Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 6:15

"Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid." — 1 Corinthians 6:15 (ASV)

A further argument that the Christian’s body is for the Lord is that God’s people are members of his mystical body (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:27). So Christians may not unite their bodies with that of a prostitute. They should understand that sexual relations involve more than a physical act—they join the two persons together (v.16; cf. Matthew 19:5). Since Christians have been joined in union to the Lord, they dare not form another union with a prostitute.

Verse 17 states the case even more strongly: while the one who cleaves to a prostitute is one body with her, the one who cleaves to the Lord is united to him spiritually. In saying this, Paul is not making the union of normal marriage mutually exclusive of the union of God with his people. He teaches in Eph 5:21– 32 that the human marriage union is valid and is to be viewed in the light of the Christian’s higher union with the Lord. What Paul argues against here is that unholy union with a prostitute is a wicked perversion of the divinely established marriage union.