Vers. 12-20.-Chi·istianity in relation to the body. "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient," etc. It would seem that there were those in the Church at Corinth who regarded Christianity as giving them a kind of liberty to do whatsoever they wished. Some of them having left Judaism with its various restraiuts, and others pag~nism, which also had restrictions, they were too ready to push the doctrine of religious liberty, as proclaimed by Paul, far beyon<l. its limits. The apostle here states, pi!rhaps in answer to a question on the subject, that there is a limitation to Christian liberty. He says, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient." As the liberty which they seemed to covet was a liberty in relation to the gratifications of bodily appetites, he takes occasion to state certain things in relation to the body. His remarks suggest to us the relation of Christianity to the huma11 body. '\Ve observe- !. 'l'IIA'l' IT RECOG::SIZES A'l''l'EN'l'ION TO THE NATURAL NEEDS OF THE BODY AS PROPER. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats." This means the bo<ly has appetites, and there are provisions intended and fitted to satisfy them. Christianity allows man to partake or those provisions in nature necessary to satisfy and strengthen his physical nature. To act thus is to act in harmony with the constitution of nature. All animal existences act in this way. Christianity, instead of requiring you to starve the body by fa.stings, and to exhaust its energies by painful pilgrimages aI:!d self- mortifications, Sllys, "Eat and be satisfied, eat and be strong, take care of your bodies. If you choose to eat the meat offered to i<lols to allay your appetites and to iuvigorate your frames, well, eat it." Feeding the body, however, Ohristianity regards, though proper, as very temporary; both the food and tho body must perish. They are not like spit-itual existences and spiritual supplies, that have regar<l to an immeasurable hereafter. " All flesh is grass." 11. THAT l'l' RECOGNIZES INDULGENCE IN 'l'llE GRATIFICATIONS OF THE DODY AS WRONG. "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." '!'his is not a necessity of the body, liko eating and drinking, but an immoral indulgence of its propensities. Man should attend to his bodily propensiLies as reliejs, not ns gratifications. He who attends to his physical propensities iu order to get pleasure out of them, sinks lower than n brute, violates the laws of his naturt>, dugrades his being, and offendii his God. llence intemperance, whether in eating or drinking, is a moral outrage. The crime and curse of men in all ages havo been seeking happiness out of the gastric, the sexual, and other propensities of their physical being. III. 'l'HAT IT m:cou:SIZES 'l'IIE PI\OPEU 'l'UEA'l'Ml,;!,;'l' OF 'l'HE DODY AS IDENTIFYING IT WITH CHRIST. 1. ] t is a property or Christ. It is " for the Lord ; and the Loni for the body." It is not ours; we nrc its trustee~, not its proprietors; we holJ. 1t "for the 19S THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cu. v1. 1-20.
Lonl," and "·e should use it according to his directions. It is his will that it should ~e used_ by the soul t_o _com·e.1· from the extc,rnal universe quickening and hallowing 1mpress10ns _of the ~1v10e, ~nd used to express and develop the holy thoughts and purposes winch such 1mpress10ns should produce. It is to kt in God to the soul and to reveal God to onr race. 2. It is a member of Christ. "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?" If we are genuine Christians, he rcuards even, our bodies as having a vital connection with hi1c1. He had a human body, and that human body raised to heaven is the model into which our bodies shall be chanued. 1'his being so, the prostitut~?n of the body to sensual indulgence of any kind i; an mcongru1ty and an outrage. Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the 111embcrs of an harlot? God forbid. ,vhat? know ye not that be which is joined to an harlot is _one bod)'."~ ~~r two, saith ~ie, shall he one flesb. But he that is joined, unto the Lord 1s one spmt, etc. 3. It 1s a temple of Christ. '' What? know ye not t!iat ~?ur body 1s tl?c ~e~1plc of_ the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of (Ted? Chnst, by _his Spmt,_cla~ms the body as a temple, in which he is to dwell, be. revealed and worshi1,ped. It 1s his property. "Ye are bought with a price a therefore glori(y God in yo_ur body, and in your spirit, which are God's." The language here is, of course, figurative. It does not mean that there was a strictly commercial transaction in the redemption of man, a literal quid pro quo, for the thin"0 spoken of pertains to spiritual interests and relations, and not to commerce.