Verse 18. "Flee fornication." - Abominate, detest, and escape from every kind of uncleanness. Some sins, or solicitations to sin, may be reasoned with; in the above cases, if you parley you are undone; reason not, but FLY!
"Sinneth against his own body." - Though sin of every species has a tendency to destroy life, yet none are so mortal as those to which the apostle refers; they strike immediately at the basis of the constitution. By the just judgment of God, all these irregular and sinful connections are married to death. Neither prostitutes, whoremongers, nor unclean persons of any description, can live out half their days. It would be easy to show, and prove also, how the end of these things, even with respect to the body, is death; but I forbear, and shall finish the subject with the words of the prophet: The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not; wo unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Verse 19. "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost" - What an astonishing saying is this! As truly as the living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle, and in the temple of Solomon, so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls of genuine Christians; and as the temple and all its utensils were holy, separated from all common and profane uses, and dedicated alone to the service of God, so the bodies of genuine Christians are holy, and all their members should be employed in the service of God alone.
"And ye are not your own?" - Ye have no right over yourselves, to dispose either of your body, or any of its members, as you may think proper or lawful; you are bound to God, and to him you are accountable.
Verse 20. "Ye are bought with a price" - As the slave
who is purchased by his master for a sum of money is the sole property of that master, so ye, being bought with the price of the blood of Christ, are not your own, you are his property. As the slave
is bound to use all his skill and diligence for the emolument of his master, so you should employ body, soul, and spirit in the service of your Lord; promoting, by every means in your power, the honour and glory of your God, whom you must also consider as your Lord and Master.
There are strange discordances in MSS., versions, and fathers, on the conclusion of this verse; and the clauses kai en tw pneumati umwn, atina esti tou qeou, and in your spirit, which is God's, is wanting in ABC*D*EFG, some others, Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, and Itala, and in several of the primitive fathers. Almost every critic of note considers them to be spurious. Whether retained or expunged the sense is the same.
Instead of price simply, the Vulgate and some of the Latin fathers, read, pretio magno, with a great price; and instead of glorify, simply, they read glorificate et portate, glorify and carry God in your bodies. These readings appear to be glosses intended to explain the text. Litigious Christians, who will have recourse to law for every little difference, as well as the impure, may read this chapter either to their conviction or confusion.