Does a person involved in fornication get spiritually connected with the one with whom he is having sex?

Answer:

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (I Corinthians 6:15-17).

Look closely at the last half of this quote and notice that Paul is laying out a progressive list:

• A man having sex with a prostitute is physically joined to her ("one body")
• A husband and wife join all aspects of their lives together ("one flesh")
• A Christian puts on Christ and is spiritually joined with Him ("one spirit")

Sex binds the participants. It is not a permanent or stable bond, but it is a bond nonetheless. Those who engage in sexual sins are physically coupled during the act. They become for the moment one body (the Greek word soma), but it is unstable because soon they separate.

Fornication is different from a marriage where the two people become one flesh (the Greek word sarx). Marriage is the joining of two human beings into one life. Sex is one aspect of the two people coming together, but it is not the whole of it. A marriage bond is stable. It lasts for the life of the two people (Romans 7:2-3).

But our joining to the Lord is an even greater bond, being a spiritual fellowship. It is a fellowship that lasts through eternity. "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:20-21). Marriage is compatible with our spiritual bond because the Lord blesses it (Hebrews 13:4). Illicit sex is not compatible with our spiritual bond with Christ because severs our fellowship with God. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (I John 1:6-7).

Why should we take what God has freed from sin (Romans 6:1-7) and then bind ourselves to sinners, even on a temporary basis? We are a part of Christ (Ephesians 5:30) and when we sin, we are attempting to force sin to join with Christ through us. It won't work because what is flawed is cast off. Our reaction to sins, such as fornication, ought to be to run away from them as far and as fast as we can.

What you have heard claims that sex creates a permanent spiritual bond. This cannot be and runs counter to Paul's argument in I Corinthians 6.

While demons encourage sin, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (I Timothy 4:1), the idea that people who sin have demons in them is false. People sin because they choose to break God's laws. "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (I John 3:4). This is why each person is responsible for his own sins. "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself" (Ezekiel 18:20). Therefore, there is no exchanging of demons during illicit sex.