Darin-isms (1 Corinthians 6)
Thanks for joining our study thru 1 Corinthians. My notes from Sunday morning's message cover the first 11 verses of the chapter. Click comments and chime in with your thoughts as we study thru the text together.
Picking up where we left off on Sunday morning…
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
In this section Paul turns to another problem facing the church in Corinth having to do with sexual immorality. Much of the content of this brief section will be expounded later in Paul’s letter. The matter of sexual fidelity in marriage will be the subject of chapter 7. The matter of food offered to idols will come up again in chapter 8. The matter of the church being the Body of Christ will be expounded in chapter 12. The matter of Christ’s resurrection will be revisited in chapter 15. The matter of limiting our liberties will recur a few times in the balance of the letter.
v. 12 The statement ‘Everything is permissible for me’ appears to have been a popular phrase in Corinth in Paul’s day. Perhaps it was employed similarly to the way we might here ‘To each his own’ or ‘Whatever works for you’ today. The irony is that as a believer in Christ, this phrase is completely true, with the qualifier that Paul adds: ‘but not everything is beneficial’. Paul promotes a Christian’s liberty in the context of love.
Note the two ‘buts’ in this one verse. They both serve as qualifiers where the application of Christian liberty is concerned. Liberty that would be detrimental to someone (either to the person engaged in the behavior or to others affected by it) isn’t love. Liberty that might lead to enslavement was not love.
A real Darin-ism: This principle in verse 12 is a magnificent marker to steer our spiritual lives. This reminds me of Paul’s admonition to the church at Philippi (see Phil. 4:8) where he said: ‘Whatever things are true; noble; just; pure, lovely, praiseworthy… meditate on these things.’ The point is, those things add to life. We need to exercise our liberties in directions that add to life not take it away.
v. 13 ‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for food’ appears to be another phrase common in the day. Perhaps they used these phrases to justify their abuses. This one clarifies that food is not only necessary, but eating can also be pleasurable. Again, Paul qualifies the statement with a big ‘but’ – all of this is temporal.
He continues: the body is not intended for selfish indulgence, but to be the dwelling place for the Lord.
v. 14 The eternal prospects of the body are here clarified, standing in contrast with the temporal pleasures of the body’s indulgence in the preceding verses.
v. 15 The fourth ‘Do you not know?’ in this chapter. Again, Paul uses this rhetorical technique to demonstrate that the Corinthian believers should have advanced far beyond this. ‘That your bodies are members of Christ himself’ reminds the believers that the work of the Holy Spirit has joined them to Christ. Paul is laying the foundation for the teaching that follows: it is impossible for a believer to practice immorality without grieving God. Note the emphatic, ‘never!’
v. 16 The fifth ‘Do you not know?’ phrase. Can one who is integrally connected to Christ be united to a prostitute? Paul refers to the Genesis declaration of marriage (the proper context for sexual intimacy between a man and a woman), that ‘two flesh become one’.
v. 17 In contrast (note the ‘but’), one who believes in Christ is one with Christ.
v. 18 When faced with the temptation to indulge in sexual immorality, the believer is counseled by Paul to ‘flee’. This verse places sexual sin in a unique light, differing from all other forms of sin, in that it is a sin particularly against the body.
v. 19 The sixth and final ‘Do you not know?’ of the chapter gives clarity to the previous verse. The reason that sexual sin is a particularly damaging form of sin is that our bodies are desecrated – the temple of the Holy Spirit is desecrated by this sin.
Paul likens our bodies being united to Christ with the covenant between husband and wife, that their bodies do not belong only to themselves now, but are also the property of their spouse. Our bodies, by our union with Christ, are not ours alone.
v. 20 We were bought with the blood of Christ, and therefore sexual immorality cheapens the very sacrifice that was made on our behalf. That being the case, Paul closes with the admonishment: ‘honor God with your bodies’.
Picking up where we left off on Sunday morning…
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
In this section Paul turns to another problem facing the church in Corinth having to do with sexual immorality. Much of the content of this brief section will be expounded later in Paul’s letter. The matter of sexual fidelity in marriage will be the subject of chapter 7. The matter of food offered to idols will come up again in chapter 8. The matter of the church being the Body of Christ will be expounded in chapter 12. The matter of Christ’s resurrection will be revisited in chapter 15. The matter of limiting our liberties will recur a few times in the balance of the letter.
v. 12 The statement ‘Everything is permissible for me’ appears to have been a popular phrase in Corinth in Paul’s day. Perhaps it was employed similarly to the way we might here ‘To each his own’ or ‘Whatever works for you’ today. The irony is that as a believer in Christ, this phrase is completely true, with the qualifier that Paul adds: ‘but not everything is beneficial’. Paul promotes a Christian’s liberty in the context of love.
Note the two ‘buts’ in this one verse. They both serve as qualifiers where the application of Christian liberty is concerned. Liberty that would be detrimental to someone (either to the person engaged in the behavior or to others affected by it) isn’t love. Liberty that might lead to enslavement was not love.
A real Darin-ism: This principle in verse 12 is a magnificent marker to steer our spiritual lives. This reminds me of Paul’s admonition to the church at Philippi (see Phil. 4:8) where he said: ‘Whatever things are true; noble; just; pure, lovely, praiseworthy… meditate on these things.’ The point is, those things add to life. We need to exercise our liberties in directions that add to life not take it away.
v. 13 ‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for food’ appears to be another phrase common in the day. Perhaps they used these phrases to justify their abuses. This one clarifies that food is not only necessary, but eating can also be pleasurable. Again, Paul qualifies the statement with a big ‘but’ – all of this is temporal.
He continues: the body is not intended for selfish indulgence, but to be the dwelling place for the Lord.
v. 14 The eternal prospects of the body are here clarified, standing in contrast with the temporal pleasures of the body’s indulgence in the preceding verses.
v. 15 The fourth ‘Do you not know?’ in this chapter. Again, Paul uses this rhetorical technique to demonstrate that the Corinthian believers should have advanced far beyond this. ‘That your bodies are members of Christ himself’ reminds the believers that the work of the Holy Spirit has joined them to Christ. Paul is laying the foundation for the teaching that follows: it is impossible for a believer to practice immorality without grieving God. Note the emphatic, ‘never!’
v. 16 The fifth ‘Do you not know?’ phrase. Can one who is integrally connected to Christ be united to a prostitute? Paul refers to the Genesis declaration of marriage (the proper context for sexual intimacy between a man and a woman), that ‘two flesh become one’.
v. 17 In contrast (note the ‘but’), one who believes in Christ is one with Christ.
v. 18 When faced with the temptation to indulge in sexual immorality, the believer is counseled by Paul to ‘flee’. This verse places sexual sin in a unique light, differing from all other forms of sin, in that it is a sin particularly against the body.
v. 19 The sixth and final ‘Do you not know?’ of the chapter gives clarity to the previous verse. The reason that sexual sin is a particularly damaging form of sin is that our bodies are desecrated – the temple of the Holy Spirit is desecrated by this sin.
Paul likens our bodies being united to Christ with the covenant between husband and wife, that their bodies do not belong only to themselves now, but are also the property of their spouse. Our bodies, by our union with Christ, are not ours alone.
v. 20 We were bought with the blood of Christ, and therefore sexual immorality cheapens the very sacrifice that was made on our behalf. That being the case, Paul closes with the admonishment: ‘honor God with your bodies’.
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