Sexual Sin

Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
February 2024

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 a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

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. (I Corinthians 6:12-20 NIV)

Today, we will be talking about sex in church. This passage has some adult content. It mentions female prostitutes.

We will be talking about something that is very relevant in the day in which we live. It is the problem of sexual sin. It is one of the greatest problems in the church today.

There is a plague of immorality and abuse going around in some churches. It is going on in society and in the church, both Protestant and Catholic churches.

We have people living together. They are allowed to join churches and, in some cases, doing ministry.

We have same sex couples married in church and sometimes the pastor is gay or lesbian.

We have the problem of adultery in the church. Adultery is not just limited to affairs. Some second marriages result in adultery. Jesus said so.

I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery. (Matthew 19:9 NIV)

When was the last time you heard that in church? If you marry someone, fall in love with someone else, get a divorce and remarry that person, you are committing adultery.

We have other Christians are addicted to pornography and that includes some pastors.

Did you know that, according to a recent poll from Barna, 21% of youth pastors and 14% of pastors admit they currently struggle with using porn?

Did you know that 12% of youth pastors and 5% of pastors say they are addicted to porn? That is from the same 2016 poll.[1] It is a fairly recent poll but the real figure is probably much higher than that.

Focus on the Family came out with a survey in 2008 and, in that survey, not 5% but 25%. It said that 25% of pastors admitted to currently battling with pornography or sexual addiction.[2]

What’s so bad is that these are not just church members. There are the leaders of the church. These are the pastors.

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:3-4 NIV).

Paul says that not only should not be any immorality among believers but there should not even be a hint of it. We should not even be immoral in our talk and in our jokes.

Today, we are going to look at what the Bible says about sexual immorality. We are going to look at what the Bible says about the body. Paul gives us a theology of the body in this passage.

We are also going to look at what the Bible says about addictions. Are you addicted to anything? Paul has something to say about it in our passage.

Paul is writing to the Church of Corinth. It was an immoral church. A member of the church was sleeping with his stepmother.

Another member of the Corinthians church was visiting a prostitute. Paul mentions many examples of sexual immorality.

He mentions incest (I Corinthians 5:1). He mentions those who have sex within the family.

He mentions fornicators. He mentions those who sleep around and commit pre-marital sex (I Corinthians 6:9).

He mentions adulterers (I Corinthians 6:9). He mentions those who break their marriage vows.

He mentions prostitutes (I Corinthians 6:15-16). Two days ago, a prostitution ring was discovered by the authorities in Burlington, NC. Prostitutes were more accessible in Paul’s day. They had them at the local temple. You could get them at church. They were part of pagan worship.

He mentions male homosexuals, those who go to bed with other males (I Corinthians 6:9).

All of that is mentioned in I Corinthians. In Romans, Paul mentions female homosexuals, lesbians (Romans 1:26-27).

What does God say about sexual immorality? It is very different from what the world says about it.

Five Lies about Sex

Lie #1 – We make the rules

The first lie about sex is that we make our own rules. We decide what is right and wrong. We decide morality.

We do not determine right and wrong. We are not God. God determines what is right and wrong, and He determines what is right and wrong when it comes to sex.

God is not against sex. He is not against marriage. He created both. They were His idea. Since He created both of them, He has the right to come up with rules for both.

Lie #2 – Sex is just about pleasure

You have a natural appetite for food and a natural appetite for sex. Both are physical appetites. God created both. Both are not wrong. They are perfectly legitimate.

This is what the Corinthians were saying. They were saying that food is for the stomach, like the body is for sex.” It is just about biological urges, like eating and drinking.

Food for the stomach and the stomach for food (I Corinthians 6:13 NIV). Of course, God did create the urge to eat, drink and have sex but all three can be abused.

That is what we are taught in society. It is the Hugh Hefner philosophy. It is what kids are taught in school. Sex is just what two adults do to give themselves pleasure. It is just play for grown-ups.

