however degrading and ruinous to the health, even drunken- ness, is external to the body, that is, external to its life. But fornication, involving as it does a community of life, is a sin against the body itself, because incompatible, as the Apostle had just taught, with the design of its creation, and with its immortal destiny.
19. What ! know ye not that your body is the tem- ple of the Holy Ghost (which is) in you, which ye have of Godj and ye are not your own ?
There are two things characteristic of a temple. First, it is sacred as a dwelling-place of God, and therefore cannot be profaned with impunity. Second, the proprietorship of a temple is not in man, but in God. Both these things are true of the believer's body. It is a temple because the Holy Ghost dwells in it ; and because it is not his own. It belongs to God. As it is a temple of the Holy Ghost, it cannot be pro- faned without incurring great and peculiar guilt. And as it belongs in a peculiar sense to God, it is not at our own dis- posal. It can only be used for the purposes for which he de- signed it.
20. For ye are bought with a price : therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.*
Ye are bought. The verb is in the past tense, rjyopd<j.^7]T€^ ye were bought^ i. e. delivered by purchase. The deliverance of men from the power and condemnation of sin was not effected by power or by truth, but by a ransom. We were justly held in bondage. We were under the penalty of the law, and until that penalty was satisfied, we could not be de- livered. The blood of Christ is our ransom, because it met all the demands of justice.
The proprietorship in believers asserted at the close of the preceding verse, does not arise from creation or preservation, but from redemption. * Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price,' Rom. 6, 17. Gal. 3, 13. Eph. 3, 13. Acts
* The last clause of this verse is omitted by all the modern editors from Griesbach down. They are not found in the MSS. A. B. C. D. E. F. 0., nor in several of the ancient versions.
I. CORINTHIANS 6, 20. lOY
20, 28. The price of redemption is the blood of Christ, Matt. 20, 28. Rom, 3, 24. Eph. 1, 7. 1 Pet. 1, 18. 19, and every where where the subject is spoken of in Scripture. Therefore^ i. e. because redeemed, and because redeemed at such a price ; glorify God^ i. e. honour him, and so act as to cause him to be honoured by others. In your body as a temple consecra- ted to his worship), and employed only in his service.
The following words, and in your spirit^ which are God^s, may have been added, because the body alone is not the object of redemption, and therefore the obligation of the redeemed to be devoted to the service of God pertains also to the soul. As however these words are not found in the great majority of the oldest manuscripts, most modern editors omit them.