Many religions of the world try to teach you how you can find God, how you can approach God in his temple, how you can please God with righteous works, so you can be accepted by God. That makes sense because, humanly speaking, we know we need God more than he needs us, so we should be the ones to seek him.
The Christianity of the Bible says this is wrong. You cannot find God, you cannot approach God, you cannot please God, so you cannot be accepted by God. He is too far away. He is too holy. You are not righteous enough. We join with Isaiah’s cry when he saw the Lord…
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)
God cannot accept your sins. His eyes are too pure to look on evil; he cannot tolerate sin (Habakkuk 1:13). But, it is not hopeless. He paid the price. The message of the cross is the opposite of the religions of the world. He accepts you as his adopted child because he did all the work when he suffered and died for you, so now he can make his abode with you.
Did I use the wrong pronoun? Shouldn’t I have asked, “What is the temple of God?” No, the life-changing Bible truth is, when you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, he makes his abode with you, he comes and lives with you, he makes you his temple.
What temple?
In this study, the word used for “temple” isn’t just any ordinary building. This word refers to the holy of holies in the inner sanctuary behind the veil, where the glory of God dwelt between the Cherubim over the mercy seat. This was a special place in the earthly temple. It is a special place in God’s universe.
- 40 hágios
- properly, different (unlike), other (“otherness“), holy; for the believer, 40 (hágios) means “likeness of nature with the Lord” because “different from the world.”
The fundamental (core) meaning of 40 (hágios) is “different” – thus a temple in the 1st century was hagios (“holy”) because different from other buildings (Wm. Barclay). In the NT, 40 /hágios (“holy”) has the “technical” meaning “different from the world” because “like the Lord.”
[40 (hágios) implies something “set apart” and therefore “different (distinguished/distinct)” – i.e. “other,” because special to the Lord.] –https://biblehub.com/greek/40.htm
- 3485 naós (from naiō, “to dwell”)
- properly, a sanctuary (divine dwelling-place); a temple(sacred abode), the place of divine manifestation. 3485 (naós) refers to the sanctuary (the Jewish Temple proper), i.e. with just its two inner compartments (rooms). These consisted of: –https://biblehub.com/greek/3485.htm
- The Earthly Tabernacle (Exodus 25:1-9; Exodus 40:1-33)
- Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary[40 hagion]. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary[40 Hagia]. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest[40 Hagia] of all[40 hagiōn]; Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. (Hebrews 9:1-5)
And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:11-14)
You are the temple of God, He is your God
God is a personal God. He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. He spoke with Abraham. He talked face to face with Moses. He revealed himself to the Old Testament prophets. He was manifest in the flesh and walked among men in the Gospels. And now he wants to have a personal relationship with you. He wants to walk and talk with you.
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple[3485 naō] 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 Corinthians 6:16)
I will dwell in them, and walk in them.–The citation which follows is, like many others in St. Paul’s writings, a composite one: Leviticus 26:12 giving, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people;” and Exodus 29:45, “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.” The implied premise is that wherever God dwells there is His temple. The word indicates the “sanctuary,” or holiest part of the temple. (See Note on John 2:19.) –Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
as God hath said, Leviticus 26:11. I will dwell in them; not by his omnipresence, so he dwells everywhere; nor by his omnipotence, so he dwells in, and with all his creatures, supporting them by the word of his power; but by his Spirit and grace, or by his spiritual and gracious presence, which he favours his people with, in the use of ordinances, and where according to his promises they may expect it:
and walk in them. This denotes the communion God is pleased to afford his church and people, and that gracious presence of his with them, whilst they are sojourners here, and passing on to the heavenly glory; as God is said to “walk in a tent and tabernacle” with the “Israelites”, whilst they were travelling through the wilderness to Canaan; so he walks in his temple, and with his church and people, whilst they are travelling home to the heavenly Canaan; he walks in them, as in his court and palace, or as in his garden, where he takes much pleasure and delight, and great notice and care of them. R. Solomon Jarchi explains the phrase in Leviticus 26:12 “I will walk among you”, thus; I will walk with you in the garden of Eden, or paradise, as one of you, and ye shall not be afraid of me: but the passage regards the presence of God with his people here, and not hereafter:
and I will be their God; not as the God of nature and providence only, but as the God of all grace; as their covenant God and Father in Christ; which is the greatest happiness that can be enjoyed:
and they shall be my people: his special people, loved by him with a peculiar love, on whom he bestows peculiar blessings; and who are made a willing people, willing to be his people by powerful grace, and are formed for himself, his service, and glory: hence it follows, –Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
You are the temple of God, He dwells in you
When you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, God moves into your heart with you. He never leaves you lonely ever again. He did the work to redeem you and he will do the work to preserve you.
