In verse 18, Paul uses the Greek word porneia, which refers to a broad range of sexual sin. To flee from sexual immortality means more than simply avoiding sex with someone we aren’t married to. Paul uses the word flee again. Flee is a word used when talking about leaving a burning building. He is telling us to get away and stay as far away from it as we can. Sex itself is not bad. It’s used to powerfully bond a husband and wife together in marriage. But outside of the bonds of marriage, sex is very destructive. This means we must guard not only our bodies, but also our minds and hearts. We must be careful about what we watch, what we listen to, whom we date, etc.

God’s grace is big enough to cover anything. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that we are a new creation in Christ. The thing you must remember is never to see God’s grace as an excuse to sin, as the Corinthians did. If we truly know the Lord, and the Holy Spirit is living inside us, we will want our desires to line up with His. We will want to honor the Lord with all our being. That includes pursuing purity in our hearts, minds and bodies. We must see our purity as something worth fighting for because of who we are in Christ.

What does it mean for our bodies to be a temple of the Holy Spirit?