Welcome to Episode 8 as we continue through Series 1 in the first part of the book of 1 Corinthians. Many of you will have been on the journey with me, listening to earlier episodes; some of you might be coming in at this point, and I would encourage you, if that is the case, to go back and listen to the earlier episodes, because it all fits together in a pattern.

Recap and Background

Paul is responding to questions that have been put to him about problems in the church in Corinth that he planted a few years earlier. He currently is in another country and he writes this letter to address some very serious problems. The fundamental problem was the lack of effective pastors and local church leaders.

Some of the issues that Paul has been dealing with are very complex and painful. A couple of episodes ago, we were talking about an incidence of incest taking place in the church community. In the last episode, Paul addressed the difficult question of the fact that there was a lot of division, so that people were having arguments in the church about finance, reputation and personal matters and taking them to the law courts. This was very troubling for Paul. He asked them not to do that and to try and resolve those disputes within the local church. Now he returns to another issue concerning sexual morality. The issue this time is prostitution and the fact that some men of the church, had been going to prostitutes in the city of Corinth.

Corinth and the Goddess Aphrodite

Corinth is a city in the middle of many roads and travel pathways. It is in the middle of the country of Greece, on a narrow, six kilometres piece of land that joins the northern part of Greece to the southern part. Many thousands of people travelled along the road through Corinth. This strip of land divides two areas of sea, which were a major trade pathway for shipping. Many ships came to the little ports near Corinth and either offloaded their goods to be loaded onto a ship on the other side, or in some cases, the ships were lifted out of the sea and taken by cart across to the other side, and then put down in the sea again. There were many travellers and seafarers going through the city.

Corinth had a hill a very short walking distance from the city, which rose quite suddenly 500m above the city of Corinth. On the top of this hill was a very important temple, which was the focus of the spiritual life and the worship of the Corinthian people at the time when Paul planted the church. There were many gods and goddesses in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Wherever Paul planted churches, there were temples and shrines to the Greek and Roman gods. Most places had a particular god or goddess who they worshipped, and in Corinth it was Aphrodite. She was considered to be the protector of the city and the surrounding ports, and importantly, she was also the goddess of fertility. This goddess was linked to sexual relationships. It was known that there were many prostitutes who offered their services to worshippers who came to the temple, in the name of the goddess Aphrodite - a form of religious prostitution.

There were also other temples to Aphrodite in the main city, where something similar happened, and other temples to Aphrodite in the nearby port towns on either side of the strip of land. There were three towns together, and Corinth was in the middle. The goddess Aphrodite was very influential in the culture. The worship of Aphrodite promoted sexual experimentation and particularly prostitution. Prostitution took place in Corinth, quite apart from the cult of the worship of Aphrodite, simply because there were many travellers. There were many prostitutes in all the cities of Greece and Italy, but particularly in cities like Corinth. Paul planted the church in a city that was saturated with sexual immorality, of which prostitution was one of the main expressions.

Misuse of Freedom

“’I have the right to do anything’ you say. But not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything but I will not be mastered by anything. You say ‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for food’ - but God will destroy them both. The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not 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.’ But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”

1 Corinthians 6:12-17, NIV

This very important passage addresses the question of the principles of Christian sexual morality. Paul quotes at the beginning a saying from the Corinthians, ‘I have the right to do anything.’ Paul heard from the people who came to see him about Corinth that church members were saying that they had been redeemed from the Law of Moses, so were not under any regulations and could do what they liked because they were free in Christ. This theme comes up several times in the book of 1 Corinthians.

We need to be clear about this. Paul says, ‘Not everything is beneficial, and I will not be mastered by anything.’ He challenges the saying, ‘I’m free to do whatever I like because I’ve been freed in Christ.’ It is true that the Christian gospel of salvation that comes from Christ, frees us from religious legalism or using religious laws to try and get us closer to God and to be acceptable to him. Paul quite clearly states that that way of trying to get close to God doesn’t work and is not part of the Christian gospel. We can’t get closer to God by our own religious works or good morals because we are sinners deep inside us, and we need that inner sin to be resolved. Paul makes it quite clear in the gospel that only Christ can do that, and he does that for us. It is a free gift. We are saved by grace. We are justified, we are sanctified, we are washed, to use the words that he used in the last episode. That is a very positive idea and all the Corinthians have heard Paul preach this gospel. But Paul also says that this does not mean you are free to do whatever you like once you are a Christian.

