1 Corinthians 6:20

My Notes

What Does 1 Corinthians 6:20 Mean?

1 Corinthians 6:20 concludes Paul's argument against sexual immorality by establishing a principle of ownership: "ye are bought with a price." The Greek agorazo (bought) is a marketplace term — specifically the slave market. It means to purchase, to acquire through payment. The "price" (time) isn't specified in this verse, but the broader New Testament context is clear: the price was Christ's blood (1 Peter 1:18-19, Acts 20:28). You were purchased out of slavery to sin at the cost of a life.

The conclusion — "therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" — has a practical, physical edge. The Greek soma (body) isn't metaphorical here. Paul has been arguing specifically about what you do with your physical body (verses 13-19: the body is for the Lord, the body is a temple, sexual sin is against the body). The command to glorify God "in your body" means your physical existence — your choices about what you eat, drink, sleep with, and do — belongs to Someone else. Your body isn't a rental. It was purchased.

"Which are God's" (hatina estin tou theou) — the possessive is emphatic. Your body and your spirit belong to God. The theological foundation for bodily holiness isn't self-improvement or health consciousness. It's ownership. You steward a body that belongs to Someone who paid for it. The care you give your body is not vanity or self-help — it's stewardship of purchased property.

Reflection Questions

• 1.'Ye are bought with a price.' How does the concept of being purchased — not just saved, but owned — change how you think about your physical body?
• 2.Paul says to glorify God 'in your body.' What specific bodily choices are you making this week that honor God's ownership? Which ones don't?
• 3.Our culture says your body is yours. Paul says it's God's. Where do those two claims conflict most in your daily life?
• 4.The price was Christ's blood. How does the cost of your purchase affect the value you place on how you live — not just spiritually, but physically?

Devotional

You were bought. Not rescued, not liberated, not set free into autonomy — bought. The language is the slave market: a price was paid, ownership was transferred, and you now belong to the One who purchased you. And the price wasn't currency. It was blood. Christ's life was the payment that took you off the auction block.

That means your body isn't yours. That's the logic Paul is building toward, and it's the part our culture most resists. "My body, my choice" is the reigning assumption — the idea that what you do with your physical self is entirely your business. Paul says: it isn't. You were bought. Your body — not just your soul, not just your spirit, but your actual physical body — belongs to God. What you do with it, where you take it, what you give it to, how you treat it — all of that is stewardship of something that was purchased at an unimaginable cost.

"Therefore glorify God in your body." That's the application. Not "be healthy" or "look good" or "feel empowered." Glorify God. Make His ownership visible through how you live in your skin. Every choice about your body — from sexuality to rest to what you consume — is an answer to the question: does this honor the One who paid for me? You're not managing your own property. You're caring for His.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture