Each Christmas we set up and take down three Christmas trees. One is the large family Christmas tree in our living room. The other two are three-foot trees which Jordan and Jacob place in their rooms. The large family tree holds the ornaments which are mine and Kendra’s. Jordan’s and Jacob’s trees hold the ornaments they have received over the years. One of the annual tasks as we set up the trees each year is to determine whose ornament is whose. All the ornaments are stored together. So as we unwrap each ornament, we go through a routine of “That’s mine-I got it for Christmas last year,” “No, that’s mine-Gran gave it to me last year,” “No, that’s mine-I bought it at a clearance sale.”
“That’s mine” is a common statement which shows up in many places. The United States Constitution, in its Bill of Rights contains “That’s mine” language in its Fifth Amendment: No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.[1] We have a constitutional right to “what’s mine.” If the government tries to take it, we can say “That’s mine!”
“That’s mine!” even shows up in the Bible: 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.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. 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. (1 Cor. 6:12-20 TNIV).
In this paragraph we find three slogans being used by Paul’s readers.[2]
- Slogan one is “I have the right to do anything.” It’s found two times in verse 12. Your Bible may have quotations marks around these words indicating it is a slogan. “I have the right to do anything.”
- Slogan two is “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” It’s found in verse 13. Your Bible may have quotations around all or part of this sentence. The TNIV, rightly I think, identifies the entire sentence as a slogan.
- Slogan three is “Every sin a person commits is outside his body.” Not many Bibles put quotation marks around this sentence in vs. 18. It is likely, however, a slogan being used by Paul’s readers.
Three slogans: “I have the right to do anything,” “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both,” and “Every sin a person commits is outside his body.” Notice that two of them mention the body. One talks about food in the body. The other speaks of sin and the body. The first slogan is also linked with the body. In essence, it says “I have the right to do anything-with my body.” We know this because the issue Paul takes up as he rebuts this slogan is an issue having to do with the body.
These three slogans help us know what was going on in the lives of Paul’s readers. Perhaps out of a sense that as Christians they were free from Jewish laws, [3] or perhaps out of a sense that as Christians they were living in an era of grace, [4] and perhaps out of undue influence of a popular philosophy of the time, [5] these readers believed that their bodies were private property, belonged to them, and that they had the right to decide what they did with their bodies. They no longer had Old Testament rules telling them what to do with their bodies. They no longer had to worry about earning the favor of God by what they did with their bodies, since they were saved by grace. And, like some philosophies of the day, they seemed to believe that what really mattered to God were the spiritual things like a person’s soul. God was not concerned about earthly and transient things like a person’s body.
In their minds, what you did with your body had little to do with your spiritual life. In the end, both stomach and the food in it would be destroyed. All that would remain was your soul. So, because of the newfound freedom from Jewish laws, the newfound freedom in Christ’s grace, and the influence of their own culture, these readers believed that their physical bodies were theirs to do with what they wanted.
And this belief led to some harmful choices. Specifically, it led some of them to continue the practice of visiting prostitutes. Houses of prostitution were widespread in the Greco-Roman world and looked upon as a necessity.[6] Going to prostitutes was not only legal it was widely accepted.[7] And some of Paul’s readers, after they became Christians, continued their normal practice of visiting prostitutes. They justified it with these slogans: I am free to do what I want with my body. It’s going to perish anyway. What really matters to God are the higher matters of my soul and heart.
But if Paul’s readers have devalued the body and overemphasized their right to their bodies, Paul responds by demonstrating the value of the body and emphasizing God’s rights to their bodies. He does this in four statements.
First, Paul writes, God will raise our bodies: By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. (6:14 TNIV). Paul draws attention to one important fact: God raised the body of Jesus, not simply the soul of Jesus-and he will do the same for us. If the body didn’t matter to God, he would let it stay dead forever. Instead, God raised the body of Jesus and will raise our bodies. This shows that God is concerned about our physical body and that our physical body is an integral part of who we are and how we relate to God.
Consider what you would pack if you were to move to another city. Chances are you would leave some things behind. The morning after the moving truck left your apartment or house there would be a pile on the curb of trash and things that aren’t that important to you. But what you would take with you in that moving truck would be all the things that do matter. In the same way, when God prepares us to move eternally in heaven, he takes what really matters to him. He takes not just our soul, but our bodies as well. God will raise our bodies.
