Not Your Own: 1 Corinthians 6:15-20

“For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20, NASB).

On May 3, 2022 the news media released a report that a draft of the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States of America would overturn “Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade gives women the right to have an abortion in all fifty states in this country. Since the report of the leak there have been many demonstration and debates from those that favor overturn of Roe v. Wade and those that oppose the overturn of Roe v. Wade. As I have watched news reports and heard the opinions from both sides of the issue, I have heard many affirm and deny the claim that a woman has the right to have an abortion because it is the woman’s body, and she has a right to decide what to do with her body. In this article I have no intention of joining in the debate about Roe v. Wade. Instead, this article focuses on the claim that it is the woman’s body and she has the right to decide what to do with her own body. This article is written primarily to men and women that claim to be Christians. Most Christians believe that the bible is the authoritative word of God that guides their beliefs and practices.

First Corinthians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church at Corinth. Corinth was a city populated by mostly by Gentiles that worshiped other gods than the God of the Jews. The false gods allowed for a lot of life practices that Paul and the other Jewish apostles disapproved. Because the standards of morality and ethics differed, the relationships between people that were not Christians were very different than the relationships that the apostles were teaching that should exist in the church.

At this point, I want to state very clearly that the New Testament writers were not trying to control the lives of those outside the church. Their purpose for writing these gospels and epistles were to settle issues about Jesus Christ their savior and to settle differences that existed among the members of the church that they wrote to. The Supreme Court rulings are on behalf of all the citizens in this country. Less than fifty percent of the citizens are Christians. This is the reason that this article is addressed to Christians specifically although there is hope that it may possibly help lead a person that is not a Christian to make a decision to become a believer in Jesus and want to live according to the word of God found in the scriptures, the Holy Bible (See 1 Cor. 6:9-13).

So let us look at what Paul writes about our bodies. Do they belong to us? Do we have the right to make our own decisions about what to do with our bodies? You see, what Paul writes in this text is not limited to the issue of abortion. It is not limited to the decisions of a woman. Rather, as we will see, this letter is written to all members in the church family, both male and female. In verse 13 Paul writes that the body of a Christian is for the Lord. In verse 15 Paul writes: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be”! Paul is using the example of a Christian joining themselves in relationship with a person that is not a member of the church. He is also talking about a member having sexual relations with a non believer. A believer is not at liberty to make their own decision about whom they should have any type of relationship with.

We may ask, what makes us members of Christ’s body? Why should we reserve our bodies for Christ only? In verse 17 Paul refers back to Genesis 2:4 when God created the first human beings. God created a man. From the rib of the man God created a woman to be the man’s helper and God gave the woman to the man (See Gen. 2:22). The man approved the woman. “The man said: "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23, NASB). “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (v. 24, NASB). Paul uses this scripture to point out that Christians are of the same flesh; that is, they are compatible.

In verse 17 Paul tells us that we, Christians, are joined together with the Lord by one spirit. John in his gospel writes what Jesus said to His disciples about this union. John 14-17 is an account of Jesus preparing His disciples for His return to the Father. He will give them work to do in His absence physically. Jesus does not expect that the disciple sill have success if all they have to depend on is their own intellect and strength. The world will hate them just as the world hated Jesus (See Jn. 16:18-24). For this reason Jesus will send a helper (comforter), the Holy Spirit to guide them, teach them, remind them of Jesus’ teaching, and empower them to do the work. “The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you” (Jn. 14:17, NASB).

Paul further explains our union, our oneness with Christ. He writes, “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” (1 Cor. 6:19, NASB). The Holy Spirit comes from God to those that believe in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our seal that we belong to Christ. Christ will raise us from the dead and afterwards our eternal life will be lived with God and Christ. As we have seen in reading John 14-17, the Spirit of truth also called the Holy Spirit here, lives inside our bodies. The Holy Spirit makes us one with Christ. The Holy Spirit takes control and dictates our decisions based on the truth of God. Paul simply says, “You are not your own.”

Christians belong to Christ. Christians are bondservants, slaves of Jesus. Before Christians believe in Jesus and join with him they are slaves to sin. They are ruled by the flesh. Their minds, desires, and behaviors are ruled by the sinful nature. The sinful nature is in opposition to the nature of God (See Rom. 8:5-8). The mind of the flesh cannot have the mind of Christ at the same time. Paul writes: 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” (Rom. 8:9, NASB).

We become slaves of Christ, ruled by the Spirit “sent His Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3, NASB) Thus, Paul says that Christians do not belong to themselves. They belong to Christ because their sins have been forgiven. Led by the Holy Spirit they obey the commands of Jesus. Christians belong to Christ. “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20, NASB).

A Christian is not free to do with their body whatever they want to do. Although Christians have been forgiven of their sins, we are still tempted by the flesh. The evil one is roaming throughout the earth seeking to deceive Christians so that they follow after the flesh when they should follow after the Spirit. A Christian does not do what they want to do; especially when it seems that what they want to do is for their convenience and benefit. Rather, Christians are to remind themselves that they do not belong to themselves. “You are not your own. You have been bought with a price. Therefore we should do what glorifies God. Paul says that this includes how we use our bodies.