bodies! Temple (3485) (naos) in the Greek culture denoted the "abode of the gods" and was used to refer to a literal structure or building associated with, dedicated to and set apart to be a dwelling place for a deity. either pagan gods (Acts 17:24) or the true God (Mt 23:16). Naos describes the place where a deity was worshipped (cp Zacharias ministering to God in Lk 1:9). Hieron (2413) (holy, hallowed, consecrated from hieros [only in 1Co 9:13, 2Ti 3:15] [2413] = sacred, consecrated or belonging to or connected with the gods) referred to the building set apart and dedicated to the worship and service of the gods. In the NT hieron was used to designate the entire complex of temple at Jerusalem. Hieron is the all-inclusive word signifying the entire sacred enclosure, with its porticos, courts, and other subordinate buildings. Naos referred to the temple proper, including the inner sanctuary, composed of the outer room, the Holy of Holies and the innermost Holy Place. When our Lord taught in the temple, He taught in the hieron, in one of the temple porches. He expelled the money-changers from the hieron, the court of the Gentiles. When the veil of the temple was rent at the time of the death of our Lord (Mt 27:52), it was the veil of the naos, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. When Zacharias entered the temple to burn incense (Lk 1:9), he entered the naos, the Holy Place where the altar of incense stood while the multitude were in prayer outside he people were “without,” in the hieron (Lk 1:10). Jesus used naos in a figurative to refer to His body as a temple (Jn 2:19, 20, 21). Paul extends this meaning to the individual believer's body as the dwelling place or inner sanctuary of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19), the inner sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. Hieron - 72x in 67v - Matt 4:5; 12:5f; 21:12, 14f, 23; 24:1; 26:55; Mark 11:11, 15f, 27; 12:35; 13:1, 3; 14:49; Luke 2:27, 37, 46; 4:9; 18:10; 19:45, 47; 20:1; 21:5, 37f; 22:52f; 24:53; John 2:14f; 5:14; 7:14, 28; 8:2, 20, 59; 10:23; 11:56; 18:20; Acts 2:46; 3:1, 2, 3, 8, 10; 4:1; 5:20, 21, 24, 25, 42; 19:27; 21:26ff; 22:17; 24:6, 12, 18; 25:8; 26:21. NAS = sacred (1), temple (70). Hieron - 5x in the Septuagint (LXX) -1Chr 9:27, 29:4, 2Chr 6:13, Ezek 28:18, 45:19. Naos - 45x in 39v - Mt 23:16, 17, 21, 35; 26:61; 27:5, 40, 51; Mk 14:58; 15:29, 38; Lk 1:9, 21, 22; 23:45; Jn 2:19, 20, 21; Acts 17:24; 19:24; 1Cor 3:16, 17; 6:19; 2Cor 6:16; Ep 2:21; 2Th 2:4; Re 3:12; 7:15; 11:1, 2, 19; 14:15, 17; 15:5, 6, 8; 16:1, 17; 21:22. NAS = shrines(1), temple(42), temple sanctuary(1), temples(1). Naos - 60x in the Septuagint (LXX)- 1Sa 1:9; 3:3; 2Sa 22:7; 1Kgs 6:3, 5, 17, 33, 36; 7:21, 50; 2Kgs 18:16; 23:4; 24:13; 1Chr 28:11; 2Chr 3:17; 4:7f, 22; 8:12; 15:8; 26:16, 19; 27:2; 29:7, 17; 36:7; Ezra 5:14; 6:5; Ps 5:7; 11:4; 18:6; 27:4; 28:2; 29:9; 45:15; 48:9; 65:4; 68:29; 79:1; 138:2; 144:12; Isa 66:6; Jer 7:4; 24:1; 30:18; Ezek 8:16; 41:1, 4, 15, 21, 23, 25; Da 4:29; 5:2, 3; Joel 3:5; Amos 8:3; Jonah 2:4, 7; Hab 2:20; Hag 2:9, 15, 18; Zech 8:9; Mal 3:1 Guzik... A temple is a place sacred to God, and pure from immorality. If it is true we are filled with (Ed: What fills you controls, either wine or the Spirit in Eph 5:18-note) the Spirit, it must influence our sexual behavior. And if we commit sexual immorality as Christians, we are polluting God’s temple. Earlier, in 1Corinthians 3:16, Paul had said the church as a whole was the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, he says the same is true, in a spiritual sense, of individual Christians. A T Robertson comments that... Our spirits dwell in our bodies and the Holy Spirit dwells in our spirits. Some of the Gnostics split hairs between the sins of the body and fellowship with God in the spirit. Paul will have none of this subterfuge. One’s body is the very shrine for the Holy Spirit. In Corinth was the temple to Aphrodite in which fornication was regarded as consecration instead of desecration. Prostitutes were there as "priestesses" of Aphrodite, to help men "worship" the goddess by fornication! Utley Christianity replaces the physical temple of the Jews with the spiritual temple of Christ’s physical body (cf. Jn 2:21) as His corporate body, the church (cf. 1Co 10:16, 17; 11:29; 12:12—27). (Paul's Letters to a Troubled Church: I and II Corinthians) Imagery of the Temple - Since sacred concepts of boundaries, holiness and God’s presence undergird the identity of the people of God, the temple often symbolizes God’s people. (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery: InterVarsity Press) The Temple of God in the OT was a place wholly