1.Corinthians 6:19+20
“Do you not know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor (glorify) God with your body.”
This verse is quoted a lot around the New Year. Christian health instructors use it to motivate us to take good care of our bodies, because they are God’s dwelling place. But these verse contain so much more than fitness motivation (b.t.w. I have never been athletic or done exercising on a regular basis in my entire life. Not that I’m proud of that, but I think people can be healthy and fit even without owning a treadmill or a gym membership).
The context of 1. Cor 6 is Paul teaching the Corinthian Christians about rightful and moral living. In these particular verses he’s talking about keeping our bodies clean from sexual immorality. Now, I love digging deeper, so let me share what I found:
Our body (soma) of course means the physical being, flesh and blood, that all living creatures possess. It also means our spiritual body. In the pleural version, it was used to describe a “body”/group of warriors, often as they were captured and put into slavery. So may I be so bold and suggest that the Scripture indicates our personal body but also humanity as a whole, captured and trapped by our sinful nature, unable to fight for our freedom ourselves.
The Jewish temple was considered the dwelling place of God here on earth. It was the Holy of Holies, and the privilege of entering was reserved strictly for the Jewish high priest. Jesus Himself never entered the HoH, but as He died, the veil blocking access to this most holy place, was ripped from top to bottom, symbolizing that anybody now have access to the throne of God, because of Jesus’ work n the cross. This is when the price for our liberty was paid in full.
“We have been bought”, of course means “purchased”. But this also emphasizes that there was a price to be paid for us (in this case, the ultimate sacrifice of innocent blood shed in our place) AND that we now no longer belong to our old master – sin. The payee now has the right of possession! We are bound to Him who paid for our freedom.
“Glorify (doxa) God with your body”. Glorify or Honor means to esteem, think of, be of opinion, to suppose without proof or experience, to recognize, praise, invest with dignity, putting someone into a honorable position, to give anyone importance, to make glorious! Wow. In John’s writings “the Glory of God” is the revelation and manifestation of all that God has and is, all His goodness. We glorify God when we show and manifest His goodness and unselfish love, like Jesus did when he walked on this earth.
As we now belong to him, and the Holy Spirit dwells in is, we are already equipped to give Him back the Glory he deserves, with our body and strength, with our our soul, spirit mind. Honor your Creator by keeping His dwelling place clean and showing the world His goodness and love.
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