Higher than the Animals

Higher than the Animals
Words of Faith 5-27-25
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2025
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Study in the Land of the Bible with Dr. and Mrs. Hoy.
January 13-23, 2026
https://www.eo.travelwithus.com/tours/hl26011326h14350#eotours
Tel Aviv Pre-tour and Jerusalem On Your Own Post-tour available.
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1 Corinthians 6
[13] "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. [14] By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

Some in the Corinthian church were defending immoral lifestyles based on a few slogans. The first argument that Paul attacked was the "freedom argument" (6:12): "I am free in Christ to do anything I want." Paul clarified that freedom only extends to the point that we hurt others and ourselves, and that liberty that hurts others is not love. Liberty that becomes slavery is not love, but rather self-hatred.
Another popular slogan among some Corinthian Christians was "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food." On the surface, it does not sound much different from the popular advertisement "You gotta eat!" But the Corinthians were not thinking about drive-through hamburgers. Some of them were probably thinking about drive-through sex and had used this slogan to try to justify their immorality.
Corinth was a city known for its immorality even by ancient standards. In the ancient world, the phrase "Corinthian girl" meant a woman of loose morals or a prostitute. The word "Corinthian" became an adjective meaning "of loose morals and depraved behavior." The reputation came partly from the city's Temple to Aphrodite staffed with 1000 shrine prostitutes. The temptations were everywhere.
Some in the church had reasoned that just as "food" was pleasurable and necessary, so sexual gratification was just a natural thing, and, after all, both food and the stomach would one day be destroyed anyway. Sex and food were both just earthly needs that should be satisfied.
Some in the church at Corinth simply blended into the "Corinthian culture." You can see why Paul had to address the flaws in these arguments. He did so by drawing a sharp line between the stomach and the body.
Paul denied that what affects the body is unimportant. Paul denied the argument of a parallel between eating and digesting food as a natural process and practicing sexual immorality as a natural process. Of course, he was not denying that sex in marriage is natural and wholesome. Still, the undisciplined and unscriptural use of the body in sexual practices is clearly an offense to the very nature of our relationship with God.
This second argument defending immorality concerned "needs." "Food for the stomach and stomach for food." "God made me this way. I have needs. I gotta get my needs met." Sound familiar? This argument lowers human interaction to the level of animals, much like monkeys that greet each other by copulating.
Humans are created as moral creatures and spiritual beings. We are created for a relationship with God in Christ. We cannot separate these things from who we are created to be.
Paul was clear: The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. In this context, the body meant more than the physical frame. It referred to the whole person, composed of flesh, which is material, and spirit, which is immaterial.
The "body," therefore, is not perishable but eternal. "By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also." The Body is not meant for sexual immorality (porneia) but for union with the Lord.
The eternal nature of the body and the future destiny of the individual were made certain by Christ's bodily resurrection: "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).
What do we make of this today? These same truths speak with clarity to the "Corinthian culture" we live in today. We live in a culture that teaches sex is simply a biological need and a social form of greeting one another. The media portrays sex as a ritual of greeting that is normal on a first or second date.
The Bible teaches that we are eternal creatures, and our bodies are not made for sexual immorality. We cannot compartmentalize our "selves" from our bodies. The decisions we make with the gift of sexuality affect us in profound ways that are eternal.
The Bible teaches that sexuality is a wonderful gift through which God gives testimony of Himself and His wonder. The one-flesh union that God blesses in the covenant of marriage is a picture of the triune image of God and a revelation of the mystery of Christ and His church.
Sex is a wonderful gift from God to a married man and woman for the purpose of communication, recreation, and procreation. Only in this context of Biblical marriage are these wonderful blessings found. We are not created for immorality, but for the Lord.

Father God, help us as the church rediscover the wonder of Your gift of sexuality within the covenant of marriage. Help us honor marriage and give testimony that it is the mystery of God. Help the church share the wonder of this gift with a world that hungers for something it can never know without knowing God. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2025
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2025 Jeffrey D. Hoy.