2 Corinthians 7 Lesson

DEFINING DEFILEMENT

In his second letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul implores those in Corinth to cleanse themselves from, “All defilement of flesh and spirit.”  

This begs the question, “What does it mean to defile the flesh and spirit?” 

We will answer this question in today’s lesson, but we will start with the definition of the word defilement.

The word defilement means:

• “To become unclean, sexually, religiously, or ceremonially.”

  It originates from the Greek word, Koinoo, and the Hebrew word, אםט tame whose definitions are provided below (source: goltman.wordpress.com). 

• “Koinoo,” means to make common, unclean, profane, defile, to declare unclean or count unclean,
• אםט tame', means to become unclean, sexually, religiously or ceremonially.” (Source: goltman.wordpress.com)

DEFILEMENT OF THE FLESH:

When we defile our flesh, we do something that makes it unclean.

There are a lot of ways to do this, some are obvious, and others are more subtle.  

Defilement of the flesh occurs when poor decisions give way to sinful lust.  

It is often sexual in nature, but not always.     

Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians:

• “Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20.

One of the best things that we can do to avoid the defilement of the flesh is to remove ourselves from bad situations.  

Simply leave! 

If we find ourselves about to do something that we know is wrong, we are wise to simply get up and walk away. Removing ourselves from a bad situation is a fantastic way to avoid the temptations presented by Satan.

DEFILEMENT OF THE SPIRIT

The second type of defilement that we will discuss in our lesson is the defilement of the Spirit.

We will begin our thoughts on this topic by reviewingthree scriptures about the Holy Spirit. 

1. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” - John 14:26,
2. “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” - Romans 8:26,
3. “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” – Romans 8:5-6.

We defile the Spirit when we make the choice to follow the ways of the world instead of following God.

And once we do that, we are on our way to becoming lost.

It comes down to a choice. Who do we want to serve?

If we serve God, our decisions will be made out of love for Him and our neighbor.

Serving God means following His Spirit.

If we serve ourselves, or the ways of the world, what God says is not that important to us.  

People in this category think nothing of defiling their own bodies because they are serving the flesh and not God.  

This is a dangerous path that leads to eternal damnation!

CONCLUSION

The Apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians:

• “Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20.

Our bodies do not belong to us, they are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and they were bought with a price! 

If we love the Lord and want to go to Heaven, we will make the wise choice to glorify God and serve others, rather than pursuing our own lusts and selfish ambitions.

This pleases God and leads to the peace that surpasses all understanding, as described by Paul in Philippians 4:7. 

Paul understood the importance of following the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by the following two quotes taken from his letter to the churches in Galatia:

• “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.  For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another.” -Galatians 5:16-17,
• “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” - Galatians 5:25.

We will end today’s lesson with a quote from the book of Joshua.   This scripture beautifully illustrates the path that God’s children are to follow:

• “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15.