There are many doctrines today that suggests that how we live does not matter.  Sam Morris, a Baptist preacher, once said, “We take the position that a Christian’s sins do not damn the soul.”  Another denominational preacher, by the name of Bill Foster, preached, “If I killed my wife and mother and debauched a thousand women, I couldn’t go to hell—in fact, I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to.”  These statements are made due to the misguided doctrine that says a Christian cannot fall from grace, and teach that how one lives does not matter.

The Bible paints a different picture.  We learn from it that God, being impeccably pure, can have no fellowship with sin (1 John 1:5-7); thus, we cannot have fellowship with Him if we allow sin to reign in us.

Romans 6:12-13 (ESV)
¹²  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

We have a choice.  We control whether we live in sin or not.  Paul began Romans six by asking the question, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”  Sam Morris, Bill Foster, and the rest of their denominational allies, would answer yes.  Paul answers, “God forbid” (Romans 6:2).  He knew that sin defiles us, and renders fellowship with God impossible.

The saints at Corinth thought they could live any way they wanted, including committing sexual immorality, and it would have no effect upon their souls.  Why did they think that?  It was because to them sex was an act of worship by which they were serving the Greek goddess, Aphrodite.  However, if they committed fornication, simply for physical fulfillment, without giving any thought to Aphrodite, it was the same as fulfilling the physical need of hunger by eating meat.  Since Paul taught them they could eat meat, it must also be okay to engage in sexual activity.  How did Paul address their misconception?

1 Corinthians 6:13 (ESV)
¹³  “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.      

Paul is teaching us the importance of our bodies.  God has plans for them.  Our bodies are going to be changed from mortal to immortal, and we will live in them with God in eternity.  Paul tells us that just like God raised the Lord, He is going to raise us also (1 Corinthians 6:14).  But, there is more.  Our bodies are members of Christ (ver. 15).  As Christians, we make up the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23).  If we continue in sin, we defile a part of Christ’s spiritual body.  This is why Paul told the Corinthians, in the previous chapter, that the man guilty of fornication had to be disciplined.  Just like a little leaven leavens the whole lump, a little sin can corrupt an entire local church.  What was Paul’s solution?  “Flee sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18). 

Paul closes 1 Corinthians 6 by emphasizing that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (vers. 19-20).  How can anyone believe that how we live in our present bodies does not matter?  It does!  Whether it is by the act of fornication, or some other form of sin, if we continue in it, it will result in condemnation, and the grace of God will not be able to help us.  Let us follow Paul’s teaching instead, and, in all things, glorify God in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:20).        

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.