1 Corinthians 6:15

1 Corinthians 6:15 says, Know ye 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.  Paul here continues to address fornication in the next few verses.  Evidently, this had become an issue with some of the church members at Corinth.  Paul reminded them first that as Christians they were a part of the body of Christ, and whatever they did would in effect join Christ in that action.  Since the Holy Spirit indwells us, we cannot just leave the Holy Spirit out of our lives when we are doing anything, lawful or otherwise.  If we are engaging in any activity, we have the Holy Spirit with us.  For that reason, we should never do anything that would bring dishonor to God.  Verse sixteen adds, What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.  We usually associate two becoming one flesh with marriage, but Paul here says that anytime we engage in an act of fornication that the two people involved in that act become one flesh.  Even if we want to claim that it is simply a physical act, Paul declares it to be more.  Paul adds also that as followers of Christ we involve the Holy Spirit in this act.  Verse seventeen continues, But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.  We, as born-again believers, cannot separate life into physical and spiritual aspects.  Since we are joined to Christ through the Holy Spirit, everything we do should be guided by our spiritual relationship with Christ.  If even lawful things are not always best for our witness, then those things are spiritually wrong, whether lawful in the view of the world or not and can never be viewed as acceptable for the Christian.  We involve the Holy Spirit in whatever we are doing, so must live under the leadership of the Holy Spirit at all times.  Verse eighteen states, Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.  We are to flee sexual sin, because it is a sin against our own body as well as the body of the other person.  Unlike drunkenness or gluttony, as Matthew Henry points out, we are in full control of our body when we commit fornication, and it involves an act where two people become one flesh.  That is why we are to flee this temptation.  Verse nineteen adds, 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?  Paul reminded these early Christians that their body was the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that they were no longer their own.  The belonged to God, and everything they did reflected on Him.  Salvation is a free gift to man, but for God it was given at a great cost, the death of His only begotten Son on the cross.  We, as followers of Christ, are indeed bought with a price, and since the Holy Spirit indwells us, we are not free to do whatever we desire to do.  When something is wrong in God's eyes, we are to flee from it.  Our actions should be those that keep the temple, our bodies, clean.   Verse twenty continues, For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.  Since God bought us with a price, the death of Christ on the cross, we are to live in such a way that we bring honor to God in all that we do.   Paul said we are to do this in body and spirit, which cannot be separated.  The things we do with our bodies should reflect honor to God.