Paul
the apostle challenged the church members of Corinth as to whether
they knew they “were the temple of
God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in”
them,
and in chapter three and verse seventeen
of First Corinthians, Paul shared what happens
“if any man defile the temple of God”
where we read:
If any
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy;
The
verse begins, “If
any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy;”
Paul began
with the word, “If any man”
or “whoever or whatever person” “defile”
which means “corrupt, destroy, deprave or perish” “the
temple”
which refers to “the spiritual temple consisting of the saints of
all ages joined together by and in Christ” “of
God” which
refers to “the Godhead bodily or trinity which is comprised of God
the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”, “him
shall” or
“that person will” “God”
which refers to “the Godhead bodily or trinity which is comprised
of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit” “destroy”
or “corrupt, destroy, deprave or perish”. Paul warned that people
who “corrupt and destroy” His “temple”
shall be “corrupted and destroyed” as well.
The
verse goes on to say, “for
the temple of God is holy, which temple
you are.”. Paul
continued with the words, “for”
which means
“even as, indeed, no doubt, seeing then, verily and therefore”
“the temple” which
means “the spiritual temple consisting of the saints of all ages
joined together by and in Christ” “of
God” which
refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God
the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit” “is
holy” or
“is blameless or religiously, ceremonially, consecrated and pure”,
“which temple”
or “the spiritual temple consisting of the saints of all ages
joined together by and in Christ” “you
are” which
refers to the Corinthian church members. The reason people should not
“defile”
the “temple of God”
is because it is “holy”,
and Paul told the Corinthian believers, they were “God's temple”.
When
we meditate upon these words from Paul, we understand how serious he
is about the Corinthians knowing they are “the temple of God”.
The “temple of God” is “pure and ceremonially clean”
and each person who receives Jesus Christ is to live in the same
manner. The stern warning about “defiling” or “corrupting”
the “temple of God” should make all who read these words
take heed. Let us know who we are in Jesus Christ, and maintain our
lives, our “temple”, in a manner that is pleasing to Him.
Next
time Paul tells the Corinthians “let
no man deceive himself”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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