Lessons #183 and 184
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Avoidance of Sexual immorality (1 Cor 6:12-20)
12 “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
The message of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 that we are considering is that Avoidance of sexual immorality requires a determination not to be controlled by anything of this life and understanding the body’s function, fate, and its various relationship to sex and God. There are two major propositions that we stated would help us to understand what the apostle wrote in the passage we are considering. The first is that avoidance of sexual immorality involves determination not to be controlled by anything in this life. A second is that avoidance of sexual immorality involves understanding facts about the body as it relates to sex and God. This proposition involves consideration of two concepts of the temporary function and fate of the body and its various relationships as given in our passage. We started to consider the temporary function of the body as part of the slogan of what some in Corinth were saying that justified their attitude towards sex. In effect, they implied that the body is transient so that it is not a big matter for the body to be involved in sexual immorality as it is involved with food. The apostle rejoindered them first by saying that they were wrong because the body was not meant for sexual immorality but for glorifying the Lord and serving Him. Thus, we ended our last study as we were expounding the sentence of 1 Corinthians 6:13 The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Specifically, we ended with the phrase but for the Lord. We indicated the apostle was focused on the fact that our body is for glorifying the Lord and serving Him. Hence, we continue to consider the apostle’s argument that corrects the misconception of the Corinthians regarding the body.
The apostle continued to indicate that because we are to glorify the Lord through our bodies that that means also that the Lord takes care of our bodies. It is this concept that is given in the last phrase of 1 Corinthians 6:13 and the Lord for the body. The phrase indicates that the Lord benefits the body. Again, it is true that the word “body” can refer to the church of God and that the Lord benefits the church in that He cares for her, especially in the sense of continuous cleansing of her as stated in Ephesians 5:25–27:
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Nonetheless, the context favors understanding the “body” in a literal way. This being the case, then the phrase and the Lord for the body means that the Lord takes care of the physical body of believers. He does this by meeting their physical needs. This will be in keeping with the instruction of the Lord Jesus while on the earth in which He conveyed to believers not to be concerned about food or clothing for the body. This is because He will care for the believer’s basic necessities of life as implied in the instruction of Matthew 6:25–26:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
The Lord indicates that if God the Father takes care of birds that are lower than humans as far as His plan and creative order is concerned, we can be sure that He would care for the believers. It is in this sense that the Lord Jesus who is God acts to benefit believers by taking care of their physical needs. The physical needs of believers are not limited to food and clothing but also their health. The Lord continues to provide physical healing to believers both directly and indirectly. Directly, He heals without the use of means as that is the sense of healing the bodies of believers that is implied in Psalm 103:2–3:
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
The Lord heals indirectly using medicine as that was the manner in which He healed King Hezekiah, as stated in Isaiah 38:21:
Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
We know that when this instruction was followed that Hezekiah was healed. Although we like to think that a physician heals but that is not the case. A physician acts like the one who applied the poultice on Hezekiah, but the Lord does the healing. Anyway, the fact is that the Lord heals our physical bodies. He has provided us His word so that by living according to them we maintain good health to an extent, as that is implied in Proverbs 4:20–22:
20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.
We should be careful to understand that this passage does not mean that those who live in accordance with God’s word would not get sick for they would because of the lingering effect of the Fall but they would generally be in good health as they avoid those diseases that come to the body through worries and hatred. In any event, the first rejoinder of the apostle to those who have a wrong perception of the body so that they saw nothing wrong with sexual immorality is that the body is not for sexual immorality but for glorifying the Lord. This brings us to a second rejoinder of the apostle to those who had misunderstood the nature of the body of believers.
