Paul and the carnal man: You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:20
Published on HivePostify by @bernie2002xp · Thu Jul 16 2026
The church in Corinth during his second missionary journey and the church in Ephesus during his third missionary journey were the main places where Paul carried out his evangelistic work. The Holy Spirit moved the apostle to work especially in these churches. This is why, after leaving Corinth, the apostle Paul dedicated his first letter to this church in a very particular way. Upon his return to Antioch, Paul received news from the Church of Corinth and, concerned about the situation, addressed in his first letter various topics to strengthen the faith of the new Christians. And so Paul, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, dealt with one of the main problems that combat the spiritual man, and keep many Christians in the worldly life, the pleasures of the body. In the doctrine of the Kingdom of God, the flesh and the spirit fight against each other in a constant spiritual war; the spiritual man seeks spiritual things, and the carnal man seeks worldly things. When men submit to bodily pleasures, lust, and follow their own passions, there is no room for God, no room for mercy, nor for perseverance. There is only corruption and chaos, and Paul knew this. And this is the fundamental problem of carnal man: suffering. This is why Paul placed so much emphasis in his first letter to the Corinthians on showing the new man, the man renewed in Christ, the man made in the image and likeness of the Lord. And so Paul reminded the Christians of Corinth that through baptism they were called to unity with Jesus: "But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit" 1 Corinthians 6:17. And then the apostle explained that through this sacrament they had been rescued from worldly life and purchased for God, and so the apostle concluded: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies" 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. The Kingdom of God, according to Pauline theology, is therefore the call to a new life, a life freed from the weaknesses of carnal man, to give birth to that new man, the spiritual man.
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