Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 6:17
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
17. he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit ] Literally, cleaveth to the Lord. No words, save perhaps those in St John 17, could more forcibly express the closeness of the union between Christ and His faithful disciple.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But he that is joined to the Lord – The true Christian, united by faith to the Lord Jesus; see Joh 15:1 ff.
Is one spirit – That is, in a sense similar to that in which a man and his wife are one body. It is not to be taken literally; but the sense is, that there is a close and intimate union; they are united in feeling, spirit, intention, disposition. The argument is beautiful. It is, As the union of souls is more important than that of bodies; as that union is more lasting, dear, and enduring than any union of body with body can be, and as our union with him is with a Spirit pure and holy, it is improper that we should sever that tie, and break that sacred bond, by being joined to a harlot. The union with Christ is more intimate, entire, and pure than that can be between a man and woman; and that union should be regarded as sacred and inviolable. O, if all Christians felt and regarded this as they should, how would they shrink from the connections which they often form on earth! Compare Eph 4:4.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 6:17
He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
–The apostle was wont to associate the commonest duties with the highest motives. In dissuading from the sin of impurity, he might have adduced considerations drawn from physical laws and social conditions; instead of this he appeals to the loftiest principles of Christianity. Note
I. The bond which unites believers to their Lord is a bond of–
1. Faith, Whom having not seen, &c. Christians receive with cordiality the gospel concerning Christ; they receive Christ Himself to dwell in their hearts by faith.
2. Love. They are joined to Him as the bride to the bridegroom, in a spiritual affection, in love stronger than death.
3. Affinity. Drawn to Jesus as sinners to the Saviour, they remain with Him as friends, congenial in character, disposition and aims.
II. The consequent unity between Christians and their Lord.
1. They are in a spirit of subjection to the Father, whose will and law are authoritative and supreme.
2. They are one in the love of all that is holy and morally admirable. The sympathy that exists regards the principles that animate and the aims that dignify the moral life.
3. They are one in the bonds of an immortal fellowship. That they may be with Me where I am.
III. The practical proofs of this unity.
1. Repugnance to all which is repugnant to Christ; as, e.g., those vices to which allusion is made in the context.
2. Cultivation of the spirit of brotherly love. The one spirit must needs be a spirit of true love, linking together the members of the mystical body of Christ, and disposing them to a sympathetic and harmonious action. (Prof. J. R. Thomson.)
The saint one with his Saviour
Note–
I. A mysterious deep.
1. There is a joining to the Lord–
(1) In election. We were chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world.
(2) In covenant, when Jesus became of old the Head of His Church.
(3) In the incarnation. All this makes up a glorious joining unto the Lord, but the union taught here is vital and spiritual which is wrought in us when we are born again.
2. But what does that word one spirit mean? The union between Christ and His people is described by–
(1) The marriage union. It is said, These twain shall be one flesh; but to take off the carnal edge of the metaphor one spirit is here substituted.
(a) Christ and His people have one spirit. The Holy Spirit who quickens us anointed Him. The foot is baptized into the same spirit as the head.
(b) We are of one spirit with Him, i.e., we come to think and feel as Jesus does.
(c) Yet the text saith not that we are of one spirit, but we are one spirit. This is a matter to be understood only by the spiritual mind, and not to be expounded in words. I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one. We have known on earth friends who have become one spirit; intimacy and mutual admiration have ripened friendship into unity, till the one seemed to be the complement of the other; one soul in two bodies.
(2) The branch and the stem, which are one vine, and are nothing separated from each other, their life one and their design one.
(3) The member and the body. If there be life in this finger, it is identically the same life that is in the head; and so in the whole Church the life and Spirit of Christ are the life and spirit of His people.
II. A manifest grace.
1. To be one spirit with Christ much more is needed than–
(1) To bear the Christian name. Call a poppy a rose and you will not thereby give it perfume.
(2) Mere outward profession. Ye may be baptized in water, but unless ye are baptized into the Holy Ghost, ye know not what union with Christ is, for Simon Magus though baptized had no part nor lot in the matter.
(3) The performance of some apparently good actions and the use of religious words in conversation. The superficial, the nominal, and the outward will not suffice. Deep down in the very vitals of our being must this union with Jesus Christ most eminently reside.
