Having made these two points—the first being that not everything we can do is beneficial, and the second being that we should not allow sinful things to master us—Paul then takes them and begins to relate them to God. Sin, specifically sexual immorality, is not only harmful to myself and other people; it also ruins my relationship with God, who is the ultimate point of reference. Paul says in the second half of verse 13, “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” That is the direct antithesis of the first point I made about God’s role in the universe. It is not a closed universe because it is God’s universe, and all are accountable to Him. As I read this section I am impressed with the way in which he brings in the Trinity. In verse 13 he talks about God, meaning God the Father, first of all. Then in that same verse he mentions the Lord, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. And toward the end, in verse 19, he says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”
To put it another way, Paul is asking the Corinthians, “What spirit are you of?” This is a question that every professing Christian must ask themselves in every generation. Are you of the spirit of this world, the spirit of this passing age, this secular spirit that says, “There is no God and, therefore, I am a law unto myself?” Or are you of the Spirit of Jesus Christ who came to reveal the true God and who tells you that you are not a law unto yourself and that happiness and fulfillment are to be found in obeying what the true God says? If you have the Spirit of God then you have to do what Paul says as he concludes the chapter.
First of all, you have to flee sexual immorality, as he says in verse 18. You do not have a choice. You cannot have immorality and the Lord at the same time. If you want to count yourself in with the world, immorality is one of its defining characteristics. Those who are of that spirit sin with reckless abandon in that area, and it will take them to hell. But if you are of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, you must flee it. You must recognize the evil that it is, no matter what form it takes or how slight the sin might appear. This is what we must do, expressed negatively. We must avoid all those things that dishonor the Lord.
Secondly, we have the positive side, which is that you must honor God with your body because that body is given to you from God. It really is not your own, but belongs to God because He made it. Are we distressed about the moral slide of our country? I think we are. But before we talk about the moral slide in the secular world, we better come to terms with the moral slide in so-called evangelical Christianity and the ways in which it seems to be accommodating to the spirit of this age that is passing away. And in order to do that, we need to begin with our own lives.