dedicated to God and His glory and nothing defiled was allowed to come within. Nadab and Abihu the sons of Eleazar offered strange fire before the Lord and He took their life killed them (Lev 10:1,2, 3). Ryrie comments that... Nadab and Abihu apparently used coals of fire that were not taken from the bronze altar as prescribed (see Lv 6:12, 13; 16:12). It seems, too, that they offered incense other than at the morning or evening sacrifice (cf. Ex 30:7, 8). Some feel that they were drunk because a prohibition against drinking immediately follows their punishment (Lv 10:9). The temple of the Holy Spirit must be kept holy (Lv 11:44, 1Pe 1:14-note, 1Pe 1:15, 16-note, 1Pe 1:17-note). In a sense when believers indulge in immoral behavior they are "offering strange fire", and it is only because of the mercy of God they are not consumed like Nadab and Abihu! Our bodies must be kept as His whose they are, that we might be always ready for His use. Paul conveys a similar thought to young Timothy writing that... Therefore, if a man (or woman) cleanses himself (herself) from these things, (Note: "Things" = Italicized = added by the translators. In context "things" appears to refer to false teachers and false teachings. This passage thus parallels 1Cor 6:18-20 in calling for separation from that which is defiling, profaning, degrading, etc. [cp "Flee immorality!"] Why? Paul goes on to explain...) he will be a vessel (Think of your body, God's Temple, also as God's "vessel" or instrument - see Ro 6:12, 13-note) for honor (of worth or merit), sanctified (set apart), useful (easy to make use of) to the Master, prepared (perfect tense = has been made ready and is still in a condition of readiness like the Minute Men militia - farmers who were ready to engage in active combat with the enemy in a "minute's" notice! Are you "ever ready" to glorify God?) for every good work (Good works are "God works", Spirit initiated and Spirit enabled, so that only One can properly receive the glory!). (2Ti 2:21-note) Beloved, if you repeatedly fail to cleanse yourself and to flee from the abomination of fornication, do not be surprised if the Lord does not use you (Think - "useful to the Master") for His glory! As D L Moody once said A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine. Spurgeon... “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” Does this not make a man outstanding? Have you never stood in awe of your own self? Have you thought enough about how this poor body is sanctified, dedicated, and elevated into a sacred condition by being set apart as a temple of the Holy Ghost?...God Himself then dwells in you. The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead is in you. You life is hidden with Christ in God and the Spirit seals you, anoints you, and abides in you. By the Spirit, we have access to the Father. By the Spirit, we perceive our adoption and learn to cry, “Abba, Father.” By the Spirit, we are made partakers of the divine nature and have communion with the threefold, holy Lord. Dwelling Places of God - In the Garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve (cp Ge 3:8) and then man (Enoch, Noah) walked with God (Ge 5:22, 24; 6:9). Then God desired to dwell with him (Ex 25:8, 29:45, cp 1Ki 6:12, 13). His glory came to the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34), but when Israel sinned, the glory departed (1Sa 4:21, 22). The glory dwelt in the temple (1Ki 8:10,11), but then departed again because of the sins of the people (Ezek 11:22,23 - see related study on the Glory of the LORD: Past, Present, Future). God's promise to Israel was that He would dwell in their midst (Zech 2:10 partially fulfilled in Jn 1:14, but the complete fulfillment including Zec 2:11, 12 awaiting His glorious return to take His throne in Jerusalem, Mt 25:31, Rev 20:4-note, Zech 8:21, 14:16, 17, Isa 2:3-note). The glory came in the person of Jesus Christ (Jn 1:14) but His own rejected Him (Jn 1:11). Today He dwells now in believers individually (1Co 6:19, 20-note) and the church collectively (1Co 3:16, Ep 2:20, 21, 22-note). In the Millennium Jehovah will reveal Himself as Jehovah Shammah - The LORD is There (Ezek 48:35) taking His throne in the earthly city of Jerusalem. And finally one wonderful day God’s glory will be revealed in the New Heaven and the New Earth and the perfect city, a heavenly Jerusalem, where His people will dwell forever (Rev. 21:3-note, Re 21:22-note). THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOU Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God - This Scripture has no caveats, asterisks or exception clauses and thus makes it indubitably clear