<p>6:19 <i>Or do you not know- </i>Paul says this several times. He is asking them to review their spiritual potential and use it. Chapter 1 opened with the encouragement that they had richly received the Spirit; but 3:1 then explains that they were not spiritual. Paul is asking them to live up to the huge spiritual potential and possibility which comes with being baptized into Christ.</p><p><i>That your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you which you have from God- </i>They were unaware that the Spirit was within them- and their behaviour reflected that. 1 Cor. 1 tells them that through being baptized into Christ, they have been given the Spirit; but 3:1 is clear that they were spirit-less. Paul asks them to be aware that because they have been redeemed, bought as the property and slaves of the Lord Jesus, He has filled them with His Spirit so that they might be wholly His. But they had to allow that process and to as it were buy in to it. The Spirit dwelt amongst Old Testament Israel in the wilderness, but they grieved the Spirit of God and were unresponsive to it.</p><p>The Holy Spirit dwells in the community of believers as it earlier dwelt in the tabernacle and temple in the form of an Angel and the shekinah glory. The &quot;price&quot; paid for &quot;you&quot; plural refers to the redemption of the body of believers by the blood of Christ (:20). By baptism into the body of Christ (which Paul emphasizes in 12:13, where again he speaks of how in body and spirit we are made one with the Lord by baptism) we are His body, and to lock Him into intercourse with a temple prostitute is therefore a statement to the world about Him personally (:15). Note how in :13 &quot;for the Lord... the Lord for the body&quot; is a poor translation in that &quot;for&quot; has been provided by the translators in a failed attempt to make better sense of the blunt original- &quot;the body... is the Lord Jesus- the Lord is the body&quot;. The implications of baptism into His body are major indeed. He is us and we are Him.&nbsp; Whilst the word 'baptism' isn't found here in chapter 6, the idea is clearly alluded to in 6:11. Therefore just as surely as He was raised up, so will we be (:14). Sin therefore has implications for Christ personally, and for the wider body of Christ. We sin in <i>eis</i> our own body, which is the body of Christ. Therefore even if something is considered &quot;lawful&quot; by us personally, this doesn't mean we can therefore do it- because it has effects upon others (:12). And this is exactly the reasoning Paul uses later in his reasoning about the question of meats offered to idols. Paul has said the same about himself&nbsp; earlier in 4:4, where he comments that he has a good conscience, he knows nothing against himself, but this doesn't make him thereby acceptable to God. To some extent, the conscience of others must be factored into our own personal conscience. We will only find the strength and motivation to do so by appreciating that we are together with them in the same one body.</p><p><i>And you are not your own</i>- To willingly describe oneself as a slave of Christ was totally against the grain of first century social norms- for to be a slave in any form took away a person's credibility and value. And yet Paul especially in the context of describing his witness, speaks of himself as a slave of Jesus. He urges the converts to see themselves as &quot;not your own&quot; because they have been bought as slaves by the blood of the cross (1 Cor. 6:19,20). People were trained to take their place amongst fixed categories within society- the whole idea of transformation, of taking ones' place amidst the ecclesia of Christ, of being a saint, a called-out one, of being made free from how others' see us... was all so radical that even those who converted to Christianity likely never grasped the full extent of the ideas.</p><p>Slaves in the first century were seen as mere bodies owned by their masters or mistresses. Hence Rev. 18:13 describes slaves as <i>somata</i>, bodies. They were seen as both the economic and sexual property of those who owned them. It seems Paul had this in mind when he spoke of how we have one master, Christ, and our bodies are indeed not our own- but they are His, to be used according to His wishes. For many slaves, this would&rsquo;ve meant running the risk of death or flogging. And yet despite this radical demand, Christianity spread rapidly amongst the huge slave population of the first century world.</p><p>The importance (the <i>eternal</i> importance) which attaches to our attitude to materialism is certainly stressed. All that we have is not our own. It's not '<i>my </i>money', it's not '<i>your </i>car', it's not even '<i>my </i>toe' which <i>you </i>accidentally trod on. Yet we all cling on to what little we have; we get offended and upset if we 'lose' it, or if we feel it is demanded of us. But not only is our material possession not 'ours'; &quot;<i>ye</i> are not <i>your own</i>.&nbsp; For ye are bought with a price&quot; (1 Cor. 6:19,20). This is said in the context of warning against abuse of our sexuality; it's not <i>our</i> body, so follow God's teaching concerning it. We ourselves, the very essential me, and you, have been bought with the blood of the Lord Jesus. If I don't own even myself, I certainly don't own anything material. <i>Now</i>, I am not my own. I am a slave, bought by the Lord Jesus. The fact He is Lord <i>of all</i> means He is owner of absolutely everything to do with us (Acts 10:36). At the judgment, this fact will be brought home. The Lord will ask for &ldquo;my money... mine own&quot;; we will be asked what we have done with our Lord's money (Mt. 20:15; 25:27). All we have is God's; it is not our own. Therefore if we hold back in our giving, we are <i>robbing God</i>. Israel thought it was absurd to put it like this: But yes, God insisted through Malachi (3:8-12), you are <i>robbing me</i> if you don't give back, or even if you don't give your heart to Him in faith. <i>And will a man rob God? </i>Will a man...? We must give God what has His image stamped on it: and we, our bodies, are made in His image (Mt. 22:21); therefore we have a duty to give ourselves to Him. We are not our own: how much less is 'our' money or time our own Like David, we need to realize now, <i>in this life</i>, before the judgment, that all our giving is only a giving back to God of what we have been given by Him: &quot;Of thine own have we given thee&quot; (1 Chron. 19:14). The danger of materialism is the assumption that we are ultimate owners of what we 'have'. See on Lk. 16:12.</p>