The Church is the Right Temple

Throughout the New Testament we see believers called the temple of God.  Paul told the Corinthians, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness...And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?”  The apostle told the church at Ephesus that Christians are a spiritual building that “growth unto an holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:19-22). 

When we become Christians we are add to the church and become part of God’s temple. Those who compose the church are the ones who have been born of water and the Spirit.  They have been separated from sin and the devil through their obedience to Christ.  These are in the spiritual temple where the living God has chosen to make His dwelling place.  The new citizens in Christ are in the church where they can worship through praise, prayer and the sacrifice of obedience and service.

Because the church is God’s temple we can know that God and Christ dwell in the church.  “…for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Cor. 6:16).  God does not dwell in the physical building where the saints assemble, but in the hearts of those who make up the church.  When Jesus prayed for unity among believers in John 17 he asked the Father, “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us…”

It is wonderful to think that we are God’s temple and that He dwells in us; there is no end to the blessing we can enjoy through this relationship.  But we must also be mindful that, there will be punishment for those who injure the church of Christ just as there was for those who violated the temple under Moses.  Remember Paul’s warning, “If any man defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (1 Cor. 3:17).

In the love of God,

Thomas Sneed

Pond Church of Christ