The Necessity of Keeping the Body Undefiled. 1 Cor. 6, 12—20.
Christian expediency: V. 12. 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. V. 13. 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. V. 14. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power.
The apostle has repeatedly touched upon the fact that Christian liberty and license of the flesh are incompatible. The love of Christ is to regulate the use of Christian liberty according to the rule that all my deeds which I have the power to perform are to aid and benefit my neighbor; and on the other hand, Christian liberty will not suffer anything over which I have power to overpower me and to take me captive.
The laxity of morals in the Corinthian congregation could not be excused by the motto: All things are in my power, chap. 3, 22. The fact itself stands, but it must be balanced by the principle of expediency and by the distinction between liberty and license. A Christian may have power to do all things, but he will find that all things are not advantageous, are not good for his own welfare.
And again: Certain things may be in the Christian's power, but it would be foolish to use them to excess (temperance, continence), for in that event they are apt to get the mastery of him, and so by the abuse of his liberty he will forfeit the richest fruits of this liberty.
The apostle brings two examples to illustrate his meaning (editor: Or this is what the Corinthians claimed about sexual gratification, that it was like food, a need that they had to satisfy): foods for the stomach and the stomach for its foods. God has made the various kinds of foods for the purpose of being received and digested by the body in the stomach, and he has designed the stomach for the purpose of receiving the foods and taking part in their digestion. And God will finally abolish, destroy, both the stomach and the foods. So the process of eating is a thing morally indifferent in itself.
But to become a slave of the stomach, to yield to intemperance, is obviously an abuse of the power given by God. The other case is more serious: The body not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. One cannot argue that the procreative ability and venereal desire will at any time justify a transgression of God's holy rule about the sacredness of the marriage-tie. Fornication is a perversion of the legitimate uses of the body, which has relations more important, more vital, than those connected with this life on earth. The body belongs to the Lord, it is fashioned for the Lord's use; it should be found employed in His service.
And the Lord will, in turn, live in the body, He will Himself be its true food and sustenance, John 6, 15. 33. 53.
This fact is brought out all the more strongly, because the destination of the body is eternal life: But God has raised up both the Lord and will raise up us through His power. The raising of Christ out of the grave came first, but we, as His brethren and members, will follow our first-fruits in His resurrection, and our bodies will be fashioned like unto His immortal body. But these things being so, how can any Christian still yield his body as an instrument of immorality?