To get an understanding of these verses, let’s read 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, “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. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 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.”

It must be pointed out that Paul is not teaching that it is lawful, or permissible for the Christian to sin.  He had stated emphatically in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”  Paul’s words are in reference to things that we might consider indifferent or with no consequence from the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 8:4-13, we learn that to eat meat that had been offered to idols was not a matter of concern.  He said in verse 8, “But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.”  The Apostle Peter, himself, had learned in Acts 10:9-16, that eating pork was no longer forbidden for the believer.

So, we learn that while these things are permissible, we also learn that not all things are expedient or profitable for us.  Paul said he would “not be brought under the power of any.”  He would not allow his liberty in Christ to cause him to become a slave to habits.  He also realized that the benefits of some things are just temporary, such as food.  Certainly, in His perfect creation, the Lord gave us food proper for us to eat.  He also made our bodies to accept and digest food, but these things aren’t eternal and we should not live to eat!  Paul would go on to say in 1 Corinthians 10:23, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.”  He shows us in that chapter, that although there was nothing wrong in eating meat that had been offered to idols, some had a conscience against that, so we should be careful not to offend those with weak consciences.  While we have this incredible liberty in Christ Jesus, we don’t want to use that to offend or stumble weaker believers.  We read in Galatians 5:13, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”

In verses 15-20 of 1 Corinthians 6, we learn that as believers on the Lord Jesus, our bodies “are the members of Christ.”  We also learn that our body is “the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you.”  As such, sins committed against the body, such as fornication, are especially condemned by the Lord.  We are joined with the Lord, how dare we join ourselves with sexual impurity!  We read in 1 Timothy 5:22, “keep thyself pure.”  We’ll end this short meditation by re-reading 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  (179.4)