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.
– 1 Corinthians 3:16–17
Hearing this, you might think of 1 Corinthians 6, where it says our bodies are the temple of the Spirit. So, every one of us as followers of Jesus has the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. But that’s not actually what 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 is talking about.
1 Corinthians 3:16–17 Refers to the Church as a Temple
These verses are talking about the church, the “you” here is plural. “Do you not know that you” the church… He’s addressing the Corinth church, “Are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you together?” If anyone destroys God’s temple, like the church, God will destroy him. For God’s temple, his church, is holy. And you are that temple, not the building but the people.
So picture the church that you are a part of. If you don’t belong to a local church, well, we don’t have time to dive into the nuance here. But just to go straight to it, you’re not living out what we see as Christianity according to the Bible. Because all throughout Scripture, specifically the New Testament, when the church is born, followers of Jesus are connected to it. They’re part, they’re members of a local church to the church of God that’s in Corinth or Thessalonica or Ephesus. These are letters written to churches and Christians were a part of churches. They were committed to being the church to each other in a particular place.
And so, Paul says to the church at Corinth, You together as a people, you are God’s temple. God’s Spirit dwells in you. So if you’re not a part of a church, you’re not committed as a member of a church somewhere, then do that. And when you do, and for all who are, just picture that gathering of God’s people that you’re a part of and realize, This is the temple of God. This is the place where the Spirit of God dwells, and this then must be holy. God’s temple is holy.
1 Corinthians 3:16–17 Reminds Us We Are to Honor the Church
1 Corinthians 3:17 says, And you are that temple. So, oh, honor the church. Treat the church as holy, as pure, as worthy of not only you being a part of being a member, but building up in ways that point people to Jesus and the glory of God as a church.
Oh God, we pray that you would help us to treat your church with honor, especially on a day when it’s so common to kind of treat church casually, at least in my culture. I know this is not true around the world, where our people gather together in underground locations as your church at the risk of their lives. Because they believe the church is important, and they know this is a holy gathering.
So God help us where persecution is not that way and we’re able to gather in the open, not to treat church casually, as something we just kind of attend every once in a while or see ourselves as a member of like a member of a club. God, help us to see your church as your temple, as the place where you dwell among these people. And God, we pray that you would make our churches holy. God, that you would make our churches a reflection of your character and your glory. God, we pray that you would help us to treat your church in our lives as the holy temple that it is.
Prayer for the Thai People
And God, we pray that people just like we read in the Old Testament, how people were drawn to the display of your glory in the physical temple there. God, we pray that through our churches, people would be drawn to see your glory and your grace to become a part of your church. God, as we pray for unreached people around the world. As we pray for Thailand today and Thai people spread out around the world. God, we pray for churches to be established and multiplied and built up as holy temples among Thai people.
Lord, when we pray for all of these unreached people groups in the world. We want to see temples in all of them, gatherings of your people in whom your Spirit dwells as displays of your holy love. God, we pray for the building up and multiplication of your church in the places where we live and around the world as temples of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray according to 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 17. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