There is nothing wrong with pleasure. God created it but this definition takes love out of sex. It takes commitment out of sex. It takes a relationship out of sex. Sex is not just about pleasure.

Lie # 3 – Pornography is harmless

It seems harmless. That is what society says. You can’t get an STD from pornography. You can’t get anyone pregnant that way. It sounds harmless but God calls sexual fantasies adultery, not entertainment.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28 NIV)

Lie # 4 – Sexual sin is no big deal.

Everyone does it. It is no big deal. We saw that was not true, last time. Sexual sin leads to eternal consequences.

Paul said that fornications, adulterers and homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will not be in heaven. That makes it a very big deal.

Lie # 5 – Sexual sin is unforgiveable

That is not true. No sin is too dirty to be cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ. We saw from I Corinthians 6 that even the worst sexual sins can be forgiven. Purity can be restored. Sexual sin can be forgiven.

Sexual Sin Principles

Today, we are going to see what God says about sexual sin in I Corinthians 6. We are going to look at four principles.

1) Sexual sin does not result in freedom but bondage

“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. (I Corinthians 6:12 NIV)

Sexual immorality enslaves people. Sexual immorality is highly addictive, because it sends a chemical to the brain.

People can be in slavery to all kinds of things. We can be addicted to all kinds of things. Some are addicted to drugs. Some are addicted to nicotine or alcohol.

Some are addicted to caffeine. Some are addicted to pornography. Some are addicted to video games. Some are addicted to their cell phones. They never put it down.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34 NIV). Sexual sin leads to sexual bondage. It leads to slavery.

Paul said, “I will not be mastered by anything” (I Corinthians 6:12 NIV).

The NLT reads, “I must not become a slave to anything.” The ESV reads, “I will not be dominated by anything.” Are you a slave to anything? How would you know? What are some of the signs of addiction?

Signs of an Addiction

1) If you are addicted to something, you do it out of compulsion. You are driven to do it against your will. That is the first sign of an addiction.

2) If you are addicted to something, it becomes a preoccupation and an obsession. It controls your life.

It is something that you do, despite the negative consequences. You continue to do it, even though it may be harmful to the body.

3) If you are addicted to something, you feel that you cannot change. You feel powerless to stop.

It is wrong to be addicted to things. Are you enslaved to anything? Are you mastered by anything? Do you let anything control you?

It is not wrong to enjoy things. The Bible says that God has given us all things richly to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17), so it is not wrong to enjoy things. It is not wrong to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. It is wrong to be controlled by things.

2) Sexual sin is a misuse of your God-given body

Our Bodies are Special

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

The Greeks despised the body. They believed that matter is evil. The believed that the soul is good and the bad is bad.

They called the body a tomb. The Greeks did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They focused on the soul, rather than the body.

Paul said that your body is not a tomb but a temple and it will be resurrected one day. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also (I Corinthians 6:14 NIV). What does it mean that our body is a temple?

A temple is a sacred building. The Greek word he uses (ναός) does not just mean the temple in general but the most sacred part of the temple (the Holy of Holies). We need to treat our bodies with reverence.

In I Corinthians 3, Paul said that the local church is a temple. God dwells in a local assembly. In I Corinthians 6, he says that the Christian body is a temple. It is a temple of the Holy Spirit. That should change the way we think about the body.

It is sacred. It is holy. Psalm 139 says that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. If the Holy Spirit made a temple out of our bodies, there must not be anything wrong with our bodies.

Sins against the Body

Temples can be desecrated. Just as a physical temple can be defiled and desecrated, we can defile our own bodies certain behaviors and practices. We can pollute the temples of our bodies.

We do not pollute our bodies by sex but by sexual immorality. The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality (I Corinthians 6:13 NIV)

All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body (I Corinthians 6:18 NIV)

Paul says that sexual sins are different from other sins. They are in a completely different kind of category.

