WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14
1 Corinthians 6:15-17
Hebrews 13:4

"Marriage is honourable…"

FORNICATION IS AN ABOMINATION

We live in an age when sexual promiscuity is being lauded rather than denounced. There are those who celebrate fornication, claiming that it is something natural for the body to do. As a result, pre-marital sex and adulterous affairs are becoming everyday affairs, so much so that it is no longer frowned upon. We see such acts being promoted on television and the internet. Tragically, some in the church have bitten the poisonous bait and followed in the world’s footsteps.

Fornication was an exceptionally huge problem in the church of Corinth. The city itself was known for its sexual promiscuity. Paul therefore felt it was necessary to warn the Corinthian Christians that fornication was an abuse of the body.

Once again, Paul started the argument from first principle by asking a rhetorical question that demanded the "yes" answer. He had earlier stated that once a person was born again, his body must be yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ. If that was the case, why should the body be yielded as an instrument for a harlot’s use? Paul answered with the strongest negative in the Greek language: "mē genoito"! Let this thought perish! May it never be!

Paul then explained that all sexual relations involved a union, that of a man and a woman becoming one flesh. This union is one that is reserved for the marriage covenant. "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled …" (Heb 13:4). When one has sexual relations with anyone outside of the marriage covenant, one is declaring sexual union with someone besides one’s spouse. For one who is not married, it is an act of rebellion against God who has not put the two together. The sin is compounded for one who is married, for it means that one has broken the marriage covenant.

THOUGHT: Marital fidelity is so lacking today.
PRAYER: Lord, help me to maintain my chastity.