"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
It is an arresting thought that we are not our own; that we do not belong to ourselves but to God. We never did belong to ourselves, for in the days when we knew not God we were servants, or slaves, of sin (Rom. 6:17). It is possible that we thought that we were pleasing ourselves, but that was merely one of the devil's delusions; in reality we had yielded ourselves to a power that held us in an all-controlling bondage. "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John 8:34).
As the slaves of sin we needed redemption, and God has redeemed us. His great love made Him desire to have us as His own, and that same great love moved Him to pay a great price for us, for we "ARE bought with a price." That price was the precious blood of Christ. Nothing less than this would do. The gold for which men crave and labour and the gems that fascinate the eyes of women could avail nothing in this matter, nor could any other price be found in heaven above or in earth beneath but this — the precious blood of Christ.
"Yes, for me, the base, the guilty,
Flowed that living flood;
I, an enemy, am ransomed
By that precious blood.
Silent at Thy feet I lie
Lost in love's immensity."
If God has paid this price for us we belong to Him by a righteous and inalienable title, and to Him it is right that we should yield ourselves. How could we even think of holding back from Him that which is His at so great a cost?
But that is not the end of the story; there is more to tell. God has not only bought us with a great price, but He has taken possession of that which He has purchased; and He has done this in an altogether inconceivable way. He has sent down the Holy Spirit to make our bodies His abode.
Let us illustrate. Here are two men, and they are both on the look out for property. The first purchases a house and immediately advertises, "This house to let." Not so the other; he has set his heart upon a desirable dwelling and he pays the needful price in order that he might take possession of it and dwell in it himself. Now, if we were to judge by the conduct of some who profess to belong to the Lord we should conclude that, like the first man of our illustration, God had purchased them in order to let them out to other tenants, for the world and the flesh seem to occupy the best apartments in their lives and God and His will have little place, and their conduct is a denial of the truth. God has chosen, purchased, and possesses us in order to dwell in us Himself. Intensely solemn and yet blessed thought, God dwells in us; for the Holy Ghost is God!
This great fact was urged upon the saints of God at Corinth in order to show them that not their souls only, but their bodies also were God's, and being His they were to be held sacred for His use. They were not to be devoted to the gratification of the carnal appetites, but were to be at God's disposal and to be used for His glory. And this truth is needed today even as it was then. May we realize more deeply the importance and dignity of our bodies, which are the temples of the Holy Ghost, so that we may seek grace to use them aright for Him to whom they belong.