Useful Bible Studies > 1 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 6
In 1 Corinthians 6:13, Paul taught that Christians should use their bodies for Christ. It would be easy to think that he was just warning them about wrong desires, especially wrong sex. It is our spirits, and not our bodies that we principally desire God to save. It is our spirits and not our bodies that can live in heaven.
But here, Paul shows that his words about the body have an even more important meaning.
Christ’s body was dead, but God brought it back to life. In fact, Christ then received a better and more wonderful type of life than he had before his death.
In the same way, God also will bring life to the bodies of his people. Although they may die, their bodies (and not just their spirits) will live again. And their new bodies will have a better and more wonderful type of life than they ever knew before (15:42-44).
Of course we must not care only about the desires that we feel in this world. Our lives here are short, and these feelings are only temporary. That is why we so often want the wrong things. We desire things to satisfy our emotions, instead of things that can help us in our relationship with God.
Today, of course, we understand that relationship most clearly in our spirits. In our bodies, we are usually more aware of emotions and of desires that have a connection with this world. But God wants to have a relationship with both our bodies and our spirits. And that relationship will never end.
Paul will write much more about this subject in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Next part: Christians belong to Christ, so they should avoid wrong sex acts (1 Corinthians 6:15-17)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 450 page course book.
© 2014, Keith Simons.