Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:15-20).
The question posed pertaining to the passage above is: (1) Does the physical union between a prostitute and a man described in the context constitute a marriage? (2) Does the union between a prostitute and a man in the context represent a physical or a spiritual union? (3) Would one who becomes “one body” with a prostitute as in the context, following repentance, be a biblically permissible candidate for marriage?
Overall, the passage emphasizes the incompatibility of practicing sin while purporting to be practicing Christianity. A similar sentiment is expressed in 1 Corinthians 10:21, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” The example employed to illustrate the incompatibility between unrighteousness and righteousness in 2 Corinthians 6:15-20 is the sin of fornication. It is a particularly strong illustration owing to the nature of the sin whereby one’s soul and body are especially invested in the practice of this variety of sin. The words “joined to” could be translated “cemented to” or “glued to”; it is not conceivable that one can be “cemented to” a prostitute while simultaneously “glued to” the Lord, thereby essentially linking Holy God to the vile filth of sin (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).
Illusions appear in the passage to the concept of Christians being members of the body of Christ (the church, Colossians 1:18; Romans 12:4-5) and the oneness of the sexual relationship between two people (“one body” or “one flesh,” Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:31). Outside of marriage, this physical union between fornicators greatly opposes the spiritual union that is supposed to prevail among Christians as members of the body of Christ. This conflict does not exist despite a sexual union within marriage (Matthew 19:5-6). The Holy Spirit can hardly be expected to dwell within one who obviously and perversely repudiates his Christianity by committing fornication, for example.
In answer to the first query, physical union between a prostitute and a man is not anywhere styled in the Bible as marriage, but fornication. Secondly, the physical union between a prostitute and a man disrupts the spiritual union between such a one and the Godhead (including Christ and the Holy Spirit). Additionally, when the illicit sexual union is discontinued, followed by repentance, as long as one is otherwise a biblically qualified candidate for marriage, such a one may marry another biblically qualified candidate for marriage.
