In 1 Corinthians 6:18 Paul tells all believers to “flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.”
The same basic Greek term is used for “immorality” in both of those passages. The writer of Hebrews uses the same root word (pornos, from which we get the word pornography) for “fornicators” as he admonishes, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). The same sexual sin is condemned (implicitly or explicitly) in all three passages.
Consecration of Sexual Purity
God has provided the means for us to avoid such sexual sin through the institution of marriage. Paul says, “Because of immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2).
However, the Lord did not establish marriage as a mere preventative against immorality. He views marriage as honorable (Hebrews 13:4, 1 Peter 3.6″>6). Third, we honor marriage when we make sure it is regulated by mutual love and respect, as the apostle Peter instructs us:
You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow-heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered (1 Peter 3:7).
With the utmost sense of graciousness, love and integrity, both husband and wife should have a selfless concern for the welfare of the other. Both should be focusing on what they can give rather than on what they can obtain.
God is serious about sexual purity. Sex is wonderful and fulfilling within marriage, but harmful and destructive outside of those confines:
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor (1 Thessalonians 4.3–4″>1 Thessalonians 4:3–4).
Sexual purity is an essential part of our personal integrity. And as we will see next time, that integrity hinges on our ability to live our lives with godly contentment.
Copyright 2011, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
This article originally appeared here at Grace to You.
