Scriptures:
1 Corinthians 7:34 – “There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.”
2 Corinthians 7:1 – “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Romans 12:1 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 – “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you…? Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Church Fathers:
Irenaeus
Now, since man is a living being compounded of soul and flesh, he must needs exist by both of these: and, whereas from both of them offences come, purity of the flesh is the restraining abstinence from all shameful things and all unrighteous deeds, and purity of the soul is the keeping faith towards God entire, neither adding thereto nor diminishing therefrom. For godliness is obscured and dulled by the soiling and the staining of the flesh, and is broken and polluted and no more entire, if falsehood enter into the soul: but it will keep itself in its beauty and its measure, when truth is constant in the soul and purity in the flesh. For what profit is it to know the truth in words, and to pollute the flesh and perform the works of evil? Or what profit can purity of the flesh bring, if truth be not in the soul? For these rejoice with one another, and are united and allied to bring man face to face with God. Wherefore the Holy Spirit says by David: Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly: that is, the counsel of the nations which know not God: for those are ungodly who worship not the God that truly is. And therefore the Word says to Moses: I am He that is; but they that worship not the God that is, these are the ungodly. And hath not stood in the way of sinners: but sinners are those who have the knowledge of God and keep not His commandments; that is, disdainful scorners. And hath not sat in the seat of the pestilential: now the pestilential are those who by wicked and perverse doctrines corrupt not themselves only, but others also. For the seat is a symbol of teaching. Such then are all heretics: they sit in the seats of the pestilential, and those are corrupted who receive the venom of their doctrine. – Irenaeus, Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Paragraph 2
And they counseled them by the word of truth to keep their flesh undefiled unto the resurrection and their soul unstained. – Irenaeus, Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Paragraph 41
Clement of Alexandria
Now, the Word is also both healing and instructive at the same time, following itself in a perfect harmony. It gives advice to the one already stirred, promising healing for the main root of our inner struggles. Let us rightly call this Word by a single fitting name: Pedagogue (Teacher for children)—not in the technical sense of a schoolmaster, but as one whose goal is to improve the soul, not to teach doctrine, but to guide with self-control rather than specialized knowledge.
Even so, the same Word is also a teacher, but not at this moment. In the doctrinal teachings, He reveals and explains as the Didaskalos (Teacher), but before that, as the Paidagogos (Trainer), He urges us first toward the right character. Now, He calls us into active virtue, passing on pure instructions and showing to those who come after the mistakes of those who came before, like pictures. – Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus 1.1