We Are God’s Temple
I was studying Ephesians 2 recently, and as I was looking at cross-references for this chapter, I was struck by how amazing it is that we are the temple of God.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 (NASB)
We are the temple of God – the Holy Spirit dwells within each and every one of us, individually and corporately as the Church. Have you ever stopped to think about this, to consider how crazy it is that the Holy Spirit would make us His dwelling place? I think we hear the phrase “temple of God” so often that we lose sight of how amazing and humbling this calling is to be God’s temple. Reading Ephesians 2:19-22 inspired me to look into what it means to be the temple of God.
In the Old Testament, the first temple was built by Solomon. The temple was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, and the porch was 120 cubits tall and overlaid with gold (see 2 Chron. 3:3-4). The main room and the entire house were overlaid with gold, and precious stones decorated the house (2 Chron. 3:5-7).
Now he made the room of the holy of holies: its length across the width of the house was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to 600 talents. The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold. 2 Chronicles 3:8-9
A talent was equal to 3,000 shekels and weighed about 114 pounds (Vine’s, n.d.). That means that the holy of holies alone was overlaid with 68,400 pounds of gold! Can you imagine that much gold in only one room of the temple?!
The rest of 2 Chronicles 3 describes the cherubim sculptures, the veil, the front pillars, and the chains and pomegranates on the pillars. Chapter 4 describes all the furnishings in the temple. That temple must’ve been amazing! Solomon’s temple was eventually torn down and replaced twice (the book of Ezra describes the first rebuild of the temple, and later Herod built another magnificent temple).
When I hear about how magnificent the first temple was, it often makes me wonder – why are we, why am I, God’s temple? I certainly don’t feel as grand as Solomon’s temple. And if Solomon’s temple was so grand, is there something more to being God’s temple than just being told to treat our bodies with respect?
The New Testament teaches that we are individually the temple of God and together as the Church the temple of God. When we look at the church as a whole being God’s temple, two lessons stand out: Christ is our foundation, and we are called to unity.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.” So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. 1 Corinthians 3:16-23
The Corinthians were struggling with division among other problems that Paul addressed in this letter. Paul here reminds them that together they are the temple of God and they should not be destroying one another with disunity. Their unity as the temple of God comes from being built on the foundation of Christ, not Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. The church today is often divided like the church at Corinth, dividing over issues that are (usually) not “salvational”. (As a side note, if anyone teaches salvation through anyone or anything other than Christ alone, that is false doctrine, which is a different topic than dividing over non-salvation issues, such as worship styles or what foods you eat.) I believe it is very important to be studying the Word and relying on the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts and to live according to His conviction, but we should not let differences of conviction keep us as the Church from sharing the gospel message with the world due to internal conflicts. It is a beautiful thing when the church can come together on the basis of love for Christ our Savior, regardless of denominations.
The New Testament also teaches that we are individually temples of the Holy Spirit. Two lessons stand out from individually being the temple of God: our bodies are to glorify God, and we are to be set apart.
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Because we are the temple of God, we are called to be mastered by no one other than God; we are to care for our bodies physically and spiritually to glorify God as His temple. As the temple of God, we cannot allow anything contrary to God to have a stake in our temple. One thing Paul emphasizes is not marrying unbelievers. We also must guard against ungodly influences having a hold over our hearts and minds, things like ungodly movies or music or being controlled by an addiction, such as being controlled by our smartphones, television, alcohol, caffeine, videogames, etc. We are to be set apart or separate from the world. This doesn’t mean that we hide from interacting with the world, because that would mean we aren’t fulfilling the Great Commission. Instead, we are choosing to live differently, to glorify God in every aspect of our lives, no matter how weird it looks to this world, because we have been transformed by the renewing of our minds (see Rom. 12:1-2). Think back to Solomon’s temple – it stood out because it was different, but it also attracted unbelievers because it was different. The more we allow God to refine us, the more different we will look from this world, and the brighter our light will shine.
This study on being God’s temple has been a blessing and a challenge to me, and I hope it is that for you as well. What a beautiful calling we have to be the dwelling place of God’s Spirit. As we rely on God’s strength, I pray we become more refined as gold, a temple of God that brings Him glory, is set apart, and is united to the body under Christ our Savior.
With love,
Kelsey
Reference:
Talent – Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/dictionary/viewtopic.cfm
