Lessons #191 and 192
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Avoidance of Sexual immorality (1 Cor 6:12-20)
.... 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Recall that the message of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 that we are considering is that Avoidance of sexual immorality requires a determination not to be controlled by anything of this life and understanding the body’s function, fate, and its various relationship to sex and God. Our last study focused on the strong command against sexual immorality. We saw that believers should regard sexual immorality a sin to run away from as quickly as possible because of the command of 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. We suggested a practical guideline of how to obey this command which is that a believer should avoid being alone with a member of the opposite sex for a prolonged period of time, especially if the person has romantic interest in the other individual. This strong command is followed with a justification for such a command in the clause All other sins a man commits are outside his body. This clause we indicated is difficult to interpret. Consequently, we stated there are two general approaches to its interpretation. A first approach is to take the clause as a slogan from the Corinthians that the apostle quotes. A second approach is to take the clause as words of the apostle and then to try to interpret what he meant to convey. It is this second approach that I believe to be appropriate. Subsequently, we began to consider the key words that we should understand to aid in its interpretation. As we promised, it is with the word “are” that we begin our study.
The word “are” in the verbal phrase of the NIV of 1 Corinthian 6:18 are outside his body is translated from a Greek word (eimi) that basically means “to be” with several nuances. It may mean “to live”, that is, to be alive in a period of time, as it is used by Jesus to put words in the mouth of the Jews of His time regarding their attitude towards the prophets of the past as recorded in Matthew 23:30:
And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
The clause If we had lived in the days of our forefathers is more literally If we had been in the days of our forefathers. The word may mean “to occur” or “to take place” as it is used to describe events or phenomena that will happen before the Second Coming of Christ in Matthew 24:7:
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
The sentence There will be famines and earthquakes in various places may be translated Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. The word may mean “to be, to come from somewhere” as it is used in questioning if anything good could originate from Nazareth as recorded in John 1:46:
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
The question Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? is literally Out of Nazareth is any good thing able to be? The meaning “to be” may mean to exist, as it is used by Apostle Paul to state the existence of many gods and lords in 1 Corinthians 8:5:
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
Of course, it is used in this sense of existence to describe the absolute existence of the true God in Hebrews 11:6:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
The Greek word may mean to exist in the sense of “to be available” as it is used in Acts 7:12:
When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.
The clause there was grain in Egypt may be fully translated as that grain was available. It is the meaning “to be provided” that probably fits the use of our Greek verb in John 7:39:
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
The sentence the Spirit had not been given is more literally the Spirit was not yet since the word “given” is probably not in the original although some few Greek manuscripts have it but it is supplied in many of our English versions to avoid creating the impression that the Spirit did not exist prior to the point in view in the passage. The problem of it appearing that the Spirit was not in existence at the time involved may be avoided if the Greek word is translated “provided” so that the sentence will read the Spirit not provide yet in the sense of living in the believer as today. The word may mean “to belong”, as in Romans 8:9:
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
The word figuratively may mean “to be controlled” as that is the sense in Romans 8:8:
Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
The clause Those controlled by the sinful nature is literally those who are in the flesh. The Greek word may mean “to devote” as that is the sense Apostle Paul used it in his instruction to Timothy regarding devotion to God’s word in 1 Timothy 4:15:
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.
The expression give yourself wholly to them may be alternatively translated devote yourself to these things. In some usages, the Greek word may have the sense of “to be of relative significance” or “to be of moment or importance” or “to amount to something” as in Galatians 2:6:
As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message.
The verbal phrase to be important is more literally to be something. The word may mean “to serve” as that is the sense of the Greek word in James 5:3:
Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
The sentence Their corrosion will testify against you is more literally their corrosion will be a witness against you. The sense of the literal sentence is that corrosion “will serve” as a witness against the rich. Of the various meanings of the Greek word, it is the meaning “to take place” or “to occur” that the apostle probably had in mind in our passage of 1 Corinthians 6:18. This is because this meaning is also one that fits the apostle’s use of the word in describing the division taking place or occurring in Corinth although the word is translate “are” in 1 Corinthians 1:11:
My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.
