Topic(s):  Christian Life, Moral Issues

Bob Prichard

In an age when man prides himself on his own “liberation,” the idea that God should have any say in the matter seems outdated. True standards of morality, however, are not derived from man and his ideas, but from God. He has the final word on these matters, and if we reject what He says, we reject Him. Paul said that the commandments he shared were not from him, but from the Lord. “For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:2-3). The problem many have with this is that they want to have their own way, and make their own desires the standard. Just as the Roman world, they “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). The desire to worship the creature more than the Creator led to the vilest of sins (verses 26-32).

The will of God is the standard we must be follow. When Paul said that it was God’s will that “ye should abstain from fornication,” he used a word that has a very broad meaning, including premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality, prostitution, rape, and even lust. Sex is so powerful that it must be controlled. In its proper place in marriage, it is a wonderful thing. Outside of marriage, however, it creates havoc. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). Continuing his thought from verse 3, Paul adds “That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, Not in the lust of concupiscence [lustful passions (NASB)], even as the Gentiles which know not God” (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5). “Possess his vessel” is a polite way of saying that a man must maintain self-control, and so that he does not follow the example of the pagan world around him. The world’s standards are always much lower than God’s standards. The world uses sex to sell just about every product imaginable. We cannot live like the world and know God, however.

What we do with our bodies sexually has deep implications. Paul writes, “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. . . . 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 6:15-20). Maintaining sexual purity is a matter of the heart. Solomon said, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). The Christian must be on guard to keep his heart faithful to God.