“Purity or Impurity” ~ ✨
There is a common saying in the Chinese culture: Abstain from “prostitution, gambling, drinking, and drugs”. Previously, this saying was directed at men. In today’s society, such vices are also common among women. Nearly two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, also spoke extensively about this kind of soul-corrupting behaviour, giving detailed instructions to believers. Among all vices, he explicitly commanded believers to flee from sexual immorality (to avoid/abstain; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22), because no other vice can damage a person’s relationship with God more than sexual immorality.
So, what is “sexual immorality”? The Comprehensive Chinese Dictionary defines it as “excessive behaviour that violates propriety and rites; as well as licentious and dissolute behaviour.” The Old Testament of the Bible defines certain types of sexual acts as defiling oneself, and those who commit them will be cursed. For example, Leviticus 18, Deuteronomy 22 (v30), 27 (vv 20-23), etc., all list these immoral acts. In the New Testament, I see the Lord setting an even higher standard of character: if a person harbours the intent to commit adultery, even without actual action, he has already been guilty (Matthew 5:28). Spiritual character lies in the intentions of the heart and the actions that spring from them. Applying the Lord’s standard, I reflect on the scripture in 1 Corinthians 6:9-20.
Regarding the sexual immorality Paul speaks of, I examine it on two levels. The first is the statement in 6:13: “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord.” This statement refers broadly to all sexual immorality, whether committed upon one’s own body or with others. For example: impurity committed by a single person, or licentious acts within or outside of marriage.
Sexual desire is a basic physiological need, like appetite, but it should only be enjoyed in a legal, reasonable, and appropriate context. As the saying goes, excessive sexual activity can cause kidney deficiency and illness in men, and sexual impurity can cause sickness in both men and women. Indulging sexual desires arbitrarily is like the Gentiles who do not know God (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5); it dishonours God and also destroys the body.
The second level is the statement in 6:18: “Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually-immoral person sins against his own body.” The immorality referred to here relates to one’s relationship with the Lord. For instance, if married male or female believers have an extramarital affair with a third party, they defile that marital relationship; on a spiritual level, it is like defiling the relationship between the church and Christ. The two becoming one flesh in marriage originally symbolizes the union and oneness between Christ and the church. God established the marital system precisely to signify this great mystery, allowing people to glimpse, through the marital relationship, the unifying love between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32).
The union of husband and wife is sacred, just as the relationship between Christ and the church is sacred. Precisely for this reason, all sexual acts outside of marriage are considered defiling, because they soil the concept of “becoming one flesh” (1 Corinthians 6:16). Therefore, when a believer engages in sexual activity with someone else outside this “one flesh” union, it is like uniting with a prostitute, defiling the oneness, and destroying the sacred meaning of the marital institution. The spiritual meaning of “sinning against his own body” is sinning against the body of Christ.
Whether within or outside marriage, single or married, indulging sexual desires is sinning against one’s own body, violating God’s original creative intent for the human body, which is to establish a family, raise godly offspring (Malachi 2:15), and reveal the perfection of God’s established marital institution. Placed within the context of the union between the church and Christ, sexual immorality is sinning against the body of Christ. Paul teaches believers to flee sexual immorality and to preserve the holiness of their bodies because the spiritual identity of the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Chinese Confucianism also teaches people to “cultivate the self and nurture one’s nature”; to cultivate the self, one must first rectify one’s inner heart. Then, the behaviour external to the body will naturally be corrected. This aligns with biblical teaching: Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” The Bible teaches believers to act accordingly, not to grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:9; John 20:22), not to cling to this “stinking skin-bag” (mortal body), nor to be like whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27). The Holy Spirit is not our guest but our master, guiding us to walk the path of righteousness all our lives. If we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
God called us to be holy; without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). If one cannot see the Lord, how can one be called a Christian? If not a Christian, how can one inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9)? The Lord saved us and gave us the right to become children of God. The status of being children is obtained by justification through faith (John 1:12), but obtaining a glorious position within God’s household is obtained through our deeds/behaviour (Romans 8:17). The sexually immoral, the impure, or the greedy one has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Ephesians 5:5). People are most adept at deceiving themselves, thinking self-deception can deceive others. One may deceive oneself and others, but one cannot deceive God.
May we live in the light of God’s holiness, cherish our noble identity as “temples of the Holy Spirit,” and live in harmonious connection with God, with others, and with truth, through love and truth. May we all remember the holy word (1 John 2:15) — Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Pursue the truly free and holy life that is in Christ.
Finally, I conclude with this poem👇🏻
“Loving You Requires Understanding” ✨
Loving reason, not loving you,
No logic can make it through.
Loving you, not loving reason,
Justice finds it harder to bear.
Loving you, and loving reason too,
Reason clears, and so do you.
You, me, He — is Love.
You, me, it — is Hindrance.
Speaking of promiscuous love as love,
You love, but reason does not approve.
✨✨💖 ~
en yan hua fang 