1 Corinthians 6:15-17

1Co 6:15 Do you not yet get it — the fact that our bodies are parts of Christ? Should someone take the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? Absolutely not!

1Co 6:16 Do you not yet get it — the fact that someone who has sex with a prostitute becomes one body with her? The Bible says “the two turn into one flesh.”

1Co 6:17 But someone joining the Lord turns into one spirit.

physical matters

 Some in the Corinthian churches had begun to develop a theological system which over emphasized the spiritual realities and viewed the physical consequences as not significant.  Someone with that viewpoint would agree that Christ had redeemed them spiritually, and would then see it as not a big deal that they continue visiting the local whorehouse to take care of their physical desires.

Paul got word that this was happening via a letter from Chloe’s house church.  His response was a reasoned, logical and theological argument, beginning from the same thesis that his opponents would begin with: once you are a believer, you are one with Christ spiritually.  But Paul does not agree with the second argument in their syllogism: that physical actions for such a person do not matter.  Paul argues that if someone is really one with Christ spiritually, he will not want to betray that unity by joining with a prostitute.

LORD, show us how to demonstrate our unity with you by staying pure for you, because physical matters as much as spiritual.