1 Corinthians 3:16
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
King James Version (KJV)
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Amid Corinthian factions following rival teachers, Paul reminds the congregation that they collectively are God's temple, making their divisions an assault on something holy.
What Does 1 Corinthians 3:16 Mean?
Paul asks the Corinthians a pointed question: do they not realize they are God's temple, the very place where His Spirit lives? In the ancient world a temple was the dwelling where deity met its people. Paul takes that sacred image and applies it to the gathered believers. Here the "ye" is plural -- the whole community together forms the temple, the place God now inhabits by His Spirit.
This carries enormous weight in a letter addressing division. If the congregation is God's holy dwelling, then tearing it apart with rivalry and factions is a serious offense against something sacred. The presence of God among His people demands that they treat one another, and the unity of the body, as holy. The Spirit of God dwelling within is the mark of belonging to Him and the source of their life together. The verse lifts the believers' eyes from petty quarrels to their astonishing identity: they are the meeting place between heaven and earth. This truth both dignifies and obligates. It dignifies, because God chose to dwell among ordinary people; it obligates, because what God indwells must be honored, guarded, and kept from defilement.
In the Original Language
The Greek "naos" denotes the inner sanctuary, the holiest part of a temple, not merely its outer courts. "Oikei" (dwelleth) describes the Spirit making His home within.
Cross References
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
- 1 Corinthians 6:19
“In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”
- Ephesians 2:21
“For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.”
- 2 Corinthians 6:16
Application
Treat the community of God's people as sacred; guard its unity and holiness, knowing that God Himself dwells among His people by His Spirit.