The Local Church, the Believer, and the Temple of God
Who is “The Temple of God” in 1 Corinthians 3:16–17?
For those of us who grew up in Fundamentalism, hearing a sermon about a Christian’s body being the temple of the Holy Ghost was a normal experience. Preachers have often preached 1 Corinthians 6:19, warning Christians to avoid destructive habits such as smoking, drugs, and drinking. These kinds of applications are valid secondary applications of 1 Corinthians 6. Yet they have been so common that they have influenced our understanding of another passage earlier in the book, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17. Similarly, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17 metaphorically refers to Christians as the “temple of God.” However, in this case Paul is not thinking of the individual bodies of Christians when he mentions the “temple of God.” The context of the passage is the factionalism that was taking place in the Corinthian church. The Corinthians were dividing themselves into groups following various Christian teachers: Paul, Peter, and Apollos. They were behaving as if Paul, Peter, and Apollos were competing Greek philosophers who were seeking philosophical adherents, when in reality Paul and his fellow workers were all servants preaching Christ (1 Cor. 3:5–8). The factionalism of the Corinthians was damaging the church; it was causing unnecessary divisions.
Paul uses a couple of metaphors to refer to the Corinthians. He calls them “God’s husbandry” (field) and “God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). He and his fellow laborers that ministered at Corinth were the workers or laborers who worked in the field of God and who built the building of God on the foundation of Christ (1 Cor. 3:10). Continuing the metaphor, the Scriptures teach that if anyone builds on the foundation of Christ he should be careful how he builds. According to verse 12, ministers can build with enduring quality and materials (gold, silver, and precious stones) or with shoddy workmanship and materials (wood, hay, and stubble). Paul teaches that the fire of God will ultimately test the building quality of those who minister. “The supreme test for a building in a Hellenistic city was fire; the same is true for ministry” (David Garland, 1 Corinthians, 118).
The question then arises, what is the building or temple in this metaphor? It seems impossible in the context for the temple to be the individual bodies of believers as it is later in 6:19.
A look at a key word in this passage will help. The key word is “you” or “ye.” Paul says, “Ye are God’s building” and, later, “Ye are the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:9, 16). In the original, the word is a second-person plural, for which modern English has no such distinctive equivalent. Sometimes people will use colloquialisms like “y’all,” “yous,” or “you guys” (depending on the regions of country) to clarify a second-person plural. However, the Elizabethan/Jacobean English of the KJV makes the plural clear. In Elizabethan/ Jacobean English, “you” and “ye” are always plural. The singular, in contrast, is “thee” or “thou.” Those who are familiar with the KJV should take note of those differences; they are often important. The combination of Paul’s metaphor and the use of the second-person plural to refer to all of the Corinthians point toward “the temple of God” being the church in Corinth. This opens up the meaning of these verses. Paul is teaching that the local church at Corinth is God’s temple, and he takes that seriously. “Because it is God’s temple anyone who fails to react rightly towards it is guilty of no light sin” (Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians, 67). In fact, the passage gives a very clear warning: “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:17). “It is a severe warning. He has real destruction in mind, and those who destroy God’s temple will also be destroyed” (Garland, 120).
This passage teaches that local churches—the assemblies, not the buildings—are the temple of God. They are founded on Christ and built by God’s servants. God takes any attacks on His temple very seriously, to the point that He will destroy the one who destroys His temple. This warning is too often overlooked. Many times folks in our churches, and pastors themselves, take the local church too lightly. How many churches are destroyed through factionalism? How many are split by internal, selfish political agendas? How often does loyalty to some distant preacher or ministry lead to the destruction of a Biblical local church? In Fundamentalism we know the dangers of smoking and drinking, but we are often unaware or unconcerned about the danger of damaging local churches. We must be very careful, because to damage or destroy a Biblical local church is to make oneself God’s enemy and to put oneself under God’s judgment. This is a serious matter indeed. We ignore this warning to our own peril.
T. J. Klapperich is the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winter Garden, Florida.
(Originally published in FrontLine • July/August 2009. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)