The Temple of God I Cor 3:16-17 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

1 Cor 6:19-20 – we recognize that our individual bodies are called the temple of the “Holy Ghost” – but when you study the “temple of God” in the New Testament, a very interesting picture emerges

Jn 2:19-21 – the first time Jesus referred to the temple as something other than the stone building in Jerusalem, he referred to his body

Eph 1:22-23 today the stone building is gone but his body is still here – we are his body and that body is his church – there is only one body [Eph 4:4] – and there is only one church [Matt 16:18]

Eph 2:19-22 – that church is built upon the cornerstone, who is Jesus Christ, and upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets – it is a living organism that grows and each stone that is added to that building is a lively stone [1 Pet 2:5] – that building is called “an holy temple in the Lord”, “an habitation of God through the Spirit” – and as new souls are added to it, they are “builded together”

2 Cor 6:14 – 18 – the temple of God [“them”, v.16; “my people,” v.16; “my sons and daughters,” v.18] is to be separate from unbelievers, unrighteousness, darkness, the devil, infidelity, and idolatry – when these things infiltrate the temple of God, they defile it just as they did in the Old Testament physical temple

1 Cor 3:16-17 – so, when you consider the above passages and the immediate context of these two verses, you get an interesting understanding of the temple of God – Paul, as a wise master builder, was one of the apostles who laid the foundation [v.3:10] and the foundation is Jesus Christ [v.3:11] – the context of the judgment seat of Christ in the next three verses, then, has to do with how a man builds upon this foundation [v.3:12-15] – he will be rewarded for building with gold, silver and precious stones and his work will be burned up for building with wood, hay and stubble – now, Paul reminds us that we [“the church … his body”] are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God is in us – therefore, God will destroy any man that defiles that “holy” temple of God – he destroyed Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Ghost [Acts 5] concerning an offering in that temple – he set the young man apart for destruction in 1 Cor 5 for fornication which leavened that temple – Paul delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander unto Satan for shipwrecking faith [1 Tim 1:19-20] – in our day, numerous men and ministries have defiled the holy temple of God and now they and their works are shot completely through [Phil 3:18-19; 2 Cor 11:15, 2 Pet 3:16] – furthermore, many ministries have built lavishly with wood, hay and stubble to impress men and these entire edifices will go up in smoke at the judgment seat – God forbid that we should defile his temple or build in it with anything other than gold, silver and precious stones