BIG IDEA: BECAUSE THE LOCAL CHURCH IS GOD’S HOLY SANCTUARY, ANYONE WHO DAMAGES IT WILL BE PUNISHED ACCORDINGLY
INTRODUCTION:
But there is a far more dangerous threat to the integrity and health of a local church than the use of poor construction materials by spiritual leaders (3:10-15). The Apostle Paul takes up the thread from vs. 9 where he had referred to the church as “God’s building.” Now he shows that it is a very special building = the temple of God. There are those ravenous wolves (whether from outside or from within) who would seek to destroy the flock of God. These would seem to be unsaved individuals who preach false doctrine and introduce the wisdom of the world in place of the wisdom of God. Because the church is a temple of God and indwelt by His Spirit, anyone who damages (corrupts / destroys) it will be punished accordingly. Here in verses 16-17 he deals with the most extreme consequence of the worst type of divisions = sin that would end up destroying the local church.
Richard Hays: Paul’s third metaphor may be understood as a development of the previous one. The community is not just any building but in fact the Temple of God, the place where God’s Spirit dwells. It is crucial for interpreters of this text to understand that the verb and the second person pronoun in verse 16 are plural: “Do you not know that you [plural] are the Temple of God and that God’s Spirit dwells in you [plural]?” The image here is of the Spirit dwelling not in the individual Christian (cf. 6:19) but in the gathered community. In focusing on the church, this metaphor is fully consistent with the other metaphors in chapter 3. . .
In order to grasp the full audacity of this claim, we must remember that when Paul wrote to the Corinthians the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing and active. For Jews like Paul, the Jerusalem temple had been understood as the central locus of the divine presence in the world. Thus, when Paul now transfers this claim to the community of predominantly Gentile Christians in Corinth, he is making a world-shattering hermeneutical move, decentering the sacred space of Judaism (cf. John 4:21–24). How can Paul possibly assert that the church has replaced the Temple? He believes that the Spirit of God is present in the community and that the community is now the place where praise and worship are rightly offered up to God. The Spirit of God no longer can be localized in a sacred building: it is to be found in the gathered community of God’s elect people in Christ.
Adewuya: The Corinthians must understand how special they were, and how their status as the temple of God demanded a particular kind of leadership and lifestyle. Furthermore, the imagery of the metaphor drives home the point that the divisive loyalties that plagued the church were not only contrary to the nature of leadership that is required in the church, but also were contrary to the nature of the church itself. The church is God’s project. The imagery of the temple should force the church to think of how much of the presence of God is experienced when its members gather together, and to reflect seriously on what it means to be a holy community in an unholy world. A situation where members of the church bicker on such things as where to place a pulpit or a flowerpot, or where to sing contemporary songs or old hymns, belies the true nature of the church as one holy people.
David Garland: It is a startling declaration to identify the community in Corinth gathered in their cramped, diminutive house churches as the temple of God. Compared to the grand temples in Corinth and the magnificent temple in Jerusalem, they appear rather ramshackle. But the image of them as God’s temple harks back to the foolishness of God and the theme of unity. Paul is not trying to make the case that they are the new spiritualized temple of the last days, replacing the Jerusalem temple (contra Gärtner 1965: 57–58; Héring 1962: 24; Conzelmann 1975: 77). Lanci (1997: 5) shows that both Jews and Gentiles would have understood a temple under construction by diverse persons with diverse talents to be a metaphor for unity. Lanci (1997: 5–6) writes, “For all sorts of people throughout the Mediterranean, some temples functioned as potent images of unity, and an advertisement (to potential adherents) of the deity’s influence.” Paul cites the Spirit as the epistemological key for understanding the wisdom of the cross in 2:10–16 and now credits the indwelling Spirit as the key to their unity (see Kuck 1992a: 186–87).
Gordon Fee: In the two preceding paragraphs Paul has been trying to correct the Corinthians’ false view of church leadership, by redirecting their focus from the teachers themselves to God, who owns all and whose alone they are. At the same time he must correct their understanding of the nature of the church itself. Thus the argument now takes another slight turn, in which Paul carries the preceding imagery (vv. 9b–15) a step further by specifying the kind of building that he and the others have been erecting, namely God’s temple in Corinth. With this imagery he does two things:
(1) he tries to help the Corinthians to see the nature and significance of their being God’s people in Corinth, and
(2) by picking up the immediately preceding imagery of judgment (vv. 13–15), he sternly warns those who are in process of destroying the church by their divisions.
Thus he presents us with this remarkable imagery describing the nature of the local church, as well as with the strongest warning in the NT against those who would take the church lightly and destroy it by merely worldly wisdom, accompanied by divisiveness.
I. (:16) THE CHURCH MUST BE REGARDED AS GOD’S HOLY SANCTUARY
A. Tone of Foundational Truth
“Do you not know”
Every Christian expected to understand these basic truths and live accordingly.
