ESOCS Devotional 17 March 2026 – Your Body is God’s Property
MEMORY VERSE: “You know that your bodies are parts of the Body of Christ. Shall I take a part of Christ’s Body and make it part of the body of a prostitute? Impossible.” 1 Corinthians 6:15 GNB.
TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 6:12-20
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
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Every believer was bought with a price – spirit, soul, and body. The price was the sacrificial offering of the incarnate Son of God, (Acts 20:28; Hebrews 9:12). It follows therefore that redeemed people do not belong to themselves any longer. They (with their bodies) belong to the One who redeemed them from a lifestyle of sinful behaviour (Galatians 2:20). By this act, the believer’s body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. However, the Spirit indwells the believer only as long as he or she behaves after the manner of the Body of Christ. No more, no less! This then means that those who commit fornication rob God of one’s own body by defiling the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. It is then advisable that when one becomes a Christian, he gives the totality of his life to the Lord (Romans 12:1-2, 14: 7). He should no longer behave in a manner that portrays selfish living – after the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 2:20).
Moreover, since the believer is now united in spirit, soul and body with the Lord, he should flee from the temptation of sexual immorality (Romans 6:12; Colossians 2:21). More explicitly speaking, as members of Christ, our bodies are now the extension of Christ in the world. Our bodies thus belong to God as a part of the spiritual Body of Christ (Romans 12:5; Ephesians 5:30). In committing fornication, one takes the Body of Christ and lays it with a harlot.
Furthermore, in the unlawful sexual intercourse of fornication outside the bond of marriage, one is bringing together into one the male and female, as they are sexually brought together in marriage. Through this act, therefore, one desecrates the law of God in reference to marriage and sexual intercourse within the bounds of marital relationships. Let’s take heed to ourselves.
Reflections
- All things are lawful (1 Corinthians 6:12). But is everything good for you as a believer?
Prayer
- Sanctify me, O Lord; help me to live chaste.
Further Reading: Genesis 37:1-36; 1 Samuel 8:1-22’ Luke 10:25-37
ESOCS Devotional 17 March 2026
