“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in in you?” [1 Cor 3:16]

Here Paul uses the Temple as a figure of the believer’s body. Just as the Shekinah glory of God inhabited the Holy Place in the tabernacle and the Temple, so the Holy Spirit indwells the believer whose body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, his body becomes holy and care must be exercised not to defile it in any manner. Certainly the most compelling reason to live a life of holiness unto the Lord is the fact that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer.” (Harper’s Study Bible) It is this rare gift, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that gives meaning to every other aspect of life and surpasses all family related titles. Pray that God may make us aware of his indwelling presence.

Paul uses this metaphor in several places. “Your body is a temple of the Holy.” (1 Cor 6:19) We are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor 6:16) “Grows into a holy temple in…Lord” (Eph 2:21) The church is ‘the Israel of God’ (Gal 6:16), ‘the Jerusalem above’ (Gal 4:26) He is deceived who deceives himself the temple of the Holy Ghost, yet is unconcerned about personal holiness, or the peace and purity of the church. In addition to the analogy Paul has used in 1 Cor 3:9 (“For we are fellow workers for God, you are God’s field, God’s temple”) he describes the people of God as his sanctuary in which the Spirit dwells. We are God’s fellow workers, just as the Corinthians are God’s field, and God’s building. In the same way that Corinth’s magnificent buildings had the benefactors’ names inscribed on them, the Corinthians are God’s edifice. There is no such thing as ‘my converts’ and neither do Christians ‘belong’ to a particular Christian teacher or evangelist.

“God…dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” The restoration of the Parthenon which took more than a decade, at the end of which time all the big, tumbled – down blocks of stone was back in their original places. Wherever I meet with you , Father, there is my sacred temple. 1 Jn 4:12. God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Peter in his first epistle chapter two also emphasizes that you are God’s new spiritual temple. There he describes the Christian’s life in three successive figures: (i) second birth; (ii) a living temple; and (iii) a royal priesthood. Jerusalem had its magnificent temple at Jerusalem in the early days of the Christian religion. Christianity had no temple. One of Paul’s favorite figures is that of the Christian spiritual temple. Jesus is the chief cornerstone of God’s temple. It is noticeable that the language expresses a fulfillment of the prophecy of Jn 2:19 “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Peter builds up his picture of the spiritual temple in a vigorous and vivid way. The phrase, a living stone, is to be taken with whom and refers to Jesus. The meaning of the rather involved sentence is: Come to Jesus, the living stone, and you also as living stones will build with him a living temple.

We read in Ephesians 2:19-22 “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together, and grows into a holy temple of the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place (a habitation) of God in the Spirit.” Of course there is no question about the foundation. But let the builders be sure of their material and build only what will endure. It is important to note that we all have an important part to play in the building of your life. Does one man use precious metals and costly marbles, which another makes use of wood and the tile? In so far as it consists of gold, silver, precious stones, it will pass the test. In so far as it is composed of wood, hay, stubble, the consequence will be utter destruction. Of course, the difference will be disclosed in the testing day when fire will be the instrument of God’s ordeal. The metaphor used is a vivid one. Paul was fond of this metaphor. In several places he uses this. For example Col 2:7. Peter also uses this 1 Pet 2:5. Paul’s deep concern is that the building itself shall be sound and the materials able to pass the strongest test of judgment fire. No other foundation can be laid. This not only refers to the apocalyptic and imminent day of judgment, it refers to the constant test to which spiritual things are put in the everyday life of the times. The test that reveals the quality both of the foundation which we build and the materials we use. None can escape it. Our immense responsibility is brought to light here.

The quality of each man’s work will then be clearly shown, for one will have the reward of seeing his life-work stand, while the other will suffer the penalty of seeing his life-work perish in flames. In short, “You are God’s building. Need I explain to men of knowledge the character of that building? It is a sacred shrine in which God’s very presence dwells. You are the church of the living God. Woe to him who desecrates by foul conduct the temple consecrated by the habitation of the Holy Spirit. Woe to him who brings this hallowed structure down in ruins by his divisive efforts.” This is the paraphrase of the passage given in Abingdon Bible Commentary. Here as in 2 Cor 6:16, the reference is to the Christian society as the home of the Spirit. No greater contrast could be imagined than the Jewish temple in which no image was allowed, and a heathen temple with its statuary. Paul immediately turns to the favorite Christian conception of the ‘temple not made with hands’ (Acts 7:48; 17:24) and claims that the Christian church (1 Cor 3:16f; Eph 2:21) is the shrine of the living God.

“I give my life for thee. What hast thou given for me?” (Frances Ridley Havergal) The church, i.e. the community of Christian believers in Corinth, is God’s chosen temple. It is sanctified by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, and it must be treated as such. Nothing impure or profane must be allowed to violate its sacredness. The Spirit of worship, of service, of fellowship and humility must be manifest in its very atmosphere. Just as desecration of a pagan temple in those far-off days carried the heaviest penalties, so will God wreek the man who wrecks his chosen dwelling place.

