12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
helpful (v.12) = expedient, profitable, beneficial to ourselves and others (1 Corinthians 8:13)
So, food has no moral significance one way or another. It’s OK to satisfy our appetite for food as long as we don’t abuse it. And it is temporary. We will eat in our glorified bodies, but we likely won’t need to eat. The body is eternal (in its glorified, resurrected state), so there are things that are morally wrong. Especially since we have the power of Christ’s resurrection now. Therefore, while the gratification of hunger is not wrong, the gratification of the sexual appetite, outside of marriage, is.
Ah, the resurrected life of Christ! God, in His grace will give us the power to live it if, like Paul, we truly long to “know Him, and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).
This, surely, is what he refers to in Philippians 3:11, in the phrase, “that I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” The word “attain” clearly implies that he does not speak here of a future resurrection, but of a resurrection life to be attained to, and enjoyed, during this present earthly sojourn. He emphasizes this fact by acknowledging that he has not yet fully attained; that he is not yet perfect (v.12). But this is the “prize” he daily seeks to gain (vs. 13-14).
Finally, in Romans 8:11 the apostle declares that if the Spirit of God, who “raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,” that same spirit, dwelling in you, “shall also quicken your mortal bodies.”
And he adds: “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh” (v.12).
How can we leave this blessed subject without adding Colossians 3:1-3? “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life [i.e. your new life] is hid with Christ in God.” — Stam, page 121.
