“For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20. 

St. Paul reminds us that we have been purchased at a price.  He wrote extensively on morality and, specifically, chastity. When Jesus preached, He gave a new understanding to the old laws. His clarifications including teachings on marriage. As He said, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”

In the second reading last Sunday, Paul wrote about sins of the body. Our bodies are made in the image and likeness of God. We are made for glorification, not immorality. As he explains, sins against our bodies are especially immoral.

Why?

Because we have been purchased at a price. We can argue that the first sin was committed out of lust. Eve ate the forbidden apple and tempted her husband to do the same. Adam chose Eve and joined her sin rather than remaining with God. He refused to lose his wife, and fell to her sin instead of raising her to virtue.

Christ paid the price with His blood on the cross for our sin. The price of our purchase was His life, taken from Him slowly and painfully. We all know this to be true, that we were died for. Why do so many of us not recognize that worth? How do we deny how precious our lives are?

If you were given an expensive, beautiful gift, what would you do? Refuse to wear your engagement ring? Wreck your new car? Burn down your house? How much more precious is a gift purchased with blood than money? How much more is your body and life worth than material objects?

Our lives were purchased by Christ’s death. Our bodies are the vessels in which we live our lives. We are made to glorify God, not destroy our goodness by eating forbidden fruits. We are not made for immorality.