Know ye not that ye are the temple[3485 naos] of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple[3485 naon] of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple[3485 naos] of God is holy[40 hagios], which temple ye are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
Know ye not. The phrase is used by St. Paul in this Epistle to emphasize important truths, as in 1 Corinthians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 6:2,.9, 15; 9:13, 24. Out of this Epistle it only occurs in Romans 6:16; Romans 11:2. – Pulpit Commentary
That ye are the temple of God. “Ye,” both collectively (Ephesians 2:21) and individually; “God’s shrine;” not built for men’s glory. The word “temple” in the Old Testament always means the material temple; in the Gospels our Lord “spake of the temple of his body;” in the rest of the New Testament the body of every baptized Christian is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:16), because “God dwelleth in him” (1 John 4:16; comp. John 14:23). In another aspect Christians can be regarded as “living stones in one spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). The temple; rather, the shrine (uses) wherein God dwells (naiei), and which is the holiest part of the temple (hieron). – Pulpit Commentary
You are the temple of God, He paid the price
God can dwell in your body as his temple because he has paid the price. He has paid the price for your sins with his own body on the cross. Now, he has the right to live with you unless you reject him.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple[3485 naos] of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
(1 Corinthians 6:19, 20) What? know ye not …?–These verses read better rendered thus: Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? Which you have from God, and you are not your own. For you were bought with a price. Glorify God then in your body. –Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
not your own—The fornicator treats his body as if it were “his own,” to give to a harlot if he pleases (1Co 6:18; compare 1Co 6:20). But we have no right to alienate our body which is the Lord’s. In ancient servitude the person of the servant was wholly the property of the master, not his own. Purchase was one of the ways of acquiring a slave. Man has sold himself to sin (1Ki 21:20; Ro 7:14). Christ buys him to Himself, to serve Him (Ro 6:16-22). –Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
You are the temple of God, a part of the whole
And, you are never alone. God has designed the temple to be composed of living stones working together in love.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints[40 hagiōn], and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy[40 hagion] temple[3485 naon] in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (Colossians 2:18-19)
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. (Ephesians 4:15)
so that, if I am delayed, you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)
You are the temple of God, preserved in confident hope
After you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you have been bought with a price and added as a living stone to the temple of God. You are not your own anymore. He has promised to keep you safe and secure forever.
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. (Romans 8:9-11 NLT)
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. (Hebrews 3:1-6)
I hope and pray that these are life-changing concepts. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells within you. So, what are you doing with him? Are you walking as if God was inside you? Or, are you walking as if you are the boss? Are you dragging God through your mud in sins of outlandish pride, stubborn rebellion, wanton violence, putrid perversion, and drunken carousing. Or, are you worshipping God in your body?
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15; Isaiah 28:14-22; 1 Peter 2:4-12)
I can picture a scene in heaven where we’re all pushing huge wheelbarrows full of the results of our labor. And, mine is piled high with wood, hay, and some stubble. We see a bright light up ahead as we inch forward in line. Then, word starts slowly passing down the line. Each person whispering to the next. Fire! They’re burning everything. You can only take whatever doesn’t burn. And, I look at my pitiful handful of gold, silver, and precious stones. Oh Lord, the tears you will need to wipe away. Stop sowing to the flesh. Start sowing to the spirit.