In 1997, a bombshell book was released in the evangelical world. It sold more than a million copies and became enormously influential among young Christians. The book was Joshua Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye. In it, Harris pushed back against the normal cultural patterns of dating and expressed concern about the dangers of our hyper-sexualized culture. He argued for a different model, often called courtship, as a way of resisting the sexual sin that was prevalent, and still is prevalent, even within evangelical dating culture. This was, of course, in the wake of the “True Love Waits” movement of the 1990s.
Harris later followed that book with another one, Boy Meets Girl, and eventually became the lead pastor of a large church in Maryland. But then, years later, everything changed. In 2016, he publicly apologized for his earlier book and withdrew its argument. Soon after, he and his wife announced their divorce. Then came an even more sobering statement. Harris said he had undergone a massive shift regarding his faith in Christ. He described it in terms of “deconstruction,” and then said that by the measurements he once used to define a Christian, he was no longer one.
One of the most striking parts of his statement was his admission that, in his changing views on sexuality, it was easier for him to throw out all of Christianity than to keep it and adapt it to his new views. That is actually a very revealing comment. In one sense, he understood something that many today do not want to admit. There is no real middle ground here. The Bible speaks with clarity on sexuality. And if we are going to follow Jesus, then we do not get to rewrite His design in order to fit our desires.
Today, we conclude our brief series on biblical sexuality by coming to a passage that speaks directly to all of us. Over the past several weeks, we have looked together at the beauty of God’s design. We have seen that God made us as two distinct and corresponding sexes, male and female, in order to reflect His own glory. We have also seen that God established good boundaries for our sexuality, boundaries meant for our good, our joy, our flourishing, and His glory.
But we have also seen that sin distorts that design. Ever since the fall in Genesis 3, sin has touched every aspect of who we are, including our sexuality. That means all of us are tempted, in one way or another, to step outside of God’s good boundaries and pursue what He has forbidden. Last week we focused on one example of that distortion in homosexuality. But today we must end with a word for all of us, because homosexuality is only one example of sexual sin. Whether homosexual or heterosexual, all of us are tempted in various ways to go beyond the bounds of God’s design.
And that is why 1 Corinthians 6:12–20 is so helpful.
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
The main point of the passage is not hard to see. Paul centers the text around two ideas. First, he repeatedly uses the word “body.” Second, he uses the word ‘porneia,’ translated “sexual immorality.” That word is broad and comprehensive. It refers to every kind of sexual activity and lustful desire outside of marriage between a man and a woman. It includes premarital sex, adultery, lust, pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, and every other form of sexual sin.
And Paul gives us two clear commands. In verse 18, he says, “Flee from sexual immorality.” In verse 20, he says, “Glorify God in your body.” There is the negative command and the positive command. Run from sexual sin, and use your body for the glory of God.
Paul begins in verses 12–14 by addressing distorted thinking in the Corinthian church. Corinth was a deeply sexualized culture, not unlike our own. Sexual immorality was everywhere. Prostitution was woven into the social and even religious life of the city. And apparently, some professing Christians in Corinth were still engaging in sexual sin while rationalizing it with false theology.
Paul seems to quote two slogans they were using: “All things are lawful for me” and “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.” In other words, they were saying, “What I do with my body does not really matter. I am free in Christ. Sex is just a bodily appetite, like hunger. My body is temporary anyway, so why make such a big deal about it?”
That sounds very modern, does it not? “My body, my choice.” “It is no big deal.” “Everyone does it.” “God made me with these desires, so why would He not expect me to act on them?” Corinth is not nearly as far away from us as we might think.
Paul answers that false reasoning with two truths.
Verse 13 says, “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” Your body was made for God. It exists for His glory. It belongs to Him. Therefore, what you do with your body matters immensely. Your body is not morally irrelevant. It is not your private playground. It is meant to glorify the Lord.
Then in verse 14 Paul says, “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” In other words, your body matters not only because it belongs to God, but because God intends to raise it. The Corinthians were treating the body as temporary and disposable. Paul says the opposite. God raised Jesus bodily, and He will raise His people bodily. Your body has eternal significance.
So the body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. That is why verse 20 says, “Glorify God in your body.”
Paul could have stopped there, but he does not. He goes deeper. He brings the gospel to bear on our fight against sexual sin. In verses 15–20, he gives us three glorious truths to help us flee sexual immorality.
At the end of verse 19 and into verse 20, Paul says, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” Christian, you have been purchased. You were once a slave to sin, to your lusts, to your desires, and to your rebellion. But Christ came and bought you out of that slavery.
And what was the price? The precious blood of Jesus Christ. He gave Himself for you. He bore the wrath of God in His body for your sin, including every lustful thought and every sexual failure. Therefore, you are not your own. Your body is not your own. You belong to God.
That changes everything. We no longer live for self-gratification, but for God-glorification.
Paul then says in verse 15, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” This is the doctrine of union with Christ. At conversion, you were not only forgiven and justified. You were united to Jesus Himself. You are in Him, and He is in you.
That means your body is now a member, a limb, of Christ. Wherever you go, you go as one joined to Him. What you do with your body matters because your body is bound to Jesus. Paul drives this home by asking, “Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!”
Sexual sin is uniquely serious because it drags the body, which belongs to Christ, into a sinful act. It also distorts the “one flesh” union God intended for marriage. Paul quotes Genesis 2 to show that sexual union is never casual. It creates a real bond. That is why he says in verse 18, “Flee sexual immorality.”
Verse 19 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” Under the old covenant, the temple was the place where God uniquely manifested His presence. Paul now says that, under the new covenant, the believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Think of the dignity of that. Think of the holiness of that. God Himself dwells in you. Therefore, sexual sin is not merely a private choice. It is a desecration of God’s temple. It profanes what is holy. And because the church is also God’s temple collectively, sexual sin weakens not only the individual Christian but the body of Christ as a whole.
So Paul’s logic is clear. God bought you. Christ joined you to Himself. The Spirit dwells in you. Therefore, flee sexual immorality and glorify God in your body.
Paul already said in 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus says the same in Matthew 5, where lust is exposed as adultery of the heart. Unrepentant sexual sin leads to hell. That is not shock language. That is biblical language. So we must repent.
We are commanded in Colossians 3:5 to put sexual immorality to death. So how do we do that?
First, we must hate it. We will never fight what we still secretly cherish. Sexual sin is not your friend. It is your enemy. It is robbing you of joy, peace, intimacy with God, and usefulness in His kingdom.
Second, you must be forgiven of it before you can be freed from it. We do not fight sin in order to earn God’s favor. We fight from God’s favor. In Christ, you are already bought, already forgiven, already united to Him, already indwelt by His Spirit. The gospel is not guilt piled on top of guilt. The gospel is grace that empowers change.
Third, you must flee it. Paul does not say “manage it.” He says flee it. Make no provision for the flesh. Put up guards. Cut off access. Set boundaries. Remove opportunities. Do whatever is necessary to starve lust and strengthen obedience.
Fourth, do not fight alone. Sexual sin thrives in secrecy and anonymity. But God means for us to fight sin in the light, with other believers, with confession, accountability, and grace.
Fifth, and most importantly, you must pursue greater pleasure in God. This is the key. Sexual sin loses its grip when the heart is captured by something stronger. The only way sinful desires are displaced is by a superior affection. We must learn to delight in God more than we delight in sin.
Brother and sister, that is the call of this passage. Flee sexual immorality. Glorify God in your body. You were bought by God, joined to Christ, and indwelt by the Spirit. You belong to Him.