Anyway, we contend that the meaning of the Greek word in our passage of 1 Corinthians 6:18 is “to take place” or “to occur.”
We have considered the key words used in the clause of 1 Corinthians 6:18 All other sins a man commits are outside his body, so we are now in a position to understand what the apostle meant. We recognize that this clause is difficult to interpret and so has led to various interpretations such as taking the clause as stating a fact that is not absolute. Nonetheless, based on our examination of the key words that we considered; the apostle meant to convey that every kind of sin that a person commits that takes place outside the physical body is not the same as sexual immorality in its effect to one’s body. This interpretation may seem to be stretching what the apostle wrote in the clause since the words we used in interpreting it are not all found in the clause. However, there are two factors that support this interpretation. First, the clause conveys the sense of justification or reason. It is true that the clause does not begin with any connective to the command to flee from sexual immorality but that is implied. In effect, the clause gives a reason for a believer to flee sexual immorality. Another support for this interpretation is the preceding context. In verses 16 the apostle explained the uniqueness of sexual intercourse in bonding two individuals, making sexual sin a unique kind of sin because it creates false bonding that God did not intend since sexual intercourse should create a bond between a husband and the wife. Therefore, it makes sense if the apostle continued in verse 18 to speak of the uniqueness of sexual sin as the reason to flee from it. By the way, this interpretation removes the difficulty that many perceive to be caused by the next clause that implies that only sexual sin affects the body negatively since gluttony, drunkenness, and drug abuse are sins that affect the body as well. Of course, gluttony, drunkenness and the drug abuse involve taking something from outside into the body unlike the sin of sexual immorality that involves take a thought that originates from the inside and acting it outwardly. You see, all our sins are committed first in the mind before they become a physical reality. It is this that our Lord asserted in Matthew 15:19:
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Heart here refers to the innermost being of a person from which one feels and thinks and determines one’s actions so we could say that “heart” here refers simply to the mind. Although the mind is part of the person it is not part of a physical body that is used in sexual sin. Anyway, we are saying that the apostle is focused on sexual sin as being different from every other sin that takes place outside the body in its effects. We should be careful to recognize that we are not saying that sexual immorality is the only sin that originates from the inside of a person that is acted out for there are many sins that originate inwardly that involve parts of the body. For example, stealing originates inwardly but is acted out using parts of the body. True, in some cases, stealing puts stress on the body but its effect and nature are not the same on the body as sexual immorality because it does not involve the union of bodies as sexual immorality.
Our interpretation that the apostle in the clause All other sins a man commits are outside his body meant that every kind of sin that a person commits that takes place outside the physical body is not the same as sexual immorality in its effect to one’s body is further supported by the last clause of 1 Corinthians 6:18 but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. This clause is taken by some to be giving exception to the word “all” in the preceding clause because of the conjunction “but.” This notwithstanding, it seems to me that the clause is involved in further explanation of the preceding clause as I will demonstrate by considering the key words used in it.
The word “but” is translated from a Greek conjunction (de) that may mean “but” as a marker of contrast as it is used in Matthew 22:14:
“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
The word may mean “now” to link a narrative as it is used to connect the narrative of the death of Stephen to the spreading of the gospel in Jerusalem in Acts 6:8:
Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
The word may mean “that is” to insert an explanation. It is in this way that Apostle Paul used in Romans 9:30:
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
The expression that is by faith may literally be translated even by faith in which the Greek conjunction is given the meaning “even.” It is in the sense of inserting explanation that it is used in Philippians 2:8:
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
The phrase even death on a cross is better translated death that is on a cross. The word may mean “at the same time” as it is suggested in standard Greek English lexicon of BDAG in Titus 1:1:
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—
The Greek English lexicon suggests that the phrase Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ may be translated Paul, God’s slave, and at the same time apostle of Jesus Christ. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 6:18, it is probably that the apostle used the Greek word to insert explanation and so has the meaning of “that is.” Thus, the clause but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. will read that is, he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
The expression “sins sexually” in the clause of 1 Corinthians 6:18 but he who sins sexually sins against his own body is translated from a Greek word (porneuō) that has to do with involvement in illicit sex. Therefore, the word means “to fornicate” or “to commit sexual immorality” as it is used to describe the failure of some of the Israelites during the exodus as a result of the advice of Balaam to Balak regarding how to entrap Israel, as stated in Revelation 2:14:
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.
