1 Corinthians 6:13

“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian believers who are debating moral permissibility and bodily purpose, immediately before explaining the resurrection. He addresses their claim that physical matters are transient and spiritually neutral.

The words — κοιλία (koilia) means belly and βρώματα (brōmata) means foods. The text uses these terms to describe a temporary, mutually dependent physical cycle that God will destroy.

The thread — The body’s sacred status runs through 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 6:19, where believers are identified as God’s temple. It aligns with Romans 6:12, which commands rejecting sin’s reign in the mortal body.

Why it lands — The text states the body is for the Lord, not sexual immorality, and that God will raise believers by His power. It demands rejecting temporary physical justifications and submitting bodily life to Christ’s authority.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
1 Thessalonians 4:3 For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;
Matthew 15:17 “Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated?
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior.
Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Romans 14:7 For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone.
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.