A Temple of The Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 6:9-20 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

[I am skipping over verses 12-13a. They are a little bit confusing and they would take a while to try to explain, so please read them for yourselves.]

“13…The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

“18Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”

Who are The Wicked?

The wicked are not just those who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ. They are all who deliberately think and behave wickedly by habit, as a matter of life practice. And this passage of Scripture provides us with some examples of what it means to be wicked and to behave wickedly. So, if you are someone who professes faith in Jesus Christ but sin is what you practice, and not obedience to our Lord, then according to the Scriptures, you will not inherit eternal life in the kingdom of God unless you repent and obey God. 

Some of You Were

When this says this is what “some of you” were, it is also saying that is what “some of you” still are, which is the whole point of this conversation Paul was having with the church in Corinth. They were not all living godly and holy lives pleasing to God. Some of them were still living wickedly in sinful rebellion against the Lord. Some of them, thus, were not of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus, but they were still among the wicked, in the eyes of God. And He was letting them know they would not inherit the kingdom of God.

Sexual Immorality

Sexual immorality appears at the front of most sin lists in the Bible, and it appears to be the most severe of all the sins listed in the Scriptures because it has to do with our marriage to Christ and to our spouses, which the Scriptures parallel to each other. For we read in the Scriptures:

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24 ESV)

“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” Heb. 13:4

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” (Ephesians 5:3,15-33 ESV)

But this is not just for men, but for men and women. When we marry our spouses, and we are joined together sexually, we become one flesh with one another. But this isn’t just about sex. We are to be joined together as though we are one, one with Christ, and one with each other, each doing our part, each ministering to the other, and each being faithful and loving and kind and honest and morally pure, with the marriage bed kept pure. And this parallels over to our marriage to Christ, too, in how we should treat Him.

And, according to the words of Jesus, adultery is not just having sex with someone with whom you are not married, but it is to intentionally look at another with lust in one’s heart (see Matthew 5:27-28). So this definitely includes all who make a habit of looking at pornography or any picture or video or movie which displays nudity and sexual immorality. And it includes self-gratification which is having sex with oneself. So the marriage bed is not being kept pure, and neither are the marriage vows being put into practice.

Our Bodies

If we are genuine followers of Jesus Christ, then our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. And we are not our own to do whatever we want whenever we want. Jesus bought us back for God out of our bondage to sin via His blood shed for us on that cross. So we are to be faithful to our Lord in the same way in which we are faithful to our spouses. Although our relationship with our Lord is not physical, but spiritual, it is still regarded as adultery against Him when we choose sin over God and obedience to His commands.

So, we are not only to flee from sexual immorality, but we are to flee from all deliberate and habitual sin which has many people still in its grasp. For those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. And since our bodies now belong to our spouses and to God, if we then sin with our bodies sexually, it is a sin against the Temple of God, for we are that temple if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine. It is like if you sin, that is one thing, but if you sin sexually against your spouse, that is more personal. Don’t do it!

And the bottom line in all of this is that Jesus took our sins upon Himself on that cross, and He put our sins to death with Him, not just to forgive us our sins, and not just to give us the hope of eternal life with God, but so we will now die with Him to sin, and so we will now walk in obedience to His commands, and so we will now be faithful to our Lord in every respect with regard to Him now being our husband and us being His bride. But if we choose sin and disobedience over God, heaven is not our destiny.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22] 

Video Talk on The Same Subject

https://youtu.be/l7akvzr4scQ 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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