The word is used figuratively to describe involvement in idolatry as it is used to describe Babylon in Revelation 18:3:
For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
Committing adultery in this passage is concerned with idolatry since it is the same concept using our Greek word that is found in the charge of the prophets against Israel’s idolatry described in terms of adultery, that is, sex outside the marriage bond, by one who is married, as the word is used in Jeremiah 3:6:
During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 6:18, it is used in a literal sense of a person who is involved in illicit sexual activity hence means “to commit sexual immorality.”
In any case, because it may not be apparent that the clause of 1 Corinthians 6:18 All other sins a man commits are outside his body is concerned with the uniqueness of sexual sin as to reason to flee it, the apostle provides an explanation that should help to understand his point. This explanation is that sexual sin among all the sins that take place outside of the body is most detrimental to an individual’s body as in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 6:18 he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
How does committing sexual sin harm a person’s body? Sexual immorality takes a toll on the body although it may not be that apparent unless one immediately contracts sexually transmitted diseases but we can be sure that sexual immorality takes a toll on the body of a person as implied in one stated result of sexual immorality, as we read in Proverbs 5:11:
At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.
Sexual immorality, especially adultery, has led to the death of many people although we often do not recognize this. This fact should not surprise you because the Lord commanded Israel to put to death anyone guilty of sexual immorality except in few cases. It is true that no nation is Israel as to practice the instruction of putting to death any one guilty of sexual immorality but that does not mean that God tolerates such a sin. The implication is that He carries out the death sentence Himself as He determines, even today. Hence, we contend that many people have died because of sexual immorality, especially that of adultery. This truth we derive from Proverbs 7:24–27:
24Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. 25Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. 26Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. 27Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.
The destructive nature of adultery as sexual sin is mentioned in Proverbs 6:32–33:
32But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. 33Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away;
The fact is that sexual immorality takes a toll on the body of those who practice it. Furthermore, sexual immorality leads to not having respect for one’s body as God intended for sex to be between a man and his wife. Thus, Apostle Paul spoke of degrading or dishonoring the body because of sexual immorality, especially sexual deviances as we read in Romans 1:24:
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Anyway, the point we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to convey to you through what Apostle Paul stated in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 6:18 is that sexual immorality harms the body of the one who commits the sin than any other sin that is committed outside the body. To avoid the harm that comes through sexual immorality, the believer should endeavor to be faithful to the word of God. In other words, as the believer understands the danger in sexual immorality the person should adhere to the guideline of ensuring that one does not spend extended time alone with a member of the opposite sex. A person who does this has in effect applied the instruction that indicates one can avoid sexual immorality by obeying God’s word, as we read in Proverbs 6:23–29:
23 For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, 24keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife. 25Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, 26for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. 27Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? 28Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? 29So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
[Break]
The last relationship of the body if understood should cause believers to avoid sexual immorality is that their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is this relationship that is introduced in the question of 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit...? This is the sixth and final time we find the expression Do you not know in this sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians. The expression, as we have indicated previously, is one that assumes that the apostle had taught the Corinthians the truth expressed in the question. This being the case, the Greek word (oida) translated “to know” here has the sense of “to understand” something based on reflection of something that has been taught. This meaning of “to understand” is one that best fits what the apostle already stated in 1 Corinthians 2:12:
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
The sentence we may understand is literally we may know. So, it is not strange to indicate that the Greek word translated “know” in 1 Corinthians 6:19 has the meaning of “to understand.” That aside, the expression Do you not know implies that the apostle had taught doctrinal truth from which the Corinthians should have understood what he stated in the question he posed to them.
