1 Corinthians 6:13 - Exposition

Meats for the belly, etc. The argument of the Corinthians about the indifference of eating "meats" which were merely ceremonially unclean was quite tenable. Things Levitically unclean might be essentially pure, and both food and the body which lives thereby are things "which perish in the using" ( Colossians 2:22 ). Shall destroy; shall bring to nought. This would occur when the physical body becomes a spiritual body, like that of the angels of God ( 1 Corinthians 15:51 , 1 Corinthians 15:52 ). How vile, then, is it to make a god of the belly—only to sleep and feed! Both it and them. There shall be no need for the belly when men "shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more" ( Revelation 7:16 ); and the meat alluded to is "meat which perisheth" ( Luke 15:16 ). Now the body is net for fornication, but for the Lord. The argument, therefore, which would class this sin as a matter of indifference, as was the Levitical distinction between different kinds of food, at once fell to the ground. Food was a necessity, and the stomach was formed for its assimilation. Fornication is not a venial but "a deadly sin." It is not a natural necessity, but a consuming evil. The body was created for higher ends—namely, to be a temple of God. "God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" ( 1 Thessalonians 4:7 ). And the Lord for the body. Therefore our members ought to be used "as instruments of righteousness unto God" ( Romans 5:13 ), and our bodies presented as a living, holy, reasonable, acceptable sacrifice to him ( Romans 12:1 ). The end of our existence is "to serve God here and enjoy him forever hereafter."