Moral Responsibility

KEY VERSE: “Ye acre not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” —I Corinthians 6:19,20

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: I Corinthians 6:9-20

THE SIN OF carnality as reflected in the spirit of division among the brethren is one of the main points in Paul’s letter. The verses cited for today’s lesson, relate to immorality which the apostle learned existed in the Corinthian church. “Your glorying is not good” (I Cor. 5:6), he wrote, indicating that perhaps they took pride in their false sense of brotherly love which was causing them to tolerate such a condition.

In the case of one offender In particular, whom Paul had called to their attention, he directed that the church put him out from their fellowship, or as Paul put it, “deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (I Cor. 5:5) Paul spoke of this proper action as the purging out of leaven’ in their midst. ‘Leaven’, in the Scriptures, is always used as a symbol of sin in one form or another, never as a pure and whole some influence.

That immorality should exist among a congregation of the “sanctified In Christ Jesus” (I Cor. 1:2) seems strange, but perhaps not when we take into consideration the former habits of some in Corinth who had accepted Christ and attached themselves to his people. The Grecians in Corinth were heathen worshippers—Venus was their goddess. One historian wrote, “The worship of Venus here was attended with shameful licentiousness.” Since immorality had been part of their former religious worship, perhaps it would not at first be viewed by some of the brethren in Corinth with the same degree of disdain as it otherwise would have been. But it was contrary to the will of God, and Paul took drastic steps to correct the disorder.

Nevertheless, this inflexible stand against wrong was taken by Paul in love. He reveals this in his second letter to the same church. (II Cor. 2:1-11) Paul was planning to visit these brethren, and he wanted nothing to mar the joy of the occasion. He commended the church for having taken the action against the wrongdoer which he had urged. But he considered that now this brother had learned his lesson, and to avoid overburdening him with sorrow, he now suggested to the church that he be forgiven. If the church took this action, Paul explained, he would join them in it, believing that this also would be the attitude which would be taken by Christ. We here see, not only that Paul wanted wrongdoing to be corrected, but also desired the wrongdoer to be saved.

Paul wrote, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God?” (I Cor. 6:19) Edifices called temples were well-known to the ancients, both Jews and Gentiles. In Israel, the Temple, which took the place of the temporary building known as the Tabernacle, was the meeting place between God and his people. It was looked upon by the devout of Israel as a sacred, holy place, and the faithful among them endeavored to keep it that way. Time and again, however, under the rulership of wicked kings, the Temple became defiled by idol worship set up within its very walls.

The Temple picture is a symbolism used where Paul refers to the fleshly body of each believer as a ‘temple’, the dwelling place of God through his Holy Spirit. This is in keeping with the teachings of the Word that each disciple of Christ is also his ambassador, and occupied in the “ministry of reconciliation.” (II Cor. 5:18) Paul wrote, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” (vs. 19) Those who are called are brought to God through Christ by his ambassadors. Thus they are as ‘temples’, through whom God meets those who are drawn to Christ.

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