2. As an illustration of what unity of spirit is take that rare conjugal union of those who realise the highest ideal of the married life founded in pure love and cemented in mutual esteem. Their wishes blend, their hearts are indivisible. By degrees they come very much to think the same thoughts. Intimate association creates conformity. So the true Christian grows to think as Christ thinks till the teachings of Jesus are plain to him. Blessed consummation when their hearts at last are all wrapped up in Jesus, even as the bush at Horeb was all on fire with God!
3. Where such union exists, what does it produce? They who are thus one spirit with Christ live–
(1) For the same end–Gods glory.
(2) For the same reason–the love of the Father.
(3) By the same means. By the conversion of souls: not by being made a king, not by being called rabbi.
(4) By the use of the same modes-teaching, preaching, living, suffering, and dying. Some nowadays seem tired of Christs plans, and hunt up more rapid methods. Jesus never strained after effect by animal excitement.
(5) With the same emotions. Oh that we felt as He did the weight of souls, the guilt of sin, the terror of the wrath to come, and the tenderness of Divine mercy!
4. Let me add that if we are fully joined to our Lord, and of one spirit with Him, we shall have–
(1) The same tastes. What He loves will charm us, what He hates we shall loathe.
(2) The same will.
(3) Oneness of aim in our service of God. We have a dozen aims now, but if we were of one spirit with Jesus we should have but one object in life.
(4) Great force and fervour. Our prayers would be very different from what they are, and our public service of God would never be so sleepy as it now is.
(5) Abiding pertinacity. Defeated in one place we should try in another.
(6) Wonderful serenity of spirit. We should not be disturbed with little, petty remarks of men, nor should we even be moved by great calamities.
Conclusion:
1. A word of rebuke. We have been joined to Christ, but have we been manifestly one spirit with Him? Angry–was that Christs spirit? Worldly–was that Christs spirit?
2. A word of hope. We want to have the same spirit as Christ. Well, our hope is that we shall have it, for we are joined to the Lord, and he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The true believers union with Christ
I. The explication of this truth.
1. Who are true believers?
(1) Not such as are united unto Christ by a mere external profession, sacramental admission, or presumptuous persuasion (Joh 2:23-24). These are dead branches (Joh 15:2). sapless stakes in the Churchs hedge, wooden legs of Christs body (2Ti 3:5; Rev 3:1).
(2) But such as are united unto Christ by internal implantation. Living, fruit-bearing branches (Joh 15:5); so that now Christ is in them, and they in Christ (Joh 17:21; Joh 17:23).
2. What kind of union is this?
(1) Negatively.
(a) Not a ,corporeal union. Christ is in heaven (Act 1:11; Act 3:21), we on earth.
(b) Not a hypostatical, personal union; such as that of the Divine and human natures in the person of Christ. Believers make not one person with Christ, but one body (1Co 12:13); and that not one body natural, but mystical.
(c) Not an essential, substantial union; not such an union as makes believers in any wise partakers of the substance of Christs Godhead.
(d) Not such an union as mounts up believers to an equality with Christ in any respect. In all things He hath, and must have, the pre-eminence (Col 1:18).
(2) Positively.
(a) A spiritual union.
(b) A mystical, profound union (Eph 5:32; Joh 17:20).
(c) And yet a true, real union. Not a fancy only (Eph 5:30). As the head communicates real influences to the body, so Christ communicates to us His Spirit and graces (Joh 1:16).
(d) An intimate union. Like that of the food with the body which it nourisheth (Joh 6:54).
(e) A perpetual, indissoluble union (Rom 8:35).
3. What are the efficient causes of this union? They are–
(1) Principal. This great work ascribed–
(a) To the whole Godhead (chap. 1:9: 1Pe 5:10; Joh 6:44-45; Eph 2:6-7).
(b) But more especially to the Spirit of God. He it is that knits this marriage-knot (1Co 12:13; Tit 3:5).
(2) Less principal, or the means or instruments of union.
(a) Outward. Generally all the ordinances of God (Zec 4:12). More especially–First, the word read, preached, meditated on, believed, improved. Second, the sacraments. Those spiritual seals and labels which God hath fixed to His covenant of grace.
