Flee From Sexual Immorality: What Does 1 Corinthians 6:18 Mean?

1 Corinthians 6:18 reads, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” King James Version (KJV)

Translation1 Corinthians 6:18
ESVFlee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
NASBFlee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.
NIVFlee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
NLTRun from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.

Also, see the meaning of Overcome Evil With Good in the Bible.

Flee From Sexual Immorality: Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

6:12-20 Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast.

But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, therefore is never to be made an instrument of sin.

It is an honour to the body, that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead; and it will be an honour to our bodies, that they will be raised. The hope of a resurrection to glory, should keep Christians from dishonouring their bodies by fleshly lusts.

And if the soul be united to Christ by faith, the whole man is become a member of his spiritual body. Other vices may be conquered in fight; that here cautioned against, only by flight. And vast multitudes are cut off by this vice in its various forms and consequences.

Its effects fall not only directly upon the body, but often upon the mind. Our bodies have been redeemed from deserved condemnation and hopeless slavery by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. We are to be clean, as vessels fitted for our Master’s use.

Being united to Christ as one spirit, and bought with a price of unspeakable value, the believer should consider himself as wholly the Lord’s, by the strongest ties. May we make it our business, to the latest day and hour of our lives, to glorify God with our bodies, and with our spirits which are his.

Also, see the meaning of No One Has Seen God in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 6:18 | Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Flee—The only safety in such temptations is flight (Ge 39:12; Job 31:1).

Every sin—The Greek is forcible. “Every sin whatsoever that a man doeth.” Every other sin; even gluttony, drunkenness, and self-murder are “without,” that is, comparatively external to the body (Mr 7:18; compare Pr 6:30-32).

He certainly injures, but he does not alienate the body itself; the sin is not terminated in the body; he rather sins against the perishing accidents of the body (as the “belly,” and the body’s present temporary organization), and against the soul than against the body in its permanent essence, designed “for the Lord.”

“But” the fornicator alienates that body which is the Lord’s, and makes it one with a harlot’s body, and so “sinneth against his own body,” that is, against the verity and nature of his body; not a mere effect on the body from without, but a contradiction of the truth of the body, wrought within itself [Alford].

Also, see the meaning of They Will Know Us By Our Love in the Bible.

Daniel Isaiah Joseph

Daniel's seminary degree is in Exegetical Theology. He was a pastor for 10 years. As a professor, he has taught Bible and theology courses at two Christian universities. Please see his About page for details.

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