1 Corinthians 3:16

Know ye not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Let no man deceive himself... For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God... Therefore, let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and as the stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Corinthians 3:16 – 4:1)

You are not a follower visiting a holy building; you are the holy dwelling place of God Himself.

"Know Ye Not?" — A Question the Church Should Already Answer

Eleven times in 1 Corinthians Paul poses a rhetorical question, "Know ye not?" or "Do you not know?" The clear implication is that these were things the church at Corinth ought to have known—whether Paul considered them self-evident or foundational truths of Christianity. This passage gives us the first of those eleven.

The others fill out the picture. In 5:6 he asks, "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"—hidden, personal sin is more dangerous than we realize. In 6:2, "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?" and in 6:3, "that we shall judge angels?"—our position in Christ far exceeds our understanding. In 6:9 he warns that "the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God," then lists the sins that mark such people, revealing that the consequences of unrepentant sin are severe and eternal.

In 6:15 he asks, "Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ?" The Christian is not merely a follower of Christ but actually joined to Him, as Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would be one as He and the Father are one. The very next verse adds that what is joined to a harlot is one body—physical connections carry spiritual implications. And in 6:19, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?"

Are You Possessed by the Spirit of God?

So in 3:16 the Spirit indwells the church as a whole; in 6:19 He indwells the individual believer. This raises a question that may sound odd: are you possessed by the Spirit of God? Consider it two ways. First, is the Spirit of God indwelling you? Second, as the end of 6:19 says, "you are not your own"—do you recognize that you are His possession?

The Jewish readers held the Jerusalem temple in deep reverence. Wherever Jews lived in the ancient world, they prayed facing Jerusalem and the temple—and still do today, over 1,900 years after the temple's destruction in A.D. 70. The pagans at Corinth likewise esteemed temples; the Greco-Roman world was famous for them, and Corinth had great temples on the Acrocorinth above the city. Temples were the largest and most enduring structures of the ancient world—and the same is true of Roman, Greek, Mayan, and Incan ruins today.

The Worship of God Is Not Bound to a Place

Man has always focused on an earthly temple. The Tower of Babel was essentially a temple, and the Jewish people still look forward to rebuilding theirs. But Paul tells the church we have no earthly building we call a temple. Jesus said the same to the woman at the well in John 4. She asked whether to worship in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim, and Jesus answered that a time was coming when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth—not on any particular mountain.

The fellowship and worship of God is no longer tied to one place and time. God by His Spirit can be worshiped by individual believers in their rooms in secret or by the corporate body wherever it gathers. This building has no import to that worship. It simply gives us a climate-controlled place to gather; other than that, it's nothing. We, the body of Christ, are the temple of God.

Why This Mattered at Corinth

The Corinthians were a poor representation of God's temple. They had allowed carnality in—divisions, factions, seditions. Some said, "I am of Paul," others "of Apollos," others "of Cephas," identifying themselves by the personalities of their pastors. This was no good picture of Christ. Paul even asks, "Is Christ divided?" We are to be one body though many members.

Paul goes further: "the Spirit of God dwells in you." Note the difference between 3:16, "the temple of God," and 6:19, "the temple of the Holy Spirit." This establishes the deity of the Holy Spirit. He is not merely an active force—not the Star Wars "force." Some corners of the church, especially the cults, say the Spirit is just a force. But the Scriptures reveal the Spirit as a person of the one God who dwells in three persons, with intellect, will, and emotion.

Jesus told His disciples in John 14 that the Spirit "is with you but shall be in you." On the day He rose, He met them in the upper room, breathed on them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." From then on they were the temple of God. When Jesus said "It is finished," not only was the payment for sin finished, but the Jerusalem temple was finished—the veil torn from top to bottom revealing that God's presence no longer dwelt there. Forty years later it was destroyed. Had it not been, Titus would have taken it and given it to Caesar for pagan worship; God made provision that it would be destroyed instead.

The Temple Was the Picture; We Are the Reality

When Paul calls the church the temple, he is not using a word picture. The Jerusalem temple was the picture, the symbol; the body of Christ is the reality.

The Corinthians had the wrong focus in building. Paul has spoken of the wise master builder laying the foundation that is Jesus Christ, with the temple of God built upon it as living stones. Now he warns they are nearly guilty of completing it the wrong way. The prophet Haggai addressed the same error. After the return from Babylon, the people focused on their own paneled houses while the Lord's house lay in waste. God rebuked them: "You have sown much and bring in little... he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes" (Haggai 1:6).

The person focused on building his own life and kingdom never has enough to satisfy his desire. Our nation looks much like Haggai 1:6—people earning wages to put into a bag with holes. That mindset creeps into the church when our focus is temporal rather than eternal. Jesus' answer is Matthew 6:33: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." Get the focus right, and things fall into line. What is your focus today—your own life, or His kingdom? "He who seeks to save his life will lose it."