Second, Paul writes, God owns our bodies: 13 …The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body…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!…19…You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. (1 Cor. 6:13,15,19 TNIV) Paul uses two images to convey the degree to which our physical bodies are owned by God. The first image Paul uses is that of incarnation: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? One translator suggests this reading: “Do you not know that your bodies are Christ’s limbs and organs?”[8] Jesus intends to use our limbs and organs as his own. How, then, Paul asks, can Christians use their physical bodies in an immoral way? That body of yours is Jesus’ body. He’s incarnated himself in you.
Paul uses a second image to illustrate ownership-the image of a slave being purchased by a new master.[9] Paul says, You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Slaves in Paul’s day could be purchased from one owner by another. In this analogy, God has purchased us. Everything about us, including our bodies, belongs to God. God did not only purchase our souls. He purchased our bodies.
The first house Kendra and I owned was in NM. There is something special about your first house. The first yard you call your own. The first driveway you don’t have to share. We loved that house. When it came time to sell it so that we could move to Memphis, it was difficult. The person who purchased the house wanted to change the backyard. He had dogs and they needed a different configuration. But we had spent thousands of dollars and months getting that yard into its present shape. The thought of someone moving in and replanting and uprooting and rearranging was disturbing. But, the house no longer belonged to us. Paul is saying that your physical body is like that house. It has a new owner. God owns our bodies.
God will raise our bodies. God owns our bodies. And third, Paul writes that God lives in our bodies: 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? Your body is a temple in which God lives by his Holy Spirit.
Paul’s readers would have been familiar with the idea of a temple in which there existed at least an image of the deity who was worshipped there. The temple was a sacred place. The primary issue regarding a temple is that it was not to be contaminated by impure objects or people.[10] When at the temple one was in the presence of a god. Paul’s point is that your body is the temple in which God dwells.
And, of course, this has implications. Paul is trying to argue that since our physical bodies are temples of God, Christians cannot profane that temple through sexual immorality.
We no longer live in a culture in which temples are common place. We do, however, understand the notion of special residences. Imagine that you have a nice house that you rent. No matter who you are renting to, you probably have some fundamental things you do to that house. You may paint the trim every three years. You may have the grass cut once a week. You do some basic maintenance. But imagine if your best friend moved into that rental house. You might “ramp up” your attention to it. You might replace an aging air conditioner. You might rake the leaves in the fall. But now imagine that the President of the United States moved into your rental house. You’d probably pay more attention to that house than ever before. You might paint the trim twice a year. You might get the lawn service to cut the grass twice a week. You’d probably have the cabinets and counter tops replaced and tile installed.
Similarly, when it comes to our physical bodies there is some basic attention we pay to these bodies. But, Paul reminds us, God has taken up residence in the bodies of Christians. And that should have implications for the way we treat, function in, and view these bodies.
God will raise our bodies. God owns our bodies. God lives in our bodies. And, finally, Paul writes, God is glorified by our bodies: Therefore honor God with your bodies. Paul is saying that our physical body is one of the ways in which we honor God. Our hearts and souls and spirits are not the only tools by which we honor God. Our bodies are as well.[11] This is reflected in what God and Jesus indicated as the greatest commandment, found in Deut. 6:4: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. In other words, our relationship with God involves our entire being-including our strength, our physical bodies. Our physical bodies, what we do with them and how we treat them, are one of the ways in which honor and glorify God. That makes the body very important.
If I gave you three shallow cups you might consider them of very little value. But if you were in the home of a couple who were married in a traditional Japanese wedding, those cups would have been used in the couple’s wedding ceremony as they drank rice wine from them to seal their marriage. If I handed you a strip of white ribbon this morning you would probably throw it away. But if you were in the home of a couple married in a traditional Mexican wedding, that white ribbon was used by the priest in the wedding ceremony. He wrapped the hand of the groom and the bride together. [12] What appear to be worthless to us are priceless to these couples because these were items used to honor someone they loved. In the same way, Paul reminds us that our bodies are not just bone, skin, and muscles. They are items we use to honor someone we love-God himself. God is glorified by our bodies.
