Scripture Reading(s)
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
3:18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.
3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
3:20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
3:21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours,
3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future–all belong to you,
3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Reflections
Continuing from yesterday’s passage, here we see Paul moving into the Church not just being any building, but the temple of God, the dwelling place of God’s presence. During this time, Rome was a city that had numerous impressive temples made from marble and fine stones. The fact that the Jewish temple was still standing and in use, Paul’s words are even more effective. It is more then just a physical gathering place, it is a group of people whose hearts and lives are home to Jesus Christ.
This verse speaking to God’s presence is applied to the church body as a whole. There is an urgent charge to remind them that in order to have a true genuine Christian community, it had to be rooted in Christ. There is also the promise that God will work to protect the church from anyone who seeks to tare it down.
The Church was still growing and there were those who were new to the faith and as a whole the body of Christ were being encouraged to build a strong band of believers and encourage others to keep growing in the faith.
The Church cannot function without a solid foundation in Christ. Without the people of God looking to Christ as their source of strength, hope and truth, the body of Christ will crumble and fall. This is not just an individual fight. The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. God set up a church so that we can daily encourage, love and support one another all through the purpose of doing His work and Glorifying Him.
The Corinthian church was the home of many Christians who were a bit prideful. They had issues with cliques, with proper dress, with sexual sin, with showing off in the service, and with trying to 1-up each other. In the midst of their sin, Paul reminds them that the body is the temple for the Spirit. Any thing they do, they are engaging in that act with the Spirit inside of them. Thus, they profane the Spirit. This was reiterated in 1 Cor 6, in relation to sexual immorality.
When I was a new Christian someone once said to me that Christian aught to behave as if Jesus is with them all the time. How would I behave if Jesus were standing right next to me? I can tell you that I would behave very differently. But this is not merely a hypothetical practice. The Spirit if God is with us all the time. Yet, we often do not curb our negative behavior. As Christians we must remember that we take the Spirit with us, whether we go to serve God or go to serve ourselves. Jesus is literally with us all the time. We must act as though we believe that truth.
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