(b) Inward faith. Not a bare historical, dead faith; but a living, working, justifying, saving faith (Eph 3:17; Joh 1:12; 1Co 6:56; Gal 2:20).
II. Confirmation. That there is such a union appears–
1. From those many equivalent expressions whereby the Scriptures hold forth this union.
(1) Christ is said to be in believers (Col 1:27; Rom 8:10), to dwell in them (Eph 3:17), to walk in them (2Co 6:16).
(2) Believers are said to abide in Christ (Joh 15:7), to dwell in Christ (Joh 6:56; 1Jn 4:16), to put on Christ (Gal 3:27).
2. From those several similitudes by which the Scriptures shadow out this union. Believers are said to be–
(1) Lively stones (1Pe 2:4-6), Christ, the living foundation, the chief corner-stone, on which they are built (Eph 2:20-21).
(2) Branches of Christ, the true vine, into whom they are engrafted, and in whom they bring forth fruit (Joh 15:1; Joh 15:5).
(3) The loyal, affectionate spouse of Christ (Eph 5:31-32; Son 2:16; Son 5:1).
(4) Christs body (Eph 1:23; Eph 5:30), Christ being the believers Head (1Co 1:22). In a word, the Head and mystical body are called Christ (1Co 12:12).
3. From that communion which there is betwixt Christ and true believers.
(1) Believers communicate with Christ–
(a) In His fulness (Joh 1:16).
(b) In His merits (2Co 5:21).
(c) In His life and graces (1Co 1:2).
(d) In His privileges and dignities. Is He a King, a Priest? So are believers (Rev 1:6; 1Pe 2:9). Is He a Son, an Heir, by nature? Saints are so by adoption (Rom 8:17).
(e) In His victories (Rom 8:37).
(f) In His triumphs and glory; they share with Him in His throne. All that believers are, is from the grace of Christ (1Co 15:10; Php 4:13), so that they do not so properly live, as Christ in them (Gal 2:20).
(2) Christ communicates in the believers graces. All that they are is from Christ; and therefore all that they have is to Christ; what they receive in mercy they return in duty.
III. Application. Information. Are believers thus closely united unto Christ? Hence see–
(1) The crimson dye of their sin, who oppose and persecute them. In touching them, they touch the apple of His eye (Zec 2:8).
(2) The quality of Christs love to them beyond and above all others (Eph 3:18-19).
(3) The high honour which Christ casts upon them–an honour not vouchsafed to heavens courtiers, the angels. They are Christs servants, subjects; not His members.
(4) Their stability and perseverance in their estate of grace.
(5) A cogent and conclusive argument for their resurrection (chap. 15:12-23). If the Head be got above, surely the body shall not always lie under, water.
2. Examination. To ascertain whether there be such a union betwixt our souls and Christ, let us ask–
(1) Hath Christ given unto you His Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9; 1Jn 3:24). Now this Spirit is–
(a) A praying Spirit (Zec 12:10).
(b) A mourning Spirit.
(c) A sanctifying Spirit (1Co 6:11; 1Pe 1:2).
(2) Doth Christ dwell in thy heart by faith? (Eph 3:17.) Namely, by such a faith as purifies the heart, works by love and overcomes the world.
(3) Dost thou crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts? They that are united unto Christ do so (Gal 5:24; Rom 8:13).
(4) Art thou a new creature? He that is in Christ is so (2Co 5:17). Hast thou a new head, heart, lip, life?
(5) Dost thou bring forth fruit? Every branch in Christ is a fruit-bearing branch (Joh 15:5; Php 1:11).
3. Consolation.
(1) With relation to Christ, to whom believers are united. On their union with Him, there redounds to them a peculiar interest–
(a) In Christs person. Christ Himself is theirs (Jer 32:38; Isa 9:6).
(b) In Christs properties. Has Christ an arm of power? It is for your protection. Has He an eye of knowledge? It is for your direction. Has He a stock, a treasury, of perfect righteousness? It is for your justification, &c.
