The Temple of God
1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19-20
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
(1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV)
It is interesting to note that when Paul is in the middle of his address to the Corinthians practice of pride in chapter 3 and in his address to the Corinthians sexual immorality in chapter 6, he talks about these things in the context of the corporate body. The word "you" in the above verses is in the plural - "you all" (or an equivalent).
What is also interesting to note is that both Paul's confrontation of the problem is in the plural (2:3, 6:15) and his solution is in the plural. Paul means for these Christians to take care of this problem, not only in an individual way, but also in a corporate way.
This may be foreign to our ears, since we think of such things like sexual immorality (whether adultery, lust, habitual pornography, incest, fornication, etc.) are things that we are to keep to ourselves, not letting anyone else know. Some sins we may confess to others, ones we don't deem "all that bad" - the occasional lie, the not-so-often outburst of anger, or distrusting the Lord in difficult times (all which are that bad, but when compared to sexual immorality...eh).
Yet, Paul puts the problem of sexual immorality on the same plain as their pride stated earlier: they are both problems in the church (individually and corporately), and they both need a solution (individually and corporately).
What does this mean?
Since, we are God's temple, designed for unity and holiness, we need each other to promote our individual holiness and put down the remnants of sin in our lives. Whether pride or lust, we need to be ready to confess to our brothers and seek out help from our fellow church members, pastor, elders, deacons. We are just individuals, we were made to be a multitude in unity. Therefore, we must not fool ourselves into thinking we can handle ourselves by ourselves.
The ultimate goal of holiness is not a good name for ourselves. We do not understand that we are God's temple (individually and corporately), so that we can boast in ourselves. Just the contrary. We understand that we are God's temple, and therefore, being God's temple, we are to act and think in a such a way that is characteristic of His temple. We are to be pure, illuminating the glory of God within us. We cannot be pure by having impure motives. Our motive must be this, only and always: Glorifying Christ.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
(1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV)
It is interesting to note that when Paul is in the middle of his address to the Corinthians practice of pride in chapter 3 and in his address to the Corinthians sexual immorality in chapter 6, he talks about these things in the context of the corporate body. The word "you" in the above verses is in the plural - "you all" (or an equivalent).
What is also interesting to note is that both Paul's confrontation of the problem is in the plural (2:3, 6:15) and his solution is in the plural. Paul means for these Christians to take care of this problem, not only in an individual way, but also in a corporate way.
This may be foreign to our ears, since we think of such things like sexual immorality (whether adultery, lust, habitual pornography, incest, fornication, etc.) are things that we are to keep to ourselves, not letting anyone else know. Some sins we may confess to others, ones we don't deem "all that bad" - the occasional lie, the not-so-often outburst of anger, or distrusting the Lord in difficult times (all which are that bad, but when compared to sexual immorality...eh).
Yet, Paul puts the problem of sexual immorality on the same plain as their pride stated earlier: they are both problems in the church (individually and corporately), and they both need a solution (individually and corporately).
What does this mean?
Since, we are God's temple, designed for unity and holiness, we need each other to promote our individual holiness and put down the remnants of sin in our lives. Whether pride or lust, we need to be ready to confess to our brothers and seek out help from our fellow church members, pastor, elders, deacons. We are just individuals, we were made to be a multitude in unity. Therefore, we must not fool ourselves into thinking we can handle ourselves by ourselves.
The ultimate goal of holiness is not a good name for ourselves. We do not understand that we are God's temple (individually and corporately), so that we can boast in ourselves. Just the contrary. We understand that we are God's temple, and therefore, being God's temple, we are to act and think in a such a way that is characteristic of His temple. We are to be pure, illuminating the glory of God within us. We cannot be pure by having impure motives. Our motive must be this, only and always: Glorifying Christ.
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