“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)”
Why is it that in quoting these verses, people start out with “Know ye not”-and forget the first two sentences. As I read a book by Douglas Wilson he quotes this and goes on to say…
“All other sins are ‘outside’ the body but sexual sin is against the body. This means that such things as smoking tobacco and eating mounds of refined sugar can perhaps be argued against as forms of poor stewardship, but such ‘sins’ are not against the body. The temple of the Holy Spirit can be desecrated by fornication, but it’s not desecrated by hardening the arteries thereof.” Doug Wilson in My Life for Yours. Page 55.
This is why I like Doug Wilson so much. As John Owen refers to him as the honorable, Holy, and most reverent Douglas Wilson…I affectionately refer to him as “Dougie”. You see-this man has a good head on his shouldes but isn’t just heady. He brings to life the practicalities and has a sense of humor about it too. He is a very well balanced man-and that is certainly a likable trait.
The truth hits me like a ton of bricks. Why did my mind naturally go toward the latter of the verses and skip over the context? Though a point could be reitterated that our bodies are not our own…and we should care for them so as to glorify God through our bodies-these verses do not make a case for no smoking, drinking, or chewing. Kind of changes things a bit…doesn’t it?
you've fallen for dougie's charm, have you?
ReplyDeletehave you read any of his poetry?
i like mister wilson, too, and i admire his intelligence and wit (a mixture one can never have too much of), but i will continue to make fun of him when i feel the urge.
(please forgive me.)
the extraction of scriptural "proof" from its context for any given argument has caused many church splits and breaking of fellowship between believers.
ReplyDeletei find myself doing it from time to time.
may we guard against it.
i hereby declare this comments section mine.
ReplyDeleteMINE, MINE, MINE!!!!!
i just wanted to thank you for your post.
fondly,
Queen of Comments Section Abigail