1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” This verse teaches an incredible truth – that as believers in Jesus Christ, God’s Holy Spirit lives within us. We are the temple of God. This concept has profound implications for how we should live as Christians.
The Temple in the Old Testament
To fully grasp what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 3:16, it helps to understand what the temple meant to the Jews. In the Old Testament, the temple in Jerusalem was the center of Jewish worship. It was a holy place where God’s presence resided and where sacrifices were made to atone for sins. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The temple represented God’s holiness and the need for separation from sin.
The Jewish people treated the temple with utmost reverence. It was to be a house of prayer and worship where people could draw near to God. Defiling or dishonoring the temple was a serious offense. Jesus displayed righteous anger when he drove out the money changers who were profiteering in the temple courts (Matthew 21:12-13). The temple was sacred space belonging to God.
Believers Are the New Temple
When Paul says “you are God’s temple,” he is making a radical claim. Under the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus Christ, our bodies are now the dwelling place of God’s Spirit. Just as God’s presence filled the temple in the Old Testament, so now his presence fills us through the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we do not go to a physical temple to worship or sacrifice for sins. We ourselves are the spiritual temple where God desires to be worshiped and glorified.
This teaching would have been astonishing to both Jews and Gentiles in Corinth. The Jews held the physical temple in Jerusalem as the center of their faith. For Paul to claim that God now lives within each believer through the Spirit would be difficult to accept. For the Gentiles, the idea of their bodies being an actual temple for a deity would have seemed strange compared to their pagan worship practices.
Yet Paul wants the Corinthians to realize the incredible privilege of hosting God’s very presence within them. As God’s temple, they must live in holiness and purity lest they defile what is sacred. The Corinthian Christians needed to take their identity as God’s dwelling place seriously.
Practical Implications
So what are some of the practical implications of being God’s temple? Here are a few important truths for Christians to keep in mind:
- We must pursue holiness – God calls his temples to be holy as he is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Sin grieves the Holy Spirit who lives in us (Ephesians 4:30).
- We do not belong to ourselves – Since we belong to God as his temple, we are no longer our own masters (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We live for his purposes.
- We must glorify God – As God’s temple, we are to offer spiritual sacrifices of praise and goodness that bring glory to God (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15-16).
- We have intimate access to God – We can have intimate fellowship and communion with God who lives within us by his Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14).
- Our bodies matter – Now that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, what we do with them physically impacts our spiritual life. Our bodies belong to God.
- We are church, not buildings – The church is comprised of believers in whom God dwells, not buildings where believers gather (although church buildings can aid worship).
These implications shape how Christians live in light of being God’s holy temple. We live to please the God who graciously dwells within us through his Spirit.
The Indwelling Holy Spirit
It’s important to note that 1 Corinthians 3:16 speaks specifically of the Spirit’s indwelling presence within believers. God lives within us by giving us his Holy Spirit. Multiple passages affirm this reality:
- “But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” (Romans 8:9)
- “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – keep it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.” (2 Timothy 1:14)
- “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:13)
The Holy Spirit is God’s personal presence within us, enabling intimate relationship. Through the Spirit, we experience new birth, transformation, guidance, and empowering for godly living. We enjoy personal communion with God himself.
United with Christ
There is also a close connection between the indwelling Spirit and our unity with Jesus Christ. In Romans 8, being “in the Spirit” also means we are “in Christ.”
Jesus is the true, original temple where God dwelt among men (John 1:14). As we are united to Christ spiritually, we share in Jesus’ experience of the Holy Spirit during his earthly life and ministry (John 3:34; Luke 4:1, 18). Christ now lives in us through his Spirit (Galatians 2:20). We are filled with the same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus.
So experientially, being indwelt by the Holy Spirit means greater intimacy with Jesus Christ as well as with the Father. The Spirit glorifies Christ and makes his presence known (John 16:14). We are the temple of God because of our union with Christ by faith.
A Living Temple
It’s important to remember that the church collectively, not just individual Christians, constitutes God’s temple:
“…Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:20-22)
Although God dwells in each believer through the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 3:16 was originally addressed to the Corinthian church. They corporately were God’s temple. God inhabits the church as a spiritual building made of living stones (1 Peter 2:5). So God’s temple has both corporate and individual aspects.
Just as each stone fitted together builds a temple, so each believer joined to the Body of Christ constitutes a “dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Christ’s living presence governs the church through his indwelling Spirit.
A Call to Holiness and Purity
Since we as believers are God’s holy temple, both individually and corporately, Paul draws an important conclusion:
“If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:17)
These are serious words. In the Old Testament, anyone who intentionally defiled the physical temple was subject to punishment, even death. Desecrating a temple dedicated to a deity was a grievous offense. How much more serious is it to defile God’s spiritual temple of which we are now a part?
Paul warns those who would destroy the church through division and false doctrine. But this also applies to those who promote sin or immorality within the church. Even as individual believers we must avoid defiling God’s temple by how we live.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 is a direct application: since we are God’s temple, we must flee sexual immorality which violates our union with Christ. The consequences for desecrating God’s temple are severe. Jesus also warned that Matthew 12:31-32 that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit who dwells in God’s temple leads to eternal judgment.
But while this warning is sobering, it highlights the tremendous privilege believers have. God has chosen to make his dwelling within us, united by his Spirit. Therefore we must live in a manner fitting for a holy temple. Our lives and ethics should reflect the God who graciously inhabits us through his Spirit.
“For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'” (2 Corinthians 6:16)