1 Corinthians 6:17

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(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 Lord’s body, and intensifies the argument against any degradation of one who shares so holy and intimate a union.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:12-20 Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, therefore is never to be made an instrument of sin. It is an honour to the body, that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead; and it will be an honour to our bodies, that they will be raised. The hope of a resurrection to glory, should keep Christians from dishonouring their bodies by fleshly lusts. And if the soul be united to Christ by faith, the whole man is become a member of his spiritual body. Other vices may be conquered in fight; that here cautioned against, only by flight. And vast multitudes are cut off by this vice in its various forms and consequences. Its effects fall not only directly upon the body, but often upon the mind. Our bodies have been redeemed from deserved condemnation and hopeless slavery by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. We are to be clean, as vessels fitted for our Master's use. Being united to Christ as one spirit, and bought with a price of unspeakable value, the believer should consider himself as wholly the Lord's, by the strongest ties. May we make it our business, to the latest day and hour of our lives, to glorify God with our bodies, and with our spirits which are his.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But he that is joined to the Lord - The true Christian, united by faith to the Lord Jesus; see John 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 Ephesians 4:4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. one spirit—with Him. In the case of union with a harlot, the fornicator becomes one "body" with her (not one "spirit," for the spirit which is normally the organ of the Holy Spirit in man, is in the carnal so overlaid with what is sensual that it is ignored altogether). But the believer not only has his body sanctified by union with Christ's body, but also becomes "one spirit" with Him (Joh 15:1-7; 17:21; 2Pe 1:4; compare Eph 5:23-32; Joh 3:6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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.

Geneva Study Bible

But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 6:17. Weighty contrast to ὁ κολλώμ. τῇ πόρνῃ ἓν σῶμά ἐστι, no longer dependent on ὅτι.

κολλᾶσθαι τῷ Κυρίῳ, an expression of close attachment to Jehovah, which is very common in the O. T. (Jeremiah 13:11; Deuteronomy 10:20; Deuteronomy 11:22; 2 Kings 18:6; Sir 2:3, al[991]). It denotes here, inward union of life with Christ, and is selected to be set against the κολλ. τῇ πόρνῃ in 1 Corinthians 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 Ephesians 5:23 ff. (comp 2 Corinthians 11:2; Romans 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 κολλ. τῇ πόρνῃ would be an unsuitable one. Olshausen’s additional conjecture, that when the apostle spoke of τῇ πόρνῃ there floated before his mind a vision of the great whore who sitteth upon many waters (Revelation 17:1), is an empty fancy.

ἓν πνεῦμά ἐστι] conceived of as the analogue to ἓν σῶμα. Comp 2 Corinthians 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 πνεῦμα of the believing man and the πνεῦμα of Christ which fills it; Christ lives in the believer, Galatians 2:20, as the believer in Christ, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 3:17, this being brought about by Christ’s communicating Himself to the human spirit through the power of the Holy Spirit, Romans 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 (Romans 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.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Corinthians 6:17. ὁ δὲ κολλώμενος τῳ Κυρίῳ κ.τ.λ.: “But he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit (with Him)”. Adhesion by the act of faith (1 Corinthians 1:21, etc.) to Christ (as Lord, cf. 1 Corinthians 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 (1 Corinthians 3:16, Romans 8:8 f., etc.), but the Ap. is thinking of the nature and sphere of this union; hence the anarthrous, generic πνεῦμα, contrasted with σάρξ (1 Corinthians 6:16). In 2 Corinthians 3:17 “the Lord” is identified with “the Spirit.” and believers are repeatedly said to be ἐν Πνεύματι; so that between them and Christ there exists a κοινωνία Πνεύματος (1 Corinthians 1:9, 2 Corinthians 13:13; John 16:14, etc.). For the intimacy of this association of members with the Head, see Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:5 f., 1 Corinthians 3:16 f., Colossians 2:10; Colossians 3:1 ff., John 15:1 ff; John 17:23 ff., etc.

[986] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Corinthians 6:17. Τῷ Κυρίῳ, to the Lord) Christ. It is the same syllepsis [the Lord and he who is joined to Him are, etc.]—ἓν πνεῦμα, one spirit) so closely, as husband and wife are one body. Make this your experience.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - That is joined unto the Lord. This phrase, indicating the closest possible union, is found in Deuteronomy 10:20; 2 Kings 18:6. Is one spirit. There is a "mystical union," not only "betwixt Christ and his Church," but also between Christ and the holy soul Hence, to St. Paul, spiritual life meant the indwelling of Christ in the heart - the life "in Christ;" so that he could say, "It is no more I that live, but Christ that liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 3:17). 1 Corinthians 6:17