You are the temple of God

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” - 1Corinthians 3v16-17

There is a movement afoot today to de-emphasis the church. Some will de-emphasis the Body of Christ as a whole; others will de-emphasis the local assembly. I am sure that both groups have their reasons and feel justified in what they are doing. Others would rather destroy a church than swallow their pride. Others will ride their pet issues to the point where a church is split apart and the whole body of Christ is affected.

Later God will address the issue that not only is the church the temple of God, but each individual member is the temple of the Holy Spirit as well. Here though, the issue is clearly the church. From the context the danger is divisions and lack of unity. The warning is harsh, and to be honest I don’t really know how to describe since the word of God, to my mind, clearly teaches that our salvation is eternal, that it cannot be destroyed.

There is no difference between the words translated “destroy” and “defile” in Greek. “Whoever wrecks the body God will wreck,” may be a viable paraphrase here. I would have to look at this more to try and understand what God is saying.

One thing is clear – we had better be very, very careful before we let our own ideas, our own issues, or our own agendas harm the church. The church is the temple of God and He is going to protect it.