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1 Corinthians 6:16

in 1 Corinthians 6

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.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Or know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? for, The twain, saith he, shall become one flesh.

KJV

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

This verse in 1 Corinthians 6

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrosiaster

Commentary on 1 Corinthians · Written before 384.

For, as it is said, the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her. Sexual immorality joins them together as one, just as in nature, two become one. As it is written, 'They shall become one flesh' (Genesis 2:24). It is …

This site's exposition

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

on 1 Corinthians 6:15-17

Paul cites Genesis 2:24, The two will become one flesh, to show that sexual union forms a real bond whatever the intention. Uniting a member of Christ with a prostitute is therefore unthinkable.

This site's exposition

one with her in body

Paul applies Genesis 2:24, the founding word on marriage, to a man's union with a prostitute. Chrysostom observes that the joining itself makes the two into one. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the Genesis words as God speaking through Adam.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on 1 Corinthians 18 · Written before 407.

proposed

Then he makes out how the fornicator becomes this, saying thus, "Know ye not that he that is joined unto a harlot is one body?" How is this evident? "For the twain, saith He, shall become one." For the conjunction suffers the two no longer to be two, but makes them both one.

A commentator

Oecumenius

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 550.

proposed

A man guilty of fornication and the impurity which comes from it insults his marriage and his wife. He sins against his own body and consequently against his wife, because the two are one flesh.

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on 1 Corinthians · Written before 1274.

proposed

Thirdly he presents the minor, saying: Do you not know that he who joins his body to a prostitute, namely, by fornicating, becomes one body with her? Namely, by an unclean union. To prove this he appeals to the authority of Genesis, saying, For it …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on 1 Corinthians · Written before 1107.

proposed

The cited passage shows what was stated, that is, in what manner the members of Christ become members of a harlot. Through intercourse, he says, a man becomes one with a harlot; therefore his members, which were members of Christ, become members of a harlot.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot,.... Not in marriage, but in carnal copulation, and unclean embraces, is one body with her for two ("saith he", Adam, or Moses, or God, or the Scripture, or as R. Sol.
3 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

proposed

But he that is joined to the Lord - By faith. Is one spirit with him - And shall he make himself one flesh with an harlot?

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:80%@v14-17

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

He that is joined to a harlot is one body - In Sohar Genes., fol. 19, we have these remarkable words: Whosoever connects himself with another man’s wife, does in effect renounce the holy blessed God, and the Church of the Israelites.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Justification of his having called fornicators "members of an harlot" (1Co 6:15). joined--by carnal intercourse; literally, "cemented to": cleaving to. one body--with her. saith he--God speaking by Adam (Ge 2:24;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The words behind it

19 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 2:24

    For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 19:3–9

      Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

    • Ephesians 5:28–31

      In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

    • Mark 10:6–12

      However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’

    • Romans 7:2

      For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

    • 1 Peter 3:1–7

      Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives

  • Through

    Ephesians 5:31

    “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

    it leads to

    • Genesis 2:24

      For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 19:5

      and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

  • Through

    Mark 10:8

    and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 5:28

      In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Corinthians

The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1495 to 1498. Public domain.
The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1495 to 1498. Public domain.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Corinthians; Frederic Godet, Commentary on First Corinthians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 18; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Oecumenius, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.