He Permanently Dwells Within Us

"Do you not discern and understand that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you?"  -1 Corinthians 3:16.

The Apostle Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote to the Christians in distant Corinth, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" (I Corinthians 3:16). Ephesus was a city renowned throughout the world for its temple to Diana.

As he wrote, Paul may have been looking out on that glorious temple, with its 120 pillars of Parian marble, doors of carved cypress wood, a magnificent cedar roof, supported by columns of jasper, its masterpieces of Praxiteles and Phidias, its great altar, and the monstrous image of Diana, ever shrouded in thick darkness. That was the pagan world's idea of a temple. Of its kind, it has never been outdone.

However, the apostle of Jesus Christ had another idea of a temple. As he looked out from the school of Tyrannus, where he wrote and taught, and saw the flashing splendors of the marvelous shrine to Diana, he thought of another and a more glorious temple.

Thus, to the believers at Corinth he wrote of the temple of the body, God's incomparable temple, compared with which the Fourth Wonder of the World was but a poor and mean thing. Indeed, man could make the temple of Diana, but only God could make the "temple of man."

If God simply meant to communicate the idea that the Spirit dwells within the believer, He certainly could have used words like: “home,” “house,” or “residence.” But, by deciding on the word “temple” to describe the Spirit’s home, He imparts the idea that our bodies are the shrine, or the sacred place, in which the Spirit not only lives, but is worshiped, revered, and honored.

Therefore, how we behave, think and speak, and what we let into the temple through our eyes and ears becomes critically important as well, for every thought, word and deed is in His view (Hebrews 4:13).

If you recall, Christ symbolically destroyed the old temple and the old system through His death. He said "Destroy the temple and I will rebuild it in three days" but He wasn't speaking of reforming or rebuilding an earthly religious system or building; He was making reference to Himself, His Body which was resurrected as the new House of God and of which we are each a part (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 2:21,22).

As a result, people didn't need to go to a temple or attend the synagogue to meet God anymore. Now, they were the temples and vessels containing the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians  6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:16)

What this means is that the Holy Spirit resides within us. And for that reason, we are to honor God with our bodies since they “are not [our] own,” as Paul said. We have in truth been bought with a price. And it was not gold or silver or other perishable things by which we were redeemed; it was with the precious, unblemished blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Determined by God before the foundation of the world (Acts 2:23), Christ’s blood purchased us out of the slavery of sin and set us free forever. Therefore, Christian’s bodies are God’s temple, we are to use them to glorify God.

In closing, God the Father created our bodies, God the Son redeemed us, and God the Holy Spirit resides inside each of us (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This makes our body the actual temple of the Holy Spirit of God.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 6:20;  1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 100:3; 1 Peter 2:24

Prayer: Holy Father, thank you for taking on all of our sins as your own; and then dying for us so that we might find eternal life with you. You paid the ultimate price for us since we were hopelessy incapable of doing so ourselves. And, because of your unselfish sacrifice we are no longer under the authority of death, but with faith, and love can now look forward to returning home to You someday. Amen

May your day be blessed!

Kristi