What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you
(1 Corinthians 6.19)
Yesterday I shared an article about an aggressive construction project here in Brazil. The Universal Church is going to construct a life-sized replica of Solomon’s Temple. I’m breathless with anticipation.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 mentions something never before heard of until around 55A.D. that being a Temple for the Holy Ghost. He brings it to mind in a letter to a young and troubled congregation in the city of Corinth. It is earth shattering news for any age and church. Paul mentions it, as if in shock, that these believer had never heard of it before, when he says, What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you…?
My body a Temple? Hardly. I look at my flabby belly and pencil thin white legs and cringe. What kind of joke are you talking about Paul?
However, Paul was NOT kidding. Paul knew what ugly bodies looked like. He knew because he had one! Paul had been: beaten, stoned, whipped, imprisoned and forgotten. He had suffered hunger, thirst and loneliness. When he looked into a mirror, or glass, or whatever they had back then, he knew he was a sight to behold. There was “no good thing” that lived in him (Romans 7.18).
So, how was it that his body or how is it that mine for that matter, becomes the Temple of the Holy Spirit of God? Paul has the answer. It comes as the second half of verse 19 when he says, “which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” Let’s look quickly at what he means. He’s saying two things about this Temple that we need to understand.
Never before in History had there been a Temple for the Holy Spirit. Not until the day of Pentecost that is. On that day the Comforter who Jesus promised to send, His Holy Spirit came to dwell personally in every believer. You can read the familiar account in the book of Acts chapter 2. It was quite an ordeal with the sound of a mighty wind, a flame over each believer’s head and the ability to supernaturally speak in different languages!
The prophet Joel had predicted the Spirit’s coming in his book chapter 2.28 where he said, And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
Pentecost was the day that the church began. It was the first time in History that all believers were inhabited by the Spirit of God. It had been approximately fifteen years earlier in the Corinthian’s history. But they seemed dumb to the fact.
Paul said, “Which you have of God”. This Temple idea was not Paul’s idea. It was surely not the Corinthian’s idea. It was “of God” totally and fully.
How can an infinite God live in me? We’ll think more tomorrow!
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