God’s Spirit Lives in God’s Temple
3: 16-23
God’s Spirit lives in God’s temple DIG: Why is it essential that your place of worship have unity of purpose? How is where you worship God’s temple? How has God made this world’s “wisdom” look pretty foolish? In what sense does Paul mean that “all things are yours?”
REFLECT: As God’s temple in the world, how are you God’s alternative to both its pagan religion and corrupt lifestyle? If you were arrested for being a believer, would there be enough evidence to convict you? What practical wisdom have you gained from Chapter 3?
The Body of Messiah is God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in all believers.
In a series of three paragraphs, using images from agriculture to architecture, Paul proceeds to address three closely related issues. Beginning with a farm metaphor, then a building metaphor, he takes up the question of how the Corinthians as a whole were to regard their shepherds. After describing Yeshua as the Master Builder (to see link click Au – Yeshua is the Master Builder), Paul uses a third metaphor, and moves quite naturally to the very nature of the building per se. The people themselves were God’s temple in Corinth. Thus, they are warned against destroying it, as their present obsession with “wisdom” and divisions was currently doing.101
The whole congregation (3:16-17): Don’t you know that you people, as the Body of Messiah, are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you (3:16)? The words don’t you know are the first of ten occurrences in this letter (here, 5:6, 6:2-3 and 9, 6:15-15, 6:19, 9:13) and each time introduces something self-evident, but nevertheless forgotten by the Corinthians. It was clear from their current behavior that they did not know, or at least had not seriously considered the implications of who they were as God’s people in Corinth.
Stephen got it right when he declared, in the shadow of the Temple no less: The Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands (Acts 7:48 NLT). YHVH has chosen to dwell both within us and within the collective gathering of His people, which He calls “The Church.” Later, Paul will make the case that God dwells within each believer since our bodies are a temple for the Ruach HaKodesh who lives inside you (6:19). Here, he states emphatically that God similarly dwells among us when we come together in corporate worship. God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). In that sense, a Messianic synagogue, or a church – be it the church at Corinth, or your place of worship today – is God’s temple.102
The imagery of the gathered church as God’s temple, which occurs twice more in Second Corinthians 6:16 and Ephesians 2:21, was meaningful for both Paul and the Gentile Corinthians. The word temple (Greek: naos) refers to the actual sanctuary, the place where God dwelt with His people (John 1:1). For Paul, the imagery reflected the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Although it was never called God’s temple, as such, they were God’s own people, among whom He chose to dwell, by tabernacling in their midst (Psalm 114:2).
The imagery of the church as a temple would have been easily understood by the Corinthians as well, although perhaps not with all of its rich Torah overtones. Before being saved, they were practicing pagans, and would have visited many pagan temples in their city. Indeed, some of them were arguing for the right to continue to do so (Chapters 8-10). But now Paul is calling their attention to the fact that, since there is only one God, and that one God can have only one temple in Corinth, and they themselves, as a gathered community of believers, were that temple.
Dear Heavenly Father, How wonderful it is that You dwell in believers and are with them at all times! To think that the awesome God of the universe has chosen to take up residence in those who love Him – is unspeakably fantastic! Yeshua answered and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him (John 14:23). Along with that great privilege of our body being the temple of the living God (Ephesians 2:21) – comes the responsibility of using all of ourselves to honor and to please God. What a joy it is to please our great creator Father who is always watching his child for he is living within his child. We cannot thank and praise you enough for being so gracious and willing to come to earth to suffer shame and pain (Philippians 2:6-10) on our behalf so we could obtain your righteousness and live in heaven with You (Second Corinthians 5:21). We love You and desire to please and bless You in all we do and say and think- for You are so worthy of total honor and glory! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of resurrection. Amen
As God’s temple in Corinth, the church was to be God’s alternative to Corinth, to both its pagan religion and corrupt lifestyle. But the Corinthians, by their worldly “wisdom,” boasting, and divisions were, in effect, “banishing” the Spirit and thus about to destroy the only alternative God had in their city. Therefore, following the description above that called attention to who they were, Paul soberly warned those who were thus creating chaos in the church: So, if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you yourselves are that temple (3:17).103 Some believers at Corinth were engaged in behaviors that were being used by the Enemy to destroy Messiah’s witness in that desperately needy city. In the eyes of ADONAI, they did not warrant a simple slap on the wrist. This was a spiritual assault focused precisely on the one place of hope in an otherwise hopeless city. Those whose actions weakened the church would be held individually responsible, not with loss of salvation, but with consequences in their lives. Forgiveness does not exclude accountability.
