12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[c]
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
[b] Gen. 2:24
A new dynamic for morality
- If grace abounds, then why worry about sin?
(a) Is it good for me?
(b) What is mastering me?
- Once again, expanding and raising focus
(a) The value of the body
(b) Union with Jesus
- The example of sexual sin
(a) Especially destructive
(b) Especially disruptive to our relationship with Jesus
- What can we do
(a) Lean into the body of believers
- Being a community to flee to
(b) Lean into God
- Healing is real and possible.
- Healing has to be intentionally sought, encompassing and consistently pursued.