ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 6 v12 - 20

OVERVIEW:

“All things are lawful” does not imply a new slavery to desires (CHRYSOSTOM), lack of self-discipline (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA) or pretending that no choices are wrong (THEODORET OF CYR). Nor does it mean anything that might go against natural law. The rational soul is given to rule the body and draw it toward its true spiritual ends (AMBROSIASTER). Having become members of the body that has Christ as its head, we must not defile the body or use it for purposes for which it was not created (CHRYSOSTOM). God finally brings to nothing what is intended primarily for the stomach (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). To worship food is to substitute one’s belly for God (NOVATIAN). If one belongs to Christ, one ought to know better than to indulge in sexual sins (CHRYSOSTOM). Treat the body as if it is risen with Christ’s body (CHRYSOSTOM, OECUMENIUS). In joining oneself to a prostitute, one becomes one body with her (AMBROSIASTER). One thereby sins both against his own body and against his wife, because the two are one flesh (OECUMENIUS).

As the soul of Jesus clung to God and became one spirit with him, so does the soul of faith cling to light and truth (ORIGEN). To be united to the Lord is to become one spirit with him (AMBROSIASTER). Christians understand that the body is a temple, not a prison (TERTULLIAN). Bring nothing defiled into this temple (NOVATIAN, SEVERIAN OF GABALA). Keep your body uncontaminated. The fornicator not only defiles his entire body, sinning against his own body and against his soul (AMBROSIASTER), but also compounds the sins of others (PELAGIUS). We who have been bought with so great a price (AMBROSIASTER, CHRYSOSTOM) must be aware of the deviousness of temptation (THEODORET OF CYR).

6:12 | Not Enslaved by Anything

PREMISED ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: All things are lawful, but that is obviously premised upon self-discipline. STROMATEIS 3.40.5.

QUALIFYING “ALL THINGS.” AMBROSIASTER: By “all things” Paul presumably means those things which are contained in the natural law and which were also lawful for his fellow apostles. It would not refer to the law of Moses, because Moses forbade many things owing to the hardness of heart of an unbelieving and stiff-necked people. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

AVOID SLAVERY TO DESIRES. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul means that if we are free to choose, then we should remain free and not become a slave to any particular desire. Anyone who orders his desires properly remains the master of them, but once he goes beyond this limit he loses control and becomes their slave. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 161.1.

SOME CHOICES ARE FLATLY WRONG. THEODORET OF CYR: Now that we are no longer under the law, we have the freedom to make choices, but we need to realize that some choices are right and others wrong. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 19.7.

6:13 | The Body Is Meant for the Lord

FOODS WILL COME TO NOTHING. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: We must restrain the belly and keep it under the control of heaven. God will finally bring to nothing all that is made for the belly, as the apostle says. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 2.5.

PRETENDING THE BELLY IS GOD. NOVATIAN: One who worships God through food is almost like one who has God for his belly. JEWISH FOODS 5.9.

RULING THE BODY. AMBROSIASTER: The body, being dedicated to God, will be rewarded with a spiritual reward for the merit of its ruler, which is the rational soul. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

NOT AN ATTACK ON THE BODY. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul is not attacking the nature of the body but the unbridled license of the mind, which abuses the body. The body was not made for the purpose of fornication, nor was it created for gluttony. It was meant to have Christ as its head, so that it might follow him. We should be overcome with shame and horror-struck if we defile ourselves with such great evils, once we have been accounted worthy of the great honor of being members of him who sits on high. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 17.1.

6:14 | Raised by God’s Power

CHRIST’S RISEN BODY AND OUR BODIES. CHRYSOSTOM: If our body is a member of Christ and Christ has risen from the dead, our body will surely follow his lead. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 16.2.

HE WILL ALSO RAISE US. OECUMENIUS: Paul did not write this because of Christ’s resurrection, which had already taken place, but because of ours, so that we might believe and silence our opponents. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

6:15 | Members of Christ

DO NOT DEMEAN YOUR BODY. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul seeks to shame the fornicator by saying that if he really belongs to Christ he ought to know better than to indulge in such demeaning behavior. He speaks in graphic terms about the prostitute in order to startle his hearers and fill them with alarm. Nothing could be better suited to strike them with horror than this expression. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 17.1.