that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. A W Tozer put it this way... I do not believe in a repetition of Pentecost, but I do believe in a perpetuation of Pentecost—and there is a vast difference between the two. Jesus speaking to His disciples gave them this promise concerning the Holy Spirit... And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (parakletos = "The Comforter", literally "Called Alongside"), that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. (Jn 14:16, 17) The Greek word for Helper is parakletos which means consoler, comforter, helper, legal assistant, pleader, advocate, one who pleads another's cause, pleader, proxy, one who comes forward behalf of and representative of another, one called alongside to help. In this passage our Lord was promising that the Holy Spirit would take up permanent, uninterrupted residence within His disciples. It was not only that the Spirit would be present with them but the even greater truth was that He would be resident within them permanently. This truth of the permanently indwelling Spirit is one of the wonderful New Covenant realities (originally this promise was given to Judah and Israel in Jer 31:31 but applicable to the church 1Co 3:16). Through the prophet Ezekiel God promised... I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life. (Ezek 37:14, cp Ezek 11:19, 20, 37:26,27, 39:29. The final fulfilment of this promise will take place at the Second Coming when Christ will pour out His Spirit upon Israel - Zech 12:10 and "all" Israel [all that compose "the remnant"] will be saved - see Ro 11:26, 27-note) In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was often present with believers, but He did not indwell them. Moreover, His presence seemed to be conditional which is the grounds for David's prayer Do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me (Ps. 51:11-note). In the New Testament believers now have a permanently resident Paraclete, not with or among, but within. The indwelling presence of the Spirit is one of the proofs of salvation: You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Ro 8:9-note) And so Jesus’ promise in John 14 that the Holy Spirit would reside within them was not limited to the eleven apostles who were present that night. In fact the Holy Spirit indwells every Christian. In John 14:23, Jesus said If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him And so in this passage Paul affirms that the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God (1Cor 6:19) In his second letter there is a similar passage, where Paul asks the Corinthians... Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. 18 "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. 7:1 Therefore, having these promises (Truth revealed always calls for a personal response! Scripture is not given to make us smarter sinners, but more like the Savior!), beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2Co 6:16, 17, 18, 7:1-note) As D L Moody rightly said... I think it is clearly taught in the Scripture that every believer has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him. He may be quenching the Spirit of God, and he may not glorify God as he should, but if he is a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost dwells in him. But I want to call your attention to another fact. I believe today, that though Christian men and women have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, yet He is not dwelling within them in power; in other words, God has a great many sons and daughters without power. (D. L. Moody: Secret Power - ONLINE) John Calvin... As the soul does not live idly in the body, but gives motion and vigour to every member and part, so the Spirit of God cannot dwell in us without manifesting Himself by the outward effects. Martyn Lloyd-Jones... That is why fornication should be unthinkable in a Christian. God is in us, in the Holy Spirit: not an influence, not a power, but a person whom we can grieve. F B Meyer... MAKING A FRESH START "Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."--Eph. 4:22-note, Ep 4:23, 24-note. "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ."