January 16, 2024 

Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Daily Lectionary:Ezekiel 38:1-23; Romans 7:1-20

Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside of the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. What you do with your body matters. At a base level, this makes sense. If I eat well, sleep enough, bathe, brush my teeth, and so on, my body should continue to work well enough. Take care of your body and your body will take care of you. But St. Paul is getting at something a little deeper here. He has been warning the Corinthians (and all of us) about the dangers of misusing our bodies sexually. His comment about sinning against our own bodies means that while murder and theft directly hurt people outside of ourselves, sexual immorality defiles our body. The intimate gift of sexuality is corrupted, as is the body and mind of those who commit sexual immorality. But why does that matter? What I do with my body surely doesn’t affect others that much, does it? 

St. Paul argues rightly that our actions towards and with our own bodies have drastic effects. He gives a few layers of proof here. Paul begins with this: your body, dear Christian, is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In Baptism, the Holy Spirit enters in and grants you faith then and sustains your faith going forward. Second, you have been made part of the Body of Christ, the Church. If one part of the body is hurt, sick, or broken, how well will the rest of the body fare? Not well. As part of the body of Christ, the church, we take care of ourselves in order to better care for others. Finally, Paul hints at the Incarnation. Bodies are so important that the Son of Man took on human flesh to enact the world’s salvation. Jesus redeemed living in a human body. Jesus then suffered and died. The blood He shed, the death He died, was the price paid to buy us out from under the power of sin, death, and the devil. After His death, Jesus rose from the dead, in the same body He had before His death, with the nail marks and spear wound still in His flesh. Christ’s resurrection is the precursor to our own resurrection. And like our Lord, we will be resurrected with the same bodies we have now. The gift of the body that God gives upon our conception will remain with us in eternity. So glorify God in your body, knowing that sins are forgiven in Christ and we are no longer bound to sin but to Christ Jesus! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

But all of that was washed away- immersed and drowned forever. The water of your Baptism day restored whatever old Adam and his sin destroyed and all our sinful selves employed according to our nature. (LSB 596:3)

-Deaconess Emma Heinz is the Registrar for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

The Lutheran Reader’s Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God’s Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.