You Are The Temple Of God

What does it mean to be the Temple of God?

First, what's a temple?

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NKJV) "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are."

TEMPLE

The Temple built by Solomon, rebuilt by the Jews after the Babylonian captivity, and Herod's Temple was the main Temple where 3 out of 7 Feasts would be celebrated and the Lord commanded that the male Jews physically must be there with an offering in Jerusalem (see Exodus 23:14-17, Deuteronomy 16:16, and Leviticus chapter 23).

Deuteronomy 16:16-17 (NKJV) “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you."

"...used of the temple at Jerusalem, but only of the sacred edifice (or sanctuary) itself, consisting of the Holy place and the Holy of Holies.

Therefore, a temple is a sacred place.

Within the temple could be furniture or sacred utensils designed for worship such as Solomon's Temple built in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.

Generally, temples of various religions is also a separated place that's different than your home or apartment like Mosques, Synagogues, or Church buildings. They're set aside for the worship of God, however, as far as Mosques are concerned, the true and living God never dwelt in one.

As far as a Synagogue is concerned, they were built as local places of worship for the Jews also known as Congregations.

SYNAGOGUE

Second, what's a synagogue?

(Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary) SYNAGOGUE

sunagoge (συναγωγή, 4864), properly “a bringing together” (sun, “together,” ago, “to bring”), denoted (a) “a gathering of things, a collection,” then, of “persons, an assembling, of Jewish religious gatherings,”

So a synagogue would be a place to "bring together" the Jews to be taught the Word of God.

During the ministry of the Lord Jesus, He would go from city to city, towns, and villages.

Matthew 4:23-25 (NKJV)

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.

Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan."

In AD 70, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans under Titus. The Lord Jesus told His disciples that this would happen in Matthew 24. When the Lord died on the cross and the Day of Pentecost came, the Lord would dwell in man by the Holy Spirit.

However, all across the world, church buildings would be erected. Church buildings became a central place for Christians to assemble as Christian congregations. While there's several denominations and non denomination Churches, generally, there's two sects of Christians.

Catholicism and Protestants. Then you have cults and spinoffs of denominations and non denominations that's generally made up of Protestants.

CHURCH

Third, what's a church?

Where did the word "Church" come from?

"Old English cir(i)ce, cyr(i)ce, related to Dutch kerk and German Kirche, based on medieval Greek kurikon, from Greek kuriakon (dōma) ‘Lord's (house)’, from kurios ‘master or lord’. Compare with kirk.

2 (the Kirk or the Kirk of Scotland) the Church of Scotland as distinct from the Church of England or from the Episcopal Church in Scotland: origin Middle English: from Old Norse kirkja, from Old English cirice."

The word "church" in Matthew 16:18 is actually the Greek word "ekklesia." The Greek word "ekklesia," from Strong's Concordance is g1577. ἐκκλησία ekklēsia; from a compound of 1537 and a derivative of 2564; a (klesia)- calling (ek) -out.

Then from "(Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary) “a calling” (kaleo, “to call”), was used among the Greeks of a body of citizens “gathered.”

The word "church," obviously was inserted by the translaters of the English Bible and it's been there ever since. The word "church" undoubtedly distracts from the original intent of the Lord when the Lord commanded the disciples to "Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations..."

Therefore, the focus is on the outer structure and not the inner person.

The Lord has moved from an outer structure of a Temple and Synagogue, to the heart of man.

2 Corinthians 6:15-18 (NKJV) "And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.

As God has said:

“I will dwell in them

And walk among them.

I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.”

Therefore

“Come out from among them

And be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean,

And I will receive you.”

“I will be a Father to you,

And you shall be My sons and daughters,

Says the LORD Almighty.”

It's always the Lord's will for Him to dwell in man. However, when man sinned against God, He couldn't dwell in Him. He had to send His sinless Son to pay the penalty of sin.

"Without the shedding of blood there's no remission (releasing) of sin." Hebrews 9:22b

Therefore, Christ's sacrifice made it possible for His righteousness to come to us and is upon us for salvation from the wrath of God.

Romans 3:21-27 (NKJV) "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness,

because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Once the penalty was paid in full (see John 19:30), He could fully dwell in man, once man repented of sin and places their faith on Christ alone.

Only then could He inhabit man.

Only then could man become the temple of God. As the Lord Jesus said in John 3:3, "you must be born again." As Paul said in Titus 3:5, "by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit."

And in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new."

Therefore, we shouldn't look to a building as the Temple. The heart of man, once it's renovated by the Holy Spirit, is to be looked at as the Temple of God.

1 Corinthians 3:9 (NKJV)

"For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building."