1 Corinthians 6:15-17

Because believers are united to Christ, their bodies must not be joined to sin.

Union with Christ means the believer's body belongs to Christ, making sexual immorality a contradiction of that sacred union.

1. 6:1-8 Paul rebukes believers for taking one another before unbelieving courts. He argues that the saints will judge the world and angels, so they should be able to handle ordinary disputes within the church. Their lawsuits already reveal defeat, and they should rather suffer wrong than defraud one another.
2. 6:9-11 Paul warns that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God and lists representative sins that characterize such unrighteousness. He then reminds the Corinthians that some of them once lived this way, but they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
3. 6:12-14 Paul addresses Corinthian slogans about freedom and bodily appetite. He counters by teaching that not everything permissible is beneficial, that believers must not be mastered by anything, and that the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, who will also raise the body.
4. 6:15-20 Paul argues from union with Christ, Genesis covenant language, and temple theology. Believers’ bodies are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit. Therefore they must flee sexual immorality and glorify God in their bodies, because they have been bought with a price.

• Paul's teaching does not portray the body as sinful but affirms its importance in God's design and redemption.
• The passage should not be used to promote shame about the body but to highlight its sacred connection to Christ.
• The concept of one-flesh union emphasizes the seriousness of sexual relationships rather than reducing them to merely physical acts.
• Union with Christ does not remove moral responsibility but deepens the call to holiness.
• Do not interpret Paul's teaching as denying the goodness of the body.
• Do not treat sexual sin as unforgivable or beyond the reach of grace.
• Do not isolate sexual ethics from the doctrine of union with Christ.
• Do not interpret 'one flesh' as merely physical without relational or covenantal significance.
• Do not reduce Paul's argument to moral rules detached from gospel identity.

• Believers must understand their bodies as belonging to Christ.
• Sexual immorality contradicts the believer’s union with the Lord.
• The gospel reshapes how Christians view sexuality and physical relationships.
• Holiness involves honoring God in both spiritual and bodily conduct.
• Union with Christ provides both motivation and power for purity.

• Covenant Significance : The chapter presents the church as a holy people who must handle internal matters in a way fitting for those destined to reign and judge with Christ. It also frames the body in covenantal terms. Believers do not own themselves, but belong to God by redemption, indwelling, and union with Christ. Therefore bodily conduct is covenantally significant.
• Old Testament Foundation : Genesis 2:24
• Old Testament Foundation : Daniel 7:22
• Old Testament Foundation : Exodus 19:5-6
• Thematic Parallel : Romans 6:12-13
• Thematic Parallel : Romans 12:1
• Thematic Parallel : 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
• Thematic Parallel : Ephesians 5:3-8
• Thematic Parallel : 2 Corinthians 6:16