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. – 1 Corinthians 3.16-17

This is a great time for this passage. It is Sunday and soon we will be gathering together as local assemblies of the body of Christ.  Later in this letter Paul refers to our physical bodies as ‘the temples of the Holy Spirit; but here he refers to the church, Christ’s body as ‘the temple of God.’ 

The use if the word 'temple' would have had a huge impact, but especially on the Jewish immigrants who had flocked to Corinth. The word would have always had an impact not the Corinthians. They knew all about temples. There was a temple to Apollo and a major temple to Aphrodite. Everyone had an image in their heads when they heard the word 'temple.'

Here Paul says what must have been startling words - 'don't you know that you are the temple of God?' He described the temple as holy. He said again 'you are the temple.' Defiling the temple was so bad that anyone who defiled it we read 'God will destroy him.' 

I am going to chicken out and not get in to the destroying bit. I'll leave that for further study. 

What is important, I think, is the aspect of the holiness of God's temple, Christ's body, the church. 

That tells me that when I sin, or when I am not right with God, it is not only me who is impacted. My sin affects he whole body. It affects the whole temple. We must always be aware of the temple of God when we choose to sin. It is not just about me.