15 “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 harlot? Certainly not! 16Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
6:15
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
Our bodies belong to the body of Christ, the universal church. A body is a living organism to carry out God’s purpose in time.
Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
How can the Christian take what is devoted to the Lord and unite it with a prostitute from the Temple of Aphrodite? This is a union but an unholy union. This is a direct breach of our eternal union with Christ, as indicated in words “Certainly not!” It violates our position in Christ.
6:16
Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her?
Intimate sexual relation with a harlot makes the believer join in union with her. The nature of the sex act is more than physical. The body is more than the sexual organs; it is a union of souls. The sex act is the badge of matrimony. There is a marriage when we unite physically with a harlot. We are one with our sexual partners. The Corinthian Christians who took their body to the Temple of Aphrodite took their union with Christ with them. When we cohabit, we are one with the one with whom we cohabit.
For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”
This is a quote from Genesis 2:24 dealing with marriage. Sexuality and marriage are more than joining two bodies together; it is an intimacy of souls. Intimate sexual relation is an honorable function in the right context. Also, sexual relation is tantamount to marriage.
Hebrews 13:4, Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
6:17
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
The word “joined” was used for close bonds. Literally, it is the process of gluing and metaphorically of a very close tie. It is used here of our status quo of union with Christ. We are “one spirit with Him.” Union with Christ is a spiritual union. We are part and parcel with the Lord. We are the body; He is the Head.
PRINCIPLE:
We are one with our cohabitant.
APPLICATION:
Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. Our union with Christ or our position before God can never be improved because everything depends on what God did for us in Christ. Taking our position in Christ with us to a prostitute is a relationship issue. Sex is more than animal activity; we bring the total person with us into the act. We cannot park our soul outside when we enter the sex act. Sex affects the unseen aspect of our persons; it affects the “one flesh” dimension to sex.
If the interpretation of these readings is that there is a marriage when one unites sexually with another, can it be said that a woman joined in matrimony through the sacrament is a third or fourth wife to the man she marries if the man had engaged in sexual relations with other women prior to marriage?
M.E., I think that your thesis may say more than what is said in the text. The idea of the text is on the occasion a person has sex with a person out of wedlock then at that time there is a violation of a previous relationship.
Hi Grant, one cannot say that we are everything that Jesus is, because we are one spirit with the Lord, right?
We are not mingled into God Himself, if I can put it like that? We only share a union with Him, same as a husband and wife became one and is in union. It this right?
C, you are right because to have the same essence as God is to be God, to be equal with God. We can say that He has blessed us with all His riches (benefits).