Your Body the Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Corinthians 6:19

Paul the apostle asked the church members in Corinth if they knew their “bodies are members of Christ?”, and he questioned rhetorically, “shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of an harlot”? Paul answered, “God forbid”, and in chapter six and verse nineteen of First Corinthians, Paul told the church members their “bodies” are, “the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you” where we read:

What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,

which you have of God, and you are not your own?

The verse begins, “What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,...” Paul began with the question, “What” or “either, save and except”?“Know you not” which means “do the church members not perceive with the eyes or senses, notice, discern, discover, pay attention to or observe”“that your body” which refers to “the church members' living corpse” “is the temple” which means “the shrine and sacred place” “of the Holy Ghost” or “the most sacred, pure, morally blameless and ceremonially consecrated third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit who is coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Son” “which is in you” which means “that is within the church members”. Paul questioned whether the church members realized their “bodies” were the “temple” of God's Spirit who resided within them.

The verse continues, “... which you have of God, and you are not your own?” Paul added the words, “which you have” which means “that the church members hold, own, possess and cling to” “of God” which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”, “and you” which means “the church members” “are not your own” which means “the church members were possessed and in effect owned by God”. The church members in Corinth as Christians were no longer “lorded over” or controlled by themselves but rather by the Holy Spirit of God.

When we consider these words from Paul, we understand how the church members in Corinth gave themselves over to the “Lordship” of God Almighty and His Holy Spirit when they received Jesus as their Savior. They became in effect, God's temple, and His Holy Spirit resided in them. Paul meant to insure the Corinthians knew their position in relationship to God which should keep them from intermingling the “temple of the Holy Spirit” with “sexual immorality”. When Jesus comes into our lives, He is to be “master” and “Lord” over us and as we become His “sacred dwelling place”, we must not enjoin Him to any activity that is not according to His Holiness.

Next time Paul tells the church members, “you are bought with a price”, 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.