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sexual morality

1 Corinthians 6:14-18 … 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Prostitution was both legal and acceptable in ancient Mediterranean culture. More so, Mediterranean society did not consider it adultery for a man to sleep with a prostitute.

Now here’s an amazing thought: God wants more than your heart, soul, and mind. He wants your body, too. God didn’t create us as simply as spiritual or emotional beings. He placed his spirit inside flesh and bone. He cares for the whole person.

Sexual appetites are good and wholesome in the context of marriage. Yet, the Corinthians had become victims of their own desires.

The extent to which the human body of Christians and Jesus himself are intertwined is described in the phrase in verse 15: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?

It literally reads, “Shall I take away …”

The point is that when a person commits sexual immorality, he is committing robbery — taking away from Jesus something that belongs to him.

The true problem was that the Corinthians were seeking intimacy without intention, communion without commitment.

Sexual activity is not something that someone simply does and then walks away from. There is nothing casual about it. God designed sex to be an act that creates a bond.

When expressed properly, sex is a gift, a good thing.

But if we are a typical crowd, and I have no reason to believe we’re not, many of you have had a destructive or unwanted sexual experience forced on you. Many of you are still dealing with the pain, guilt, and unresolved feelings brought by these episodes.

Some of you have been the victim of an extramarital affair and it was a devastating experience. There was nothing casual about it.

When it comes to matters of sexual morality, Paul is reminding us that we honor God when we respect his image in each other.