Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
Parallel Translations
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Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
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Ether remember ye not that youre bodyes are the members of Christ? Shall I now take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbyd.
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Knowe yee not, that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
Cross-references (22)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 6:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ephesians 5:30 because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones.
- Romans 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another,
- Ephesians 4:15-16 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.
- Colossians 2:19 and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
- 1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
- Ephesians 4:12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ,
- 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
- 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
- Luke 20:16 He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”
- Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
- Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body.
- Romans 3:3-4 For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God? May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “that you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.”
- Romans 7:13 Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.
- 1 Corinthians 6:13 “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
- Galatians 2:17 But if while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!
- Galatians 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
- Ephesians 1:22-23 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
- Genesis 44:17 He said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
- Romans 3:31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
- Romans 6:2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
- Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!
- Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (19 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 15. Know ye not that our bodies are the…
15. Know ye not that our bodies are the members, etc. Here we have an explanation, or, if you prefer it, an amplification of the foregoing statement. For that expression, the body is for the Lord, might, owing to its brevity, be somewhat obscure. Hence he says, as if with the view of explaining it, that Christ is joined with us and we with him in such a way, that we become one body with him. Accordingly, if I have connection with an harlot, I tear Christ in pieces, so far as it is in my power to do so; for it is impossible for me to draw Him into fellowship with such pollution. Now as that must be held in abhorrence, he makes use of the expression which he is accustomed to employ in reference to things that are absurd — God forbid Observe, that the spiritual connection which we have with Christ belongs not merely to the soul, but also to the body, so that we are flesh of his flesh, etc (Ephesians 5:30.) Otherwise the hope of a resurrection were weak, if our connection were not of that nature — full and complete.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain A declaration of the former argument by contraries, and…
A declaration of the former argument by contraries, and the applying of it.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the…
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
Ver. 15. Shall I then take] Scipio, when a harlot was offered him, said, Vellem, si non essem imperator, I would, if I were not a general. Say thou, if I were not a Christian.
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And make them the members of a harlot] A saint cannot indeed be made the member of a harlot (saith a reverend man), because not κολλωμενος, glued or knit to any sin. Though a member of Christ and sin may fall one upon another, and touch each other; yet they are of a mouldering nature, and will not cleave together. Water and oil violently shaken together may seem to mingle, but will not continue so long; there is no coalition, because they are of diverse natures; the one remaineth water still, and the other oil.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Christ is united to the person of the believer,…
Christ is united to the person of the believer, and he is the Head of the church, which is his mystical body; so that the bodies of believers are in a sense the members of Christ, and should be used by us as the members of Christ, which we should not rend from him: but he that doth commit fornication, rends his body from Christ, and maketh it
the member of an harlot; for as the man and wife are one flesh by Divine ordination, Gen 2:24, so the fornicater and the harlot are one flesh by an impure conjunction.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain A third argument here follows: "Our bodies are the…
A third argument here follows: "Our bodies are the members of Christ, as well as our souls; that is, the union is made between Christ and us, consisting of soul and body both.
Now, shall we dispose of our bodies, the members of Christ, to so base an use? Shall our bodies, which are joined to Christ, ever condescend to so base a conjunction, as that of being joined to an harlot? God forbid that such an indignity be done by us."
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Know ye not that your bodies are the members,…
Know ye not that your bodies are the members, of Christ,.... The whole persons of God's elect were chosen in Christ, and given to him, and made one with him, their bodies as well as their souls; and both are redeemed by him, and, in union with him, are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones:
shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Signifying, that it is a most absurd, indecent, abominable, and detestable thing, that the bodies of the saints, which are the members of Christ, should be joined in carnal copulation with an harlot.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Know ye not that your bodies are…
Verse 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?] Because he has taken your nature upon him, and thus, as believers in him, ye are the members of Christ.
Shall I then take, &c.] Shall we, who profess to be members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, connect ourselves with harlots, and thus dishonour and pollute the bodies which are members of Christ? God forbid! These passages admit of a more literal interpretation. This, if given at all, I must give in a strange language.