--Ro 13:14-note. WE CAN all start afresh! However far we have ascended, there is something higher; and however far we have fallen, it is always possible to make a fresh start. We need to take our place in the School of Christ and be taught by Him (Eph. 4:20, 21-note). "The old man" which we must "put off" is clearly our former manner of life. If we have not put it entirely away, let us do so now by an immediate act of faith in the living Spirit. It does not take long for a beggar to put off his rags and take instead a new suit of clothes, and it need not take a moment longer to put away habits and thoughts, ways of speech and life which are unworthy of the children of God. Do it now, and look up to the Holy Spirit to keep renewing you in the spirit of your mind. But more than this, let us "put on the new man," which is the life of Jesus Christ, that ideal which is in the likeness of God, and which the Lord created for us by His blessed life and death and resurrection. But to enable us to live this life we need the daily help of the Holy Spirit. He entered our hearts at the moment of regeneration, and has been with us ever since. We may not have realized His entry, but we believe it because of the assurance of 1Co 6:19; Ro 8:9-note; Ep 3:16-note. For my part, I like to begin every day, before lifting my head from the pillow, by saying, "Thou art within, O Spirit of Christ, though I feel Thee not." If the Holy Spirit be ungrieved He will witness to our sonship; He will enthrone Christ as King of our life; will keep the self-life in the place of death; will give us a hunger for the things of God; He will give power in witness-bearing. In order to have a strong and blessed Christian experience, the one thing is to see that we do not grieve the Spirit. I do not think that we can grieve Him away, but we may greatly limit and restrain His gracious work by insincerity of speech, the nursing of an unforgiving spirit, any kind of over-reaching or fraudulent dealing, impurity of speech, or failure in love. We may be bound, so as not to be able to move our arms, by a number of cotton threads, quite as tightly as by a strong rope-thong. Let us take care not to grieve Him by such inconsistencies. PRAYER - Fulfill in me, O God, those desires of goodness which Thou hast created in my heart, and perfect the work of faith, that Jesus Christ may be glorified in me. AMEN. Andrew Murray... The Holy Spirit is the power of God for the salvation of men. He only works as He dwells in the Church. He is given to enable believers to live wholly as God would have them live, in the full experience and witness of Him Who saves completely. Pray God that every one of His people may know the Holy Spirit! -- That He, in all His fullness, is given to them! (Ed: Don't misunderstand. Every believer has the indwelling Spirit, so Murray is referring here to one's experience of His power in His fullness, as for example in Paul's prayer Eph 3:16). That they cannot expect to live as their Father would have, without having Him in His fullness, without being filled with Him! (Ep 5:18). Pray that all God's people, even away in churches gathered out of heathendom, may learn to say "I believe in the Holy Ghost." (Andrew Murray. The Ministry of Intercession) AND THAT YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN: kai ouk este (2PPAI) heauton?: (2Co 5:15; Rev 1:6; 5:10, Dt 7:6; 14:2 Isa 43:7, 21; Mal 3:17, 1Ki 20:4; 1Chr 29:14; Ps 12:4; 100:3; Ro 14:7, 8, 9; 2Cor 5:15; Titus 2:14) GOD'S OWN PURCHASED, SPECIAL PEOPLE In 1Co 6:18a Paul had closed that statement with a reference to the believer's body as "his own". In that sentence Paul was emphasizing the deadly effect of sin upon the person himself. Now in 1Cor 6:19 Paul emphasizes that there is a new relationship between Christ and the believer and now his body is not considered his own but the property of the one Who paid the purchase price. You are not your own - "Not" is the the Greek particle (ouk) signifying absolute negation. "You are absolutely not your own" (no exceptions to this statement for believers). Spurgeon... It is a great privilege not to be one’s own. Does any man think it would be a pleasure to be his own? Let me assure him that there is no ruler so tyrannical as self. He that is his own master has a fool and a tyrant to be his lord. God has a right to do whatever he wills with you. If we must suffer week after week bedridden with pain, he has a right to lay us there and chasten us in every limb. If the Lord says, “Go into your room and cough all the winter through, and then melt away,” we must bow before his decree, remembering these words, “Ye are not your own.” Or if he says, “Come down from your position of comfort into hard work and poverty,” again you must remember, “Ye are not your own.” Or if he says, “Migrate across the seas. Go to a new country. Cut every tie and break the fondest connections,” you must cheerfully obey, for “ye are not your own.” The fact that our bodies "are not our own" means we cannot do with them whatever enters our mind. That's the way we used to act when we were non-believers but now we need to allow God to renew our minds in this area (cp Ro 12:2-note, 