1 Corinthians 6: Your Body Is a Temple of the Holy Ghost

I was in the shop last week trying to fix a joint I'd cut wrong. The tenon was too thin for the mortise, and instead of starting over, I spent twenty minutes trying to shim it with a sliver of walnut. It didn't work. The joint was loose, and no amount of cleverness was going to make it tight. I should've cut a new tenon. I knew it. But I kept trying to patch the thing instead of admitting it was wrong and doing it over.

Paul's dealing with something similar in 1 Corinthians 6, where the Corinthian saints were trying to patch things that needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. They were taking each other to court. They were treating their bodies like they belonged to themselves. And Paul, in his direct way, tells them to stop and think about who they actually are.

The Joint I Kept Shimming

The first half of the chapter is about lawsuits and the second half is about the body. They seem like separate topics until you realize Paul's making the same argument about both. Your identity in Christ should change how you handle conflict and how you treat your own flesh.

Paul starts with a question that must've stung.

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? (1 Corinthians 6:1)

He's not saying disputes should go unresolved. He's saying the church should be able to handle its own problems. If the saints are going to judge the world someday, they ought to be able to settle a disagreement about money or property without dragging it before a secular judge.

The practical application is uncomfortable. Paul says it'd be better to be wronged than to take a brother to court. That's a hard teaching. It goes against every instinct about fairness and justice. But Paul isn't interested in fairness the way Corinth understood it. He's interested in the reputation of the gospel and the unity of the saints.

Better to Be Wronged

I've never sued anyone, but I've held a grudge long enough to know how it feels. There's a satisfaction in being right that can crowd out everything else. You rehearse the argument in your head and tell yourself you're justified. And maybe you are. But Paul's asking a different question. He's not asking whether you're right but whether winning is worth what it costs.

The Corinthians thought they were protecting their interests. Paul thought they were damaging their witness. He points out that the saints will one day judge angels. If that's true, then surely they can handle a dispute about a business deal or a property line without calling in a pagan magistrate.

I think about this when I see church members fighting over something small. It's almost never about the thing itself. It's about pride, and pride doesn't care about the cost.

Paul makes a similar point in 1 Corinthians 5 when he warns that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. A small dispute, left to fester, can poison the whole congregation.

The Word Is Flee

The second half of the chapter shifts to a different kind of conflict. Paul warns against sexual immorality with language that's startlingly direct. He doesn't soften it or qualify it. He says flee.

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)

The word Paul uses for sexual immorality is porneia, and it covers a broad range of unlawful sexual conduct. But the structure of his argument is what matters. He's not making a list of rules. He's building a case based on identity.

Your body isn't your own. It's a temple of the Holy Ghost. You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.

That's the logic. It's not about restriction for its own sake but about ownership. If someone else paid for something, it belongs to them. Christ paid for you, so you belong to Him. And what you do with your body reflects on the one who owns it.

The word flee is worth sitting with. Paul doesn't tell the Corinthians to resist temptation or to stand firm against it. He tells them to run. There's a recognition here that some battles aren't won by fighting. They're won by leaving.

I have a friend who used to work in addiction recovery. He told me that the most successful people weren't the ones who tried to resist their triggers. The ones who succeeded were the ones who removed the triggers entirely. They changed their routes home, stopped going to certain places, and cut off certain relationships. They fled.

Paul understood that. He knew that sexual temptation isn't something you argue with. It's something you get away from. The longer you stay, the harder it is to leave.

The Hope Chest Rule

The chapter closes with a verse that's become one of the most quoted in the New Testament.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

I've heard that verse in Sunday School my whole life, much like the way Paul returns to the theme of belonging to God in 2 Corinthians 1. But I don't think I understood it until I built something that mattered to me. When I finished my daughter's hope chest, I didn't let anyone set a drink on it. I didn't let the kids roughhouse near it. I cared for it because I'd put something of myself into it.

Paul's saying that God put something of Himself into us. The Holy Ghost dwells in us. That makes us sacred in a way that has nothing to do with our own worthiness. It's about whose we are.

Cutting a New Tenon

I cut a new tenon that evening. It took ten minutes. The joint fit perfectly, and I clamped it up before bed. The piece is stronger now than it would've been if I'd kept shimming the bad one. Sometimes the right thing is to start over. Sometimes the right thing is to walk away. Paul knew the difference, and he wanted the Corinthians to know it too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Paul discourage believers from using secular courts?

Paul believed the church should be capable of resolving its own disputes. He argued that taking a fellow believer to a secular court damages the reputation of the gospel and suggests that the saints lack the spiritual maturity to handle their own affairs. He'd rather see a believer suffer wrong than see the church's witness undermined.

What does it mean that we're bought with a price in 1 Corinthians 6?

This refers to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Paul's teaching that because Christ paid a divine price to redeem us from sin, we no longer own ourselves in an absolute sense. Our lives and bodies belong to Him and should be used to honor God.

Why does Paul specifically tell believers to flee sexual immorality instead of just resisting it?

Paul recognizes that sexual temptation can be uniquely powerful. While some temptations can be faced with a firm no, sexual sin often requires immediate removal from the tempting environment. Fleeing is a practical strategy to avoid the struggle entirely by removing the opportunity.

Does Paul believe all lawsuits are wrong?

No, Paul isn't saying all lawsuits are wrong or that civil courts have no place. He's specifically addressing disputes between believers and argues that the church should handle its own conflicts rather than taking them before unbelievers. The principle is about maintaining unity and witness within the body of Christ, not about abolishing civil courts entirely.

— D.