1 Corinthians 6 · Verse 18

1 Corinthians 6:18

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
1 Corinthians 6:18, King James Version

1 Corinthians 6:18 in other translations

BSBFlee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
WEBFlee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
ASVFlee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
YLTflee the whoredom; every sin--whatever a man may commit--is without the body, and he who is committing whoredom, against his own body doth sin.
DARBYFlee fornication. Every sin which a man may practise is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.
BBEKeep away from the desires of the flesh. Every sin which a man does is outside of the body; but he who goes after the desires of the flesh does evil to his body.
WebsterFlee lewdness. Every sin that a man doeth, is without the body; but he that committeth lewdness, sinneth against his own body.

What does 1 Corinthians 6:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
18. Flee--The only safety in such temptations is flight (Ge 39:12; Job 31:1). Every sin--The Greek is forcible. "Every sin whatsoever that a man doeth." Every other sin; even gluttony, drunkenness, and self-murder are "without," that is, comparatively external to the body (Mr 7:18; compare Pr 6:30-32). He certainly injures, but he does not alienate the body itself; the sin is not terminated in the body; he rather sins against the perishing accidents of the body (as the "belly," and the body's present temporary organization), and against the soul than against the body in its permanent essence, designed "for the Lord." "But" the fornicator alienates that body which is the Lord's, and makes it one with a harlot's body, and so "sinneth against his own body," that is, against the verity and nature of his body; not a mere effect on the body from without, but a contradiction of the truth of the body, wrought within itself [Alford].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 18. Flee fornication. A solemn command of God--as explicit as any that thundered from Mount Sinai. None can disregard it with impunity--none can violate it without being exposed to the awful vengeance of the Almighty. There is force and emphasis in the word flee, φευγετε. Man should escape from it; he should not stay to reason about it--to debate the matter--or even to contend with his propensities, and to try the strength of his virtue. There are some sins which a man can resist; some about which he can reason without danger of pollution. But this is a sin where a man is safe only when he flies; free from pollution only when he refuses to entertain a thought of it; secure when he seeks a victory by flight, and a conquest by retreat. Let a man turn away from it without reflection on it, and he is safe. Let him think, and reason, and he may be ruined. "The very passage of an impure thought through the mind leaves pollution behind it." An argument on the subject often leaves pollution; a description ruins; and even the presentation of motives against it may often fix the mind with dangerous inclination on the crime. There is no way of avoiding the pollution but in the manner prescribed by Paul; there is no man safe who will not follow his direction. How many a young man would be saved from poverty, want, disease, curses, tears, and hell, could these TWO WORDS be made to blaze before him like the writing before the astonished eyes of Belshazzar, Dan 5 and could they terrify him from even the momentary contemplation of the crime.

Every sin, etc. This is to be taken comparatively. Sins in general; the common sins which men commit, do not immediately and directly affect the body, or waste its energies, and destroy life. Such is the case with falsehood, theft, malice, dishonesty, pride, ambition, etc. They do not immediately and directly impair the constitution, and waste its energies.

Is without the body. Does not immediately and directly affect the body. The more immediate effect is on the mind; but the sin under consideration produces an immediate and direct effect on the body itself.

Sinneth against his own body. This is the fourth argument against indulgence in this vice; and it is more striking and forcible. The sense is, "It wastes the bodily energies; produces feebleness, weakness, and disease; it impairs the strength, enervates the man, and shortens life." Were it proper, this might be proved to the satisfaction of every man by an examination of the effects of licentious indulgence. Those who wish to see the effects stated, may find them in Dr. Rush on the Diseases of the Mind. Perhaps no single sin has done so much to produce the most painful and dreadful diseases, to weaken the constitution, and to shorten life, as this. Other vices, as gluttony and drunkenness, do this also; and all sin has some effect in destroying the body; but it is true of this sin in an eminent degree.

(d) "Flee fornication" Prov 6:25-32, 7:24-27

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 18 Flee fornication - Abominate, detest, and escape from every kind of uncleanness. Some sins, or solicitations to sin, may be reasoned with; in the above cases, if you parley you are undone; reason not, but Fly! Sinneth against his own body - Though sin of every species has a tendency to destroy life, yet none are so mortal as those to which the apostle refers; they strike immediately at the basis of the constitution. By the just judgment of God, all these irregular and sinful connections are married to death. Neither prostitutes, whoremongers, nor unclean persons of any description, can live out half their days. It would be easy to show, and prove also, how the end of these things, even with respect to the body, is death; but I forbear, and shall finish the subject with the words of the prophet: The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not; wo unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Some among the Corinthians seem to have been ready to say, All things are lawful for me. This dangerous conceit St. Paul opposes. There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely a Christian would never put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. The body is for the Lord; is to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, therefore is never to be made an…

Read the full comment on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 →

1 Corinthians 6:18 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ΦεύγετεPheugetedo fleeG5343
τὴνtēn<the>G3588
πορνείαν.porneiansexual immorality.G4202
πᾶνpanEveryG3956
ἁμάρτημαhamartēmasinG265
ὃhowhateverG3739
ἐὰνeanifG1437
ποιήσῃpoiēsēshall doG4160
ἄνθρωπος,anthrōposa man,G444
ἐκτὸςektosoutsideG1622
τοῦtoutheG3588
σώματόςsōmatosbodyG4983
ἐστιν·estinis;G1510
ὁhothe [one]G3588
δὲdehoweverG1161
πορνεύωνporneuōnsinning sexuallyG4203
εἰςeisagainstG1519
τὸto<the>G3588
ἴδιονidion[their] ownG2398
σῶμαsōmabodyG4983
ἁμαρτάνει.hamartaneisins.G264

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Corinthians 6:18

  • 1 Peter 2:11

    Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

  • 1 Thessalonians 4:3

    For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

  • Colossians 3:5

    Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

  • Romans 6:12-13

    Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

  • 2 Timothy 2:22

    Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

  • Hebrews 13:4

    Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:9

    Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

  • Ephesians 5:3

    But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

  • Proverbs 6:24-32

    To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? …

  • 1 Thessalonians 4:5

    Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:

  • 2 Corinthians 12:21

    And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

  • Proverbs 5:3-15

    For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Flee.
Ge 39:12-18; Pr 2:16-19; 5:3-15; 6:24-32; 7:5-23,24-27; 9:16-18
Ro 6:12,13; 2Ti 2:22; Heb 13:4; 1Pe 2:11
sinneth.
Ro 1:24; 1Th 4:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 Corinthians 6:17

    But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:18

    Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:19

    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?

Read all of 1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 6:18 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Huid la fornicación. Cualquier otro pecado que el hombre hiciere, fuera del cuerpo es; mas el que fornica, contra su propio cuerpo peca.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Fuyez la fornication: quelque péché que l’homme commette, il est hors du corps, mais le fornicateur pèche contre son propre corps.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Fliehet die Hurerei! Jede Sünde, die ein Mensch begehen mag, ist außerhalb des Leibes; wer aber hurt, sündigt wider seinen eigenen Leib.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Fugite fornicationem. Omne peccatum, quodcumque fecerit homo, extra corpus est: qui autem fornicatur, in corpus suum peccat.