^1 Corinthians 6:19,20 - Glorify God in Your Body

1 Corinthians 6:19 - Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,

1 Corinthians 6:20 - for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. -- World English. 

AT the opening of the new year, what lesson could be more important to us than this one, that we are not our own, but belong to another; that we are not therefore, to seek to please ourselves, but to please Him; nor to seek to serve self, but to serve Him; nor to seek to obey self-will, but on the contrary His will? This means holiness in the most absolute and comprehensive sense of the word (not only separation from sin to righteousness, but separation from self to the will of God in Christ). -- Adapted excerpt from "Ye Are Bought With A Price" ZWT, February 1, 1897 (Work is deemed in the public domain in the United States).

Paul emphasizes that a believer's body should be revered and respected because within that body dwells God's Holy Spirit. Paul likens the body to a temple, a dwelling place. A temple in the Bible is usually considered sacred, holy, and thus, for the believer in Christ, his physical body should also be consided as Holy, being where God's Holy Spirit dwells. Thus, God's Holy Spirit is integrated, not just with the spirit of the child of God, but with his physical being.

Paul further shows that this means that the believer has been purchased by God by the sacrifice of his , and thus even his body of flesh belongs to God. In effect, the purchase price of Jesus' body makes the believer's body no longer a servant of sin, but a servant of righteousness. Thus, the believer should submit his body into obedience to God's righteousness, seeking to do God's will rather than the will of the flesh.

Therefore, because of Christ's redemption, the new creature should demonstrate in his flesh a manner of living that is harmony with God's spirit with him. The flesh will no longer be demonstrating the works of the flesh, but rather the fruit of the spirit. -- RRD

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In a general sense, all life in God's creation belongs to God. The apostle, however, is speaking of the new creature in Christ, and of how the new creature was purchased with a price, the price of the suffering of the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all. It is a reference to the heart ambitions of the new creature as belonging to God through Christ. The world has not yet been regenerated, and have not yet received God's spirit and thus does not appreciate Jesus' sacrifice for them. But the new creature in Christ can appreciate such, and thus realizes that they are not their own as the rest of the world, and that need to submit to the spirit of God through Christ. Doing so does not mean that we no longer make any mistakes in the flesh, but it does mean that our flesh will reflect the will of God as led by His Spirit. Submission to God's Spirit dwelling in our body of flesh enables the flesh to no longer be dominated by sin. -- RRD

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Sadly, many of God's children may feel that the influence of sin and evil is so great in bodies, that there is no way that such can be overcome. However, we should realize that we have been purchased through the grace of God through the blood of Jesus. We are no longer our own, but our life belongs to Christ, and, although we may fail in the flesh, he gives us victory in the spirit. (Galatians 3:3) We should not expect to be perfected in the flesh in this present age, but in the spirit we are being brought to perfection in faith and love, as well as all the fruits of the spirit. Fruit, however, has to be cultivated; the fruitage is not geneally realized in single moment, but is developed over a lifetime in this age. The fruitage will certainly greatly become demonstrated in our flesh. "It is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure." But if we seek perfection of the flesh in this age, we will fail. Indeed, while in this age, we are sinless in the spirit, we do not expect that we will be totally without sin until the resurrection day. -- RRD

Related Scriptures:

Psalm 100:3

Matthew 5: 16

Matthew 20:28

John 15: 8

Acts 20: 28

Romans 14:7

Romans 14:8

Romans 14:9

1 Corinthians 7: 23

1 Corinthians 10: 31

2 Corinthians 5:14

2 Corinthians 5:15

Galatians 3: 13 

Philippians 1: 9-11

1 Timothy 2: 5, 6

Hebrews 9: 12

1 Peter 1: 18 

1 Peter 2: 9

Revelation 5:9

Revelation 14:4,5