1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple God will destroy him; for the God’s temple is sacred, and you are the temple.What would you think of a person that came into a beautiful church building and started spray painting the walls with horrible words, breaking church furniture over the pews, throwing the hymnals through the stain glass windows and tearing down the pulpit? Would that be all right with you? Would you view this kind of destruction of the house of God as being "Good"? Would you encourage Christians to destroy church buildings? No! Most Christian would never dream of destroying a church building like that!
Well, what about destroying the Temple of God? When Jesus cleansed the Temple in the Gospels, was the Lord pleased that the religious people of the day were abusing God's Temple? No! He was not pleased; in fact Jesus was very ANGRY and drove out all the ones doing evil in God's temple. How then should we treat the "temple of God" which is your body? That's right, according to 1 Corinthians 3:16 & 17, Christians are the Temple of God. So in order to understand what it means to destroy lets take a look into the definition of the word destroy.
The Greek word for destroy is Phtheiro which means: defile, to corrupt, spoil, ruin, waste, destroy. But this word is translated in this portion as destroy. There are two areas of defilement that we might consider. First of all, there is the defilement of the flesh. Surprisingly, there are not too many ways in which the flesh can be defiled. A person can defile his body through various forms of sexual immorality. He can also defile it through drugs; drunkenness etc, for example Cigarette smoking is no advantage to your body at all. This habit destroys your lungs (in God's temple) causes all kinds of cancer and decreases your life span, thus shorting the time you can serve God on this earth. So every time you light up as a Christian, you're tearing apart God's temple, decreasing your time to serve God and throwing away God's money.
Drugs and Alcohol also destroy God's Temple. If that's not bad enough, they also put you under the influence of worldly things rather than being yielded to God. For it says in Ephesians 5:17 therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Vs 18 says, And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. Every Christian need to understand and write it in their heart that, “Your body is not for sale”. You cannot do whatever you want with your body as a Christian, because "you are not your own...For you were bought at a price" (1Cor. 6:19-20). Every Christian needs to understand that their body is not for them to do as they wish! You may be thinking "You're kidding Right!" No! Not at all. The Bible Says your body belongs to God. Your body as a born again believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling it. The body is God’s temple or creation or his property and in this body his spirit dwells, your body has one main purpose from God's perspective, to "Bring Glory to God." That means what ever you do "SHOULD" have God's glory in mind.
Yes, God is inside every Believer. Think about it - you're like a mobile sanctuary walking around with God inside. Paul intentionally emphasizes the importance in these verses of displaying ourselves as houses of God...with all the appropriate attention to godliness in our actions as well as thought. Because the Second biggest area of defilement is in the area of the heart, which includes mind and spirit. We can say that unless the heart of man is first defiled it is impossible to really defile the flesh. All fleshly defilements first begin in the heart. It is for this reason that the biblical writer says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (Prov.4:23).
As we can see from other parts of the epistle, it appears that the false teachers among the Corinthians taught unholy doctrines. Such teaching tended to corrupt, to pollute, and destroy the building, which should be kept pure and holy for God. Those who spread loose principles, which render the church of God unholy, bring destruction upon themselves. Christ by his Spirit dwells in all true believers. Christians are holy by profession, and should be pure and clean, both in heart and conversation. He is deceived who deems himself the temple of the Holy Ghost, yet is unconcerned about personal holiness, or the peace and purity of the church. Finally, Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 6: 12 & 13, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
“Don't destroy and abuse the place that God lives in - Your body, the "Temple of the Holy Spirit."
Well, what about destroying the Temple of God? When Jesus cleansed the Temple in the Gospels, was the Lord pleased that the religious people of the day were abusing God's Temple? No! He was not pleased; in fact Jesus was very ANGRY and drove out all the ones doing evil in God's temple. How then should we treat the "temple of God" which is your body? That's right, according to 1 Corinthians 3:16 & 17, Christians are the Temple of God. So in order to understand what it means to destroy lets take a look into the definition of the word destroy.
The Greek word for destroy is Phtheiro which means: defile, to corrupt, spoil, ruin, waste, destroy. But this word is translated in this portion as destroy. There are two areas of defilement that we might consider. First of all, there is the defilement of the flesh. Surprisingly, there are not too many ways in which the flesh can be defiled. A person can defile his body through various forms of sexual immorality. He can also defile it through drugs; drunkenness etc, for example Cigarette smoking is no advantage to your body at all. This habit destroys your lungs (in God's temple) causes all kinds of cancer and decreases your life span, thus shorting the time you can serve God on this earth. So every time you light up as a Christian, you're tearing apart God's temple, decreasing your time to serve God and throwing away God's money.
Drugs and Alcohol also destroy God's Temple. If that's not bad enough, they also put you under the influence of worldly things rather than being yielded to God. For it says in Ephesians 5:17 therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Vs 18 says, And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. Every Christian need to understand and write it in their heart that, “Your body is not for sale”. You cannot do whatever you want with your body as a Christian, because "you are not your own...For you were bought at a price" (1Cor. 6:19-20). Every Christian needs to understand that their body is not for them to do as they wish! You may be thinking "You're kidding Right!" No! Not at all. The Bible Says your body belongs to God. Your body as a born again believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling it. The body is God’s temple or creation or his property and in this body his spirit dwells, your body has one main purpose from God's perspective, to "Bring Glory to God." That means what ever you do "SHOULD" have God's glory in mind.
Yes, God is inside every Believer. Think about it - you're like a mobile sanctuary walking around with God inside. Paul intentionally emphasizes the importance in these verses of displaying ourselves as houses of God...with all the appropriate attention to godliness in our actions as well as thought. Because the Second biggest area of defilement is in the area of the heart, which includes mind and spirit. We can say that unless the heart of man is first defiled it is impossible to really defile the flesh. All fleshly defilements first begin in the heart. It is for this reason that the biblical writer says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (Prov.4:23).
As we can see from other parts of the epistle, it appears that the false teachers among the Corinthians taught unholy doctrines. Such teaching tended to corrupt, to pollute, and destroy the building, which should be kept pure and holy for God. Those who spread loose principles, which render the church of God unholy, bring destruction upon themselves. Christ by his Spirit dwells in all true believers. Christians are holy by profession, and should be pure and clean, both in heart and conversation. He is deceived who deems himself the temple of the Holy Ghost, yet is unconcerned about personal holiness, or the peace and purity of the church. Finally, Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 6: 12 & 13, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
“Don't destroy and abuse the place that God lives in - Your body, the "Temple of the Holy Spirit."