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?
What does 1 Corinthians 6:19 mean?
Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit Paul opposes.
Key themes
Read with
Keep this verse inside 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:19
- This is the fifth argument against this sin. The Holy Spirit dwells in us; our bodies are his temples; and they should not be defiled and polluted by sin; see the note at 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 . As this Spirit is in us, and as it is given us by God, we ought not to dishonor the gift and the giver by pollution and vice. And ye are not your own - This is the sixth argument which Paul uses.
Key words
- What
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What is said in 1 Corinthians 3:16 of the saints in general, is here said of their bodies in particular.
- temple
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The Holy Spirit, in regeneration and sanctification, when he begins the good work of grace on a man, takes possession of his whole person, soul and body, and dwells therein as in his temple.
- Ghost
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" As in 1Co 3:17, he represented the whole company of believers (souls and bodies), that is, the Church, as "the temple of God," the Spirit; so here, the body of each individual of the Church is viewed as the ideal "temple of the Holy Ghost.
Context in 1 Corinthians 6
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1 Corinthians 6 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as discipline and sexuality. First Corinthians is a pastoral and doctrinal letter correcting divisions while teaching about holiness, worship, gifts, and resurrection. Read this chapter with the wider themes of the cross, church order, and holiness in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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