(c) In Christs promises (2Pe 1:4). Which are the believers Magna Charta, to the confirmation whereof God has been pleased to add both His oath and blood for seals (Heb 6:17-18).
(d) in all Christs providences (Rom 8:28).
(e) In all (1Co 3:22-23).
(2) With respect to believers themselves. In a threefold regard; namely, of their persons, graces, duties.
4. Exhortation.
(1) To sinners, that are as yet without Christ, God, hope in this world (Eph 2:12). Be persuaded to give your eyes no sleep till you are united to Christ! Consider–
(a) The dreadful, dismal danger of thy present estate. A soul not united unto Christ lies open to all danger imaginable.
(b) Christs condescending willingness to be united to thee.
(2) To saints that are united to Christ.
(a) Be very fearful of that which may in any sort weaken your union with Christ.
(b) Wisely improve it.
(c) Labour for a frame of spirit suitable to it.
(d) Walk worthy of it. (T. Lye, A. M.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Is one spirit.] He who is united to God, by faith in Christ Jesus, receives his Spirit, and becomes a partaker of the Divine nature. Who can change such a relationship for communion with a harlot; or for any kind of sensual gratification? He who can must be far and deeply fallen!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This phrase joined unto the Lord, is thought to be taken out of Deu 10:20; To him shalt thou cleave. He that hath attained to that mystical union which is between Christ and every one that is a true believer, is not essentially, but spiritually and mystically, one spirit with Christ; his spirit is united to the Spirit of Christ, and he is one by him in faith and love, and by obedience, Christ and he have one will, and he is ruled and governed by Christ: therefore you must take heed what you do in making your bodies the members of harlots, which they cannot be, and the members of Christ also.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. one spiritwith Him. Inthe case of union with a harlot, the fornicator becomes one “body”with her (not one “spirit,” for the spirit which isnormally the organ of the Holy Spirit in man, is in the carnal sooverlaid with what is sensual that it is ignored altogether). But thebeliever not only has his body sanctified by union with Christ’sbody, but also becomes “one spirit” with Him (Joh 15:1-7;Joh 17:21; 2Pe 1:4;compare Eph 5:23-32;Joh 3:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He that is joined unto the Lord,…. As every elect person is; his whole person, soul and body, is united to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his whole person, as God-man and Mediator; even as Adam and Eve, whose marriage was a representation of the marriage between Christ and his church, were personally united, and were called by the same name; and as the whole human nature of Christ, consisting of a true body and a reasonable soul, was united to the person of the Son of God; and as appears from the influence that union with Christ has upon the redemption, sanctification, and resurrection of the body. The ground, foundation, and bond of which union is, not the Spirit on Christ’s part; for the Spirit being received as a spirit of regeneration, sanctification, c. is a fruit of union to Christ, and an evidence of it nor faith on our part, which as a grace is not ours, but the gift of God, and is a fruit of union; nor is it of an uniting nature, but is a grace of communion; and the foundation of all its acts, as seeing Christ, going to him, receiving of him, walking on in him; c. is a previous union to Christ but it is the everlasting and unchangeable love of Christ to them, shown in his choice of them, in his covenant with his Father on their behalf, in his engaging for them as a surety, in assuming their nature, and acting, both in time and eternity, as the representative of them, which is the bond and cement of their union, and from which there can be no separation. This union is first discovered in the effectual calling, and will be more manifest hereafter. Now he that is in this sense united to Christ,
is one spirit; for this union is a spiritual one; it is complete and perfect; near and indissoluble; by virtue and in consequence of it, God’s chosen ones come to have and enjoy the same spirit in measure, which Christ their head and Mediator has without measure: hence they have the Spirit of God, as a spirit of illumination and conversion, of faith and holiness, of adoption, and as the earnest, pledge, and seal of their future glory. And since so it is, fornication, which makes them one flesh with an harlot, ought studiously to be abstained from.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
One spirit ( ). With the Lord, the inner vital spiritual union with the Lord Jesus (Eph 4:4; Eph 5:30).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) But he that is joined to the Lord. (ho de kollomenos to kurio). Indeed the one being joined, attached, to the Lord (master). The one in proper relation to the Lord in behavior and conduct has the spirit or attitude of the Lord, Gal 5:25.
