“Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary!”
This review is brought to you by the Kentucky First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Sunday School Department.
LESSON AIM: By the end of the lesson, we will; recall the Apostle Paul's comparison of the body to a temple; recognize how as Christians we're called to keep our bodies pure; and resolve to promote and practice personal, oral, and physical purity as part of the Body of Christ.
BIBLE TRUTH: Your body belongs to God.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 | King James Version (KJV)
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
This week, we find Paul yet preaching and teaching to the Corinthians and setting them on the right path when it came to understanding what "true" salvation was all about. The Corinthians definitely had a form of godliness, but it was all wrong. The mentality of these believers (yes, they were believers) had them thinking that they were doing the right things and honoring Godd. For instance, in verse 5, Paul reprimands and teaches against incest when he learned a step-mom married her son. This group was very sexual and didn't really see anything wrong with that. Some of the men believed that, in order to keep their own wife pure, they should go and have sex with prostitutes. In fact, since the act of "sex" itself is something which was done with the body, it was okay. It wasn't illegal to have consensual sexual relations with a harlot, so what was the big deal? God saw that the minds of the Corinthians, His people, needed to be stirred and their outlook to be redirected, so Paul goes forth.
SIDE NOTE: Have you ever justified that some of your own actions are okay because you're not hurting anyone, or "it's legal"? Watch closely as we go deeper into the scriptures so you can understand that your actions count, especially if you name the name of Christ.
There was wide-spread and accepted prostitution in the church. The Corinthians had no respect or regard (naturally) for the human body. Think about some of the Greek sculptures that came out of this civilization. The majority of these stone engravings depicted oversized human-slash-godly type bodies, and these sculptures accented the sexual anatomy as well. They were obsessed with sex. So, since this was perfectly acceptable in the Greek society in general, this mentality was also adopted by the Christian Corinthians. In verse 12, Paul says, "Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it!"
SIDE NOTE: Recently, there has been a wave of medical acceptance for the legal use of marijuana, whether it be for recreation or medicinal purposes. California actually has the world's first Farmer's Market. This is great, right? WRONG! This is another example where the Christian should think about what they are doing to the body of Christ, their temple. The Bible is our road map, so if there is ever a doubt of whether or not something is permissible, get in the Word. Otherwise, a quick self-check question you could ask yourself is, "Would God be pleased with this? And, if others learned of my actions, would I bring glory to God? or shamefully lose my witness?"
The Corinthians loved food, so Paul was relating to them with this analogy. The "food" alone isn't sinful, but not having self-control and over eating is gluttony, which is a sin (Proverbs 23:20-21). Proverbs 25:28 declares that A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Paul then says that your stomach and the food will be destroyed one day because they are both earthly and mortal. However, the body of the believer is for the Lord. If you sin sexually with it, you are also sinning spiritually with it, because it belongs to God. Verse 18 states that with all other sins, a person is commiting them without his body. But, when it comes to fornication, it's sinning against your OWN body. The body is stealing something that it has no right to take. The body will be raised up and God has a plan for the body, even after death.
Paul is telling the Corinthians how serious a sexual act between 2 people (fornication) who are not married is. Yes, there is a physical "coming together", but there is also a spiritual coming together. God ordained two people to become one flesh, in the confines of marriage. These two people would only be joining with each other. Sex is sanctified within marriage, and it is the only time that it is not a sin. Otherwise, a single person's body belongs to the Lord. To have sexual relations with another is paramount to an immoral act in the eyes of God. Sex outside of marriage can lead to several other consequences, including broken marriages, a weak family unit (as children who are born out of wedlock often experience growing up with only one parent), as well as diseases transmitted when promiscuity exists with multiple partners. Furthermore, two spirits unite during this time. This would explain why it is difficult to walk away from marital affairs and fornication. Feelings intertwine, as Satan maintains his grip on two souls, until one or both are destroyed spiritually, and sometimes naturally.
Paul brings it home when he explains that the work of Christ on the cross was payment for each Christian's body. Therefore, we must consider the things we do with our bodies. We can glorify God in our bodies by living a sanctified life, which is pleasing to Him. Being mindful that our spirits are connected with God in every way, causes the Christian to appreciate who God really is. We worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We love God by loving one another and loving His commandments (by honoring them and keeping them). Most of all, we are witnesses for Him on Earth in our everyday life.
SIDE NOTE: Have you ever justified that some of your own actions are okay because you're not hurting anyone, or "it's legal"? Watch closely as we go deeper into the scriptures so you can understand that your actions count, especially if you name the name of Christ.
There was wide-spread and accepted prostitution in the church. The Corinthians had no respect or regard (naturally) for the human body. Think about some of the Greek sculptures that came out of this civilization. The majority of these stone engravings depicted oversized human-slash-godly type bodies, and these sculptures accented the sexual anatomy as well. They were obsessed with sex. So, since this was perfectly acceptable in the Greek society in general, this mentality was also adopted by the Christian Corinthians. In verse 12, Paul says, "Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it!"
SIDE NOTE: Recently, there has been a wave of medical acceptance for the legal use of marijuana, whether it be for recreation or medicinal purposes. California actually has the world's first Farmer's Market. This is great, right? WRONG! This is another example where the Christian should think about what they are doing to the body of Christ, their temple. The Bible is our road map, so if there is ever a doubt of whether or not something is permissible, get in the Word. Otherwise, a quick self-check question you could ask yourself is, "Would God be pleased with this? And, if others learned of my actions, would I bring glory to God? or shamefully lose my witness?"
The Corinthians loved food, so Paul was relating to them with this analogy. The "food" alone isn't sinful, but not having self-control and over eating is gluttony, which is a sin (Proverbs 23:20-21). Proverbs 25:28 declares that A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Paul then says that your stomach and the food will be destroyed one day because they are both earthly and mortal. However, the body of the believer is for the Lord. If you sin sexually with it, you are also sinning spiritually with it, because it belongs to God. Verse 18 states that with all other sins, a person is commiting them without his body. But, when it comes to fornication, it's sinning against your OWN body. The body is stealing something that it has no right to take. The body will be raised up and God has a plan for the body, even after death.
Paul is telling the Corinthians how serious a sexual act between 2 people (fornication) who are not married is. Yes, there is a physical "coming together", but there is also a spiritual coming together. God ordained two people to become one flesh, in the confines of marriage. These two people would only be joining with each other. Sex is sanctified within marriage, and it is the only time that it is not a sin. Otherwise, a single person's body belongs to the Lord. To have sexual relations with another is paramount to an immoral act in the eyes of God. Sex outside of marriage can lead to several other consequences, including broken marriages, a weak family unit (as children who are born out of wedlock often experience growing up with only one parent), as well as diseases transmitted when promiscuity exists with multiple partners. Furthermore, two spirits unite during this time. This would explain why it is difficult to walk away from marital affairs and fornication. Feelings intertwine, as Satan maintains his grip on two souls, until one or both are destroyed spiritually, and sometimes naturally.
Paul brings it home when he explains that the work of Christ on the cross was payment for each Christian's body. Therefore, we must consider the things we do with our bodies. We can glorify God in our bodies by living a sanctified life, which is pleasing to Him. Being mindful that our spirits are connected with God in every way, causes the Christian to appreciate who God really is. We worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We love God by loving one another and loving His commandments (by honoring them and keeping them). Most of all, we are witnesses for Him on Earth in our everyday life.
Visit our International COGIC Sunday School Site
No comments:
Post a Comment