Thriving In New Corinth Companion Guide:
Download this companion guide for use Sept 1-Nov 16, 2025. This guide is designed to supplement and deepen our Sunday sermon series entitled Thriving in New Corinth. Each week, you will study one of the big topics found within the book of 1 Corinthians in preparation for the upcoming sermon on that topic.
Understanding Ownership and Sexual Ethics in 1 Corinthians
Ownership is a concept we understand instinctively. You don't need permission to walk your own dog, but the neighbor kids do. You can drive your car to the grocery store whenever you want, but your neighbor can't just take it without asking. Whether it's a piece of furniture you built, a song you wrote, or shoes you purchased, ownership determines who has rights to use something.
This straightforward principle provides crucial clarity for one of the most challenging topics facing the church today: sexual ethics. In a culture that champions "my body, my choice" as the ultimate expression of personal freedom, Scripture offers a radically different perspective that transforms how we understand sexuality, relationships, and our very identity.
Ancient Corinth was notoriously sexually permissive. The phrase "to act like a Corinthian" literally meant to sleep with someone who wasn't your spouse. This wasn't just about temple prostitution at the shrine of Aphrodite—sexual immorality pervaded the entire culture.
The Corinthians had cultural mantras that justified their behavior:
These ideas were seeping into the church, getting twisted with Christian concepts like "freedom in Christ" and "salvation by grace." The result? Believers who thought they could engage in any sexual activity without consequence because their sins were forgiven.
Sound familiar? Our culture promotes similar messages: consenting adults can do whatever brings pleasure; sexual expression is essential to self-actualization; restricting sexual freedom is oppressive and harmful.
Paul addressed a specific crisis rocking the Corinthian church: "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans: A man is sleeping with his father's wife" (1 Corinthians 5:1).
This wasn't a biological mother-son relationship, but likely a stepson with his stepmother after the father had remarried. To understand how shocking this was, we must grasp Roman sexual ethics of that era.
In Roman culture, men of higher social classes had nearly unlimited sexual freedom—with anyone of lower class, male or female, any age, as long as the man was the dominant partner. Visiting temple prostitutes was normal. Having slaves for sexual purposes was acceptable. A man's "man card" would be questioned if he didn't engage in such activities.
Women, however, faced opposite expectations. Higher-class women were expected to remain chaste until marriage and faithful afterward, even while their husbands were not. Lower-class women had to submit to higher-class men's advances but couldn't initiate such relationships.
In that context, a stepson with his stepmother violated norms on multiple levels: men didn't take stepmothers (usually the same social class), and women couldn't give themselves to stepsons (this constituted adultery). Even pagans found it disgusting.
Yet the church was not only accepting this relationship—they were celebrating it as an expression of Christian grace and love.
Paul's response cuts through cultural mantras with a profound theological truth: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
This creates a new cultural proverb for believers: Your body is not your body.
If you're a follower of Jesus, you've been bought with a price—the blood of Christ. This means you're doubly His:
First, through creation: All humans bear the image of God, like a brand on their soul identifying them as belonging to Him. Sin tried to scratch out that brand, blur it, steal us away from our Creator.
Second, through redemption: Jesus paid the penalty for sin—death—on the cross to redeem us, to buy us back. We've been both created by God and purchased by God.
Therefore, our bodies belong to God. We can't just give them to whomever we want because they're not ours to give.
This ownership principle extends into marriage in a beautiful way. Paul writes: "The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does" (1 Corinthians 7:4).
Using an illustration: if your body were a car, God owns the title. But when you marry, God gives your spouse the title to your body as a wedding gift. Your body becomes co-owned by God and your spouse—but it's still not your own.
This means:
Paul instructs married couples not to deprive each other sexually except by mutual agreement for limited times of prayer and fasting, then to come together again. This reveals that sex in marriage isn't just about bodies, lust, and physical pleasure—it's about protection, bonding, safety, love, faithfulness, care, honor, and because God created it, worship.
For those not married, the principle is equally clear: your body is not yours to give to anyone, no matter how much you love them or how committed you feel, because it's not yours to give yet. On your wedding day, God will transfer ownership to your spouse. Until then, you wait.