What does Paul mean that only sexual sins are sins against the body? Isn’t drunkenness and drug addiction a sin again the body? Isn’t self-mutilation a sin against the body? Isn’t suicide a sin against the body?

The answer is yes but sexual sin is still in a completely different category than all of those other sins. People can eat too much and drink too much, but you cannot become one flesh with alcohol or food.

Those other sins are external to the body but sexual sin is “entirely and exclusively initiated by, and carried out by the body”[3] Because sex with a prostitute is “uniquely body joining, it is uniquely body-defiling” (Fisk 1996: 558)[4]

Glorify God in your Body

Paul says, “honor God with your bodies. (I Corinthians 6:12-20 NIV). How do we do that? How do we glorify God with our bodies? We can do it several different ways.

Three Ways to Honor God in your Body

1. Honor God by taking care of your body.

We need to take care of what God has given us. That is good stewardship. We can do that by proper diet, exercise and by avoiding food or activities that are bad for the body. You can’t really glorify God in your body if you don’t take care of it. It is a sin to harm your body.

2. Honor God by using your body for God.

Paul said that we are to present our body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). Do we use our body to serve God?

Do we use it to worship God? Do we use it to help others and do good, not evil. That is another way to honor God.

3. Honor God by not sinning against your body

When we commit sexual immorality, we are not glorifying God with our bodies. When we use our body to sin (hands, feet, eyes, tongue), we are not glorifying God in our body (cf. Romans 6:13).

3) Sexual sin is a betrayal of your Christian identity

Sexual sin is incompatible with your Christian position. We are not just followers of Jesus. We are joined to Jesus. We are members of His body.

When Paul persecuted Christians, Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute ME” (not them)?”

Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! (I Corinthians 6:15 NIV). Notice how the chapter ends.

Let’s summarize this. Your body is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. He lives inside of us. Paul says that we were bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:20 NIV). Jesus bought us with His own blood. He died for us.

Our body belongs to Him. We can’t say, “My body, My choice.” It is His body. The parts of your body are the members of Christ. Our bodies are to glorify God the Father. The entire Trinity is involved.

None of this is consistent with an immoral lifestyle. When we commit sexual immorality, we sin against God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We sin against the Holy Spirit who indwells us. We sin against the Son who redeemed us. We sin against the Father who created us.

4) Sexual sin requires a radical response

Jesus taught this. He said if you hand offend you cut it off. He did not mean that literally. The point is to take sin seriously and to deal with it radically.

Paul taught the same thing. Paul did not say to abstain from sexual immorality, although we need to do that.

Many in the world do not abstain from sexual immorality. They practice it. They excuse it. They justify it. They are proud of their sexual immorality.

Paul does not say, “Reject sexual immorality. Reject all of the immoral practices of the world today. Say No to it.” That needs to be done but is not what Paul says.

He does not even say, “Resist sexual immorality. Fight it as much as you can.” He says, “FLEE from sexual immorality” (I Corinthians 6:18 NIV).

He does not say, “Run from sex.” He says, “Run from sexual immorality.” The world runs to it. Christians are to run from it.

That’s what Joseph did. Potiphar’s old lady tried to seduce her attractive young foreign slave. She tried to take advantage of him and tried repeatedly to no avail. It is the definition of sexual harassment today.

It is the most famous seduction scene in the Bible. You can read about it in Genesis 39. Joseph said No. Very few men, especially young men, would have had the strength to do what Joseph did.

When he was left alone with her and had no other option, he ran. It didn’t keep him out of jail, but it kept him out of sin.

The OT said the same thing. Solomon talked about the adulterous woman. One of the things he said was, “Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house” (Proverbs 5:8 NIV)

We do the exact opposite today. We play with fire. People try to get as close to it as they can (technical virgins). God says to get as far as away from sin as you can.

[1] https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/

[2] https://gitnux.org/adultery-in-the-church-statistics/

[3] Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 472.

[4] David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 238.

I Corinthians 6