2) Is one spirit. (en pnema estin) in one spirit, attitude or disposition is or exists. Harmony with Christ and brethren should and does prevail when a child of God fully adopts the spirit of Christ in suffering or enduring wrong rather than striking back at one who does him wrong; Tit 3:9; Php_4:11; Heb 13:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. He that is joined to the Lord. He has added this to show that our connection with Christ is closer than that of a husband and wife, and that the former, accordingly, must be greatly preferred before the latter, so that it must be maintained with the utmost chastity and fidelity. For if he who is joined to a woman in marriage ought not to have illicit connection with an harlot, much more heinous were this crime in believers, who are not merely one flesh with Christ, but also one spirit Thus there is a comparison between greater and less.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) One spirit.The union betwixt Christ and each member of His Church is a spiritual one. This explains the sense in which we are the Lords body, and intensifies the argument against any degradation of one who shares so holy and intimate a union.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. One spirit With the Lord.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 6:17 . Weighty contrast to . , no longer dependent on .
, an expression of close attachment to Jehovah, which is very common in the O. T. (Jer 13:11 ; Deu 10:20 ; Deu 11:22 ; 2Ki 18:6 ; Sir 2:3 , al [991] ). It denotes here, inward union of life with Christ , and is selected to be set against the . in 1Co 6:16 , inasmuch as in both cases an intima conjunctio takes place, in the one fleshly , in the other spiritual . We are not to assume that Paul was thinking here, as in Eph 5:23 ff. (comp 2Co 11:2 ; Rom 5:4 ), of the union with Christ as a marriage (Piscator, Olshausen, comp also Osiander); for in that mystical marriage-union Christ is the Bridegroom , filling the man’s place, and hence the contrast to . would be an unsuitable one. Olshausen’s additional conjecture, that when the apostle spoke of there floated before his mind a vision of the great whore who sitteth upon many waters (Rev 17:1 ), is an empty fancy.
] conceived of as the analogue to . Comp 2Co 3:17 . This is the same Unio mystica which Jesus Himself so often demands in the Gospel of John, and in which no ethical diversity exists between the of the believing man and the of Christ which fills it; Christ lives in the believer, Gal 2:20 , as the believer in Christ, Gal 3:27 , Col 3:17 , this being brought about by Christ’s communicating Himself to the human spirit through the power of the Holy Spirit, Rom 8:9-11 . Now, be it observed how, by fleshly union with a harlot, this high and holy unity is not simply put in hazard (Hofmann), but excluded altogether as a moral impossibility ! Comp the idea of the impossibility of serving two masters (Rom 6:16 ), of fellowship with Christ and Belial, and the like. It is unnecessary to say that this has no application to union in marriage, seeing that it is ordained of God, “ob verbum , quo actus concubialis sanctificatur ,” Calovius. Comp Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 421.
[991] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Ver. 17. Is one spirit ] That is, one spiritual body: while Christ lays hold on us by his Spirit, we lay hold on him by faith. Hence the Church is called Christ, 1Co 12:12 , and the fulness of Christ,Eph 1:23Eph 1:23 . We have the honour of making Christ perfect, as the members do the body.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 .] Union to God, His service, and His ways, is often expressed by this word ( .) in the LXX (reff.): but here that inner union with Christ in spirit is meant, which is the normal state of every believer, and of which it may be said that he . with Christ. See Joh 17:21 , and the parable of Joh 15:1-7 . Meyer rightly remarks, that the mystical marriage between Christ and His Church must not (as Olsh. from Eph 5:23 ff.) be pressed here, as the relations of the compared are not correspondent. Still, however, the inner verity of that mystical relation is the ground of both passages.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 6:17 . . . .: “But he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit (with Him)”. Adhesion by the act of faith (1Co 1:21 , etc.) to Christ (as Lord, cf. 1Co 12:3 , etc.) establishes a spiritual communion of the man with Him as real and close as the other, bodily communion (“tam arcte quam conjuges sunt unum corpus,” Bg [986] ), and as much more influential and enduring as the spirit is above the flesh. “ The Spirit” is the uniting bond (1Co 3:16 , Rom 8:8 f., etc.), but the Ap. is thinking of the nature and sphere of this union; hence the anarthrous, generic , contrasted with (1Co 6:16 ). In 2Co 3:17 “the Lord” is identified with “the Spirit.” and believers are repeatedly said to be ; so that between them and Christ there exists a (1Co 1:9 , 2Co 13:13 ; Joh 16:14 , etc.). For the intimacy of this association of members with the Head, see Gal 2:20 , Eph 2:5 f., 1Co 3:16 f., Col 2:10 ; Col 3:1 ff., Joh 15:1 ff; Joh 17:23 ff., etc.
