Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

THE FAITHFUL SHOULD FLY THE SIN OF FORNICATION

A Summary of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

After having condemned the practice among the Corinthians of going before heathen tribunals for a settlement of their difficulties, the Apostle takes up the case of those Christians who, following the example of pagans around them, practiced fornication as if it were a matter of indifference. Perhaps these deluded persons had misunderstood the doctrine of Christian liberty taught by Christ (John 8:32, 36) and preached by His Apostles (Rom. 8:2; James 2:12; 1 Peter 2:16), and so felt they were perfectly free to follow their inclinations. Whatever the reasons for their conduct, St. Paul shows that they are in error, and that the sin of fornication is an enormous crime against the dignity of their bodies which are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Ghost. 

1 Cor 6:12. All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

All things are lawful to me. When preaching at Corinth the Apostle had perhaps made use of this phrase with reference to the ceremonial observances of the Mosaic Law, telling his hearers that they were now free to eat all kinds of foods. Here he cautions that there are certain limitations to this Christian liberty, even in indifferent matters. Abusing the maxim, some of the Christians had extended it to the practice of fornication. All indifferent things, regarded in themselves, are permissible, but they are not always expedient, i.e., not profitable; and they may become positively harmful, if they bring us under their power and make us slaves. Thus one is obliged to abstain from the use of certain foods and drinks, if he foresees that these will enslave him to intemperance and gluttony. Furthermore, if an indifferent thing becomes a source of scandal it should be avoided (10:22, 23). 

1 Cor 6:13. Meat for the belly, and the belly for the meats; but God shall destroy both it and them: but the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1 Cor 6:14. Now God hath both raised up the Lord, and will raise us up also by his power.

13, 14. After having shown that there are limitations and restrictions in the use of even indifferent things, St. Paul goes on to say that fornication is by no means to be classed among things indifferent.

Meat for the belly, etc., i.e., food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.

But God shall destroy, etc., i.e., these things serve only a passing purpose in the present life, after which they will no longer exist. Very different, however, is the relation of the human body to impurity. The body was not made for fornication, but for the Lord, whose property it is by reason of the sanctifying waters of Baptism.

And the Lord for the body, in order that He may sanctify it now in this life, and raise it from the dead to have part in His glory hereafter. For God, who raised our Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, from the grave, will also raise us, Christ’s members, from the dead (Rom 8:11).

Using the stomach, then, for food in moderation is natural, and serves the purpose of nature; but the use of the body for impurity is a perversion of the natural order and turns man, both body and soul, away from God, for whom alone he was created. Fornication, therefore, under no consideration can be classed among indifferent things.

1 Cor 6:15. Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

The enormity of the sin of impurity is furthermore seen in this, that the bodies of Christians are parts of Christ’s mystical body.

Your bodies are the members, etc. Through the Sacrament of Baptism the Christian, in body as well as soul, becomes a member of Christ’s mystical body, the Church. So close is the union thus established between the faithful and Christ that the Apostle elsewhere (Eph 5:30) says: “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” In virtue of this union, not less real than mysterious, the life of grace is communicated to our souls, the seed of immortality is implanted in our bodies, making them capable of future resurrection and glorification.

God forbid then, that Christians should be guilty of a crime so monstrous as to take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot.

1 Cor 6:16. Or know you not, that he who is joined to a harlot, is made one body? For they shall be, saith he, two in one flesh.

That the bodies of fornicators become members of harlots is now proved from the testimony of God speaking through Sacred Scripture.

For they shall be, etc. These words, quoted from Gen 2:24, were uttered by Adam under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV., De Sacr. Matr.) with regard to the union between husband and wife in matrimony. Illicit carnal intercourse between man and woman effects the same relationship as the use of marriage, because the two acts belong to the
same species (St. Thomas). Therefore the fornicator and a harlot become two in one flesh.

1 Cor 6:17. But he who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit.

As the members of a fornicator become the members of a harlot in virtue of the union that is established by reason of illicit carnal intercourse, so the members of the Christian’s body, as instruments of his soul, become members of Christ on account of the union which faith and charity effect between the soul and Christ (St. Thomas). Since, then, the faithful are one in
spirit with Christ they should practice holiness and purity of body and soul.

1 Cor 6:18. Fly fornication. Every sin that a man doth, is without the body; but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body.

Fly fornication. So great is the evil of impurity that we must avoid it at all cost. The Apostle says “fly,” because, as St. Thomas and the Fathers teach, the vice of impurity is to be overcome not by resistance, but by flight.

Every sin that a man doth, etc. Another reason for fleeing from this sin is that, more than any other, it dishonors and degrades the human body; for so enslaved does man become by it that he is totally occupied and absorbed in its pursuit, and can give it up only with greatest difficulty (St. Chrys., Theod., Estius, etc.). Others explain thus: All sins except impurity are either spiritual, like pride, hypocrisy and the like; or tend to some external object or end, as the glutton tends to food, the drunkard to drink, the avaricious to money and possessions, etc. But the fornicator sins only against his own body and that of his partner who becomes one with himself (St. Aug., Comely, etc.). Still other authors think the Apostle is exaggerating here, and means to say that most other sins which a man commits are without the body. This last opinion seems too much opposed to the evident meaning of St. Paul’s words.

1 Cor 6:19. Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?

Still another potent reason for flying the sin of impurity is that the bodies of Christians are temples of the Holy Ghost; to violate them is to violate the dwelling-place of God’s Holy Spirit.

The body of a Christian is said to be the temple of the Holy Ghost because it is the dwelling-place of the soul and the instrument of the soul in the exercise of virtue; and the soul of a just man is the special habitation of the Holy Ghost through the latter’s personal presence, through sanctifying grace and charity.

The Holy Spirit, then, dwells primarily in the soul and secondarily in the body, having been given us by God the Father. Consequently it follows that the Christian’s body and soul do not belong to himself, but are the property of their divine tenant, the Holy Ghost, who abides in them and has consecrated them to His own service.

1 Cor 6:20. For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.

You are bought, etc. Literally, “You were bought,” etc. The Holy Ghost dwelling in the soul and body of the just, as in His temple, is in rightful possession of His own property; for Christians have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18, 19), and are consequently the property of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Glorify and bear God, etc. Since the bodies of the just are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and therefore of the Most Holy Trinity, the faithful should not only keep themselves free from defilement, but should glorify God in the positive practice of virtue.

The words and bear (Vulg., et portate) should be omitted, and “therefore” inserted in their place, according to the best MSS.