The Problem of the Proper Use of the Body - Page 8 of 8 (series: Lessons on 1 Cor.)

by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

Since God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die on the Cross, and since Jesus loved us so much that He willingly laid down His life for us and paid our ransom with His own precious blood, we should be thankful to such an extent that we would allow Him to have preeminence in our life and in all things. The glorious privilege of being a Christian carries with it an equally grave responsibility. We should glorify God simply because of what He has done for us.

therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
By “God” is meant more specifically the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased us, body and soul, with His own blood. We are saved by the grace of God; but we should never take advantage of this liberty just to satisfy selfish desires—whether small and seemingly innocent or gross sin such as fornication. We should walk in the fear of God—not in the sense that we are afraid of something terrible happening to us, but like little children fear and respect their parents. We are not to fear God from the standpoint of dreading the day we shall meet Him, but rather to the extent that the desire of our hearts should be to glorify Him in all that we do or say, since he has done so much to make it possible for us to escape the lake of fire.

I do not believe that believers should have to sign a pledge card concerning rules and regulations before they can become members of the local assembly, because such a procedure is definitely unscriptural. If a person is saved by the grace of God, and led by the Spirit of God, that person will live like he should. I realize that we will fall short of the glory of God, but spiritually-minded believers will not practice open sin, and anyone who has a desire to embrace some sinful practice will not abstain from it just because he has signed a pledge card not to indulge! Such pledge signing in unscriptural. When we are saved we are set free from the law of sin and death, and we have liberty in Jesus. We overcome the world because we are believers. By contrast, one who is not a believer finds it impossible to live a clean life regardless of how many pledges he may sign. He cannot overcome simply because he is not a believer, saved by grace.

Christians should have a deep desire to have a clean mind, a clean soul, and a clean life—spiritually clean, and free from adultery, fornication, drunkenness, or any other lust of the flesh; and they should use their bodies in a way that other men will see that they belong to God. Have you presented your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service? Have you yielded your members unto God as instruments of righteousness? If not, do it not!

Here is a remarkable truth which many believers have not received. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because our bodies belong to God, we are not to share our bodies in fornication. This leads to a discussion of marriage, which will be the subject of the next chapter.