“…you are God’s temple” according to the apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 3:16. This is a really important verse for us to understand, but it may not mean what we often think it to mean. Here is the full text of 1 Cor. 3:16-17:

I have heard this verse used in many ways, from reasons not to smoke to arguing that suicide is the unforgivable sin (it isn’t by the way, rejecting Jesus is). The argument usually goes something like this…since God’s Spirit dwells in you, you shouldn’t smoke because you need to take care of God’s temple. Or if you kill yourself, being the temple of God, God will destroy you. Or I exercise because my body is the temple of God.

The question before us is this, is that what Paul meant there?

American Individualism

One of the values in American culture, maybe especially here in the PNW, is rugged American individualism. We proudly proclaim that “I did it my way”, as though this was a good thing. The cowboy spirit says that we should never need or ask for help, after all we are supposed to pull ourselves up by our food straps.

The English language doesn’t help us here either as the pronouns for second person singular and plural are the same. If I speaking to an individual or to a group of people I would address them as simply “you.”

Texas Got It Right

One of the things you will learn very quickly if you go to Texas is that Texans love the word “y’all.” They use it as a second person plural pronoun. So if you are talking to one person you would call them “you.” But if you were talking to a group of people you would call them “y’all” which we probably understand to be an abbreviated form of “you all.”

Paul Was a Texan

Okay, not really. But in verses 16-17 of 1 Corinthians 3, the pronoun that Paul uses is the second person plural. Paul is effectively saying that y’all are the temple of God, not you are the temple of God.

Technically the way it is translated in your Bible as “you” is correct. In English both the singular and plural is the same. Sorry Texas, technically y’all is bad grammar. But I’m in full support of you continuing to use it!

The Church is the Temple

The idea of the temple of God as the church is prevalent in the New Testament. Paul uses the imagery of individual Christians being stones that being used to build a temple where God dwells. This temple is being built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. Similarly Peter calls Christians “living stones” in 1 Peter 2, and these stones are being built up into a temple.

Individual Christians aren’t present to us as being God’s temple in the Bible, though it is true that God does dwell in the individual Christian by his Spirit. The local church is the temple of God.

What is a Church?

Well that is a complex question, and I will probably be preaching on this soon, but I think that the Bible teaches us what a church is. The word “church,” ekklesia in Greek, is simply a gathering. Literally the word means called out, but it came to refer to a group of people assembled together.

You can see this if you read the end of the account of the riot in Ephesus in Acts 19. In verses 32 and 39 of that chapter, the rioting mob is twice called and “assembly.” I’ll give you one guess what the greek word used for assembly is there. That’s right, it’s ekklesia.

So first and foremost a church is a gathering of God’s people called together by him. But is any gathering a church? I don’t think so. I think there are 4 things that must be present to constitute a church. Those four things are baptism, communion, spiritual leadership, and the right preaching of the Word.

I don’t have time in this post to unpack that, but I will be preaching on it soon. But if you remove baptism and communion then all you have is a small group, which is not a church (see 1 Cor. 10). If you remove the right preaching of the Word then you have a cult, a church must get the gospel right. If you remove spiritual leadership, well then you just have disobedience.

A Sharp Warning

With all of that being understood, let’s consider what Paul is warning us about in these verses in 1 Cor. 3. He states that “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.” In other words, God takes very seriously how his people treat his church!

Later, in 1 Cor. 11, Paul even tells us that God has disciplined some people in the church by making them sick, and some of them had even died, because they weren’t treating the church (there referred to as “the body) in a proper manner.

Why So Serious?

Why would God offer up such strong warnings here? Because the church is precious to him! How precious you may ask? Precious enough that Peter says that you were bought “with the precious blood of Christ”, some thing that he says is more precious that silver or gold (1 Pet. 1:18-19)!

A Helpful Picture

In the next chapter of 1 Corinthians, chapter 4, Paul gives us picture that helps us understand why this is so important to God. In verse 1 of chapter 4 Paul says that he is to be regarded as a “steward.” The word for steward here is something akin to a butler but even higher. Joseph was a steward in both Potiphar and Pharoah’s houses.

A steward was one hired to manage the affairs of the whole household of his master. So here is the picture for us…

The church is Jesus bride. This imagery is all over the New Testament. And this bride is so precious that dowery that he paid to purchase her was not silly things like silver and gold…no he bought her with the price of his own blood. But now he has gone on a journey and is away from his bride and his home, the very temple where the Spirit of God dwells. I am the steward that he has hired to care for his bride in his absence.

If I were going away for a long time and I were hiring a man to care for my wife and family, what kind of care would I want them to provide? Would I want them to be selfless or selfish, neglectful or attentive, generous or miserly, kind or harsh, etc.?

While the use of the word steward is particularly used in reference to those in spiritual leadership of the church, the picture is helpful in helping understand why Paul makes such strong statements in verses 16-17 of chapter 3.

Wrapping Up

So what do I do with this information?

Great question, I’m glad you asked. I would ask yourself a series of diagnostic questions…

Do I contribute to the care of the church, God’s temple?

Do my actions and attitudes bring unity or division?

Do I pray for the body to which I belong?

Do I participate faithfully in the “assembly,” or do I neglect God’s dwelling?

Do I use my gifts and talents “for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7) or do I exacting in my expectations?

The church is Christ’s bride, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Corporately we are not only the bride of Christ, we are his home. How we care for the church matters dearly to the Lord, it should matter to us as well.