Anyway, the apostle is concerned that the Corinthians did not understand the truth that the Holy Spirit indwells their bodies as stated in the clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. This clause is important in the argument of the apostle regarding the reason believers should avoid sexual immorality. To understand what the apostle meant, it is important to consider what a temple means. The word “temple” is translated from a Greek word (naos) that refers to a place or structure specifically associated with or set apart for a deity, who is frequently perceived to be using it as a dwelling, hence means “temple.” The word then refers to “shrines” of pagan gods as it is used in description of the temple of Artemis in Ephesus referred in Acts 19:24:
A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen.
The phrase shrines of Artemis is literally the temple of Artemis. The word is used to describe the temple at Jerusalem that its curtain split into two, following Jesus’ death on the cross as narrated by Luke in Luke 23:45:
for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
The word is used in Jesus’ description of His body that those who heard Him misconstrued as a reference to the temple at Jerusalem, as we read in John 2:19–21:
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
The word is used to describe Christian congregation as a place where God lives and also for individual believers as in 2 Corinthians 6:16:
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
The word is used for heavenly sanctuary or temple in Revelation 11:19:
Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
Our consideration indicates that as a structure, a temple is a building considered as the house or dwelling place of a deity where the deity could be worshiped.
Our concern, however, is to understand what the apostle meant and his purpose for writing the clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. But before we do, we should observe that although the apostle was not directly concerned about the person of Holy Spirit, his declaration is an acknowledgement that Holy Spirit is God. There is a sense that the apostle while not focused on the deity of the Holy Spirit has implied there are three persons in the Godhead. He had referred to the Son and the Father in 1 Corinthians 6:14:
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
God here in verse 14 no doubt refers to all members of the Godhead but it is a particular reference to God the Father since the apostle in several passages referred to the Father as responsible for resurrection of Jesus Christ that he described with the word “Lord” that is used for the true God. Thus, we can say that the apostle had in way implied that the Father and the Son are God, so it remains for him to clearly indicate that Holy Spirit is God. Hence when the apostle wrote the clause of 1 Corinthians 6:19 that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, he implied the Holy Spirit is God. This is because he previously wrote that believers are God’s temple in 1 Corinthians 3:16:
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
If the body of a believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit and believers are God’s temple, then it must mean that the Holy Spirit is God. This kind of observation is important to remind believers that the Holy Spirit is a person and God since there are those who teach otherwise. Take for example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the Holy Spirit is neither God nor a person. The say “It” is simply an impersonal “active force” that God uses in doing His will. Such a teaching is demonstrated to be false by the declaration that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. An active force will not live in the body of believers. Of course, we are not here concerned with full rebuttal of such teaching but merely to show why it is important to recognize that Apostle Paul by what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19 implies that the Holy Spirit is God.
Another observation about the clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit is the significance of saying “a temple” instead of “the temple.” The phrase a temple stresses on the nature of the temple that the body of the believer is. For one thing, it is a temple that is not built by human hands of the type that was in the OT. This statement ensures that Apostle Paul was not contradicting his teaching when he indicated in Athens that God does not live in temples made by human hands in Acts 17:24:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
The human body ever since the creation of Adam and Eve is now formed by God in the womb as implied in the declaration of Ecclesiastes 11:5:
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Thus, the apostle’s declaration of the body being a temple of the Holy Spirit does not contradict his teaching that God does not live in a temple made by human hands. Furthermore, the use of the phrase a temple indicates that the body of a believer as God’s temple belongs to the class of temple that God lives. Solomon in his dedication prayer recognized that the temple he built could hardly be considered a place that God lives permanently or the only place of His residence, as we read in 1 Kings 8:27:
“But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!
This we can understand because heaven is considered God’s temple, as for example, in Psalm 11:4:
The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them.
As we have noted, there is a heavenly temple where God lives so that the body of believer is a temple that is in the class of the place of God’s residence. Anyway, the point is that when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians a temple instead of “the temple,” it is intended to stress its nature as not being made by humans and as part of the class of temple where God lives.
