Nougat 15

Dear siblings, today’s Holy Nougat invites us to think about our bodies in relation to our spirituality.

“for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This is written to a people grappling with sexual immorality in their society. Please note, this immorality existed only in the Christian social fabric, and not elsewhere as prostitution seemed to have played an important role in Corinthian religious practices. There is little consensus on the roles of the prostitutes in the outworking of Aphrodite worship; but several seem to have been volunteers or gifted by others as part of their offering to the goddess. It was normal and acceptable in the century prior to the spread of the gospel.

My theory is that some new believers would have felt that it was acceptable and perhaps even helpful to thus offer their own bodies in service to God (especially when it was a sign of reasonable service! This may incline us to reread Romans 12:1 quite differently eh). Prostitution however, had never been acceptable as worship in Jewish tradition and was thus prohibited to this new community of believers. And, to help them understand the ‘why’, Paul explained that sexual sin affects our own bodies as well as our spiritual relationship with Jesus (see verse 18.) He thus reinforced the point with the reminder that our sins, outside of Jesus’ salvific work, are punishable by death; hence our bodies are precious and totally valuable to God.

How do we respond? – by honoring our God with our bodies. Not with sexual acts to all and sundry; but by refraining from cultic or commercial sexual acts! (So we note that the next chapter follows up with sexual intimacy in marriage.) A point for our consideration then is, ‘How much do we think our bodies are worth to God, and how do we affirm the sacrifice?’ Do I dare suggest that this is not only about engaging in sexual acts in our time; but could also be about what we put in and on our bodies?

My dear siblings in the faith, it’s begins with what the eyes, ears and the mind perceive long before we get physical. So, indulging in pornographic films helps to diminish the high price paid for those persons’ bodies by Jesus. It’s about choosing to abstain from listening to content that diminishes and demeans others, both sexually and otherwise. Let’s value our bodies as Christ did, taking care to affirm that others are equally as valued to Jesus.

—

May all we seek be found in Christ