Don't mess with God's temple (1.Cor 3:17)

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. (1.Cor 3:17)

The only time in the Bible that we see Jesus truly angry, is when he came into the temple and saw it filled with moneychangers and animals. That is what provoked Jesus to a point where he turned over their tables, made himself a whip, and drove them out. And the disciples, after they had witnessed the incident, remembered the words from Psalm 69:9, “zeal for your house has consumed me”. You don’t want to mess with God’s house. He is consumed with zeal for it.

Jesus loves his church. He loves it so much that he’s going to marry it. If we as Christians are to love what God loves, and hate what God hates, we need to love the Church and hate those who seek to destroy it. And we must never under any circumstances allow ourselves to become one of them.

No solo Christianity (1.Cor 3:16)

For the last few months I've been doing a regular exposition of 1. Corinthians on this blog. To adapt it a little more to the blog format, I've decided to cut each study up into little snack-size portions, which are easier to read and digest.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1.Cor 3:16)

Remembering the context of our last study, we are still talking about the building that’s being built, that Paul and Apollos are laborers on together. This building, the church, is a temple for God. It is His Dwelling place. His physical presence on earth.

That means that we’ll have a hard time getting away from the fact that the church is important? You can not do just as well without it? Christianity is not just a thing between yourself and God? Not by any means. Yes, his Holy Spirit dwells in the individual Christian. In Chapter 6, your body is called a temple of the Holy Spirit.

But while the Holy Spirit dwells in the individual Christian as well, He dwells more fully in the Church. Actually that is one of the main points of chapter 12 when we get that far. Each Christian get their spiritual gifts, for the edification of the Church. When the church comes together, the gifts are set into effect, and God takes his seat in the temple.