Because His Spirit Dwells in You

Calvin renders the verse, "You are the temple of God because the Spirit of God dwells in you." Before the cross the Jerusalem temple was God's temple because His Spirit dwelt there. After the cross—indeed, when Jesus left the temple in Matthew 23—the Spirit was no longer there, and the torn veil only revealed that. Now He says you are the temple of God because His Spirit dwells in you.

Whether we fully recognize it or not, because we are Christians and His Spirit dwells in us, where we go He goes, what we see He sees, what we hear He hears, what we think He knows. That is sobering. In the times we think we're alone, we are not.

Pastor Richard's illustration captures it well. Picture a fifteen-year-old boy and girl getting frisky on the couch, doing things they shouldn't, until Dad's headlights sweep across the windows—and suddenly there's instant holiness, a recognition of the father's presence. If we carried that constant awareness of God's abiding presence, it would drastically change how we live, think, do, and say.

Not Everyone Has the Spirit

Our new-agey culture says everyone has the Spirit of God, that He is everywhere and in everything—some just haven't been enlightened enough to realize it. Does that line up with Scripture? No. Romans 8:9 says, "you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." If you believe in Christ, you have the indwelling Spirit; if you do not, you do not have the Spirit. Jesus said in John 14 that the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth. And 1 Corinthians 2:14 says the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, for they are spiritually discerned. Only the church of God is the temple of God.

Is this reality borne out in our lives? Is there an internal witness—Romans 8:16, the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God? Is there an external witness—the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23: love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, meekness, temperance? So much so that when people meet us individually or gather with us, they sense, "God is here."

What Actually Makes Something Holy

Not the externals. This room is just a steel building with stucco and high windows. Years ago I visited St. Peter's Basilica in Rome—incense, whispers reverberating, an air of holiness—and there's an assumption that everything in it must be holy because the building is holy. Not so. They even stopped me at the door for wearing shorts, "because it's holy." I understand wanting to show respect, but the temple does not make those who enter it holy; that which is in the temple makes it a holy place.

Remember Exodus 3: as Moses approached the burning bush, God said, "Take the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground." Was the dirt spectacular? Someone has probably tried to market holy dirt. There was nothing special about that dirt—what made it holy was the presence of God.

So 3:17 says, "the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." You are not holy because you speak King James English, wear a cross, have a fish on your car, or carry a Bible. Holiness is determined by whether God by His Holy Spirit dwells in you.

"Him Shall God Destroy"

"If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." That is heavy, and the Jewish mind grasped it completely. To corrupt, desecrate, or damage the Jerusalem temple was a capital offense. Archaeology has uncovered first-century inscriptions warning Gentiles not to cross certain points on pain of death. In Jewish thinking the temple was defiled by the slightest degree of damage, or even by guardians neglecting their duty.

There is no earthly building temple now—the body of Christ is the temple. So whoever defiles it with the wisdom of the world, with vain deceit, with false doctrine or heresy, corrupting the minds of the body from the simplicity that is in Christ, or who brings in division and faction—God says he will be destroyed. Jesus said it in Matthew 18:6: better that a millstone be hung about his neck and he be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Seventeen times in 1 Corinthians Paul uses "if any man," three of them already in chapter 3 regarding building with gold or with wood and stubble, and whether one's work abides or is burned. Here the point is plain: there is no exemption. If anyone defiles the temple, if anyone attacks God's people to destroy them, God will destroy them.

This makes our culture squirm, the same way talk of the death penalty does. But God is not uncomfortable with it. He plainly commanded, "Whoever takes a life by man, his life shall be taken." God does not make decisions based on polling or fear of what people think. There is no hope in eternity for those who reject Christ and seek to destroy Him in the person of His people.

Holy—Set Apart for the Master's Use

The temple is holy because of the presence of God, and so we are holy. When we say "holy" our minds jump to sinless perfection, but the better idea here is that we are set apart and consecrated to God for His use alone. We are His temple, for His use as He determines, and those who trample that He will destroy.

Daniel 5 illustrates it. Belshazzar foolishly used the temple vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem for his party. That very night handwriting appeared on the wall—"weighed in the balances and found wanting"—and he was destroyed; the Medo-Persians came in. Trample with the things of God, and it breeds destruction. We are to be set apart for the Master's use, not involved in anything that defiles or brings accusation against God.

"Let No Man Deceive Himself"

Verse 18: "If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." At first this seemed out of sequence to me, but in context Paul is warning us not to deceive ourselves into thinking, "I would never defile the temple of God." He is rebuking a church and saying this is a real danger.

