1 Corinthians 6:15 – Members of Christ

1 Corinthians 6:15
¹⁵ Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid.

The context of this passage concerns sexual immorality. However, in the middle here Paul sets up the argument with this statement. “Don’t you know that your bodies are the members of Christ?” Are you not familiar with this important aspect of your Christian life? To me this question comes across like duh, don’t you know already. This is something Paul expects us to know.

Paul was really just setting up his argument. And it’s a good question. Because how is our physical bodies members of Christ? He is asking this question to individuals not the whole church as the body of Christ. Don’t you know that your body is a member of Christ? “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Ephesians 5:30).

The Greek word for “members” is melos. It simply means limbs of the body. It doesn’t mean we are members of a club. It literally means “do you not know that you are the arms and legs of Christ.” We are the physical body of Christ in the earth. Jesus is the head. We are His hands and feet to continue His work here on earth.

Jesus dwells in us. We have the mind of Christ. He goes where we go. He is Spirit and we provide the physical body to act as His hands and feet. That’s why Paul goes on to say if we His hands and feet why would we want to become hands and feet of someone else such as a prostitute.

^“For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20). We want our bodies which are limbs of Christ in the earth to glorify God. We want people to see God in us. That doesn’t mean we will have perfect behavior according to the standards of religious folk. It doesn’t mean God condemns us for bad behavior. But through our words and deeds people will see the real Jesus. And that’s the most important thing.