Daily Lesson for Wednesday 22nd of July 2026
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8. What does this passage say about the connection between sanctification and abstinence from sexual immorality?
Though Paul was writing to someone else in the above texts, the principle can be applied across the board, to all Christians which still, though, leads to the question: What was going on in Corinth? Why all these problems?
Image © Graham Braddock at Goodsalt.com
Some in Corinth apparently believed that since the gospel set them free, they were allowed to do anything. They argued that just as the stomach was made for food, the body was made for sex, and sex for the body (1 Corinthians 6:13). Paul responds that this is a misrepresentation of Christian freedom. The lack of integrity in sexual matters is inconsistent with Christian identity and is a misuse of the freedom granted to man through the gospel (Romans 8:2, Galatians 5:13). We were set free from sin, not set “free” to commit it (Romans 8:2; Romans 6:18,22). In fact, “the body is . . . for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13). We belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:15), and who we are must impact what we do. One thing is inextricably linked to the other. This is portrayed in 1 Corinthians 6:1-20 in three different ways.
First, we are identified as washed, sanctified, and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11, NKJV). The sins listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, as well as the sexual immorality denounced in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, have no place in the lives of those who were washed, sanctified, and justified.
Second, we are members of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:15). This means that we must be united with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17). Sexual immorality is a violation of that union (1 Corinthians 6:13,15). Whoever joins with a person in extramarital sexual intercourse becomes “one body” with him or her (1 Corinthians 6:16). Union with Christ through the Spirit must determine Christian ethics in sexual matters.
Third, our bodies are “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV). The only way to live a holy life with integrity in sexual matters is by having an intimate relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere, Paul refers to the experience of being a temple of the Spirit in terms of presenting the body “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1, ESV).
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Think about the wreckage that sexual sins have brought upon humanity. What should this tell us about how serious this issue should be for the Christian? |
