Paul is here addressing the third issue he deals with in this chapter, that our bodies don't belong to us, they are the Lord's.
All things are lawful for me but not all things are are profitable.
Just because something is legal, that doesn't mean that it is right, or beneficial.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
Something may not be against the law, but I don't need it, if it could cause me to acquire a bad habit or addiction.
Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them.
Food is meant to be eaten, but we need to pay attention to what we're putting into our stomachs that it will be healthy and beneficial.
Today there is a big emphasis on the kinds of foods that are available to eat. Some are touted to be healthy, but contain harmful chemicals that excite the pleasure sensors in our brain. Other foods make no bones about just being fun to eat.
Personally, I like to eat one-food foods, that don't contain any processing or added chemicals, and season them with wholesome herbs and salt and pepper. When my regular diet consists of this, then a doughnut once in a while does no harm.
Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
God made our bodies to be healthy, and we will give account for how we have maintained this tent we live in. Not only concerning physical health, but also to pay attention to our moral values, which also impact our health. And our Lord does expect us to take good care of all the resources He gave us, including our bodies, minds and emotions, and our spirits.
Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
Jesus' Resurrection was the raising of His physical body. And God will also raise up our physical bodies to be like His. So we need to take care of them.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
Christ is the head and we are all His body parts. We are all united.
Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
Paul here gives as an example of one way we can abuse our bodies, by engaging a prostitute. This is only an example; he has already mentioned several other ways we misuse and damage our bodies in different kinds of unrighteousness.
Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says,
The two shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).Paul quotes Genesis here, with God's pronouncement that Adam and Eve will join their bodies intimately into one unit together, and this is marriage.
So someone who joins intimately with another is trying to be "one flesh" with that person. If he is not married to that person, then it is fornication; or if he is married to someone else, it is adultery.
Or if they are two people who are of the same gender, then they are trying to accomplish what is a physical impossibility; this is an aberration, or a twisting of what God designed, a perversion.
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
When we are born into God's family, we receive His Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit of Jesus, who joins with our human spirits. So we are united with Jesus Christ.
He is our Husband and we are His bride.
Flee immorality.
So we are not to play with fire, but run away as fast as we can from any hint of immorality. God's Spirit in us gives us the power and authority to say "No!" to every temptation to stray. If we try to "stand and fight," we will lose. We can't fight temptation, we can only run from it. We stand and fight Satan. With our spiritual armor on.
Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
This is serious. Don't even consider a little "fooling around." Your body is holy to God, and He will hold you accountable for not seriously taking care of it. Your body reflects physically all the mental, emotional, and spiritual events in your life. Especially immorality.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
The Holy Spirit is God, and where God dwells is His Temple. So your body is the Temple of God today in the World.
and that you are not your own?
For you have been bought with a price:
When Jesus' Blood was poured out at the foot of the Cross when His side was pierced by the soldier's spear, He fulfilled the Corporate Sacrifice that Israel was to offer on the Day of Atonement, to purchase the whole World. So we are His property. We belong to Him by Creation and by Purchase. And when He becomes your Savior, we are His a third way--by Redemption.
therefore glorify God in your body.
We are to physically worship God with our voices, lifted hands, etc. And also by living our lives dedicated to His Kingdom, in purity and honesty and clear thinking. Our citizenship is in His Kingdom of Heaven. We need to live like it.
O my Father, You are our dear Father, You are our designer and maker, You are our Almighty God, who has planned out all the days of this Universe. And You are causing the Time to progress steadily, moment by moment, year by year, age by age, from beginning to end. Just as You want it, for Your enjoyment.
And You have made Mankind to live with You, to share Your joy and enjoyment with each of us of Mankind, to all have fun together forever!
Please strengthen us against the pull of this World and our own damaged DNA of our flesh. Help us to live our lives separate from the World, even as we live in the World; that our lives would be noticeably different from our neighbors around us, so they will ask us what makes us so different.
And use us to share Your Good News to all who ask, and even those who don't ask, but wonder. Let our lives so stand out as beacons in this dark World, that no one will mistake Your power in us.
And bring in all Your lost sheep into the One Fold with One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