Some worldly teachers (3:18-20): Paul warns those in Corinth that they ought not to allow themselves to be deceived into thinking that just because they held positions of influence in the church, they automatically had the spiritual qualifications to lead it. Let no one deceive himself. If someone among you thinks he is “wise” by this world’s standards (of course he does; that is quite the point), let him become “foolish,” so that he may become truly wise (3:18). Paul returns to the theme of the wise and the foolish (1:18-27 and 2:14). To be wise, one must be willing to become a fool in the eyes of the world. Some of the leaders of the Corinthian church needed to guard against falling victim to self-deception.
Presumably, Paul has in mind those who consider themselves to be “wise” teachers, and those who align themselves with these teachers, and thereby assume that they, too, are “wise.” The self-deceived think that they build with gold, when in fact they build with straw (see Au – God is the Master Builder); or that they can get away with destroying God’s temple. They may fool themselves and others by posing as “wise” according to the world’s standards, but they will not fool God, who sees them as they really are.104
Paul had previously asked: Hasn’t God made this world’s “wisdom” look pretty foolish (1:20)? He returns to the thought with his assertion that the “wisdom” of this world is foolishness, as far as God is concerned (3:19a). The worldly wise, who the Corinthians held in such high esteem, were not even capable of understanding the wisdom of God (1:24), though the humblest believer can understand it. Was this Paul’s private opinion? Not at all. Scripture says so and he quotes two passages from the TaNaKh. First, Job 5:13 pictures a hunter stalking prey and capturing it. Like Haman, they are caught in their own trap (see the commentary on Esther Bf – So They Impaled Haman on the Pole He Had Set Up for Mordecai). Thus, the Spirit says: God traps the “wise” in their own cleverness (3:19b). Yeshua said: Woe to the world because of snares! For there must be snares, but woe to the person who sets the snare (Matthew 18:7 CJB)!
To this, Paul adds a quote from Psalm 94:8, “ADONAI knows that the thoughts of ‘the wise’ are worthless” (3:20). Although God’s wisdom is hidden to humans except through revelation (2:16), human thoughts are not hidden from God. In both of these quotes from the TaNaKh, ADONAI made clear that He is not impressed by a person’s resume or good looks. What often impresses us means nothing to God. When speaking of one of David’s older brothers: God said to Samuel, “Don’t pay attention to how he looks or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. ADONAI doesn’t see the way humans see – humans look at the outward appearance, but ADONAI looks at the heart” (see the commentary on the Life of David Ah – Samuel Anoints David).
Human philosophy is totally inadequate to bring mankind to YHVH, to show them how to be saved or how to live. Mankind will always be entrapped in its own schemes, and entrap those who trust in it. The one who trusts in human “understanding” does not have the right understanding of himself. He does not see that his spiritual opinions and thoughts are worthless, vain and empty. The proper view of ourselves, the godly and true view, is that apart from divine truth we are fools with empty thoughts. Recognizing this truth opens the door to true wisdom and closes the door to division.
Some individual members (3:21-23): With a final emphatic: So then, Paul brings the present argument to its conclusion. The believers at Corinth needed to have the right view of others: Let no one boast in men, for all things are yours – whether Paul or Apollos or Peter (3:21-22a). Paul had spoken strongly against forming “fan clubs” out of certain church leaders (1:12-14 and 3:4-9), the same three he mentions here. But now the emphasis is different. Although those men should not have been elevated or revered, they were sources of great help and blessing. They were sent to the Corinthians by the Lord, and therefore, should have been listened to and respected. They were God’s teachers. They taught the same truths from God and were meant by God to be the source of unity, not division.
The Corinthians were fortunate to have had the ministry of at least three godly men, and two of them, Paul and Peter, were apostles. Peter probably did not serve personally in Corinth, but some of the Corinthians had benefited from his ministry. Each of those men had special gifts and abilities that God used to teach and lead believers. The variety of leadership should have enriched the church, not divided it. The point Paul makes here is that we should rejoice in and profit from all the faithful leaders ADONAI sends us, whether Paul or Apollos or Peter. If the Corinthians had been careful to understand and follow what all three of those men taught, rather than, for instance, how they looked or spoke, the church would have been united, not divided. Their view of others had to be corrected.
