WE BELONG TO GOD AND NOT TO OURSELVES

PROCLAMATION

 “What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of The Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price;  Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words were written by the apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in the church at Corinth.  Paul began this chapter by telling them that they were wrong to take one another to court in lawsuits.  Ungodly people should not judge The Lord’s people. (1 Corinthians 6:1-6)  He also said that they were cheating each other and doing wrong and that there is no place in the kingdom of God for wrongdoers. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)  He told them that they had been set aside, washed, sanctified, and justified by The Holy Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)  He told them that they should flee from fornication. (1 Corinthians 6:13, 6:15-16, and 6:18)  He also told them that they had been united with The Lord God and they were one with Him in spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:16-17)  Then he told them that their bodies were temples of The Holy Spirit of God and that they should honor God with their bodies. 

 

APPLICATION

What Christ endured on the cross at Calvary paid the price for our sins.  In effect, He bought us and redeemed us, and now we belong to Him.  We do not belong to ourselves; we belong to The Lord God.  Our bodies are the temples of His Holy Spirit, who resides within us.  We need to behave in such a way as to honor Him.  That includes not only what we do and say to others but also how we treat our bodies and what we put in them.  We cannot live in immorality and effectively serve The Lord God.  We should live our lives in such a way as to give God glory.