7 Questions About Sex, Answered by Scripture | 1 Corinthians 6:12–7:5

7 Questions About Sex, 

Answered by Scripture

1 Corinthians 6:12–7:5

Imagine you find yourself in the bustling, metropolitan city of Corinth, in the year 54 A.D. As you walk through the outdoor marketplace, you overhear a conversation between a young man named Dimitri, and an older man named Paul. 

Listening, you discover that Dimitri is a new Christian, and a bachelor. He is a single man, and up till now he’s lived what could be called a promiscuous life. The two are discussing sex and the Christian lifestyle, and Dimitri has some questions—seven, to be specific.

(Paul’s answers will be taken directly from 1 Corinthians 6:12–7:5, arguably one of the clearest and best passages on sexuality in the Bible. As we go, I’ll add my own commentary too). 

Dimitri: Paul, I know you say that Christians shouldn’t have a different attitude about sex from the world. But I have a few questions. First, didn’t Jesus say “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36)? Aren’t I free to do as I please? 

Paul: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Being a Christian takes discernment. Even if you can do something, that doesn’t mean you should. If you value your freedom, don’t throw it away. Sexual immorality enslaves!

Dimitri: But my body was created to have sex! I was born this way. It’s a biological urge. My stomach gets hungry, so I eat food. Isn’t sex the same?

Paul: “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them” (6:13a). 

In other words, before you follow every “urge” you may have, remember that God, and not your body, is the ultimate authority about what’s right and wrong.

Paul: “Yet the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.” (6:13b–14). 

In other words, you have to keep your priorities straight. Your body’s highest purpose is not to serve its own urges, but to serve the Lord, both now and, actually, forever!

Dimitri: Sex is just a physical act. If I have sex with a girl I’m not married to, does it really impact my spiritual life?

Paul: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, ‘The two shall become one flesh.’ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (6:15–17). 

In other words, there is much more spiritual meaning to what you do with your body than you realize. You are a “member of His body,” so to speak. Don’t tangle Christ’s holy body up with sexual immorality. 

Dimitri: I know sexual immorality is sinful. But it’s just like any other sin, right? 

Paul: “Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body” (6:18).

In other words, all sin is sin, but it’s not all equal. When it comes to sexual sin, run.

Dimitri: Isn’t it ‘my body, my choice?’

Paul: “Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (6:19–20). 

In other words, no. It’s not technically your body. Jesus paid for it—along with the rest of you—with His blood. You belong to Him now, so it’s His choice (which turns out to be best for you, anyway). 

#6: Okay, I’m convinced! Sex can be dangerous. I guess I should swear it off forever and become celibate, right?

Paul: “Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband” (7:1–2).

In other words, don’t swing the pendulum too far in the other direction. There is a solution that doesn’t involve a life of celibacy. It’s called marriage. And for the guy with a healthy sex drive, it’s awesome.

#7: I’ve heard that marriage means the end of great sex. Isn’t marriage where people’s sex lives go to die? 

Paul: “The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

In other words, God’s wants marriages to involve healthy amounts of sex. Avoiding sex can be a form of “defrauding” your spouse—and can open you up to sexual temptation. Both spouses have equal rights. And they both have the right to each other’s bodies.