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Membra humana, ad generationem pertinentia, vocantur Membra Christi, quia mysterium conjunctionis Christi et Ecclesiae per conjunctionem maris et faeminae indigitatur, Eph 5:32. In Vet. Test. idem valebat de membro masculino, guippe quod circumcisione, tanquam signo faederis, honoratum est. Vide Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Co 6:15-18. Know ye not that your bodies are…
1Co 6:15-18. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ — Mystically united to him, as well as your souls, if you are his true disciples, as you profess to be. Shall I then take the members of Christ — My body, which is united to him, with its members; and make them the members of a harlot — United to her, and used to gratify her sinful inclinations? Know ye not — Need I inform you; that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? But he that is joined unto the Lord — By faith and love; is one spirit with him. And shall he make himself one flesh with a harlot? Flee fornication — All unlawful commerce with women, with speed, with abhorrence, with all your might. Every sin that a man doeth — Every other sin, except gluttony and drunkenness, or every other sin that a man commits against his neighbour; is without the body — Terminates in an object out of himself, and does not so immediately pollute his body, though it does his soul. But he that committeth fornication — Or any kind of lewdness; sinneth against his own body — Pollutes, dishonours, and degrades it to a level with brute beasts; and perhaps infects and enfeebles, wastes and consumes it, which these vices have a manifest tendency to do. Inasmuch as the person who is addicted to gluttony and drunkenness sins against his own body, as well as a fornicator, and debilitates it by introducing into it many painful and deadly diseases: in this prohibition of fornication, those vices likewise are comprehended, being indeed the ordinary concomitants of it. And the way to flee whoredom, is to banish out of the mind all lascivious imaginations, and to avoid carefully the objects and occasions of committing that vice, and to maintain habitual temperance in the use of meat and drink.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Know ye not ... - This is the third…
Know ye not ... - This is the third argument against licentiousness. It is, that we as Christians are united to Christ (compare the notes at Joh 15:1 ff); and that it is abominable to take the members of Christ and subject them to pollution and sin. Christ was pure - wholly pure. We are professedly united to him. We are bound therefore to be pure, as he was. Shall that which is a part, as it were, of the pure and holy Saviour, be prostituted to impure and unholy embraces?
God forbid! - See the note at Rom 3:4. This expresses the deep abhorrence of the apostle at the thought. It needed not argument to show it. The whole world revolted at the idea; and language could scarcely express the abomination of the very thought.
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Know ye not ... - This is designed to confirm and strengthen what he had just said.
He which is joined - Who is attached to; or who is connected with.
Is one body - That is, is to he regarded as one; is closely and intimately united. Similar expressions occur in Classic writers. See Grotius and Bloomfield.
For two, saith he ... - This Paul illustrates by a reference to the formation of the marriage connection in Ger. Rom 2:14. He cannot be understood as affirming that that passage had original reference to illicit connections; but be uses it for purposes of illustration. God had declared that the man and his wife became one; in a similar sense in unlawful connections the parties became one.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Resuming the thought in Co1 6:13, "the body is…
Resuming the thought in Co1 6:13, "the body is for the Lord" (Co1 12:27; Eph 4:12, Eph 4:15-16; Eph 5:30).
shall I then--such being the case.
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take--spontaneously alienating them from Christ. For they cannot be at the same time "the members of an harlot," and "of Christ" [BENGEL]. It is a fact no less certain than mysterious, that moral and spiritual ruin is caused by such sins; which human wisdom (when untaught by revelation) held to be actions as blameless as eating and drinking [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. The nature of this last blessed correlation he…
15. The nature of this last blessed correlation he will now declare.
Know ye not—As you seem, by your easy dealing with the fornicator, not to know. Members of the mystical body of Christ—A oneness foreshadowed in the Church below, but to be gloriously disclosed in the Church of the resurrection.