Moral Guidance

What moral guidance is there for Christians? Paul doesn’t explain here what moral guidance there is, but elsewhere we find that he says several important things. Firstly, we are not under obligation to obey the Old Testament laws given to Israel. That is important. But secondly, he says, we have been given the Holy Spirit who leads us and shows us the right things to do. Thirdly, Jesus, Paul and the other Apostles do give their own moral commands and principles to the Church, and we are obliged to follow those principles and commands. They are not the Old Testament laws; they are the commands and the principles of Jesus and the Apostles - for example, the Sermon on the Mount, and many commands that Paul gives in his teaching. Therefore, we don’t have the right to do anything we feel like doing. Some of the Corinthians were saying, they had been freed in Christ and could go with a prostitute. Paul says that there are some fundamental ethical principles that they are disobeying. It is against the will of God and he explains in this passage why sexual immorality is against the will of God. We do not have the right to do whatever we want.

The Importance of the Human Body

He points out the significance of the human body. The human body is very powerful and very valuable. The Corinthians were saying that God is going to destroy the body so we can eat what we like, and maybe we can have sex with whoever we like. If God is going to destroy the body, what does it matter? Paul says that it is not quite that simple. Our bodies are going to be raised from the dead. Jesus’ body was raised from the dead, and at the end of time we will have a new physical body. Our bodies really do matter. In 1 Corinthians 15, he explains this doctrine of the resurrection very thoroughly; he was going to give a full explanation to them. We should respect the body and use our human body wisely, whether it is what we eat, which is referred to here, or whether it is our sexual relationships, which is the issue that Paul is dealing with because of prostitution.

In verse 13, he points out the key thing; our body is primarily dedicated to God, when we become a believer. Our very physical body belongs to him. How we express ourselves and what we do with our body in every respect is an expression of worship. Another example is the things that we say matter, which is a physical expression of the body. What we eat matters. We should eat well, not eat bad food, not eat too much food, not starve our body of food. How we use our physical strength - is it to be violent towards people, or is it in a positive way? Our body is very important, and our body belongs to Christ. Therefore, we cannot do what we like with our physical body; what we do has consequences.

Marital Sexual Relations

Paul goes on here to point out the significance of sexual relationships. Verse 16, “Do you not 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?” Here he is referring to Genesis 2: 24, which is the primary verse in the Bible to describe marriage. Many of us know this verse well. If we have been in Christian churches, we will know that this verse is quoted in marriage services in many different cultures around the world. We know that Jesus, for example in Mark 10 and Matthew 19, quoted this verse when he defined the purpose of marriage: 'the two will become one flesh' - the joining of husband and wife together in heart and body, and in sexual union creates a unity that is like a spiritual unity. It is a profound unity that God wants to happen. He is saying that to have a sexual relationship with another person outside of marriage is more than just a physical activity; it is a spiritual activity, and it creates a connection between the two people, which is negative and has negative spiritual consequences.

I have spoken to many people over the years in pastoral work, talking to them about what happens inside their being when they have been in a sexual relationship other than in marriage. Something spiritual happens that takes them away from God and leads them to guilt and a sense of unease in their whole being. Paul was very much aware of this. I spent time with people praying for them, for God to break that passion, to set them free from that as they seek to follow God. Paul is saying that far more takes place when you go to a prostitute than you realise. It will be very negative for you spiritually. It is an offence to God because your body doesn’t belong to you, to give to any other person you choose. It belongs to the Lord. Our whole being belongs to the Lord. Whether we are single, widowed, young, old, or married, our bodies belong to the Lord. Prostitution is very destructive and will undermine your spiritual life.