A second rejoinder of the apostle to those who misunderstood the nature of the body is to remind them that for the believers there is a future act of God that involves bodily resurrection that should cause them not to have a low opinion of their body. It may not be easy to understand that the apostle rejoindered those who have a misunderstanding of the body as it relates to them and God’s work by referring to God’s future work of resurrection, but it is. This would become clearer as we examine what the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
It may appear that verse 14 does not have any connection with the preceding verse because there is no connective that begins it in the NIV but that is not the case. Verse 14 is connected to the previous verse because it contains a Greek conjunction (de) which because of a Greek rule is the second word in the Greek sentence since that conjunction is usually not the first word in a Greek sentence. The Greek conjunction (de) that appears in the verse is one that is used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation. It may be translated “but” to indicate contrast between clauses. When a simple connective is desired, without contrast being clearly implied, it may be translated “and” as done in some of our English versions of the verse we are considering. In certain occurrences, it may be left untranslated which is the approach of the NIV. Nonetheless, when it is used as a marker that links narrative segments, it may be translated “now, then, so, that is.” In our verse, it may be translated “and” to indicate that what follow continue the apostle’s argument in support of not having a wrong view of the body. Of course, it may also be translated “now” as done in the NET although it is not clear in what sense the translators used it. This is because the word “now” could be used to draw attention to something or could be used as a consequence of a fact previously stated.
Regardless of how the Greek conjunction is translated, its use is to indicate there is a connection between the present verse and the preceding, specifically, with the last phrase of 1 Corinthians 6:13 and the Lord for the body. As we indicated, this phrase is concerned with the Lord’s care of the body. Thus, the apostle wanted to continue in verse 14 to show God’s care for the body is not limited to the physical but also to the spiritual since resurrection is a spiritual reality.
Be that as it may, the apostle was emphatic in what he states regarding God’s action in relationship to the body in the clause of 1 Corinthians 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead. Again, the translators of the NIV did not translate a Greek conjunction used in the Greek since literally this clause reads and God and raised the Lord. The word “and” used in the literal translation is a translation of the Greek conjunction (kai) that the apostle used twice in the Greek of verse 14. It is true that the Greek conjunction is often translated “and” to join words or clauses; however, in our passage it is used in two different ways. In its first usage, it is in the sense of emphasis so that it may be translated “indeed” as in the NET. In other words, the apostle was emphatic in what he stated regarding God in the passage we are considering although what he stated is somewhat surprising to some. Anyhow, the second usage of the Greek conjunction is to state a result of what happened in the first clause of the verse so that probably it should be translated “and so, consequently” although most English versions translated it with the word “and.” We will say more about this second usage of the Greek conjunction when we consider the second clause of verse 14. Meanwhile, we focus our attention to what the apostle stated as God’s action in the verse we are studying.
We indicated that the Greek conjunction not translated in the NIV should be translated “indeed” to show that the apostle was emphatic in what he stated. Furthermore, we said that what he stated was surprising and so you may wonder why such a statement. The reason for this statement is what the apostle stated in the last phrase of verse 13 and the Lord for the body that we interpreted to mean that the Lord Jesus, who is God, is concerned about the body of believers and cares for their bodies. So, it is surprising to say that the Lord is raised from the dead in the clause we are considering of 1 Corinthians 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead. Although the clause may surprise some but not to those who understand that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins. That aside, the clause conveys two truths about Jesus Christ that the apostle presented in a compact form. But before we get to the truths communicated, we should notice that the translators of the NIV brought forward a phrase that is in the last position of the Greek sentence. I am referring to the phrase By his power that is the last phrase in the Greek. The translators of the NIV probably did this to convey that the phrase governs the two actions of God stated in the passage we are considering.
The word “power” is translated from a Greek word (dynamis) from which we get our English word “dynamite.” It may mean potential for functioning in some way and so means “power” with several usages. It is used with the meaning “strength” in the Lord evaluation of the local church in Philadelphia, as given in Revelation 3:8:
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
The Greek word may refer to “power” that works wonder as it is that which Jesus declared went out from Him after the woman with bleeding was healed in Mark 5:30:
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
It is “power” in the sense of “capability” that the word is used when Apostle Peter explained his miracle as not due to his own ability but that provided through the name of Jesus Christ, as we read in Acts 3:12:
When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
The word may mean “power” in the sense of a being, human or transcendent, that functions in a remarkable manner so it is used for created supernatural beings, specifically, for angels or heavenly agents as in Romans 8:38:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
The word “powers” here in Romans 8:38 is a reference to “spiritual beings.” The Greek word may mean “ability” to carry out something, as the word is used by Apostle Paul to indicate the extent of his suffering and those of his apostolic team in 2 Corinthians 1:8:
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
The word “power” may refer to effectiveness in contrast to mere words or appearance, as Apostle Paul used the word in 1 Thessalonians 1:5:
because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
The word may mean “miracle, wonder” as it is used by Apostle Paul to convey that Satan is capable of miracles in 2 Thessalonians 2:9:
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders.
