At last Saturday's worship gathering, Carol Y. and I had made comments about being temples of the Lord. Specifically, if you were not with us, I noted that the temple was the meeting place of God, whether it was the "permanent" temple in Jerusalem or the tabernacle preceding that, this was "the place of meeting." And in New Testament Pauline discussion, we find that we are the temple, or the meeting place of God.
I was approached after this discussion by one of our people who said, "I'm not sure that's right. I think it's meant to be plural." This person was saying that the temple reference in 1 Corinthians is plural.
I had a minute to look into this at the time and turned to this passage in 1 Corinthians 3:
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. (vv. 16-17, ESV)
Sure enough, the footnote points out the fact that pronoun "you" is plural in the Greek, and while the immediately preceding context (how we build our house on the foundation of Christ) is more singular in nature, the chapter begins with a plural discussion of the local church body. Thus, Gordon Fee (according to my questioner) and other theologians suggest that the temple is plural, that is, us as the body of Christ.
Upon further examination at home, however, I realized that this was not the temple passage with which I was most familiar. That passage is found three chapters later, in 1 Corinthians 6:
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (vv. 18-20, ESV)
Here the context (and the pronoun) is clearly singular. Thus, we are right to sing boldly with John Mark McMillan, "I am a temple, I am a temple, my body is a temple..."
This is good to know--that we have not been off-base all this time--but this does not change the intrigue created by the 1 Corinthians 3 passage, which begs a question I'm not sure I have ever heard considered by a teacher: how are we, together as Christ's church, a temple? I can see somewhat easily how this works as an individual: stay pure and holy. But is something else indicated by the plurality of chapter 3? Purity and holiness are important for a fellowship of Christ, but that passage also points to the following specific aspects: absence of jealousy and strife, forsaking fleshly pursuits, not elevating one teacher above another in a hero-status sort of way. These are things we must protect if we are to be a righteous plural temple of God.
I would like to invite a bit of discussion about how we might, as a local fellowship like the Corinthian church, move closer to our "temple calling." So here are the key questions for those who might comment: how do we move closer to our plural temple status? how do we function in a way that maintains and advances this status? how do we best act as a holy temple of God?
God Keeps Leading
11 years ago
21 comments:
This is what 1 Corinthians is about. The Body of Christ. The Body is the Temple. This is the same concept expressed in Colossians 1.27 "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you,the hope of glory" (ESV).
Christ is with/among/in us when we are in communion with one another. This is why it matters so much that we do not neglect to meet together (Hebrews 10.25). He is in the "space" between us.
Of utmost importance is that we love each other and respect each other. When there is strife among us, when we begrudge and hate our fellow believers, we defile the temple. We, together, are the temple.
Sometimes I think nobody listens to me.
Im listening
Poor me, huh? ;) Thanks Aquila.
Amy, I can't hear you... that may be part of the problem. Sorry, I couldn't let it go.
That's funny, I thought I was something of a "loud-talker."
It makes perfect sense to me that not only is my individual body a temple where God dwells, but also my local gathering of believers, aka my church body, a temple in which God's Spirit dwells. This dwelling in the plurality is a harder concept than in the individual perhaps because it requires the gathered body to exist and function in unity. This is hard to do. If I can't even live unified with my husband all the time, how can I function in unity with a large group of people? Yet this is exactly what we need to strive to do in order to "move closer to our plural temple status" and to "function in a way that maintains and advances this status." How are we to function as a unified body? It all comes back to love. Love our God and then love our neighbors. Love the foot as much as we love the ear and as much as we love the eye. Recognize the value of each member and encourage each other and build each other up in Christ. Confess our sins to one another and pray for each other that we may be healed and live as a healthy body.
Amy was right. He is in the "space" between us. He is the mortar that binds the bricks. He is the gluten in the bread. He is the superglue of the model airplane that allows us to soar the highest heights without falling apart.
OK. The cheese factor is rising. You get the idea.
You forgot to love the bowels.
While I do recognize the importance of the bowels in the corporate body, in my individual body I do not always appreciate the bowels. They sometimes cause me grief. :-(
I will refrain from an earthy response. Instead, I will quote the prolific Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 12.20-24
"What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?"
I'm gonna guess that Kim would agree. Good digestion first, full-bodied hair second.
Kidding aside, I'm not really sure how this truth is lived out in the temple.
