Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Corinthians 6:18

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." — 1 Corinthians 6:18 (ASV)

Flee fornication.—These last three verses of the chapter contain a solemn exhortation to purity, arising from the previous argument.

Without the body.—The word “body” is still to be understood as referring to the whole “human nature,” which is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 6:19 as the temple of the Holy Ghost. Other sins may profane only the outer courts of the temple; this sin penetrates with its deadly foulness into the very holy of holies—

“It hardens all within, and petrifies the feelings.”

There is a deep significance and profound truth in the solemn words of the Litany: “From fornication, and all other deadly sin, good Lord, deliver us.”