Greetings to all of you, dear brothers and sisters. Today we have communion, and it is a good opportunity once again to remember what Christ has done for us and how He gave His body for us. The church has many names or comparisons in the Bible. The church is sometimes called the assembly of saints, sometimes the Body of Christ, sometimes the Bride of Christ, sometimes a royal priesthood, and even the Temple of God, where the Holy Spirit dwells, as we will read today from our text. We continue our series of sermons on the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians.
To help us remember the context of the verses we will look at today, I would like to read from the beginning of chapter 3:
- On carnal Christians (1 Cor. 3:1–4): Paul calls them “carnal,” “infants in Christ,” because there was jealousy, strife, and disagreement among them. They were saying, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos.”
- On ministers (1 Cor. 3:5–9): Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? They are only servants. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- On the foundation (1 Cor. 3:10–11): “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation… For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
- On testing by fire (1 Cor. 3:12–15): Last week we stopped here and talked about rewards beyond salvation that God promised for the building we do.
Paul says that he laid the foundation, but every believer also participates in the construction. Every believer, by doing God’s work, participates in the construction of their own church. Today he will tell us the opposite — about people who, instead of building, on the contrary, destroy the church.
The Church Is the Temple of God
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Cor. 3:16–17).
Paul writes amazing words to them. It turns out that they are not just some construction site, but they are like the temple of God, where the Holy Spirit dwells. “You are God’s temple.” This is simply amazing to read from the hand of a Jew, Paul, who knows very well what the Temple of God means. He saw this temple with his own eyes in Jerusalem.
What did the temple mean in the Old Testament? The temple was the holiest place on earth, the place of God’s presence, the center of worship, and the sign of God’s people. Now Paul says: “You are this temple,” not just as an individual believer, but as a unified church, all together.
This means:
- God no longer lives in buildings — but in His people. The church is not walls. The church is the people saved by Christ, in whom the Spirit of God dwells.
- God’s presence is now within us, not in a certain place. Not behind a curtain, but in the hearts of believers. As Christ said to the Samaritan woman: “…believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:21, 23).
- The church is a holy place. Not because we are so good, but because the Spirit of God lives in us. As Jesus Himself said: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt. 18:20).
Paul, when speaking “of the temple of God,” means the church as a whole, not just the individual believer. The word " you" is written in the plural, and “temple” in the singular. And the context of these verses refers to problems in the church — divisions and quarrels. When Paul says: “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him,” he means that if anyone destroys the church with their divisions, then God will punish him.
A Warning to Destroyers
God’s warning is very serious. Paul speaks of people within the church who sow divisions, spread lies, set people against each other, create disputes, and destroy unity. In Corinth, people divided the church into groups, broke the unity, and put people above Christ. And Paul says: whoever destroys the church — God Himself will punish him. This is not about the loss of salvation, but about God’s judgment over those who consciously harm His people.
“For God’s temple is holy.” The church is God’s house, His sanctuary. If God calls the church holy, then we cannot treat it as something ordinary. We must treat the church and the people in it as a place where God’s Spirit dwells. These are very sobering words.
Now we are going to the Lord’s Supper. On the one hand, these signs — the bread and the wine — remind us that Christ came in a real body, died a real death, and shed real blood. On the other hand, when we take a piece of bread, we all together become partakers of the Lord’s Body and by this we show that we are all one. Communion is a renewal of our dedication to God and unity with each other.
If the Word of God so seriously warns us not to destroy the church but to edify one another, then let’s look at our deeds today. Do we edify others? Or are we constantly destroying, sowing divisions and quarrels? Often we think that we are right, and those who quarrel with us are not. Paul tells us this:
The Wisdom of the World Is Folly
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile’” (1 Cor. 3:18–20).
We must understand one thing: God’s wisdom is different from human wisdom. And if you think you are right — it doesn’t yet mean that God thinks so too. Until you are convinced from the Word of God where the truth is, your ideas are not needed by anyone. In the end, we should not boast in our theology or what school we belong to, but boast in Christ, who opened our eyes.
All Is Yours, and You Are Christ’s
“So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21–23).
We can be separated from others only by the fact that “we are Christ’s,” that Christ is our God and Savior. But we must be careful not to separate ourselves from our brothers and sisters simply because someone doesn’t think the same way I do. Quarrels, disagreements, grievances, unforgiveness — these are all signs of carnal Christians, infants in Christ.
Let’s think about this, brothers and sisters. And if we harbor discord or grievances, then we must repent right now, so that our communion is not just some ritual, but truly shows the unity of our church and the Body of Christ.
Amen.