15 Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Know ye not that our bodies are the members, etc. Here we have an explanation, or, if you prefer it, an amplification of the foregoing statement. For that expression, the body is for the Lord, might, owing to its brevity, be somewhat obscure. Hence he says, as if with the view of explaining it, that Christ is joined with us and we with him in such a way, that we become one body with him. Accordingly, if I have connection with an harlot, I tear Christ in pieces, so far as it is in my power to do so; for it is impossible for me to draw Him into fellowship with such pollution. [1] Now as that must be held in abhorrence, [2] he makes use of the expression which he is accustomed to employ in reference to things that are absurd -- God forbid [3] Observe, that the spiritual connection which we have with Christ belongs not merely to the soul, but also to the body, so that we are flesh of his flesh, etc (Ephesians 5:30.) Otherwise the hope of a resurrection were weak, if our connection were not of that nature -- full and complete.
1 - "Vne pollution si fade et infame;" -- "A pollution so filthy and infamous."
2 - "Pour ce que ceci est vne chose abominable, et que nous deuons auoir en horreur;" -- "As that is an abominable thing, and we must hold it in abhorrence."
3 - The original expression, Me geoito! Away with it! corresponds to the Hebrew term chllh, far be it! Thus in Genesis 18:25, chllh lk mst kdvrhzh, Far be it from thee to act in this manner! Homer makes use of a similar expression -- me touto theos teleseien, forbid that heaven should accomplish that! (Od. 20. 234.) -- Ed
Know ye not - This is the third argument against licentiousness. It is, that we as Christians are united to Christ (compare the notes at John 15:1 ff); and that it is abominable to take the members of Christ and subject them to pollution and sin. Christ was pure - wholly pure. We are professedly united to him. We are bound therefore to be pure, as he was. Shall that which is a part, as it were, of the pure and holy Saviour, be prostituted to impure and unholy embraces?
God forbid! - See the note at Romans 3:4. This expresses the deep abhorrence of the apostle at the thought. It needed not argument to show it. The whole world revolted at the idea; and language could scarcely express the abomination of the very thought.
Know ye not - This is designed to confirm and strengthen what he had just said.
He which is joined - Who is attached to; or who is connected with.
Is one body - That is, is to he regarded as one; is closely and intimately united. Similar expressions occur in Classic writers. See Grotius and Bloomfield.
For two, saith he - This Paul illustrates by a reference to the formation of the marriage connection in Ger. Romans 2:14. He cannot be understood as affirming that that passage had original reference to illicit connections; but be uses it for purposes of illustration. God had declared that the man and his wife became one; in a similar sense in unlawful connections the parties became one.
Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? - Because he has taken your nature upon him, and thus, as believers in him, ye are the members of Christ.
Shall I then take, etc. - Shall we, who profess to be members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, connect ourselves with harlots, and thus dishonor and pollute the bodies which are members of Christ? God forbid! These passages admit of a more literal interpretation. This, if given at all, I must give in a strange language.
Membra humana, ad generationem pertinentia, vocantur Membra Christi, quia mysterium conjunctionis Christi et Ecclesiae per conjunctionem maris et faeminae indigitatur, Ephesians 5:32. In Vet. Test. idem valebat de membro masculino, guippe quod circumcisione, tanquam signo faederis, honoratum est. Vide Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr.
(11) Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make [them] the members of an harlot? God forbid.
(11) A declaration of the former argument by opposites, and the application of it.
Know ye not that your bodies are the members, of Christ,.... The whole persons of God's elect were chosen in Christ, and given to him, and made one with him, their bodies as well as their souls; and both are redeemed by him, and, in union with him, are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones:
shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Signifying, that it is a most absurd, indecent, abominable, and detestable thing, that the bodies of the saints, which are the members of Christ, should be joined in carnal copulation with an harlot.
Resuming the thought in 1-Corinthians 6:13, "the body is for the Lord" (1-Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12, Ephesians 4:15-16; Ephesians 5:30).
shall I then--such being the case.
take--spontaneously alienating them from Christ. For they cannot be at the same time "the members of an harlot," and "of Christ" [BENGEL]. It is a fact no less certain than mysterious, that moral and spiritual ruin is caused by such sins; which human wisdom (when untaught by revelation) held to be actions as blameless as eating and drinking [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].
*More commentary available at chapter level.