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1 Corinthians 6:19
ESV Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
NIV Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
NASB Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
CSB Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
NLT Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
KJV What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

What does 1 Corinthians 6:19 mean?

Paul is confronting the Christians at the church in Corinth about sexual immorality. Apparently, some argued that since our bodies will die and decay, it doesn't really matter what we do with them. It's only the spirit in us that matters, they might say. Likewise, they might argue that they were free to pursue whatever sexual expression they liked (1 Corinthians 6:12–13). Paul has rejected these false teachings.

The idea that our bodies don't matter is ultimately false. A Christian's body is where the Holy Spirit lives. In a sense, Paul elevates our bodies to the level of being temples, holy places, that house the Spirit of God. God gives His Spirit to every person who trusts in Christ for salvation (Ephesians 1:13–14). Mysteriously, we carry His Spirit in our bodies.

With that in mind, Paul now adds, they are not really our bodies, after all. He will write in the following verse that God purchased us. He paid for our redemption from sin with the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7). Christ bought our way out of the curse of living under the law of Moses by becoming a curse Himself (Galatians 3:13).

In that sense, we came to belong to God when we came to Him by faith in Jesus. That's why our bodies are not our own to do with as we please.
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