Owned by God to Glorify Him – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF APPLICATIONS

In my daily Bible reading, I came across 1 Corinthians 6:18–20 (NASB95), which reads:

¹⁸ Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

This passage caught my attention because vv. 19-20 track a part of the lyrics of the song This Blood (link: This Blood Lyrics) by Rita Springer that read:

Because it lives

To make me whole

I owe my life

I owe my all

I agree with the lyrics that what Jesus did on the Cross made me whole, so I owe it all to God. I thought I would spend a little time to get to understand better what Paul intended to teach by vv. 18-20 and develop a few applications using the Six-Part Matrix by Peter Krol from his article in the May/June 2021 issue of Bible Study Magazine. You may want to look at my brief discussion of this Bible study tool in my article “Six-Part Matrix for Scripture Application” (link: https://stevebelsheim.com/?p=871 )

As a summary, some applications of this text are below.

First, a person must strive to remove sexually immoral thoughts from this mind. These kinds of thoughts do not honor God and run counter to a part of the Greatest Commandment to love God with all one’s mind.

Second, to the extent that a person values sexually immoral things, they should excise them from their heart. Sexually immoral things do not honor God and run counter to the parts of the Greatest Commandment to love God with all one’s heart and all one’s soul.

Third, to the extent that a person practices sexually immoral activities, they should cease immediately. Such actions do not honor God and run opposite to a part of the Greatest Commandment to love God with all one’s strength.

BASIC OBSERVATIONS FROM THE TEXT

Paul began v. 18 with the basic command, “Flee immorality.” The NASB95 translates the Greek verb pheugō as “flee,” and it means to avoid doing something, with the evident purpose of attempting to avoid danger.[i] The NASB95 translates the Greek noun porneia as “immorality,” and it means to engage in sexual immorality of any kind, often with the implication of prostitution.[ii] It is common sense biblical advice to avoid the danger of engaging in sexual immorality of any kind, including prostitution. Paul then gave the reason to avoid sexual immorality; namely, non-sexual sins are outside of the body in contrast to sexual sins committed by the “immoral man”[iii] against his own body.

In verse 19a, Paul presented the fundamental reason not to sin against one’s body; namely, a believer’s body was a temple of the Holy Spirit “who is in you, whom you have from God.” Upon conversion, a believer receives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul made that clear in Romans 8:9 [NASB95], which reads:

⁹ However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

One attribute of the Holy Spirit, i.e., God the Holy Spirit who is the Third Person of the Trinity, is holiness. Grudem’s Systematic Theology[iv] defines holiness:

9. Holiness. God’s holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor. This definition contains both a relational quality (separation from) and a moral quality (the separation is from sin or evil, and the devotion is to the good of God’s own honor or glory).

Sexually immoral actions are sinful and the opposite of holy. Therefore, it is apparent why a believer’s sexually immoral acts are an offense to the indwelling Holy Spirit given by God to every believer.

Next, Paul taught that the reason a believer’s body was a temple of the Holy Spirit was that they had been bought with a price, so they were not their own. The NASB95 translates the Greek verb ēgorasthēte as “you have been bought” and it means to cause the release or freedom of someone by a means which proves costly to the individual causing the release.[v] The sense is to become the property of another through a financial transaction. Through the grammar, Paul intended to convey to his audience that a believer’s redemption, i.e., conversion event, was a snapshot event that took place in the past.[vi]

The price was the life of Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross. Little Kittel[vii] reads:

5. Value, Price. … In 1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23 Christians have been bought with the “price” of Christ’s blood.

Paul ended this passage with the broad principle to honor or glorify God with the way a believer used their body in a sexual context. One commentator[viii] writes:

Rather than merely resist sin, believers must see themselves as temples of God purchased by Christ. Of course, this purchase refers to Christ’s atonement. Because Christ died for and purchased believers, believers owe him obedience and honor. They should search for ways to bring glory to God by using their bodies in the ways that God has commanded, and by refraining from using their bodies in ways God has prohibited. They should remember that their bodies have been united to Christ, and they must honor Christ by not dragging his members into union with prostitutes.

THE SOLE PROPER INTERPRETATION OF VV. 18-20

In my opinion, the sole proper interpretation of 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 is Paul wanted to convey to his audience that they must appreciate that at their conversion, they were purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ so that He now owns them, including their physical bodies. At their conversion, the Holy Spirit came to live inside of them, so they became a temple of the Holy Spirit, and therefore, must honor God through the moral use of their body, especially in sexual matters.

APPLICATIONS DEVELOPED THROUGH USE OF SIX-PART MATRIX[ix]

Some applications[x] from using the six-part matrix are below. These applications are in the context of sexual immorality.[xi]

If you are reading this post and are not a Christian, unless God intervenes, your eternal destination is hell. But, your destiny can change.

Today can be the day of your salvation. Please see my blog (https://stevebelsheim.com/2020/04/20/for-god-so-loves-you-2/) for a description of how you can be saved and a more concise description at my (https://stevebelsheim.com/2020/10/20/there-is-hope-even-when-there-seems-to-be-no-hope-2/ ).

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I am mindful of and respect the rights other authors and/or publishers possess in their works. I thus try my best to not violate any copyright rights other authors and/or publishers possess in their works. The below copyright permission statement is the result of my best efforts to understand that limited usage or “fair use” is available and/or to secure direct permission for specific works. The quotations from commentaries are considered to be “fair use.”

Scripture quotations marked “ESV” are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked “GW” is taken from the God’s Word Bible that is a copyrighted work of God’s Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission.

[i] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 165). New York: United Bible Societies.

[ii] Louw et al, supra at Vol. 1, p. 770.

[iii] The NASB95 translates the Greek verb porneuō as “immoral man” and it means to engage in sexual immorality of any kind, often with the implication of prostitution. See Louw et al. supra at Vol. 1, p. 770. The verb is in the present tense which means it is ongoing without any indication of ending.

[iv] Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine (p. 201). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

[v] Louw et al., supra at Vol. 1, p. 487.

[vi] The verb ēgorasthēte is in the aorist tense and indicative mood which when used together means that the verbal action was a “snapshot” event that occurred in the past. See Heiser, M. S., & Setterholm, V. M. (2013; 2013). Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology. Lexham Press.

[vii] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 1182). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

[viii] Pratt, R. L., Jr. (2000). I & II Corinthians (Vol. 7, p. 102). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

[ix] The six parts of the matrix are defined by three spheres of application for each of an inward direction and an outward direction. The inward direction focuses on us loving God and loving our neighbor. The inward application concerns how one should change in light of the text. The outward direction pertains to our attempts to carry out the two greatest commandments and the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20. The first sphere is the head application that represents everything a person thinks and believes. The second sphere is the heart application that represents everything a person loves and values. The third sphere is the hands application that represents everything a person does. The matrix is below

Sphere	Inward	Outward
Head
Heart
Hands

[x] There are more than three applications, but these come to mind.

[xi] However, I believe that 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 most likely applies to any immoral actions involving the body because of the cost of, and one condition resulting from, salvation. The cost is the life of Jesus Christ which justifies a broad application. One consequence is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who indwells a believer at conversion, and this also justifies the broad application of the passage.

Owned by God to Glorify Him – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

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