Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
The Corinthians were lining up behind favourite teachers. Paul answers with a question about something they already knew but had stopped weighing: God has a dwelling on earth, and they are it.
A Truth They Already Had
Paul does not introduce a new doctrine here. He recalls a fact the Corinthians knew but had let go flat, and one writer turns the same question back on the reader.
Numerical Bible NotesThe apostle now appeals to the Corinthians, briefly but with energy, about the character of this building he has been speaking of. He is not announcing a new truth to them. It was something very well known, which they still did not value as they should. What a marvel of divine grace that they should be indwelt by the Spirit of God! We know it as a doctrine just as well as they did. Has the wonder of it grown less with us? Do we need to be urged about our responsibility in view of this relationship to the Supreme?
What Makes a Temple
A temple is not made by its materials but by the One who lives in it. On that basis God has a house on earth now, made up of believers together and not of each one on his own.
William KellySo God has His temple on earth now as surely as He had of old in Israel… It was always the presence of God that made God's temple. Its true glory was not the costly stones, nor the splendour of gold or silver. It was the cloud in which the LORD was pleased to come down… So now it is not just that there are Christians. God has His house, or temple. It is the assembly. Not the people taken one by one, but those built together for that purpose by the Spirit… The Spirit does dwell in each believer, but that is another truth… How solemn that a divine Person, the Holy Spirit, dwells where Christians are — and this because of redemption!
The Spirit's Place in the House
If the Spirit lives in this house, what is His part in it?
J. N. DarbyThe Holy Spirit is not in an assembly as God's house or dwelling. He is in the assembly… The assembly is as much the house, or temple, of God as it is the body… And if the Holy Spirit dwells in that dwelling place, is He to do nothing there, or to direct everything?
The Cure for Party Spirit
The same truth settles the rivalry over teachers. In a house that belongs to God, no name can head a party.
J Wilson SmithWhere He dwells, God is necessarily everything. His dwelling is holy. All His name and nature are displayed there. Man may not put his folly on show there. There is no room for rival schools and religious pride. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Glory itself belongs to that temple.
Holy Because He Is There
The holiness of this temple is not a report on how the Corinthians were living. It comes from the One who lives there, and that is what makes right living possible.
Numerical Bible NotesThe apostle is not speaking of practical holiness here. He means the holiness that comes from the Spirit dwelling in them. And that indwelling is the power of practical holiness. He presses the responsibility of those who act in arrogant defiance of Him. In grace He has taken this place of relationship with the redeemed people of God.
Present Tense, Present Claim
Paul writes in the present. It was already true of them as they were. That is why the words both search us and lift us.
Andrew MillerAnd notice, these words describe not what the church will be by and by, but what it is now. How loudly such facts call for holiness of heart and life! They call for "truth in the inward being," and for conformity to His will in everything! Could anything be more solemn, and yet could anything be more blessed? To have a place there, to be at home with God in His holy temple, to live where "God's Spirit dwells" — that is our highest dignity and richest blessing on earth.
Summary
- Known — Paul appeals to a fact they already had; the danger is not ignorance but a wonder that has worn thin.
- Occupied — Presence makes a temple, not materials. The Spirit dwells where Christians are, and He dwells there because of redemption.
- Collective — The Spirit lives in each believer. This verse speaks of believers built together. Both truths stand, and in that house He is there to direct.
- Undivided — Where God is everything, rival parties and boasting in men have no place. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos?
- Holy — The holiness comes from the Guest, and that same indwelling is the power for holy living now, not later.