Another observation in the clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit is that we have the word “body” instead of “bodies.” The implication is that the individual believer’s body is a temple of the Holy Spirit although some take the position that believers collectively form the temple. They do so because the possessive pronoun “your” is in the plural in the Greek. This notwithstanding, the use of the plural “your” is simply a way to recognize that the apostle addressed all the Corinthians but is concerned to stress on the individual believer being a temple of God. You see, this clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit is the only place in the NT that Apostle Paul teaches that an individual believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit since in the passage of 1 Corinthians 3:16 he described believers collectively as the temple of God. That aside, our concern is to understand what the apostle meant and his purpose for the clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. To help us do this, we need to understand the significances of the OT temple as that would have been in the apostle’s mind as he wrote the clause we are considering.
Temple in the OT signifies God’s presence. This was clear during the dedication of the Solomon’s Temple, as we read in 1 Kings 8:10–11:
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.
The temple not only signified the presence of God, it conveys the fact that God is constantly watching the believer’s body as in the case of the temple in Jerusalem or Zion as in the dedication prayer of Solomon recorded in 1 Kings 8:29:
May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
The temple in Jerusalem opened the possibility of fellowship between Israel and their God, as implied in Psalm 24:3–6:
3Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. 5He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. 6Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Selah
The question Who may stand in his holy place? is concerned with the kind of person who would fellowship with the Lord in the sense of the one who can worship in the temple in Jerusalem. The phrase his holy place refers to the temple in Jerusalem that has been dedicated to the worship of God. Thus, the temple provided the possibility of fellowship with the Lord but only to those who live proper lifestyle that is in keeping with God’s word as that is what is meant in the clause of verse 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
God’s presence among His people symbolized in the temple was believed to be a guarantee of protection, as we read in Psalm 125:1-2:
1Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. 2As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.
However, the prophets conveyed that contrary to the belief of assured protection that His presence assured judgment as we read in Zephaniah 3:5:
The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame.
The temple in Jerusalem often spoken in terms of Zion was certainly regarded as a sign of divine favor among His covenant people so that His blessings flow from it as implied in what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 132:13–18:
13For the LORD has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling: 14 “This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it—15 I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food. 16I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy. 17 “Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one. 18 I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent.”
The temple in Jerusalem signified God’s holiness. This we can learn from the description of Solomon’s temple, as recorded in 1 Kings 8:6–7:
6 The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.
Interestingly, the inner parts of the Temple were off limits to those who were not priests, and the Most Holy Place was only accessible to the high priest. The implication is that the inner parts of the temple were not for public worship. Nonetheless, the point is that the temple conveyed the sense of holiness or special dedication to God.
Our consideration of the significance of the temple in the OT Scripture helps us to understand some of the facts the Holy Spirit through the apostle wanted to convey to Corinthians and so all believers in the clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. First, the clause is a reminder of God’s favor that He has bestowed on the Corinthians and on all believers that He chose them to be those whose bodies individually and by implication collectively form His temple. Second, the clause is intended to convey to believers that because of who they are in Christ, their bodies symbolize continuous presence of God. In effect, the clause reminds the believer of God’s presence that implies He watches over each believer’s body. Understanding of this has the implication that a believer who knows that the Lord watches over his/her body would be careful not to use it for sexual immorality. This, of course, leads to the next point. Third, the body of the believer is holy in the sense that it is dedicated to the Lord. Therefore, it would be improper to use the body that has been dedicated to the Lord in sexual immorality. Of course, the fact that the Lord keeps close watch over the body that has been dedicated to Him implies that as He punished Israel for disregarding His presence symbolized by the temple so He will punish those who abuse their body through sexual immorality. Thus, a purpose of the clause that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit is to discourage sexual immorality. As the temple of the OT is a place of fellowship of believers with God so our bodies convey that we should have continuous fellowship with God. Therefore, it is unbecoming to use a place of fellowship with God for union with another person in sexual immorality. Anyway, the Holy Spirit wants us to recognize His indwelling presence in our bodies. There is the possibility that one may not get the emphasis that the Holy Spirit wants us to get regarding His presence in the believer’s body so the apostle emphasized this through a reminder of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer. This truth He conveyed through the apostle in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 6:19 who is in you. It is with this clause that we begin our next study.
12/20/19