RISE WITH HIM. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: You are all members of Christ because you have been united to him by being born again of the Spirit. You have the hope that you will rise again, just as he rose. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

FORNICATION ROOTED IN THE FLESH. OECUMENIUS: Other sins like anger and greed come from the soul, but fornication has its roots in the flesh. Paul makes special mention of it here because it was the problem which he had to deal with at the time. Fornication is not self-evidently the worst sin of all. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

6:16 | Becoming One Flesh

UNITED WITH A PROSTITUTE. AMBROSIASTER: Paul says this because the person who involves himself in contamination is united with the person with whom he involves himself. Sexual immorality makes them both one, in nature as well as in sin. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE TWO ARE ONE FLESH. OECUMENIUS: A man guilty of fornication and the impurity which comes from it insults his marriage and his wife. He sins against his own body and consequently against his wife, because the two are one flesh. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

6:17 | United to the Lord

ONE SPIRIT WITH HIM. ORIGEN: The soul of Jesus clung to God from the beginning of the creation in a union inseparable and indissoluble, as the soul of the wisdom and word of God, and of the truth and the true light. Receiving him wholly and itself entering into his light and splendor, it was made one spirit with him in a preeminent degree. This is what the apostle promises to those who imitate Jesus. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.9.3.

THE SPIRIT SHARED. AMBROSIASTER: The Spirit of God is shared between God and human beings when we are united to the Lord. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

6:18 | Shun Immorality

SHUN VILE SERVITUDE. AMBROSE: Only by a swift flight can we shun the savagery of such a rabid mistress and escape from such vile servitude. CAIN AND ABEL 1.20.

SINNING AGAINST BODY AND SOUL. AMBROSIASTER: If someone hangs himself or kills himself with a dagger, he does not sin against his body but against his soul, on which he inflicts violence. But to fornicate is a sin of the body which touches both the body and the soul. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

COMPOUNDING OTHERS’ SINS. PELAGIUS: Fornication multiplies sins because two people are involved, and both perish together. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 6.

THE ENTIRE BODY DEFILED. CHRYSOSTOM: What Paul says here obviously applies to the murderer, the covetous person and the extortioner equally well. But as it was not possible to mention anything worse than fornication, Paul magnifies the crime by saying that in the fornicator the entire body is defiled. It is a sin against one’s own self in a way that the others are not. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 18.2.

BE AWARE OF THE PERNICIOUSNESS OF EVIL. THEODORET OF CYR: Note that Paul did not say that we should hate immorality, but that we should shun it as people who are aware of the perniciousness of evil. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 198.

6:19 | A Temple of the Holy Spirit

A TEMPLE AND AN ALTAR. ANONYMOUS SYRIAC AUTHOR: The body and heart in which our Lord dwells—also because the Spirit resides there—is in truth a temple and an altar, seeing that our Lord resides there. BOOK OF STEPS 12.2.

THE BODY NOT A PRISON BUT A TEMPLE. TERTULLIAN: In the Platonic view, the body is a prison; in that of Paul, it is the temple of God because it is in Christ. ON THE SOUL 54.5.

YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN. AMBROSIASTER: Paul said this with the intention that we should keep our bodies uncontaminated, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in them. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CORRUPTING THE TEMPLE. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: The fornicator is also guilty of impiety, for by doing harm to his body he has corrupted the temple of the Holy Spirit. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

6:20 | Glorify God in the Body

BRING NOTHING DEFILED INTO THE TEMPLE. CYPRIAN: Let us glorify God and bear him in a pure and spotless body and with more perfect observance. Let those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ submit to the rule of our redeemer with the absolute obedience of servants. Let us take care not to bring anything unclean or defiled into the temple of God, lest he be offended and leave the abode where he dwells. THE DRESS OF VIRGINS 2.

BOUGHT WITH A PRICE. AMBROSIASTER: Someone who has been bought does not have the power to make decisions, but the person who bought him does. And because we were bought for a very high price, we ought to serve our master all the more, so that the offense from which he has bought our release may not turn us back over to death. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. CHRYSOSTOM: What is Paul trying to prove when he says that we are not our own? He wants to secure us against sin and against following the improper desires of the mind. We have many improper desires, but we must constrain them, and we can do so. If we could not, there would be no point in exhorting us like this. Paul does not say that we are under compulsion but that we have been bought—and bought with a great price, reminding us of the way in which our salvation was obtained. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 18.3.