Add parallel Print Page Options

Avoiding Sexual Sin

12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.”[a] 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 6:16 Gen 2:24.

Morality in Sexual Matters

12 Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not allow anything to control me. 13 Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will make them both unnecessary. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 God raised the Lord, and by his power he will also raise us.

15 You know that your bodies belong to the Messiah,[a] don’t you? Should I take what belongs to the Messiah[b] and unite them with a prostitute? Certainly not! 16 You know that the person who unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her, don’t you? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[c] 17 But the person who unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

18 Keep on running away from sexual immorality. Any other[d] sin that a person commits is outside his body, but the person who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don’t you? You do not belong to yourselves, 20 because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 6:15 Or Christ
  2. 1 Corinthians 6:15 Or Christ
  3. 1 Corinthians 6:16 Gen 2:24
  4. 1 Corinthians 6:18 The Gk. lacks other