The principle "your body is not your body" has a crucial corollary: their body is not your body (except in marriage, where this doesn't apply).
If you're not married to someone, their body is not yours, and you cannot take anything from them sexually for your own benefit. This clarifies why certain behaviors are deeply wrong:
Rape is evil because it violently takes from someone's body without consent, treating another person as an object for selfish gratification.
Pedophilia is vile because it exploits the vulnerable, stealing innocence and causing devastating harm to those who cannot protect themselves.
Pornography is wrong despite cultural claims otherwise, because it involves taking from someone else's body (whether physically in production or mentally in consumption) for personal gratification. Their body belongs to God and potentially to their future or current spouse—not to you for your arousal or entertainment.
You cannot take from someone else's body, physically or mentally, because their body is not your body. It belongs to God.
This teaching confronts every one of us. None of us have handled sexuality perfectly. Whether through fantasies, physical encounters outside marriage, or touching someone inappropriately, we've all revealed sexual brokenness.
For many, this topic brings shame and embarrassment—which is why we keep struggles hidden in darkness, only discussing sex through jokes rather than honest conversation.
But there's hope and healing available.
The man sleeping with his stepmother was initially removed from the church (1 Corinthians 5:2). This seems harsh until we understand the purpose: protecting the church from ongoing sin while creating space for the individual to recognize his error and repent.
It worked. In 2 Corinthians 2:6-8, Paul writes about this same man: "The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him."
The man had repented—he was humble, sorrowful over his sin, and genuinely changed. Yet the church wanted nothing to do with him, treating his sin as unforgivable. Paul had to correct them, instructing them to restore him with love.
Paul refused to define this man by his sexual sin. We shouldn't define ourselves or others by sexual failures either.
You are not defined by that affair.
You are not defined by your pornography addiction.
You are not defined by those one-night stands.
You can be defined by the grace of God.
To find sexual healing, we must follow the man's example:
1. Repent and confess to God - Your body is His. Acknowledge you've used it inappropriately and ask for forgiveness and transformation.
2. Bring darkness into light - Many people confess to God repeatedly but keep struggling because they hide from everyone else. True freedom requires exposing hidden sin to trusted brothers or sisters in Christ.
3. Find the right confidant - Don't confess to someone who will minimize it ("Everyone does that—no big deal") or maximize it ("I can't believe you did that! You're going to hell!"). Find someone who will say: "Thank you for sharing. That's heavy. You're right—that's wrong. And I'm going to walk through this with you toward healing and wholeness."
4. Act now, before exposure - Sin will eventually be exposed, either in this life or the next. Dealing with it now through confession and repentance is far better than the inevitable embarrassment and consequences of continued secrecy.
Some might think: "If becoming a Christian means my body is no longer mine, I'll just skip Christianity and keep doing whatever I want."
Here's the reality: you were created in God's image. His brand is already on you. You already belong to Him whether you acknowledge it or not.
These boundaries aren't designed to ruin your life—they're meant to free you and give you true life. The world is lying when it says unlimited sexual freedom leads to fulfillment. As Solomon discovered and recorded in Ecclesiastes, such pursuits ultimately prove meaningless and fail to satisfy.
Only Jesus truly satisfies. When you give your life to Him—recognizing He died for your sins and rose from the dead—yes, you've been bought with a price. But this "ownership" is the most liberating reality possible, freeing you from destructive patterns and leading you into life as it was meant to be lived.
Sex isn't just about bodies, passion, and momentary pleasure. Within God's design, it encompasses protection, procreation, bonding, safety, love, faithfulness, care, honor—and because He created it, worship.
Understanding that our bodies aren't our own transforms how we approach every aspect of sexuality:
The principle of ownership provides clarity in an area our culture has made confusing. When we recognize that our bodies belong to God—and in marriage, to our spouses as well—we gain a framework for understanding healthy, God-honoring sexuality.
Your worst moment doesn't have to define you. There's healing available through confession, repentance, and walking in community with others who will support your journey toward freedom. Your body may not be your own, but this truth leads not to oppression but to the liberation and wholeness you've been seeking all along.
