John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 6:19

"Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own;" — 1 Corinthians 6:19 (ASV)

Know you not that your body—He uses two additional arguments to deter us from this filthiness. First, that our bodies are temples of the Spirit; and, secondly, that the Lord has bought us for Himself as His property.

There is an emphasis implied in the term temple. For as the Spirit of God cannot take up His dwelling in a place that is profane, we do not give Him a dwelling place except by consecrating ourselves to Him as temples. It is a great honor that God confers upon us when He desires to dwell in us (Psalms 132:14). Therefore, we should all the more fear that He might depart from us, offended by our sacrilegious actions.

And you are not your own. Here we have the second argument: that we are not at our own disposal to live according to our own pleasure. He proves this from the fact that the Lord has purchased us for Himself by paying the price of our redemption. There is a similar statement in Romans 14:9:

To this end Christ died and rose again, that He might be Lord of the living and the dead.

Now the word translated price may be understood in two ways: either simply, as we commonly say of anything that it has cost a price, when we mean that it has not been obtained for nothing; or, as used instead of the adverb τιμίως, at a dear rate, as we are accustomed to say of things that have cost us much. This latter view I prefer. In the same way Peter says:

You are redeemed, not with gold and silver, but with the precious blood of the Lamb, without spot (1 Peter 1:18–19).

The sum is this: that redemption must hold us bound and, with a bridle of obedience, restrain the lasciviousness of our flesh.