Be careful, he says, not to unintentionally defile your body or the body of Christ through the apparent wisdom of this world. Colossians 2:8 echoes it: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man... and not after Christ." We can bring the vain wisdom of this world into our communication with other Christians and so spoil the faith of others.

This bears heavily on those who teach and counsel—and we all get asked, "What do you think about this?" If we answer, "Well, my old Aunt Edna told me..." we step onto dangerous ground unless what Aunt Edna said was truly in line with God's Word. We must speak what is right and becomes sound doctrine.

The Wisdom of This World Is Foolishness

Verse 19: "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." This does not mean we reject education or intellectual advancement. There have been great advances in science, engineering, and mathematics. The wisdom Paul calls foolish is not these things in themselves, but the folly of looking to them for salvation or to explain who God is. Science and mathematics cast no light on living in Christ.

I recently watched a TED demonstration of an EEG headset that lets a man move a cube on a screen by thought alone—technology meant to help quadriplegics steer a wheelchair just by thinking. Phenomenal. Yet I nearly shouted at the television watching a Discovery special with Stephen Hawking, who suggested aliens seeded our planet with DNA. He is reputedly the smartest man alive, with an off-the-chart IQ and genuine brilliance—but on spiritual things and creation he is an absolute fool. The children in our children's ministry who believe God created the world are wiser than Stephen Hawking in spiritual things.

This week he claimed humanity is doomed unless we escape to the stars within about 200 years—global warming, fossil fuels. Anyone want to start Calvary Chapel Moon? You'd have a great view. In ultimate terms the wisdom of this age is futile and vain; it adds nothing to the Scriptures. It may help us dig deeper, peer into the farthest galaxies or the smallest subatomic levels, but when it comes to God it is silent—and, in its view, the things of God are foolishness.

"All Things Are Yours"

Verse 21: "Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours." We return to the start of the chapter. The Corinthians were carnal because they divided the body—"I like Paul's heritage," "no, Apollos was trained in Alexandria," "no, Peter does great works." Paul says this is carnal. When we stand before the Lord, there will be no boasting in human leaders. We will not say, "That Chuck Smith guy was amazing." If we glory in anything, 1:31 says, "He that glories, let him glory in the Lord," for the best of men are men at best.

What does Paul mean that Paul, Apollos, and Cephas are "yours"? It is wrong to focus on the leader, to say "I'm of Luther, of Calvin, of Zwingli, of Chuck Smith"—because we do not belong to those teachers; they are given to the church. Jeremiah 3:15 promised, "I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." Ephesians 4 fulfills it: when Christ ascended He "gave gifts unto men... apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints." Beyond the gifts of the Spirit, the leaders themselves are God's gift to the church. So to say "I am of Paul" gets it backward—we are not theirs; they are ours, and we thank God for them.

The World, Life, Death, Present, and Future

Paul builds the list: "the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours." The world is ours—scientists don't ultimately know where the cosmos came from, but believers know who made it, why, and what it is for, and what will happen in the end. We're not escaping on spaceships in 200 years. We say this not in arrogance but in assurance.

Life is ours—Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10), and "he that has the Son has life" (1 John 5:12). Death is ours—a dead end to the unbeliever, but to the believer a door into the next life. Things present and things to come are ours; we don't waste time, because we know what's coming. As Psalm 90 says, "Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom." The unbeliever says, "I've got time"; the believer knows tomorrow is promised to no one.

What is the application? What is stressing you out today? The present? God has given you power in those things. The future? Many Christians are afraid for America, but here is a biblical truth you may not like: America is not the kingdom of God. In eternity there will be no Constitution of the United States. I love that document our founders built, but it is not Scripture—at its best it is man's wisdom built upon God's wisdom. We know what is coming, so the future, and death, need not scare us. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

Stewards of the Mysteries of God

Paul applies it: "all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Then 4:1: "Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ, and as the stewards of the mysteries of God." Put no more stock in a human being than this—they are servants of Christ and stewards of the things of God. We may respect the position God has given them; Paul says elders who rule well deserve double honor. But we do not divide the church around them. Calvin said, "There is nothing more vain and worthless than man. How little security there is in leaning upon an insubstantial shadow." We lean not on Paul or Apollos but on Christ, the only sure foundation.

May it be worked out in our lives that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When people come into our fellowship—not because of incense or candles, which were only shadows; incense pictured prayers rising to God, the candle pictured the gospel going forth—may they sense the presence of God, because God is here. And in your day-to-day life, may people see God in you, the great mystery of the Old Testament revealed in the New: "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your word planted deep in our hearts. As we prepare to go, and as the enemy seeks to snatch it away, we pray that You by Your Spirit would rebuke the enemy and cause Your word to become fruitful in our lives. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.