Members of Christ and Sin Against the Body
…and in a spiritual way. For he dwells in our hearts through the Spirit (compare Ephesians 3:17), and we have also shared in his holy flesh; so we have been made holy in two ways. He has come to dwell in us as life and as the giver of life, so that through himself he might abolish the death that had fallen upon our members. This frees us from corruption and from the snares of death, and raises us above the passions of the flesh. We also receive within ourselves the unleavened teaching of the divine oracles (compare 1 Corinthians 5:8), which nourishes the ruling part of the soul, and we live together with Christ, spiritually of course, having overcome the passions of the flesh.
If, then, he is “the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18), we are its members, each one in particular. So whenever we fall into unseemly pleasures, then, precisely then, we will sin against him whose members we have become. For we will be, as it were, handing over what is his to fornicators: his members are defiled by sin and are made members of a prostitute (1 Corinthians 6:15). For just as the man who is joined to a woman will be one body with her, so also the one who is bound to God spiritually will be one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:16–17). For we have become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), and we have been joined to him and made holy through the Spirit in Christ.
From the third book on the Letter to the Corinthians, by the same Cyril.
“Every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the one who commits fornication sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18).
Someone might say: “Tell me, how will the murderer carry out his murder? Is it not by bloodshed? And if someone chooses to find fault with others, is it not with his tongue that he is such a man? What offense, then, could be committed other than through the body? Will the bearer of the Spirit, then, turn out after all to have spoken falsely?” By no means! For he speaks in Christ (compare 2 Corinthians 2:17), and Christ is the truth (John 14:6); so he will be truthful.
Suppose we look into the matter this way: if someone happens to choose to be perverse in his ways, he will surely be so toward others and not toward himself. The murderer will kill not himself but others; the reviler will insult not himself but others; the greedy man will wrong not himself but others; and in each outrageous deed that is done you will find the same course. In this sense, then, “every sin is outside the body, but the one who commits fornication sins against his own body.” For he will be caught wronging his very own body, and I will say in what way.
The members of our body, if through purity they have remained members of Christ, will surely share in the life and glory that come from him; for “he will transform the body of our lowliness to be conformed to the body of his glory” (Philippians 3:21). But if they should become members of a prostitute, how could they receive that transformation and the spiritual splendor of being conformed to him? For when earthly bodies have been raised at the time of the resurrection, “the righteous will shine like the sun” (Matthew 13:43). The ungodly, the profane, and those who have lived outrageously will indeed be raised, yet they will not go on to live the glorious life; they remain without any share in glory. For they will rise not “in judgment, nor in the council of the righteous” (Psalm 1:5), but for penalty and punishment, for they will go down into the outer darkness (compare Matthew 25:30). For how can what is being punished be in glory? And he adds something more, which has no small power to persuade us to hate the accursed pleasure of the body.
The one who murders, the one who dishonors, and the one who reviles commit the sin with the body, yet they do it against others. In this sense it is said, “Every sin is outside the body,” but the one who commits fornication wrongs his very own body. Through purity our bodies remain members of Christ and share in the life and glory that come from him; but if the body is defiled, it is deprived of that glory.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). For “the Spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:15) has come to dwell in us…
Greek