I tend to see or look at it like you were constructing a building (or in this case a temple). Each person is an individual building block (personal temple) in the construction of the overall temple (Church). Each of us is a smaller temple within the overall temple. Would you build the temple with rotten materials (sin in us) or build the temple with the materials from Jesus Christ ? (sinless life in us). Living a Godly life leads to a strong foundation and a building up of the body (church) and our own personal bodies. Read: 1 Corinthians 3:6-15.
I agree with that picture as well dlb.
(And here is my mental wrap up).
That goes back to Him being the "mortar that binds the bricks" that form the corporate temple built from individual temples (bricks, or "building blocks" as you said), as well as Him being the "space" between us as Amy said. We do want to be formed from sound materials, ("the materials of Jesus Christ"). Confessing our sins to one another and praying for each other that we may be healed (see James 5:13-16) brings us back to that "sinless life" you spoke of and helps us to "function in a way that maintains and advances" the plural status Jeff spoke of...
dlb really nailed it: Individuals living a godly life lead to a healthy church.
Unfortunately, the church is full of people who don't live godly lives. We are all in that category from time to time. All the same, the church is the temple. Notice that the church is not called to be the temple (as though we had a choice to do the job or not).
Can we mess it up?
Oh no...I'm thinking again...what is a godly life? No sin... lots of prayer...and I wonder, if your proud of the way you live, is that godly?
Sorry, Aquila, we were all away at the beach. I was not ignoring you :)
I'll have to think on this for a while, before commenting.
My thought on a Godly life is a life lived through the teachings from the Bible and Jesus Christ and also trying to live up to those standards in todays society (which makes it very difficult at times). We all fail at some point in our lives, but I am so glad that we have a very forgiving Father.
In furthering the discussion of living a "godly life" I think of it as a Goal --- being more led of the Lord than going my own way; more putting the needs of others ahead of my own than being selfish; more of Him and less of me(to quote David Ruis) Jesus was 100% godly and always chose to be in unity with His Father. I have no idea what "percentage" I am, nor do I care to ponder that! Thanks to Jesus' righteousness we have His Holiness, His 100% godliness. But what a goal to have, to be able to live life like He did!
I am really glad this thread didn't die. Discipleship is an essential topic. Hopefully, we are always talking about discipleship. I'd go so far as to say that it's the second most important Christian reality.
#1: Jesus is God incarnate, come to seek and to save all who are lost.
#2: All to whom the Father is revealed through Jesus are called to be his disciples (i.e., behaving like Jesus=worshiping God).
I am uncomfortable with the term "godly." It feels impersonal and remote. We don't say Jesus-ly, but that seems more concrete. We can see what that means. "Godly" is so nebulous. I'm just putting this out for discussion; my opinion at the moment.
James 1.19-27 is a famous passage about discipleship.
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (NIV).
How do we rightly apply this instruction in our community of believers? How does it relate to discipleship?
I know when God rescued me I wasn't a temple. I was a crack house.But through the years He has done some serious remodeling, and now the temple look is a good thing. My trouble is sometimes I forget where I started, that I was a burnt out crack house. And then I forget who did the remodeling; (as if I were the carpenter). Its hard for me not to take credit for all the God I see around me sometimes. A "godly life" might be more in tune with the day Jesus first walked into that crack house, took a look around and said, "This isn't very promising, but let me see what I can do".
I think sometimes a "godly life" is remembering that grace saved us, we didn't deserve it. And if we live good lives now, that too is a gracious gift, one we should accept as growth, but never take credit for. We are all temples in progress, being constructed by the Carpenter, some progressing faster than others, but again its the Carpenter doing.
I see Jesus stopping at a fixer-upper (a crack-house even) and saying, "This is exactly what I'm looking for. I will live here!"
Just some of the "Godly" passages straight from the Bible.
Psalms 12:1 NIV
[For the director of music. According to "sheminith." A psalm of David.] Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
Psalms 32:6 NIV
Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
Micah 7:2 NIV
The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net.
Malachi 2:15 NIV
Has not [the LORD] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
John 9:31 NIV
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.
Acts 8:2 NIV
Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
2 Corinthians 7:11 NIV
See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
2 Corinthians 11:2 NIV
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
1 Timothy 6:3 NIV
[Love of Money] If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,
2 Timothy 3:12 NIV
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Titus 2:12 NIV
It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
2 Peter 2:9 NIV
if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
Amy...well said. thank you
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