“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.”
-1 Corinthians 6:13
I want you just to think about those last two phrases. So the body’s not meant for sexual immorality. Let’s go ahead and define sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is any sexual activity, thought, or desire outside of marriage between a man and woman. We could spend a ton of time diving in here. But Genesis Two, from the very beginning, God bring man and woman together in marriage. This is where sexual activity, thought, desire, is to be housed under God’s design. So anything that goes outside of that design, sexual thought, desire, activity outside of marriage between a man and a woman would be sexual immorality.
We need God’s grace to see that His commands are for our good. “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
1 Corinthians 6:13 Teaches Us that the Body is for the Lord
The whole picture here is the body’s not meant for that. The body’s not meant for that, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. So picture that. So the body is for the Lord. That changes the way you view your body and how you use your body. How I use my body. Like, okay, everything I do in my body should be for him, for him. How do I bring the most glory to him with my body? That has implications in all kinds of ways and particularly here in sexuality, in First Corinthians Chapter Six.
The Lord is for the Body
But then catch the follow-up phrase. It’s not just the body is for the Lord, but the Lord is for the body. Meaning, so picture this. Sometimes I think we have this tendency to say, okay, so no sexual immorality. Only what is glorifying the Lord. That feels restricting like there’s so much I’m missing out on at that point. So much sexual activity, thought, desire, outside of marriage between a man and woman that we’re missing out on if we’re fleeing sexual immorality and we’re just doing whatever’s most glorifying to God.
God Desires Good for Your Body
Well, yes, but don’t miss it. This is for our good. God is for our body, is for your body. He desires good for your body. That’s what I love about the last part of 1 Corinthians 6:13 is God is saying I’m for your body. I’m not against your body. I’m not trying to make you miserable. I am for your body. I’ve designed your body. I know your body better than you do and I know how you can be fulfilled. I know how your body and your heart and your mind work together. And I know how life to the full can happen for you and trust my word, I’m for your body.
1 Corinthians 6:13 Reminds Us that Fleeing Sexual Immorality is Trusting God with Our Body
So when we live in accordance with God’s word, when we flee sexual immorality, then what we’re doing is we’re saying, I trust you, God. I trust you with my body. It’s for you and I trust that you are for me. Oh God help us to believe that. I just think so much sexual temptation, so much sexual immorality in our lives, relationships would be totally avoided if we trusted that you were for our body. If we believed that your design for our body was better than our desires for our body, sometimes and our thoughts about how our bodies should be used.
A Prayer for God to Lead Us to Trust Him with Our Body
God, please help us to trust that you are for our body. Help us to trust your goodness, that when you give commands to us, they’re for our good, not for our bad, not for our restriction, but for our enjoyment. In this, knowing you are for our body, help us to live with our bodies for you. So many different applications of this and so many different lives and so many different situations just we pray, we pray to you to help us to believe you’re for our body and to live with our body for you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