[986] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.
spirit. App-101. Compare 1Co 6:15; 1Co 12:13.
17.] Union to God, His service, and His ways, is often expressed by this word (.) in the LXX (reff.): but here that inner union with Christ in spirit is meant, which is the normal state of every believer, and of which it may be said that he . with Christ. See Joh 17:21, and the parable of Joh 15:1-7. Meyer rightly remarks, that the mystical marriage between Christ and His Church must not (as Olsh. from Eph 5:23 ff.) be pressed here, as the relations of the compared are not correspondent. Still, however, the inner verity of that mystical relation is the ground of both passages.
1Co 6:17. , to the Lord) Christ. It is the same syllepsis [the Lord and he who is joined to Him are, etc.]- , one spirit) so closely, as husband and wife are one body. Make this your experience.
1Co 6:17
1Co 6:17
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.- [To be united in one spirit to Christ and at the same time to be united to impurity is impossible.] To be one with Christ in spirit and at the same time in body with a harlot would make the Lord one with the harlot. This is the outrage of such a course of sin. A man marries a good woman; they are one flesh; he afterwards commits adultery and thus becomes one with a harlot; does not that make the wife one with the harlot? Has a Christian woman the right to become one with a harlot by living with a husband that is guilty of adultery? Fornication or adultery justifies a husband or wife in putting away the guilty party. Does it not go further and demand it? Has a Christian husband or wife the right to live with one guilty of adultery?
1Co 12:13, Joh 3:6, Joh 17:21-23, Eph 4:3, Eph 4:4, Eph 5:30, Phi 2:5
Reciprocal: Gen 2:24 – and they shall be one flesh Deu 13:4 – and cleave Psa 86:11 – unite Isa 56:3 – joined 1Co 1:1 – through
1Co 6:17. The intimate relations of a male and female make them one body, and the faithful joining of a disciple to the person of Christ makes them one spirit.
1Co 6:17. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spiritbecomes by that union partaker of a life in common with the Lord, spiritual and imperishable.
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. [Having closest spiritual union with Christ– Gal 2:20; Gal 3:27; Col 3:17]
1Co 6:17. Increases the force of the foregoing, by showing how exalted is the fellowship with Christ of which fornication is a renunciation.
Joined to the Lord: to Christ. Same words, in reference to God, in Deu 10:20; Deu 11:22; 2Ki 18:6; Jer 13:11. They denote here that spiritual contact with Christ by which we abide in Him and He in us.
Is one spirit. In proportion as we are joined to the Lord are the thoughts, purposes, efforts, and entire activity, of our spirit an outflow of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us and moving us. Thus in Him and in us one Spirit dwells, moves, and manifests itself. This oneness of spirit with Christ is the source of the mutual oneness (Joh 17:11; Joh 17:21 ff) of His people. This union with Christ, for which we were created, which comes to us through the noblest element of our nature, even our spirit, and permeates our whole being, making even our mortal bodies to be members of the body of Christ, reveals the infinite indignity of intercourse with a harlot; an intercourse prompted only by the lower and material side of our nature, and preventing absolutely all union with Christ.
Compared to the union that takes place when two people have sex, the person who trusts Christ unites with Him in an even stronger and more pervasive oneness. This is an even stronger spiritual union. Consequently it is a very serious thing to give to a prostitute what God has so strongly united to Christ.
Paul expressed his argument in a chiasm.
A Your bodies are members of Christ’s body.
B So they must not be members of a prostitute’s body.
B’ Joined to a prostitute your members become one body with her.
A’ Joined to Christ your members become one spirit with Him.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)