Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
Paul has just told the Corinthians that their bodies are members of Christ, and now he gives the shortest possible instruction on impurity: run. That command raises two questions. Why run instead of fight? And how does this sin reach the body as no other sin does?
Flight, Not a Fight
The verb itself carries the strategy. One writer says the answer is not to hold any ground at all:
Leslie M. Grant"Flee fornication." In this one is not told to fight, but to keep far from it, as Joseph fled from the wife of Potiphar. Other sins may not involve the body in this way, but this is sin against one's own body.
This is not cowardice. Another writer draws out the same rule, and adds that the man who ran was no weakling:
Numerical Bible NotesAlso, His way for us always makes us feel our own weakness. Our prayer can never be, "Lead us into temptation," so we must never act as if it were. Whenever we can escape without being disloyal, we are to run rather than face it. "Flee also youthful lusts." "Abstain from the passions of the flesh." Run, as Joseph ran; and there was probably no braver man.
Why This Sin Is Different
Paul does not say other sins are small. He says they are outside the body, while this one turns inward:
William KellyHe wanted them to avoid sexual sin with everything in them, because this sin is unlike any other. It is against the body itself, while other sins stay outside it. How dreadful then to think not merely of the body so misused, but the Christian's body, temple of the Holy Spirit as it is!
Another writer says this sin robs the body of its own dignity, and compares it to two things:
Arthur PridhamWe must not treat this sin as harmless, or even as a small offence. We should dread it and avoid it like a disease, because it stains both soul and body. Other sins stain us only in part. This one stains us fully, because it takes what God has claimed for Himself and puts it to a use He condemns. So it wrongs the body itself. It strips the body of its true honour as an instrument of worship, and drags it down again into the service of sin. It is, therefore, morally, what idolatry is spiritually.
The Body Has a Destiny
Earlier in the chapter Paul contrasts food and the stomach — both passing — with the body, which is for the Lord. That contrast lifts the body far above what human thinking had given it:
William KellyIf the stomach is put in its true and passing place, the body is lifted to a height that human philosophy never knew. God did not form it for impure or careless indulgence. It is for the Lord, and the Lord is for it.
God claims the body rather than throwing it away, so the body also has a future. That future changes how we live now:
William KellyPaul calls our bodies, not our souls, members of Christ. People who talk only about the soul may claim to be on a higher level. But it is never really so in practice or in theory. In fact, the immortality of the soul is easy to twist into human pride. The resurrection is not. It lifts God up and humbles man, and where faith holds it, it frees us from soft living and self-indulgence.
Two Kinds of Union
Just before this command, Paul says that the one joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. That union is what makes impurity so out of place:
J. N. DarbyAnother truth linked to this matters greatly. If two people become one body by a bodily union, then the person joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. The Spirit whose fullness is in Christ is the same Spirit who dwells in me and unites me to Him. Our bodies are His temples. What a mighty truth when we think of it!
What Ownership Requires
The body is God's temple and something He bought. One writer says two duties follow:
Arthur PridhamWhat God lives in is His, not ours. He does not rob us of the ownership that is naturally ours, but that ownership is swallowed up in the higher honour of our calling. Our bodies are His temple — ours, therefore, only as ourselves are His... So the Christian has a double duty toward his own body. He is to manage and rule it with watchfulness and godly firmness, as he would a restless and stubborn animal. And he is to hold it in honour.
One writer notes that freedom stops the moment an appetite starts to rule:
J. N. DarbyThe moment it rules him, it has power over him — even if it is only eating something nice.
Summary
- Flee. Where escape is possible without disloyalty, retreat is the command — Joseph ran, and he was not a timid man.
- Because it strikes inward. Other sins stay outside the body. This one takes what God claimed for Himself and puts it to a use He condemns.
- Because God claims you. The body is not for impurity but for the Lord, and the Lord for it — a dignity human philosophy never reached.
- Because you are joined. The same Spirit whose fullness is in Christ dwells in you and unites you to Him.
- Because you are owned. The body is God's temple and God's purchase, so it must be both firmly governed and held in honour.