There is nothing men need more than a deeper, stimulating awareness of the greater, more important, much more significant unseen environment in the midst of which all earthly activities and hopes are placed. Life will be great again as a sense of the sacred infuses all human activities in every field. God’s dwelling is sacred; let nothing be done that encroaches upon its essential atmosphere of consecration to him and his holy purposes. (Interpreter’s Bible) Signifies a house or dwelling of God, a building erected and set apart for the worship of the triune God. It is spoken, first, of that magnificent building erected by Solomon at Jerusalem.

The glory of this temple was not in the bigness of it; for that alone was bit a small pile of building, as, containing no more than 150’ in length and 105 in breadth, taking the sanctuary, the sanctum, and the porch of the entrance, from out to out. The main glory of the temple were those extraordinary marks of the divine favor with which it was honored, namely (i) the Ark of the Covenant in which were yet the tablets of the law, and the mercy seat which was upon it, from whence the divine oracles were given out by an audible voice, as often as God was consulted in behalf of his people. (ii) the Shekinah, or the divine presence, manifested by a visible cloud resting over the mercy seat. (iii) The urim and thummim, by which the High Priest consulted God in difficult and momentous cases relating to the public interest of the nation and (iv) the holy fire which came down from heaven on the altar at the consecration of the temple.

It is spoken secondly of the tabernacle which was of the same use and significance as the temple was. Thirdly, of Christ’s body or human nature in which the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, as the glory of God did visibly in the temple (Jn 2:19,21; Col 2:9) Fourthly, of heaven which is God’s throne (Rev 7:15) Fifthly, of the church of God (a) distributively, considered in the particular members thereof, who are set apart from profane uses, and dedicated to the service of God; and to whom he manifests his gracious presence by his Spirit (1 Cor 3:16) (b) collectively, in respect opf the whole (Eph 2:21)

In short, you and I are temples of God. We are the temples of the living God. It was believed that God was residing in the temple. Body is a holy place of God. The question is what are you doing to beautify the temple of God? Christians individually (1 Cor 6:19) and the church corporately (1 Cor 3:16) are seen as God’s new temple, a spiritual house because it is indwelt by His Spirit. As the metaphor of the temple is applied to the community as a whole, it emphasizes the unity of the community. To continue quarrels and divisions would mean to destroy the temple of God. The Corinthian community is a temple of God, because the divine spirit dwells in it. In Cor 6:19 the metaphor of the temple will be applied to the body of the individual Christian, because the Spirit dwells in every one of the baptized. This individual application is secondary. The Spirit comes into the community and gives himself to individuals through the community. In 2 Cor 6:16 the metaphor is applied to the Corinthian community as here; but in Ephesians 2:19 it designates the universal church. Pagans, as well as Jews, regarded desecration of a temple as a heinous crime.

Since the Holy Spirit lives in the believer’s body, the believer cannot claim ownership of his or her body. In 1 Cor 6:20, Paul gives another reason the believer should not think of the body as his or her own. “You were bought with a price.” God purchased the believer’s body and spirit with the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ. Let us be diligent to remember that our bodies belong to the Lord – purchased by His Son and inhabited by His Spirit. “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Cor 3:17) The building upon which Paul and others are at work, the church at Corinth, is God’s temple. 1 Pet 2:5, for God’s Spirit is alive in its midst. In a solemn statement of lex talionis (punishment in kind) destruction is promised to anyone who brings about the destruction of God’s temple by breaking it away from its foundation. Paul asks “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.” (2 Cor 6:16)

It is for Yahweh that the Temple was constructed according to the wish of David. There has been a tension between God’s transcendence and his proximity to Israel in the Temple. The Temple played an important part in the life of Israel, fundamentally because the Temple was considered God’s own house in the midst of his people. According to 1 Kings 8:10 a cloud signifying the divine presence filled the Temple. There is explicit reference to the idea of divine dwelling in Solomon’s dedication speech (1 Kings 8:13) The prophets, however, realized that God’s presence among his people was a gratuitous favor that could be withdrawn if they proved unworthy of it. But the issue was could the transcendent God be confused with the narrow physical limits of the Holy of Holies? Several biblical documents stress that God’s ‘glory dwelt in the Temple’ (2 Chron 5:14; Ez 10:4; 43:5) In addition to being a sign of God’s presence, or perhaps because it was,. the Temple was also a symbol of his choice of Israel as his very own people.

Temple is a place of worship. The temple in Hebrew religion was a permanent structure in Jerusalem, built by Solomon as a substitute for the tent of worship that the Israelites had used in the wilderness and continued to use through David’s reign. The Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 -86 B. C. A second temple was constructed under Ezra and Nehemiah in the fifth century after return from the exile.