I spoke some time ago to a friend of mine who worked away from home for many years in another city. He had a Christian faith, but for about ten years he had secretly been visiting prostitutes in the other city when he worked away from home. Suddenly, he needed to talk about it. It had been a secret for years and years, and we spoke about this passage. As I explained to him, the things that I have explained to you, he was nodding, saying, ‘Yes, this has happened to me. My spiritual life has been destroyed. My marriage and my family have been destroyed. I have been living a double life. I am filled with guilt and shame.’ He had united himself with women that he should not have united himself with, and the consequences were very, very serious and took a long time to resolve.

Flee from Sexual Immorality

1 Corinthians 6:18 - 20

“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits outside the body, but whoever sin sexually sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you’ve received from God? You are not your own. You are bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.”

1 Corinthians 6:18-20, NIV

In the Bible, we have an interesting example of fleeing - the well-known story in the Old Testament of one of the sons of Jacob called Joseph, who ended up in the country of Egypt as a Hebrew slave in an Egyptian household. This story is recorded in Genesis 39. Joseph looked after the household for his master, who was a senior official in the courts of the Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt which was a great empire at the time. The senior official, Potiphar, would go away from home for long periods of time and leave Joseph to look after his whole household with many other slaves, workers and servants. But Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph to have a sexual relationship with him. It says, in Genesis 39: 10 - 12

“And though she spoke to Joseph, day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left the cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.”

This is what Paul means by fleeing from sexual immorality. Don’t go near it. Where there is any temptation, run away from it. That is how radical his approach was to sexual immorality and sexual relationships of any sort outside of marriage, but particularly here he is referring to prostitution because it was the primary issue in the city of Corinth.

It is quite clear that some members of the Corinthian church were visiting prostitutes in the city. In these verses, Paul explains the underlying importance of the fact that when you sin sexually you damage yourself; you damage your spiritual life. He points out that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives within us, and so what we do with our bodies really matters. Paul makes this point in a number of different ways throughout this book. ‘You are bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.’

This is another very straight-talking passage in this letter on a difficult issue. Paul could have compromised or not spoken about the issue, but he had heard about it because representatives of the church had come and said, ‘Not only is there a man committing incest, not only are all these conflicts taking place about trivial issues, but we’ve also got some of the men in the church going to the prostitutes in the city, and that’s become known in the church.’ Paul doesn’t hesitate to challenge this and say that this must stop. You can see why Paul is worried about whether this church is going to survive. There are so many problems in the church and there are many more we haven’t yet spoken of that come up in later chapters, but these problems in themselves are big enough to destroy the church.

Reflections

First of all, the Bible’s view of sex is very positive. Sex is a great gift that God gives in marriage. Jesus blessed marriage. God created marriage, and he created the union of man and woman for their mutual enjoyment and blessing, as well as for the bringing forth of children.

The second point is that sexual purity is one of the most important aspects of Christian discipleship. We live in a world, whichever culture or country we are in, which is now increasingly dominated by the internet and by social media, instant communication and instant access to information on any subject that we want. This has led to the widespread use of pornography and the widespread development of relationships through connecting people on the internet. These are things that must be resisted wholeheartedly, but not in a negative way.

Let me end on a very positive note, because God always has our best interests at heart, and we are most at peace with ourselves and satisfied in our lives, when we accept fully the fundamental truth that Paul is addressing here: our physical body belongs to the Lord for him to use. We flourish as Christians when we give our capabilities and our strength to the Lord - the strength that is literally in our bodies. That is a place of blessing and the time when we can sense the Holy Spirit living within us; we can sense God’s pleasure in our lives. It is worth turning away from that temptation.

My final reflection is this that some people listening to this episode will know that they have fallen for sexual immorality. They have become sexually immoral, even though they profess to be Christians. Let me say, do not allow a sense of condemnation to prevent you from reaching out for God’s grace. There is always forgiveness. There is always the opportunity to be restored. There is always the possibility that you can start your spiritual life again and find inner peace. Seek God’s forgiveness for what you know to be wrong. Turn away from the things that are wrong and find somebody who you can share this with, whom you can really trust. And then God will help you.