Paul uses these four points to demonstrate the importance of the physical body-God will raise our bodies, God owns our bodies, God lives in our bodies, and God is glorified by our bodies. And while these four points have implications about sexual morality, I believe they also have something to say about another topic: physical fitness.
In 2005 the New England Journal of Medicine reported on obesity in America.[13] PP Obesity has become so prevalent in America that researchers fear its impact on life expectancy. While life expectancy has risen regularly in America for the last two centuries, that rise is coming to an end. Our children and grandchildren may live shorter lives because of the impact of obesity.
This is a particularly difficult issue in Tennessee.
- TN has the 4th highest rate of obesity among young people – 20% of all 10-17 year olds in TN are overweight.[14]
- TN has the 5th highest rate of obesity among adults.[15]
- Memphis was recently named “the laziest city in America” by Men’s Fitness magazine. 1 out of 3 Memphians admit they haven’t engaged in any form of physical activity in the last 30 days.[16]
I am not suggesting that Paul’s words should persuade us to buy into our culture’s obsession with image. The last thing we should do is embrace any view which says that self-worth comes from how sculpted or thin our body is. However, it does seem that Paul’s words have something to say when it comes to the basic issue of physical fitness and health. The fact that God will raise our bodies, God owns our bodies, God lives in our bodies, and God is glorified by our bodies suggests that the physical health of our bodies is an important component of our spiritual life. We Christians have left discussions about physical health and fitness to the medical field and the secular culture. But Paul’s words suggest that your physical health and fitness is a spiritual matter. Your physical health and fitness are an integral component of your relationship with God. God values your physical body-he will raise it, he owns it, he lives in it, and is glorified by it. And my question to you is this: do you take care of your body in a way that recognizes the value God has placed on it?
Imagine that God owned our cars. Imagine that God needed to use these cars to serve others-to deliver goods to people across the city, the nation, and the world. We would want to keep those cars in top shape. We wouldn’t buy into that cultural belief that you need specialty paint jobs, leather interiors, and luxury tires. But we would change the oil regularly, keep the tire pressure at the correct level, fill it with gas, and provide routine maintenance. In the same way, we don’t have to buy into the belief that we’ve got to have the face of Angelina Jolie or the look of Brad Pitt. But we do need to keep these bodies in good shape. God owns these bodies, lives in them, and intends to use them as Jesus’ limbs and organs-to serve others and to honor himself. This seems to require at least minimal attention to physical health and fitness.
What specifically does that mean? We might begin with a visit to our doctor. Get a physical. And ask your doctor what you can do to take better care of your body. Obviously, healthy eating and regular exercise are essential. Ultimately it’s my hope that we will begin to see our physical health as a component of our spiritual health. Because God will raise our bodies. God owns our bodies. God lives in our bodies. God is glorified by our bodies.
[1] “Bill of Rights www.archives.gove/national-archieves-experience [2] Richard B. Hays First Corinthians Interpretation (John Knox Press, 1997), 104-105. [3] Anthony C. Thiselton The First Epistle to the Corinthians The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans, 2000), 461. [4] Hays, 101-102. [5] Thiselton, 458, 459. [6] Richard E. Oster, Jr. 1 Corinthians The College Press NIV Commentary (College Press, 1995), 142. [7] Hays, 102. [8] Thiselton, 458. [9] Anthony C. Thiselton The First Epistle to the Corinthians The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans, 2000), 475. [10] Oster, 149. [11] Oster, Jr., 150. [12] Demetra Aposporos “Global Weddings: How ‘I do’ is done around the world” (June 1, 2007), Smithsonian.com. [13] S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., Douglas J. Passaro, M.D., Ronald C. Hershow, M.D., Jennifer Layden, M.P.H., Bruce A. Carnes, Ph.D., Jacob Brody, M.D., Leonard Hayflick, Ph.D., Robert N. Butler, M.D., David B. Allison, Ph.D., and David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D. “A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century” (Volume 352:1138-1145 March 17, 2005 Number 11) http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/352/11/1138. [14] “State laws offer hope for overweight kids” http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/oct/04/guest-column-state-laws-offer-hope-for-kids/?printer=1/. [15] “State laws offer hope for overweight kids” http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/oct/04/guest-column-state-laws-offer-hope-for-kids/?printer=1/. [16] Jeff Lucia “How fit is America?” Men’s Fitness (Feb, 2006).