τε καὶ νοητῶς· κατοικεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος, 6 μετεσχήκαμεν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἁγίας αὐτοῦ σαρκὸς, ἡγιάσμεθά τε διττῶς· καὶ κατῴκηκεν 264 ἐν ἡμῖν ὡς ζωὴ καὶ ζωοποιὸς, ἵνα τὸν τοῖς μέλεσιν ἡμῶν ἐπισκήψαντα θάνατον καταργήσῃ δι' ἑαυτοῦ· καὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἀπαλλάσσει φθορᾶς καὶ τῶν τοῦ θανάτου βρόχων καὶ ἀμείνους ποιεῖ παθῶν σαρκικῶν. καὶ δεχόμεθα τὴν ἄζυμον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς διδασκαλίαν τῶν θείων λογίων τὴν τρέφουσαν τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν, καὶ συζῶμεν Χριστῷ, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι πνευματικῶς, περιγενόμενοι τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς παθῶν. εἰ τοίνυν αὐτός ἐστιν "ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἐκκλησίας," ἡμεῖς ἄρα ἐσμὲν οἱ καθ' ἕκαστα μέλη· ὅταν οὖν εἰς ἀτόπους ἡδονὰς καταπίπτωμεν, τότε δὴ τότε πλημμελήσομεν εἰς αὐτὸν, οὗ καὶ γεγόναμεν μέλη· πόρνοις γὰρ ὥσπερ τὰ αὐτοῦ χαριούμεθα· τὰ μέλη αὐτοῦ μολύνονται τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ καὶ πόρνης ποιοῦνται μέλη. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ γυναικὶ κολλώμενος ἓν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔσται σῶμα, οὕτως καὶ ὁ Θεῷ συνδεσμούμενος νοητῶς ἒν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔσται πνεῦμα· γεγόναμεν γὰρ "θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως," συνήφθημέν τε καὶ ἡγιάσμεθα διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν Χριστῷ. ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΥ ΕΚ ΤΟΥ Γ ΤΟΜΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ. Πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει. ΦΑΙΗ τις ἄν Ὁ φονευτὴς, εἰπέ μοι, τίνα δὴ τρόπον ἐνεργήσει τὸν φόνον; ἆρ' οὐ δι' αἵματος; εἰ δὲ δή τις ἕλοιτο φιλοψογεῖν ἑτέρους, οὐ διὰ γλώττης ἐστὶ τοιοῦτος; εἶτα ποῖον ἔσται τῶν πλημμελημάτων ὃ δρῶτο ἂν, οὐχὶ διὰ τοῦ σώματος; ψευδοέπης οὖν ἆρα λοιπὸν ὁ πνευματοφόρος ἀναφανεῖταί που; μὴ γένοιτο· λαλεῖ γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ, Χριστὸς δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἔσται δὴ οὖν ἀληθής. εἰ τῇδέ πη. τὸ χρῆμα διασκεπτόμεθα, εἴ τις ἕλοιτο τυχὸν σκαιὸς εἶναι τοὺς τρόπους, εἰς ἑτέρους που πάντως ἔσται τοιοῦτος καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἑαυτόν. ἀποκτενεῖ γὰρ ὁ φονευτὴς, οὐχ ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλ' ἑτέρους, ὑβρίσει δὲ καὶ ὁ λοίδορος οὐχ ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλ' ἑτέρους, ἀδικήσει δὲ καὶ ὁ πλεονέκτης οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑτέρους, καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐκτόπων τινὰ τῶν δρωμένων τοιαύτην εὑρήσεις ὁδόν. οὐκοῦν κατὰ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον Πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει. ἁλώσεται γὰρ ἀδικῶν αὐτὸ τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα, 266 καὶ τίνα τρόπον, ἐρῶ. τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν διὰ μὲν τῆς ἁγνείας Χριστοῦ μέλη μεμενηκότα, μεθέξουσι πάντως τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ ζωῆς τε καὶ δόξης· "μετασχηματίσει γὰρ τὸ "σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς "δόξης αὐτοῦ·" εἰ δὲ δὴ γένοιτο πόρνης μέλη, πῶς ἂν λάβοι τὸν μετασχηματισμὸν καὶ τὴν τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν συμμορφίας λαμπρότητα νοητήν; ἐγηγερμένων γὰρ τῶν ἀπὸ γῆς σωμάτων κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως καιρόν "Ἐκλάμψουσι μὲν οἱ "δίκαιοι ὡς ὁ ἥλιος," οἱ δὲ ἀσεβεῖς τε καὶ βέβηλοι καὶ βεβιωκότες ἐκτόπως, ἐγερθήσονται μὲν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ τὴν εὐκλεᾶ διαβιώσονται ζωὴν, ἀμέτοχοι δὲ μένουσι καὶ δόξης· ἀναστήσονται γὰρ οὐκ "ἐν κρίσει οὔτε μὴν ἐν βουλῇ "δικαίων," ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ποινῇ καὶ δίκῃ, κατοιχήσονται γὰρ εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον· πῶς γὰρ ἐν δόξῃ τὸ κολαζόμενον; προσεπάγει δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον, οὐκ ἀνικάνως ἔχον ἀναπεῖσαι μισεῖν τὴν ἐπάρατον τοῦ σώματος ἡδονήν. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὁ φονεύων καὶ ἀτιμάζων καὶ λοιδορῶν, εἰ καὶ σώματι ποιεῖ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰς ἑτέρους αὐτὸ πράττει, τούτων τῶν τρόπων λέγεται Πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων αὐτὸ τὸ ἴδιον ἀδικεῖ σῶμα· τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν δι' ἁγνείας μένουσι μέλη Χριστοῦ, καὶ μεταλαμβάνουσι τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ ζωῆς καὶ 7 δόξης· ἐὰν δὲ μολυνθῇ, στερεῖται τῆς τοιαύτης δόξης. Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι τὸ σῶμα ὑμῶν ναὸς τοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν Ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Κατῴκηκε γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ τῆς "υἱοθεσίας Πνεῦμα,"