1 Cor. 6.12,13 - the glory of God in our body

The Glory of God in the Body

"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any" (1 Cor. 6.12).

"Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body [is] not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body" (1 Cor. 6.13).

Look at these two verses carefully. The first part of the second verse corresponds to [or, is because of] the first part of the first verses; the second part of the second verse corresponds to [or, is because of] the second part of the first verse.

In verse 12 Paul is talking about the body, substantiated by the following verses regarding the body. All things the body demands are natural such as eating, drinking or sex. They are reasonable and lawful (v.13). However, not every one of them is helpful nor should enslave the man.

In other words, the Christians is permitted to do many things with his body, but because he belongs to the Lord he is additionally not able to do these things, for the glory of God. Since food and stomache will eventually be destroyed, none is eternally useful.

The second part of v.12 and v.13 also agrees: the Christian is capable of rising completely above the urge of sex and yielding his whole body to the Lord because we are not brought under any power but by the power of the Holy Spirit for the Lord in our body as our body is for the Lord.

"There is difference [also] between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please [her] husband" (1 Cor. 7.34).

I find it helpful to repeat these words when we are confronting a physical addiction, temptation, lust, disease or illness: "the Lord is for the body" and "the body is for the Lord." There seems to be significant power in these words. If you are focus all your energy on these two phrases, you will have no attention to give to the addtion or sickness, and soon they will pass and be forgotten.