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15. Know ye not that our bodies are the members, etc. Here we have an explanation, or, if you prefer it, an amplification of the foregoing statement. For that expression, the body is for the Lord, might, owing to its brevity, be somewhat obscure. Hence he says, as if with the view of explaining it, that Christ is joined with us and we with him in such a way, that we become one body with him. Accordingly, if I have connection with an harlot, I tear Christ in pieces, so far as it is in my power to do so; for it is impossible for me to draw Him into fellowship with such pollution. ³⁵⁴³⁵⁴     “Vne pollution si fade et infame;” — “A pollution so filthy and infamous.” Now as that must be held in abhorrence, ³⁵⁵³⁵⁵     “Pour ce que ceci est vne chose abominable, et que nous deuons auoir en horreur;” — “As that is an abominable thing, and we must hold it in abhorrence.” he makes use of the expression which he is accustomed to employ in reference to things that are absurd — God forbid ³⁵⁶³⁵⁶     The original expression, Μή γέοιτο! Away with it! corresponds to the Hebrew term חללה, far be it! Thus in Genesis 18:25, חללה לך משת כדברהזה, Far be it from thee to act in this manner! Homer makes use of a similar expression — μὴ τοῦτο θεος τελεσειεν, forbid that heaven should accomplish that! (Od. 20. 234.) — Ed Observe, that the spiritual connection which we have with Christ belongs not merely to the soul, but also to the body, so that we are flesh of his flesh, etc (Ephesians 5:30.) Otherwise the hope of a resurrection were weak, if our connection were not of that nature — full and complete.

16. Know ye not that he that is joined to an harlot He brings out more fully the greatness of the injury that is done to Christ by the man that has intercourse with an harlot; for he becomes one body, and hence he tears away a member from Christ’s body. It is not certain in what sense he accommodates to his design the quotation which he subjoins from Genesis 2:24. For if he quotes it to prove that two persons who commit fornication together become one flesh, he turns it aside from its true meaning to what is quite foreign to it. For Moses speaks there not of a base and prohibited cohabitation of a man and a woman, but of the marriage connection which God blesses. For he shows that that bond is so close and indissoluble, that it surpasses the relationship which subsists between a father and a son, which, assuredly, can have no reference to fornication. This consideration has led me sometimes to think, that this quotation is not brought forward to confirm the immediately preceding statement, but one that is more remote, in this way — “Moses says, that by the marriage connection husband and wife become one flesh, but he that is jointed to the Lord becomes not merely one flesh, but one spirit with him.” ³⁵⁷³⁵⁷     “Mais nous sommes faits non seulement vne mesme chair auec le Seigneur, auquel nous adherons, mais aussi vn mesme esprit;” — “But we have become not merely one flesh with the Lord, to whom we are joined, but also one spirit.” And in this way the whole of this passage would tend to magnify the efficacy and dignity of the spiritual marriage which subsists between us and Christ.

If, however, any one does not altogether approve of this exposition, as being rather forced, I shall bring forward another. For as fornication is the corruption of a divine institution, it has some resemblance to it; and what is affirmed respecting the former, may to some extent be applied to the latter; not that it may be honored with the praises due to the former, ³⁵⁸³⁵⁸     “Non que la paillardise soit digne de estre ornee des louanges qui appartienent a l’ordonnance du marriage;” — “Not that fornication is worthy to be honored with the praises that belong to the ordinance of marriage. but for the purpose of expressing the more fully the heinousness of the sin. The expression, therefore, that they two become one flesh, is applicable in the true and proper sense to married persons only; but it is applied to fornicators, who are joined in a polluted and impure fellowship, meaning that contagion passes from the one to the other. ³⁵⁹³⁵⁹     “Pour monstrer que la contagion et vilenie passe de l’vn a l’autre;” — “To show that contagion and pollution pass from the one to the other.” For there is no absurdity in saying that fornication bears some resemblance to the sacred connection of marriage, as being a corruption of it, as I have said; but the former has a curse upon it, and the other a blessing. Such is the correspondence between things that are contrasted in an antithesis. At the same time, I would prefer to understand it, in the first instance, of marriage, and then, in an improper sense, ³⁶⁰³⁶⁰     Our Author makes use of the adverb — abusive, (improperly,) referring, it is probable, to the figure of speech called by Quinctilian (8. 6) abusio — the same as catachresis (perversion.) — Ed. of fornication, in this way — “God pronounces husband and wife to be one flesh, in order that neither of them may have connection with another flesh; so that the adulterer and adulteress do, also, become one flesh, and involve themselves in an accursed connection. And certainly this is more simple, and agrees better with the context.

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.

18. Flee fornication Every sin, etc. Having set before us honorable conduct, he now shows how much we ought to abhor fornication, setting before us the enormity of its wickedness and baseness. Now he shows its greatness by comparison — that this sin alone, of all sins, puts a brand of disgrace upon the body. The body, it is true, is defiled also by theft, and murder, and drunkenness, in accordance with those statements —

Your hands are defiled with blood. (Isaiah 1:15.)

You have yielded your members instruments of iniquity unto sin,
(Romans 6:19,)

and the like. Hence some, in order to avoid this inconsistency, understand the words rendered against his own body, as meaning against us, as being connected with Christ; but this appears to me to be more ingenious than solid. Besides, they do not escape even in this way, because that same thing, too, might be affirmed of idolatry equally with fornication. For he who prostrates himself before an idol, sins against connection with Christ. Hence I explain it in this way, that he does not altogether deny that there are other vices, in like manner, by which our body is dishonored and disgraced, but that his meaning is simply this — that defilement does not attach itself to our body from other vices in the same way ³⁶¹³⁶¹     “N’en demeure point tellement imprimee en nostre corps;” — “Does not remain impressed upon our body in the same way.” as it does from fornication My hand, it is true, is defiled by theft or murder, my tongue by evil speaking, or perjury, ³⁶²³⁶²     “Par mesdisance, detraction, et periure;” — “By evil-speaking, detraction, and perjury.” and the whole body by drunkenness; but fornication leaves a stain impressed upon the body, such as is not impressed upon it from other sins. According to this comparison, or, in other words, in the sense of less and more, other sins are said to be without the body — not, however, as though they do not at all affect the body, viewing each one by itself.