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Members of a harlot—Under this awful conception (explained in next verse) St. Paul opens to his Corinthians the intense opposition of Christianity to the characteristic vice of their city.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the…
15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?] This solemn truth, that by our calling as Christians we are so closely united to Christ as to be ‘members of His Body, of His Flesh and of His Bones’ (Eph_5:30) is employed here to remind us of the restrictions placed upon our Christian liberty. Our body is Christ’s, nay it is, in a sense, a part of Christ Himself. It may not be used in violation of the laws imposed upon it from the beginning by God. Nor may it be used to the detriment of others, who equally, with ourselves, belong to Christ. And the sin here reproved leads to all kinds of misery and wretchedness, and that because (1Co_6:18) it is a violation of the eternal law of God impressed upon the human body.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) Shall I then . . .?—Having shown the…
(15) Shall I then . . .?—Having shown the great dignity which attaches to our bodies as immortal members of Christ, the Apostle asks with indignant emphasis, “Shall I take them out from that high and holy membership, and make them members of an harlot?” The double act of taking them away from their glorious union with Christ, and joining them to a base body, is implied in the Greek.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Members of Christ. We find the same metaphor in…
Members of Christ. We find the same metaphor in 1Co_12:12, 1Co_12:27; Eph_5:30. The Church is often alluded to as "the body of Christ". (Eph_1:23; Col_1:18 Col_2:19, etc.) Elsewhere the union between Christ and Christians is described by the metaphor of a tree and its branches; a building and the stones of which it is composed. (Eph_2:21, Eph_2:22) God forbid. An admirable idiom to express the real force of the original, which means, "May it never be!" (for the rationale of the Greek phrase, I may refer to my "Brief Greek Syntax," p. 135). It occurs in Rom_3:4, Rom_3:6, 31 6:15 7:7, 13 9:14 11:1, 11; Gal_2:17 Gal_3:21. The formula, which involves the indignant rejection of some false conclusion, is characteristic of the second group of St. Paul"s Epistles, but especially (as will be seen) of the Epistle to the Romans.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 15. Know ye not that your bodies are members…
15. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? This is a doctrine emphasized by Paul. Our bodies are a part of Christ's mystical body, the Lord's holy temple, designed for the indwelling of the Spirit. How sacrilegious to take a member of Christ's body and degrade it to fornication, or to any act of licentiousness! It is a duty which a Christian owes to Christ to keep his body pure. As the arm or finger has the life of the body until cut off, so we have the life of Christ until we sever ourselves from him by sinful acts.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain Know ye not that your bodies are members of…
Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? [parts of his body ( 1Co_12:27 ; Eph_5:30 ); branches of the Vine-- Joh_15:5 ] shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid . [Literally, let it never be; a phrase often used by Paul when indignantly rejecting a false conclusion.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain shall I
shall I
Paul does not invoke the authority of the seventh commandment, but appeals to the believer’s sacredness as a member of Christ.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain An earnest warning against immorality:
An earnest warning against immorality:
v. 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I, then, take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid!
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v. 16. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith He, shall be one flesh.
v. 17. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
v. 18. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
v. 19. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
v. 20. For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The apostle speaks in holy zeal, with righteous indignation, without reservation, bringing the truth in its hideous nakedness. His aim is to bring to the distinct consciousness of his readers the abominable character of the vice which flaunted its banners so shamelessly in their city; he unfolds it in all its repulsiveness, by vivid concrete presentment: Do you not know that our bodies are members of Christ? Should I, then, take away the members of Christ and make them a harlot’s members? By no means. Christ is the Head of the Church, and every believer by faith becomes a member of this one Head; he is one of the organs of that great body and is intended to function only in the interest of the Lord. Should, then, any one so far forget the dignity which is due to Christ and to His service as to make his body a harlot’s member and thus become unfaithful to his calling and unfaithful to his Lord? The very suggestion fills the apostle with horror; for how could one choose a harlot in preference to Christ? How could one alienate his affections from their proper owner and center them in such an unhallowed connection?
