Verse 3 speaks about sexual immorality. Interestingly, and if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 15 to 20, there are five reasons why we should avoid sexual immorality.
So, let me read out from verse 15. It says,
“15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her?”
1 Corinthians 6.15-20
So, if we commit sexual immorality, we make our body one with this harlot.
“For the two” he says, “shall become one flesh. 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”
1 Corinthians 6.15-20
The third reason of why this is a sin is: it is sin against our own body. And verse 19 says,
“19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you”.
1 Corinthians 6.15-20
Therefore, the fourth reason is that our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit “whom you have from God, and you are not your own.”
Verse 20 says,
“20 For you were bought at a price;”
1 Corinthians 6.15-20
This is the fifth reason why this sexual immorality is a sin. He says that we are “bought at a price” and “therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s”.
This speaks about sexual immorality.
Because we are members of Christ, we are one body with the Holy Spirit. This sin is against our own body, and since we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and we are bought at a price, we should avoid this sexual immorality.
I think it is interesting to find that the Bible compares sanctification directly with sexual immorality. I believe it is one of the typical sins we commit, therefore, we can make a generalized comment as well as pointing it out as a specific sin.
The Bible speaks about sanctification which means that we shouldn’t commit, we should try to avoid, sin, including this sexual immorality, and instead, abound more and more in sanctification.
If you want to catch the mouse in the house, you must block the hole first and then try to find the mouse. And I believe that when we ‘block the hole’, we try not to commit sin; and when we ‘catch the mouse’, we make ourselves sanctified by the Word of God.
As members of Christ, we are one body with the Holy Spirit, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Since we are bought at the price, we should therefore seek for His holiness by sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
Romans chapter 6 verse 19 says,
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
Romans 6.19
There’s no middle ground, you either choose to live as slaves of uncleanness according to Romans chapter 6 verse 19, or slaves of righteousness.
You must choose either uncleanness or righteousness.
People seem to believe that they can juggle between these two and can do well doing so. But you can’t according to this Romans chapter 6 verse 19. You will end up being as slaves of uncleanness or slaves of righteousness. There’s no middle option.
Therefore, let’s present our bodies as slaves of righteousness.
If you go to verse 4 of 1 Thessalonians 4, it says,
4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour,
1 Thessalonians 4.4
I think that, as 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 speaks about sexual immorality, it reaches also to our sanctification in marriage. It shows us how to take one’s own body or partner’s body for oneself, as it says, knowing “how to possess our own vessel in sanctification and honour”.
That’s why our marriage is important.
Within the Bible, in principle, concerning marriage, it is only between one man and one woman, and this is the only relationship wherein God allows sexual intercourse.
We must regard our marriage as sanctified and also honoured, and we should pray for our children that they might be able to meet good partners in the future as well as sanctifying us both in ourselves and in our marriage.
Then, verse 5 says comparing believers in Jesus, says,
“not in passion of lust like the gentiles who do not know God”,
1 Thessalonians 4.5
In opposition to the attitude of Christians like us, there are other people who don’t do well. It talks about the gentiles “in passion of lust”.
You don’t need to just go out to find out how lustful other people are, you can just sit down and see, when you use your computer or your phone, these things just pop up to just show us how sinful the world is and the Bible points out this as the gentiles “in passion of lust”.