The Truth comes to Corinth

Paul says “Our Bodies belong to the Lord Jesus Christ” Part 1

1 Corinthians 6:12-14 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. KJV

Paul has reminded them from where they were found in the depths of sin and depravity by the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Power of the Holy Spirit how they were then delivered and rescued from sin, darkness, and the devil and then conveyed and transferred into the beloved Kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13-14). Paul now declares that by virtue of what has been done for them and to them that they are now no longer “under law” but now they are “under grace” and Paul said it this way to the believers in Rome, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Paul wants these Corinthian believers to understand their “freedom in Christ” as he put it in this manner when writing to the Galatian believers, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). The Corinthian believers had allowed themselves to be once again “entangled in a yoke of bondage” either through ignorance or just blatant rebellion, therefore, Paul now writes these words to them, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Paul declares to them that he is free in Christ to enjoy the entire earth and the fullness thereof, but all things in the earth that he could consume or indulge himself in are not beneficial to his spirit, soul, or his body or his spiritual growth and maturity into Christlikeness. Paul wanting to hammer home this point to these Corinthian believers says, “I will not be brought under the power of any” and the English phrase “be brought under the power” is translated by one Greek word exousiazo which means control or to exercise authority upon or to be under the power of something or someone. Paul declares himself “free in Christ” to enjoy “all things” and this little English phrase Paul uses here in 1 Corinthians 6:12 he also uses it when writing to brother Timothy with these words, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Paul wants them to know and understand that by virtue of them being children of God then they and we are likewise heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17) and assured, able, and allowed to enjoy the whole world because it and everything in it belongs to our Heavenly Father.

Paul was not only referring to the physical and tangible things in the earth, but also “in Christ” he and they and us have all things (our actions, behavior, rest, vacation, entertainment, recreation, occupation, hobbies, etc.) that are not offensive and sinful before God the Father or injurious to any others in the Mystical Body of Christ or even to unbelievers freely permitted and at our discretion to indulge. Paul now after acknowledging and explaining our “freedom in Christ” and theirs and our responsibility to be good “stewards” of that freedom, Paul makes the comparison of “food and the stomach” to the believers “body and fornication.” Paul is saying to these Corinthian believers and to us that although it might appear that the two are related as “natural” functions of a person’s body they are not. God ordered or ordained food on His earth to be united with the stomach for the physical body to survive and we see this “law of adaptation” worked out in all physical life on His earth, even in the animal kingdom.

However, God did not order or ordain the human body for the indulgence in fornication because it unlike food is not necessary for the bodies survival and if He did join the two together like food and stomach, He would not have made “from the beginning” just one man and one woman and joined them together in a binding covenant union called marriage. Unlike the animals on God’s earth, human beings and specifically and only those of us who have been redeemed and regenerated by God were made for Him to dwell or live “in us” (just as He did in Adam before he sinned) and Paul wants these Corinthian believers and us to know that and to order our daily lives in such a manner sexually that it brings glory to our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul declares to these Corinthian believers and to us that God is going to destroy all foods as we currently know them (Revelation 22:2) and likewise all human stomachs as well because when our bodies are resurrected they will be new glorified bodies or spiritual bodies as Paul wrote of it in this manner here later in this very same epistle or letter, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

“It is interesting to compare 1 Corinthians 6:12 with 1 Corinthians 10:23. There are four clauses in each verse, three of which are similar, but the last ones differ. The two laws that should govern our life in doubtful things, are first, the arresting of oneself in the doing of anything which threatens to become our master; and second, the abstaining from anything which threatens to be a stumbling-block in another’s Christian life.” F. B. Meyer

“The body being destined to share with the body of Christ in resurrection, and to be raised up incorruptible, is the subject of a higher adaptation, with which fornication is incompatible.” Marvin R. Vincent (1834-1922)

“There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely he would never carry this liberty so far as to put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. Though all meats were supposed lawful, he would not become a glutton nor a drunkard. And much less would he abuse the maxim of lawful liberty to countenance the sin of fornication, which, though it might be allowed by the Corinthian laws, was a trespass upon the law of nature, and utterly unbecoming a Christian.” Matthew Henry

“Our liberty in Christ is just that liberty and not license and we are to recognize moment by moment of every day the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ living ‘in us’ through the Holy Spirit causing us to yield our will to His that He may work ‘in us’ to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13) and His ‘good pleasure’ never includes fornication.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…