For fear that the Corinthians may not yet have understood him or might deliberately misconstrue his words, St. Paul amplifies still more: Or do you not know that he who joins himself to the harlot is one body with her? For, says God, the two will be one flesh, Gen 2:24. This blessing of God was intended to sanctify the legitimate intercourse of marriage. But he that breaks the ordinance of God and seeks the gratification of mere lust outside of the marriage-bond, becomes one body with one that is not his wife. But the word of the Lord stands: Carnal intercourse means unity of the bodies. Sexual union constitutes a permanent bond between the guilty parties, for the word of the Lord holds of every such union, whether lawful or unlawful, honorably true or shamefully. No presentation could portray the sin of fornication more exactly in its hideous repulsiveness than that which is here used by the apostle.
Once more he emphasizes the contrast: But he that cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with Him. A wonderful, real, lasting, and blessed union is that which the believer enters into in and by regeneration. For the act of faith establishes a bond of intimate communion with Christ, it makes the believer one in spirit with his Savior in love, not only on account of the gracious imputation of His righteousness, but also by the indwelling of His Spirit in the heart, Joh 14:20; Joh 15:4; Joh 17:23; Eph 3:17. No wonder this fact urges the apostle to repeat his urgent admonition: Flee fornication. In the case of this sin it would be foolish to stand and attempt to give battle, for here "the strongest oath is straw against the fire in the blood. " As in the case of Joseph, courageous flight is the only solution of the difficulty, Pro 6:28. And let no one deceive himself with the excuse that he is harming no one by his indulgence in this sin: Every sin which a person commits is outside of the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body. The sins against all the other commandments of the Decalogue have their aim outside of the body; if they involve the organs of the body, as in the case of intemperance, they affect and injure only the transient, perishable organs of the body, and require for their commission some means that are taken from without and are in themselves foreign to the body. But the sins against the Sixth Commandment involve violation of self, of the inmost mental desires and physical abilities; the entire body is contaminated and dishonored, not only in one sex, but in both, for the Christian religion knows no double standard.
To make the Corinthian Christians feel the weight of his argument, the apostle refers them to the well-known dignity which the bodies of the believers as such possess: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own, your own masters? "What are all the other gifts altogether," says Luther, "besides this gift, that the Spirit of God Himself, the eternal God, comes down into our hearts, yea, into our bodies, and lives in us, governs, leads, and conducts us!" Although Paul is addressing the entire congregation, he yet speaks of the body in the singular, in order to bring out once more the fact that they are all one in Christ Jesus. Each one for himself and all of them together are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who has deigned to make them His abode, to take up His dwelling-place in their hearts and in their bodies. And therefore they are no longer masters of their own bodies, to perform their own lusts and desires. According to the heathen idea, prostitution was a consecration of the body; according to the Christian idea, it is the filthiest desecration of the body. The Christians may no longer use their bodies for the gratification of their sinful passions, but are bound to employ them in doing the holy will of God. And to this end St. Paul concludes with a powerful appeal: For bought you were at a price; then glorify God in your body! We Christians were bought, delivered, redeemed, from the power of sin and the devil, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold. The price of our redemption rather was of a nature to make us stand in adoring astonishment and praise in all eternity: with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, 1Pe 1:18-19. Through this redemption we have become Christ’s very own and are to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. That is the inference of the apostle: Glorify God in your body; let all the acts of all your organs and members be undertaken with the object of increasing His honor and glory, let your body be a temple wherein each man serves as a priest to the most high God in all chastity and decency.
Summary.The apostle rebukes the Corinthian Christians for going to law with their brethren before the Gentile courts; he warns them against various sins, but especially against fornication, since their bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:15-17 To be a Christian is to be spiritually…
6:15-17 To be a Christian is to be spiritually joined to Christ in both life and death (cp. Rom 6:3-11). As a result, believers’ bodies have become parts of Christ (cp. 1 Cor 12:12-28; Rom 12:4-5). This spiritual union (cp. John 14:20; 17:21-23) means that they are not free to violate their bodies by physical union with a prostitute.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.