in a house with a member of the opposite sex that isn’t your spouse.
Pray for (and depend in faith upon) Jesus to free you from bondage to sin and to protect you from sin.
Don’t define your holiness negatively in terms of what you don’t do (“I don’t smoke, and I don’t chew, and I don’t go with girls that do!”) – It might keep you free from tobacco, but it won’t positively make you holy; you have to replace unrighteous behavior with the following positive righteous action:
V.20 – 2nd Imperative = “GLORIFY GOD in your body.”
Note that this command was not given to people who had a good record of sexual purity; this was given to people in a notoriously-immoral town who had been, according to vs. 9-11, fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, drunkards, and greedy – “such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were made holy, but you were made righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
If you ask Jesus to forgive you of these sins, He will wash you clean – He will make you holy and righteous all over again. You can start anew in Christ as a “new creation” (Because “...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” 2 Cor. 5:17, NKJV) and you can begin to “glorify God with your body” instead of using it for immorality.
How do we glorify God with our bodies? We glorify God by worshiping Him:
Rom. 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.” (ASV)
Worship involves demonstrating the greatness at which you value God. It includes: Praying to Him, Singing His praises, Meditating on His word, Doing things He wants, and Telling others how great He is.
We also glorify God by obeying Him:
Romans 6:13-22 “[Don’t] present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God… 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification... and the end eternal life.” (ASV)
You have been bought with a price. Jesus owns the rights to your body, so He gets to make the rules and set the agenda for your body.
When He does, you will find this mind-boggling truth to be true in your experience: Your body was meant for the Lord and the Lord for your body! And you will find a satisfaction in that relationship with the Lord that beats every sinful use of your body all hollow.
* www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=315 accessed January 2009. Barna has since changed its website structure, so this link no longer works. When I checked their website in Oct. 2026, I was not able to find the same article again, but I found another one that came close: https://www.barna.com/research/a-new-generation-of-adults-bends-moral-and-sexual-rules-to-their-liking/.
1 (unless you’re still alive when He returns)