The word may refer to capacity to convey thought and so means “meaning”, as the word is used in 1 Corinthians 14:11:
If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.
The phrase the meaning of what someone is saying is more literally the power of the voice. The Greek word when used with a definite article is used to refer to God as in Matthew 26:64:
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
The phrase at the right hand of the Mighty One is literally at the right hand of the power. But the concept of using the word “power” to represent God was well known in Jewish writings at the time of the gospel. Thus, the use of the phrase “the power” to refer to God is the reason some English versions simply used the word “God” in their translation of this passage in Matthew as we find for example, in the CEV that has the phrase God All-Powerful. The Greek word is used with the meaning “power” in the sense of potential for functioning in some way that involves manifesting influence over reality in a supernatural manner. It is in this sense that the word is used for controlling influence of the Holy Spirit in Romans 15:13:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is in the same sense of exerting controlling influence or power that the word is used in Apostle Paul’s desire for Christ’s power to be on him in 2 Corinthians 12:9:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 6:14, it is used with the meaning “power” in the sense of potential for functioning in some way that involves manifesting influence over reality in supernatural manner. Anyway, the apostle conveyed that it is God’s power that manifests controlling influence over reality in a supernatural manner that is involved in the matter of resurrection as the two actions of God that concern resurrections stated in the passage we are considering.
The first action of resurrection by God involves the Lord Jesus as in the clause of 1 Corinthians 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead. We know that the clause is concerned with resurrection because of the phrase from the dead and the word raised. The word “raised” is translated from a Greek word (egeirō) that has several meanings. The word may mean “to wake up someone from sleep” either literally or figuratively. It is in a literal sense that the word is used for the action of the angel that woke Peter from sleep in jail in Acts 12:7:
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
However, it is in a figurative sense of waking oneself from sleep of carelessness of not being concerned about one’s conduct and existence or being in a spiritual stupor that the word is used by Apostle Paul in the command the Holy Spirit issued to believers through him, as recorded in Romans 13:11:
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
The word may mean “to help someone to rise” from a position that is lower than the one who renders assistance, as the word is used when Apostle Peter healed a crippled man who was certainly seated on the ground as narrated in Acts 3:7:
Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
The word may mean “to rise, to get up” as in the action of Paul when the Lord Jesus first appeared to him, according to Acts 9:8:
Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
The word may mean “to make” or “to appoint” someone a king as it is used for God raising and appointing David Israel’s king, as conveyed in Acts 13:22:
After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
The word may mean “to bring something into being, stir up” as Apostle Paul used it to describe those who wanted to bring affliction to him in Philippians 1:17:
The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.
The verbal phrase can stir up trouble is literally to raise up affliction. The word may mean “to cause to return to life, raise up” as it is used in the resurrection of Jesus Christ in Colossians 2:12:
having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
The word may mean “to lift up” as it is used in narrating Jesus’ question to religious leaders who were concerned about Him healing on the Sabbath, as narrated in Matthew 12:11:
He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
The word may mean “to come” as the word is used to describe the response of Jewish leaders who in effect dispute that Jesus could be the Messiah since He is from Galilee as stated in John 7:52:
They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
The word may mean “to appear” as it is used to recognize the appearance of the Lord Jesus in the midst of those who praised God because of Jesus’ miracle of raising the dead in Nain, as recorded in Luke 7:16:
They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”
The word may mean “to raise” from the dead. There are two senses involved. There is the sense of one being raised from the dead only to die a later time as was the case with Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead that certainly died later, as referenced in John 12:1:
Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
There is the sense of being raised to death never to die again so mean “to resurrect” as it is applied to Jesus in Romans 6:9:
For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 6:14, the word is used in the sense of to raise from the dead without any possibility of future death hence means “to resurrect.” This being the case, Apostle Paul declared that God resurrected Jesus from the dead in the clause of 1 Corinthians 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead.
