You Are Not Your Own

by Chris Simmons

Frequently heard in the discussion and debate regarding abortion is the phrase “it’s my body and I can do what I want.” Is it? Without delving into to the horrors of the sin of abortion, we need to answer the question; does each one of us really own our bodies to do with as we please? May we do anything to or with our bodies that we choose?

Central to that question is whether we are created beings or not. David realized that he was a created being of God when he expressed in Psalms 139:13-15, “For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.” God reminded Isaiah the prophet that He was the One “who made you and formed you from the womb” (Isaiah 44:2). When I consider how wonderfully I’m made, like David, the only logical conclusion I can come to is that it was God who formed me from the womb and who gave me my body. Will I then argue with my Maker regarding what I will do to or with my body? To those who feel no accountability towards their Maker, Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 29:16, “You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made should say to its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” God created all men and gave us our fleshly bodies during our stay upon earth – to do with as He pleased. We are all but stewards of the fleshly bodies He created and formed for each one of us.

So, may we then do anything to or with our bodies that we please? Paul states in I Corinthians 6:18-20, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body” (ASV). The answer plain and simply is no! In the context of what we do with our fleshly bodies, Paul says “you are not your own.” We are not the masters of our own fleshly bodies to with as we please. We may not pursue the passions of the flesh and we may not use our bodies in a way that does not glorify our heavenly Father.

The Christians in Corinth had been guilty of the sexual sins of fornication, adultery, and homosexuality (I Corinthians 6:9) before they had been washed, sanctified, and justified through their obedience to the gospel (6:11) and they could no longer continue in such sins if they hoped to gain entrance in the kingdom of God. God did not give man our fleshly bodies so that we could simply live to satisfy our lusts (“the body is not for fornication”; 6:13). For that reason, we are to “flee fornication” and every other sin of the flesh and to remember that to commit such sexual sins is to sin against our own bodies (6:18). We are now, Paul says, to consider our body as “a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.” The temple is a dwelling place of deity and we should never consider using such a holy dwelling for such a profane purpose as to sinfully satisfy our fleshly lusts.

So, we are not our own! Children of God belong to God who not only gave us our bodies but provided the means of attaining fellowship with Himself, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Paul exhorts us in Romans 14:7-8, “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” I Corinthians 6:20 reminds us that we were “bought with a price” in order to enjoy fellowship with God – that price being the blood of Jesus Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God (Acts 20:28; I Peter 1:18-19). What’s left for each child of God to do? Paul simply concludes this context by commanding each of us to “therefore glorify God in your body” (6:20). Honor God through our pure and chaste handling of our fleshly bodies from God; according to His will.

It’s not my body to do to and with as I please. May I learn to exercise my stewardship of this temple with the honor, respect and glory God demands of me! May I ever resolve to not allow “sin (to) reign in (my) mortal body that (I) should obey its lusts” and to present the members of my fleshly body “as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:12-14). In Colossians 3:5, I am directed to “consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” May my singular goal be to have “Christ … exalted in my body” (Philippians 1:20).