Paul Gardner: “Do you not know?” (Οὐκ οἴδατε) is a rhetorical question, but he certainly expects them to agree with what he says. He uses this question (Οὐκ οἴδατε) on a number of occasions in this epistle in a way that appears slightly sarcastic, given that some think they are superior to others because they have “knowledge” (8:1). The question usually introduces a section in which Paul is especially concerned about their practice or behavior in the Christian life. It often occurs where he makes a theological statement that they should know but appear to be ignoring in the way they live. The main impact of the rhetorical device, however, is that it makes it clear that Paul regards what he is saying as foundational theology to be accepted by all, even if some at Corinth have apparently missed the point.
Lowery: the first of 10 occurrences of the clause in this letter (cf. 5:6; 6:2-3, 9, 15-16, 19; 9:13, 24; each time it introduces an indisputable statement).
B. Two Descriptions of the Church as God’s Holy Sanctuary
Paul Gardner: Here is the ultimate argument for unity. They are one temple that belongs to God (θεοῦ is a possessive genitive), and together they are the place where the one Spirit dwells. But this is also the ultimate argument for building well. They are building the place where God dwells. This probably carried all the connotations of the care with which the Solomonic temple had to be built. This image is more likely than that Paul was picturing the building of pagan temples in Corinth. Thus, Paul demonstrates that the divisions, factions, and disputes about leadership are not just a sad episode in a church’s life but fundamentally represent a failure to understand the significance and nature of the local church as God’s temple. Thus, Paul’s fourth and final conditional clause is the strongest.
- Temple of God
“that you are a temple of God”
The building is not the church; but the believers are.
Second person plural used throughout this section – not just talking about an individual believer.
- Dwelling Place for God
“and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Not just dwells in you individually (which is true for all believers; no second act of grace involved; but here regarded as true of the local church corporately)
Implications of the church being God’s Holy Sanctuary:
- We are not your own; we belong to God (1 Cor. 6:19)
- We must remain separate from idols (2 Cor. 6:16)
- Glory of God should shine forth from His temple
- We should experience the presence of the majestic and holy God
- We should walk worthy of your calling in the fear of God
- We have direct access to God and privilege of worship and service
- We should live lives of complete dedication and surrender ( 12:1-2)
- Attitude of Thanksgiving and Humility for tremendous privilege
Gordon Fee: His immediate concern is not to assert that the Spirit dwells in each of them, true as that would be for him (cf. 6:19), but that the Spirit of God “dwells in your midst” when they have assembled together for worship. That is, Paul is here reflecting on the church as the corporate place of God’s dwelling, who, when gathered in Jesus’ name, experienced the presence and power of the Lord Jesus in their midst (5:4–5). Again, as earlier (2:10–13; cf. 2:4–5), the Spirit is the key, the crucial reality, for life in the new era. The presence of the Spirit, and that alone, marks them off as God’s new people, God’s temple, when assembled in Christ’s name in Corinth.
II. (:17) ATTACKS AGAINST THE CHURCH WILL BE PUNISHED ACCORDINGLY BY GOD WHO JEALOUSLY GUARDS HIS HOLINESS
A. Destructive Attacks Will Come
“If any man destroys the temple of God”
Why would someone even want to do this? Instrument of Satan.
Daniel Akin: A focus on entertainment, false conversions, preaching a watered-down gospel, spending resources on fancy programs or impressive buildings, weak preaching, acceptance of gossip and materialism, lack of prayer, loss of missions and evangelistic passion, and much more will drain a local church of its life.
B. Appropriate Punishment Will Be Dispensed
“God will destroy him”
Serious threat; sounds like much more than just the loss of reward for believers.
Craig Blomberg: These are clearly different people (potentially some of the patrons or local leaders of the Corinthian factions) from those who used poor building materials in the previous paragraph. Here people are trying to tear down the structure! Understandably, God’s response will significantly differ as well: he “will destroy” (i.e., eternally condemn) them.
Tony Monaghan: Talk about a threat! That’s how seriously God considers the sin of division within the church. He will avenge his church himself. And so we read,
Prov. 6:16 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
It was a capital offense in the Old Testament to defile the temple, and surely Paul is picking up upon that idea here.
Lev. 15:31 “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”
God simply won’t allow it. It shall not go unpunished.
http://www.covenantcommunityopc.org/The%20Temple%20of%20God.htm
C. Standard of Holiness Must Be Applied
- Applied to the temple as the Sanctuary of God
“for the temple of God is holy”
Paul Gardner: The addition in this verse to what Paul is saying is his description of the temple as “holy” (ἅγιός). It has certainly been implied throughout this section. Where God is, that place is always holy. The “temple” (ναός) contained the “Most Holy Place” (e.g., Exod 26:33; Lev 16:2) and attention is now drawn to this. The sacrilege that would be involved in destroying this needs no further comment. The severity of Paul’s warning is established.
- Applied to the Corinthian Believers as the Temple of God
“and that is what you are.”
Implications of living in accordance with our Holiness . . .