The clause of 1 Corinthians 6:14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, no doubt, conveys that God is responsible for the resurrection of Jesus Christ but it has two important implications that the Holy Spirit through the apostle wants us to learn. A first implication is that Jesus Christ is God. How is that you may ask? It is because of the sentence God raised the Lord from the dead that is concerned with the subject of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no doubt God is stated in many passages of the Scripture as being responsible for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Take for example, Apostle Peter declared this in his preaching recorded in Acts 3:15:
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
Apostle Paul stated the same truth in Romans 4:24:
but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Furthermore, Apostle Paul indicates that raising someone from the dead in the sense of resurrection is the work of God as we read in 2 Corinthians 1:9:
Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
The Greek participle translated who raises is to be understood as what Greek grammarians describe as “attributive participle,” that is, the use of a participle to attribute a characteristic or an action to a noun. In our context, it is used to convey that which characterizes God or His permanent attribute. This being the case it is only God who has the ability not merely to raise one from the dead in a physical sense so that the person dies later but that of resurrection where there is no possibility of death again. Sure, God enables humans through miraculous display of His power to raise people from the dead who then die later. What we have here is a characteristic of God that no human has which is to raise not merely from the dead in the sense of the one raised from the dead will die later but that of raising from the dead without the possibility of future death, that is, resurrection. If resurrection is an act of God, then any person that could be characterized as being able to resurrect someone must indeed be God. Jesus claimed to do this in two different ways. He promised raising up those who believe in Him in the last day according to John 6:40:
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The sentence I will raise him up at the last day refers to resurrection at end of time or at the last judgment as we may gather from the confession of Martha in John 11:24:
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Another way Jesus claimed to be involved in resurrection is declaring Himself to be the resurrection, as recorded in John 11:25:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
When Jesus declared I am the resurrection He meant that He is the One who would raise people up in the final day so they will live forever. Hence, by Jesus claiming to resurrect believers in the last day He claimed to be God. We know that God is the One that will raise believers in the end since He is the One that is characterized with the ability to resurrect. Thus, Jesus must be God.
Be that as it may, it is the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead in the passage of 1 Corinthians 6:14 God raised the Lord from the dead that we are considering that led us to assert that the sentence implies Jesus is God. The reason we assert that based on the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead implies Jesus is God, is that His resurrection from the dead should be perceived as the work of the triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. For sure, there is no single passage in the epistles that stated explicitly that Jesus is involved in His resurrection but His declarations before He died on the cross give us the basis for this assertion. Jesus implied that He would raise Himself from the dead in a manner that was not easy for His audience to understand but what He said was later understood by His disciples to mean He referred to His death. The declaration of Jesus we are concerned is given in John 2:19:
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
Those who heard Him speak of His resurrection in terms of the temple thought He meant physical temple hence their protest recorded in John 2:20:
The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”
However, John tells us that the temple Jesus meant was His body as His disciples understood after His resurrection, as stated in John 2:21–22:
21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Hence, Jesus stated using an imagery to indicate that He would raise Himself from the dead. That aside, He asserted this fact directly in John 10:18:
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
When Jesus stated that He gave His life freely and would take it up again, that was a declaration that He would raise up Himself from the dead. Therefore, He affirmed that He would be a participant in His bodily resurrection. The fact that this statement of Jesus was nowhere repeated in the epistles would not change the truth of His assertion. The implication is that He was involved in His resurrection as God in a way that we cannot understand just as we cannot understand how God raised Jesus from the dead. Anyway, the Holy Spirit is indirectly stated to be involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ since He will also be the agent of resurrection of believers as we may gather from Romans 8:11:
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
God the Father is also stated to be involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as we read, for example, in Galatians 1:1:
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
So, it should be clear that all the three members of the Godhead are involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Anyway, the first implication of the sentence of 1 Corinthians 6:14 God raised the Lord from the dead is that Jesus is God because of the subject of resurrection conveyed in it.
