What does it mean to be the Temple of God?

Have you ever been misunderstood or misquoted? 

One day, our younger son Jake came into the house quite upset. He was angry at his older brother Elijah for making him drop his ice cream. It didn’t help Elijah followed behind laughing hysterically. It took a few minutes, but we finally got the full story. 

Jake had been sitting in the front yard enjoying ice cream with a friend while Elijah was kicking the soccer ball with another friend. Suddenly, the ball went across the street. As Elijah kicked it back to our yard, he realized the ball was heading straight for Jake and yelled ‘duck!’   

Jake looked up and said excitedly, “Where!?” Instead of seeing a duck, Jake got a face full of soccer ball… and dropped his ice cream in the process.   

This is a lighthearted example of a misunderstanding, but misunderstandings can have far more serious outcomes.  

One misunderstanding in our culture today is the intense focus on the individual. Taken too far, people can start to idolize themselves and their bodies, becoming their own personal god. 

In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (ESV)  

This is often misunderstood and misquoted to mean you need to take better care of yourself and your body. “Your Body is a Temple” is on posters in gyms throughout North America.  

But we must remember a key principle of Scripture interpretation: Every text has a context. Every sentence is in a chapter, every chapter is in a book or letter, and every book is in the Bible as a whole. So let’s look at the context to find out what it really means.   

Earlier in this letter, Paul makes it clear that we are God’s building and there is only one foundation: the Lord Jesus Christ. Since we are owned by the Lord, we do not just get to do what we want independent of Him. Every individual who has trusted Jesus Christ as Lord is part of His Body, the Church.  

Furthermore, each of us has a responsibility to continue building on His foundation. We have a role to play in the larger context of the Church worldwide. In the end, we’ll be held accountable for our work and then rewarded according to the quality of our work (See the context of 1 Cor 3:5-17). 

In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul describes how we were at one time separated from God, but now we’ve been brought near by the blood of Jesus. He goes on. “So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is being fitted together in Him and is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.” (v.19-22) 

These passages were written to the Gentiles, who historically had been cut off from the promises of God. If the sacrificial death of Jesus was powerful enough to accomplish the reconciliation of God to humanity and reconcile two people groups to one another, then we can experience that unity in Christ today.    

God’s purpose is peace—specifically, bringing people together and putting hostility to death!  

Dear Saints, God has selected you in Christ to be a piece of the temple of the living God. Together, we have the purpose of pointing people to Him, not to ourselves. 

So whether Jew or Gentile, black or white, Democrat or Republican, rich or poor, citizen or immigrant, let us focus on the One who is our foundation, Jesus Christ. Let us contribute to breaking down the dividing wall of hostility and proclaiming the good news of peace. 

Let us work together toward this end so that Jesus’ prayer in John 17 may be answered “May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You... so the world may believe You sent me” (John 17:21).