Later text
Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
Intertextuality Pair
Quotation
Later text
Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
Earlier text
Genesis 2:24BSB
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 defines marriage as a creation ordinance involving "one flesh" union. Paul applies this to sexual immorality, showing that sexual intercourse always creates "one body" union, whether in marriage or not. This is a profound hermeneutical move: Paul treats the creation account not as prescriptive for marriage only, but as descriptive of sexual union's inherent nature. By joining with a prostitute, believers violate their prior union with Christ (6:17: "joined to the Lord, one spirit"). The Genesis text establishes that sexuality carries covenant significance - it creates union. For Christians, this means sexual immorality is not merely personal sin but corporate betrayal, since believers' bodies belong to Christ and the church community.