A second implication of the sentence of 1 Corinthians 6:14 God raised the Lord from the dead is that Jesus is truly human. This is because only a human being can die and be raised from the dead as the phrase from the dead implies. Hence, there should be no doubt that Jesus is a true human who is also true God. He had to be both to serve as one who died for our sins and the mediator between God and man, as stated in 1 Timothy 2:5–6:
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
Furthermore, Jesus had to be a true human in order to be our high priest since a high priest must be a human who represents other humans before God, according to Hebrews 5:1:
Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
The point is that the sentence of 1 Corinthians 6:14 God raised the Lord from the dead implies that Jesus is truly human although it is concerned with the first action of God regarding resurrection.
The second action of God in 1 Corinthians 6:14 is concerned with future resurrection of all believers. It is this action that is given in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 6:14 and he will raise us also. The word “and” here is used not merely to connect this clause with the preceding clause God raised the Lord from the dead but to state what will result based on what has already happened. In effect, the Greek conjunction translated “and” here has the sense of “and so” to convey that because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore we can expect that God will resurrect us as stated in the clause he will raise us also.
The word “raise” is translated from a Greek word (exegeirō) that is related to the word translated “raised” in the first sentence of the verse and so has similar usages. In the Septuagint, the word is used with a meaning of “to wake up” from sleep as it is used regarding Jacob waking up from sleep when he was fleeing the wrath of Esau as stated in Genesis 28:16:
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
Another meaning of the word used in the Septuagint is “to raise up from death” as it is used in the future resurrection predicted in Daniel 12:2:
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
The word may mean “to cause to appear in history” or “to elevate,” that is, to give one a higher status, as that is the sense of the word in what God did with Pharaoh of the time of exodus, as Apostle Paul referenced in Romans 9:17:
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
However, it is in the meaning of “to raise up from the dead” that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 6:14. It is used in an emphatic manner in our passage where the sense is also that of “to resurrect.” One wonders why the Holy Spirit directed the apostle to use a slightly different Greek word in the second sentence of 1 Corinthians 6:14 than the one he used in the first sentence that conveys the same meaning of “to raise.” There are probably two possible explanations. The Holy Spirit by directing the apostle to use an emphatic word related to the one used in the first sentence of the verse we are considering gives us an assurance that our resurrection is certain. In other words, we can be sure that we will be resurrected in a good sense since there is a resurrection that leads to a bad sense. I mean those who will resurrect to eternal destruction as referred in Daniel’s prophecy that we cited. The same concept is stated by our Lord Jesus in John 5:28–29:
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
Another possible explanation for the use of a different Greek word in the second sentence that in the first is that the Holy Spirit wanted the apostle to draw an implied distinction between Jesus’ resurrection and that of believers in that there are many who would be raised in the future in contrast to that of the Lord Jesus that truly involved Him as the firstfruit of resurrection. You see, the first Greek word in 1 Corinthians 6:14 the apostle used primarily to describe the resurrection of Jesus Christ and only when describing the dead in the plural that the apostle used the word for believers in 1 Corinthians 15:52:
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
It is also possible that the reason for the use of the second Greek word in 1 Corinthians 6:14 translated “will raise” is to show that the nature of our resurrection is different from that of Christ in that Christ was both an active and passive participant in His resurrection while we will be only passive recipients of resurrection. That aside, we know that the second action of God the apostle mentioned in our passage is the future resurrection of believers.
We have considered the two actions of God in 1 Corinthians 6:14 so we must ask the question: How is this verse related to the fact that the Corinthians should not have a distorted view of the body? This question is important because we are concerned with the fact that some of the Corinthians have a distorted view of the body that causes them not to recognize that it is improper to be involved in sexual immorality. As we have noted, some of them have the view that the body would be destroyed so it did not matter what is done to or with the body. Our verse implies that the body is important in that there will be a body associated with believers after resurrection. The apostle developed this truth later in the fifteenth chapter. Consider, for example, what he stated about the fact that there is a body that will be suited for resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:44:
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Thus, the apostle wanted to convey that as long as we are in this body that the body matters and so should not be abused. Of course, the apostle also implies that there is a bodily resurrection as evident in the fact that Jesus’ body did not suffer decay associated with death. It is true that Jesus’ body underwent a transformation but the fact that His body was transformed should convince those who are careless about the body to recognize that God values their bodies. Therefore, they should not abuse their bodies by being involved in sexual immorality.
11/22/19