17. But whoever is joined to the
Lord becomes one spirit (with him). Lit. “is one spirit” (hen pneuma), in contrast to “one body”
or “one flesh” of v. 16. One would have expected Paul to say “becomes one body”
with the Lord, but instead he shifts because of his often-used contrast of
“flesh” and “spirit.” The union of Christians with the Lord is real, but on a
different level; it has nothing to do with “flesh,” for it is of a spiritual
nature, being an intimate union with the risen Lord. As such, it precludes all
free and casual use of the body (or flesh) in sexual intercourse. “Being joined
to the Lord” means that a Christian cannot be “joined to a prostitute,” even in
a casual act. The quotation of Gen 2:24, which per se refers to the union of
man and women in the marital act, now suggests that the spiritual union of the
Christian with “the Lord” has a marital connotation (recall 6:13e: the body is
“meant for the Lord”). Whoever thus joins himself to the Lord transcends human
bodily existence and acquires a new identity, as one becomes “one spirit” with
Christ (see Baldanza, “L’Uso”). (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, First Corinthians: A New Translation with
Introduction and Commentary [AYB 32; New Haven; London: Yale University
Press, 2008], 268)
