flee immorality | Stephen Nielsen

Recently, as I was meditating on 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, I suddenly realized, by the wording of verse 19, that since my body is a temple of the Holy Spirt, that that has a great significance to my purity.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

The fact that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in me, is the reason why I sin against my body when I am immoral. Let my explain. The devil and sin are always directed in some way against the Holy Spirit (God) and God’s dealings with me. Since my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, that fact in itself compels sin and Satan to come against me, because they hate God and God in me.

Now it seems to me that if we can really understand what it means that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit—that is, if we really understood the significance of that relationship, and also what effect our sin has on it, we would be well on our way to achieving greater victory over sin, especially over the sins of immorality.

I wish I could find the little book I read a long time ago, My Heart Christ’s Home. It might be stored away in some box. It has a lot to say about this issue—that since He lives in me, it would be good for me to purify my heart and life. The sin of immorality so affects my body (the temple) and also my relationship with Christ in me. Romans 6:23 is so true in this case. The wages of sin is death—death to my relationship with God; death to my spirituality. When I act in an immoral way this is what happens.

I am not married, but I know how a clean house can affect a marriage. I know that every case is different, but can’t you just imagine the difference a clean house makes. If a house is clean and without odors and with fresh air throughout and even has the sweet aroma of flowers—oh, how that will affect a relationship.

And it is also true in our relationship with God. The affects of sin leaves a bad odor and dead air in the temple (where God dwells). But the removal of sin by repentance cleans out and airs out the temple, and thus also by continual fellowship with Him a sweet aroma will flow through the temple and draw you closer to Him.

Please remember, as I should, that Christa lives in us and we ought to keep this temple (our body) clean and pure, so as to glorify God in us and in all we do.

I have been reminded recently of this truth—that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And because of this fact, we ought to flee from all that defiles this temple, mainly sexual immorality.

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
I Corinthians 6:18-20

If any man is serious about his own purity, this passage is one of the best to memorize and take it to heart. I found that it helps in my studying of it to go over it backwards. Let me show you.

From verse 20. God bought me with the price of His own blood. So, He owns me. I am His property. Hence, He has given me access to this body, and I am its steward. And when I am found to be a good steward, I am honoring Him.

From verse 19. Here is more about this body: I can call it my body because God has purchased it for me and given it to me. The purpose of this body is to house God’s Spirit. My body is called a temple, the temple where His Holy Spirit dwells. He lives in me.

From verse 18. Now in light of this truth, I must do all I can to take care of this body. But there is a grave danger to it that I must be aware of and guard against. It is sexual sin. All other sins are outside of the body, but immorality is a sin against the body (and who knows how many ways it goes against my body). Therefore, I must flee from this sin. It is the only way to fight against it. I cannot try to fight with it and overcome it. If I try that, it will always deceive me and trap me. No, nothing I do will work to destroy this sin. I must run from it. That is the only way of escape. It is the only way to keep my body (the body that God gave me) clean and pure and honoring to Him.