2Co 3:18, 4:16, Ep 4:23-note, Col 3:10-note). Dear believer, don't be discouraged if you are experiencing a struggle in this area, for Paul says that such internal warfare is to be expected writing... But I say, walk (present imperative = not a suggestion for an elite few, but a command to all believers, one we need to seek to obey every moment of every day, even the obedience being enabled by God - Php 2:13NLT-note, Ezek 36:27) by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire (epithumia) of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition (antikeimai is in the present tense = continually lining up face to face against) to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please (thelo = desire that comes from one's emotions, an active decision of one's will). (Gal 5:16-note, Ga 5:17-note) Note that (1) the fallen flesh in believers still has strong ungodly desires, drives, and passions ("desire of the flesh"); (2) the flesh continually sets its ungodly desires against the godly desires of the Spirit; and (3) because of these fleshly desires you will still desire to do what you want to do ("the things that you please"). The truths in 1Cor 6:18-20 are given to transform our mind and renew our thinking, so that now we might be motivated by the truth that we actually are a holy sanctuary (think "Holy of Holies"!) inhabited by the Holy Spirit wherever we go and that this same Holy Spirit is in us to enable a holy walk. As we learn to surrender our wills to His perfect will (in so called progressive sanctification, walking "step by step", not with the idea of an arrival but of a life long process, learning how to walk spiritually even as a child learns how to take one step after another) He empowers us so that we will not carry out the desire of the old sinful fallen flesh (Gal 5:16). Witherington... Paul thus reminds the Corinthians that they do not have the Spirit because of something they inherently are, or because of something they have accomplished. It is a gift from God. They are not their own persons. (Conflict and Community in Corinth : A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Page 169. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans) Paul taught a similar idea in Romans 14 writing that... if we (as believers) live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Ro 14:8, 9-note) In his epistle to Titus Paul reminds his young protégée that Christ... gave Himself for (huper = substitution = in our place, on our behalf) us, that He might redeem (lutroo - word study) us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession (Wuest = "his own private possession"! Amplified = "a people to be peculiarly His own"), zealous for good deeds (BBE = "on fire with good works"). (Titus 2:14-note) Peter also spoke of believers as no longer their own stating... But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession (Young's Literal = "a people acquired", Wesley = "a purchased people", Wycliffe = "God’s own purchased, special people"), (Why? What is the church's purpose in these last days?) so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of (spiritual) darkness (we were "blind" 2Co 4:4) into His marvelous light (cp Jn 8:12); (1Pe 2:9-note) All to Thee is yielded, I am not my own; Blissful, glad surrender, I am Thine alone. (The Quiet Hour) Writing to the believers at Ephesus who were primarily Gentiles and who had been captive to pagan idolatry, Paul taught them that the Holy Spirit was... given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph 1:14-note) Comment: "Possession" in both 1Pe 2:9-note and Ep 1:14-note is the noun peripoiesis [word study] from peripoieo = to acquire or purchase and thus describes an acquiring, an obtaining or a purchasing. Peripoiesis means that which is acquired by purchase with the corresponding idea of preservation of that which is purchased. If we truly understand that we are no longer our own, then we will begin to experientially live in the liberating truth that Christ... died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves (they are no longer their own!), but for Him Who died and rose again on their behalf. (2Co 5:15, cp 2Co 5:14) MacDonald comments: The Savior did not die for us so that we might go on living our own petty, selfish lives the way we want to live them. Rather He died for us so that we might henceforth turn over our lives to Him in willing, glad devotion. Denney explains "In dying our death, Christ has done for us something so immense in love, that we ought to be His, and only His for ever. To make us His is the very object of His death." 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