Investments - 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

After listing a bunch of “off-limits” activities, Paul’s next statement is kind of a problem. In the KJV, verse 12 says, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.” The word “expedient” is cross-referenced with the definition “beneficial, advantageous.” To me, this statement would say, “everything is fine to do, but it’s not always going to help you out.” This is significantly different than “do not do these things because they will ruin your life.” This could cause some serious confusion for those reading this and trying to make sense out of everything. 

It’s important, therefore, to realize that verse 12 has a JST that says, “All these things are not lawful unto me, and all these things are not expedient. All things are not lawful for me, therefore I will not be brought under the power of any.” The IM says, “In 1 Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23, Paul seemed to address a false idea in Corinthian society that ‘all things are lawful,’ or that everything is permissible. The Joseph Smith Translation clarifies that Paul refuted the notion that ‘all things were lawful.’” This is a huge difference in meaning and so very important restored truth. 

Paul continues by saying something about “means for the belly” but both shall be destroyed or something like that, I’m not exactly sure what that means. But he does make another point, “not the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.” Paul reminds us that Jesus was resurrected and that we will be too, therefore “your bodies are the members of Christ.” I think that this has to do with the whole “be one” concept, like not physically one, because that’s not possible but being one with God in purpose and intention. 

He uses an example that really demonstrates the importance of our connection to Christ, asking if he should take “the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?” I don’t really appreciate the slut shaming here, but it was a different time, I guess. But the contrast is striking and really makes us stop and think about ourselves, if we go from being with Christ in the gospel and then go into an immoral situation. It would be literally like casting your pearls before swine, or taking that which is special and precious and rubbing it in poo.

Paul points out that “he which is joined to an harlot is one body,” kind of like if you give up your allegiance to God, then you become joined up with whatever activity you engage in after that. He points out that you can be “joined to an harlot… but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” 

Therefore, Paul pleads, “flee fornication… he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” It’s interesting because adultery is clearly wrong because there is a party who is harmed in it, the other spouse, but I’ve never really understood why fornication was wrong. I understand the whole “children deserve to be born into a family with a committed mother and father, and STDs and assault and all that, but what is wrong with two consenting adults just having a good, safe, time?

It’s taken a really long time for me to understand any of the negative consequences from a spiritual perspective and while I still don’t fully understand, one thing that I’ve learned recently is that once you’ve gone down that road and broken the law of chastity, it is SO much easier to break it again next time. Even if it was years and years ago and you’ve completely repented and accepted that it’s wrong and have made covenants to keep it, even then, it is SO much easier to rationalize going back into it, because while wrong, not all of those experiences are horrible and damaging. 

If we are in the headspace at the time that it is fun or we use it for an escape or for some other psychological reason, when we are in those same distressing situations later, we can look back and think “well maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.” Whereas, if we never use casual sex as an escape or for whatever reason, then we don’t look to it as a crutch or a solution, the next time that we are “stuck” or whatever. It’s like alcoholism, if we never drink, then we don’t condition ourselves to use it to self-medicate.

Another lesson that I’ve learned about keeping the law of chastity is how breaking it can ruin true love. I don’t usually use those words but I heard that statement in an older general conference talk once and I thought that it was full of crap, but the more I learned and thought about it, the more I came to believe it. I think that it goes back to the fact that sex within marriage is so important, and thinking back to my own experiences, sex has run the gamut of emotions from amazing to super toxic, connections from completely detached to caring, and from intimacy to self-loathing. 

We’ve talked about it before, sex is a very powerful part of our human experience and I didn’t realize just how powerful until recently. It can both create and destroy, and I know that for me, living the law of chastity, while difficult and unusual for a single woman my age, has been critical to my ability to grow spiritually and have a personal relationship with the Savior. And that’s more important than anything else at all.

But if we don’t already have that perspective, then why would we give up outside sex for the law of chastity? Paul gives some of the reasons why abstaining is commanded, saying, “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” The IM quotes Elder D. Todd Christofferson as teaching, “Those who believe that our bodies are nothing more than the result of evolutionary change will feel no accountability to God or anyone else for what they do with or to their body. We who have a witness of the broader reality of premortal, mortal, and postmortal eternity, however, must acknowledge that we have a duty to God with respect to this crowning achievement of His physical creation.”

I really struggle with these types of teachings because from my natural perspective, I didn’t ask to be born, I didn’t ask for a body, and I owe nothing to anyone. So when someone says to me “you have a duty to God,” I think, “I don’t have to do anything but breathe and die,” so I struggle with it. But if we put this teaching into another perspective, we see that I did in fact ask to be born and I didn’t ask for a body, in the premortal world. I did ask for those things, even if I can’t remember. We can also see that if there is more to this life than the here and now, then we might want to take into account our situation in the hereafter.

It’s like planning for retirement. I put a significant portion of my paycheck away into a savings account for retirement. This means that I sacrifice spending that money now so that I can be in a better financial position when I retire. Similarly, in this life, it is certainly my prerogative to live recklessly with no regard for the past or the future, but there will be natural consequences that I will have to deal with, not matter what I choose now. If I don’t plan for retirement, then when it comes time for me to retire, I will have no money to live on. This means I will have to either work until I die in order to pay my bills, or mooch off my kids while I wait for the reaper.

These are natural consequences for my lack of action now, I can sacrifice small now and be ok or I can live it up with complete disregard for the future and pay big time later. This is not the perfect example of course because it is not morally wrong to not save for retirement when you are young, it’s not smart, but it’s not wrong. But when it comes to the law of chastity, there is a clear boundary of right and wrong there, and living with a complete disregard for those boundaries not only doesn’t benefit you, but makes you indebted to justice. It’s kind of a bleak perspective there, very doom and gloom, and makes God appear as a “obey me or I will destroy you” kind of guy, and that really gives the wrong message about who He is.

Paul must have sensed the darkness of the mood he’s set and points out that our bodies are to house the Holy Ghost, and when we break the commandments, we remove ourselves from the possibility of having the Holy Ghost with us. If the most important thing in the world is for us to have the Holy Ghost with us, then it would make sense that we should do whatever we need to do in order to remain worthy of it. So it’s not just a matter of earning “heaven” points for the next life by being good in this life, it’s about having the Holy Ghost with us so that we can become the kinds of people who want to live in heaven in the next life.

Not only has God provided the Holy Ghost for us, but Paul reminds us “for ye are bought with a price.” The IM quotes Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as teaching about the price God paid for us, “The Savior’s spiritual suffering and the shedding of his innocent blood, so lovingly and freely given, paid the debt for what the scriptures call the ‘original guilt’ of Adam’s transgression. Furthermore, Christ suffered for the sins and sorrows and pains of all the rest of the human family, providing remission for all of our sins as well, upon conditions of obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel he taught. As the Apostle Paul wrote, we were ‘bought’ with a price.’ What an expensive price and what a merciful purchase.”

Paul’s point is this, God doesn’t ask us to do certain things and live a certain way because he’s controlling and wants to see if he can manipulate us into doing things that don’t matter. The purpose for God’s commandments is to keep us happy and spiritually safe. And it’s not just God asking us to go against our nature to become something different, he’s more invested in our success than we are ourselves. He’s not giving flippant commentary about our lives, he’s designed and implemented a way for our happiness that was very costly. He’s asking us to live in a certain way because he’s already heavily invested in us and wants us to be successful.