Or the world or life or death or the present or the future: they all belong to you is totally inclusive (3:22b). Paul begins and ends this declaration with for all things are yours (3:21b). In Messiah, all things are for our sakes and for God’s glory (Second Corinthians 4:15).
Specifically, the world (Greek: kosmos, meaning the universe) is ours, even now. His primary point is that, in the Messianic Kingdom for a thousand years (see the commentary on Revelation Fh – The Dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom), and in the future (see the commentary on Revelation Fq – The Eternal State), we will possess the world in a far richer way than we do now (see the commentary on Revelation Fs – The Eternal New Jerusalem). Until then, we need to understand that this present world already belongs to us, with all its wonders and glories, imperfections and disappointments. The believer can appreciate the world like no one else can. We know where it came from, why it was created, why we are on it, and what its final destiny will be. This is our Father’s world, and we are His heirs.
Eternal life is ours (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer). In Messiah we have new life, a quality of life that will never tarnish, dimmish, or be lost. ADONAI’s own life is in us now. Through Yeshua, God lives in us: If someone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come and make our home within him (John 14:23). And we share His nature and His life, “God’s power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowing the One who called us to His own glory and goodness. By these He has given us valuable and superlatively great promises, so that through them you might come to share in God’s nature and escape the corruption which evil desires have brought into the world (Second Peter 1:3-4).
Even death is ours. The great enemy of mankind has been overcome. Yeshua has conquered death, and through Him we have conquered death (First Corinthians 15:54-57). Unless we are raptured, we will have to pass through death; but we will pass through it as its master, not its slave. All death can do is deliver us to our Savior. That is why Paul could say with such joy: My desire is to go off and be with Messiah – that is better by far (Philippians 1:23). Whether we remain here on earth for a while longer or go to be with the Lord, we can’t lose. For believers, death can only make things better. For God’s people, this present life can be good, but death – which ushers us into eternal life – is even better.
Present things are ours. This encompasses everything we have or experience in our lives. It includes the good and the bad, the pleasant and the painful, the joys and disappointments, the health and the sickness, the contentment and the grief. In God’s hands it all serves to help us be conformed to the pattern of Yeshua (Romans 8:29). In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us, and because nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord, nothing can cause us any harm (Romans 8:37-39). ADONAI causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Future things are ours. This does not refer to our present lives. That is included under present things, meaning everything we will experience on earth. The future things point to our glorification. At that time, we will all be changed. It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed. For this material body which can decay must be clothed with imperishability, this which is mortal must be clothed with immortality (15:51b-53). This will be the greatest blessing of all. We will reign with Messiah for a thousand years during the Messianic Kingdom and then dwell with Him for eternity in the New Jerusalem. So why should the Corinthians divide themselves into “fan clubs.” No man is the source of any of this inheritance, so there is no reason to boast in men (3:21a).
But by far the most important requirement for overcoming division is having the right view of Yeshua Messiah. He Himself is the source of spiritual unity and the source for healing and division. It is in taking our eyes off of Him that division begins, and it is putting our eyes back on Him that division ends. The person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him (6:17). Believers all belong to the same Lord, and are thus one with each other. Therefore, anyone who denies our oneness with each other, denies our oneness in Him (Philippians 2:1-4).
The greatest possible motive for maintaining the unity of the Spirit and for avoiding divisions in the Body is knowing that we belong to the Messiah, and that the Messiah belongs to God (3:23). Because we all belong to Him, we all belong to each other. In His high priestly prayer, our Lord gives us a heavenly view on unity. Speaking to believers, He says: For they are Yours. Indeed, all I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine . . . that they may all be one. Just as You, Father, are united with Me and I with you, I pray that they may be united with Us . . . that they may be one, just as We are One – I united with them and You with Me, so that they may be completely one (John 17:9-10 and 21-23).
We are tied together in an eternal oneness with God the Father, Yeshua Messiah and the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, and thus each other in them. How could we, being so much one, be divided? It begins with the failure to understand the reality of our spiritual unity with YHVH. With a common Lord and inheritance, common leaders and teachers, and a common dependence on Scripture, there should be no divisions among us.105
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