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And now, your Truth Time host, Trey Searcy.
Okay, our next question.
Hi, Trey.
My 20-year-old grandson, Dillon, and I are trying to interpret these two verses in the
context of the dispensation of grace.
Would you give us your insight, please?
1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the verses in question are 16 and 17.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, that refers to the church, the body of Christ.
This is not an individual, and is why Paul said ye, ye is plural.
So, know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.
The Spirit of God dwells in all the believers who make up the church, the body of Christ, in each believer.
Verse 17, if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
See, any man here that would defile the temple of God is not a member of the body of Christ.
He's unsaved.
And Paul says, him, that unsaved man, shall God destroy.
And he will.
This is talking about hell.
For the temple of God is holy, that's the church, the body of Christ, which temple ye, there we go, which temple ye are.
This is about all the members of the church, the body of Christ.
And even though we jumped straight in and answered this, let's back up a bit and give
this some context.
Verse 1, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
So, Paul is speaking to those at Corinth who are in Christ, but they're carnal.
Carnal babes in Christ.
And what we must remember is carnal babes are easy to fool.
Just bring out a rattler, something shiny, watch how fast they'll go after it.
Watch how long they'll follow it, until something shinier comes along.
So, Paul has them on a special diet.
Their diet only consisted of spiritual milk, as we see in verse 2, because that was all that they were able to bear at the time, at this particular time in their walk with Christ.
No meat, they're spiritual vegetarians, so to speak.
Now let's drop down to verse 8, Paul says, Every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor.
For we are labors together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building, according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder.
Now watch, watch, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
Don't miss the warning here from your apostle.
Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
Verse 13 assures us that everyone in the body, our work, what we do with what we knew, is going to be made manifest.
There's a day coming, it's called the judgment seat of Christ, and that day will, quote, Declare it.
Read it there for yourself.
How?
Paul says, It shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
See that?
Verse 14, If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
But if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Don't let a lordshipper come along and convince you that this judgment is a sin evaluation.
Oh no, nonsense.
Our sins were put on Christ.
He took our punishment.
This judgment is just what it says it is.
It's an evaluation, all right, an evaluation of our works.
What did you do with what you knew?
That's what you'll be judged for.
The judgment seat of Christ will not be about your sins.
It's not about your salvation.
As you stand there, the subject will be, what did you do with what you knew?
Did you study to show thyself approved, so that you would have enough doctrine installed in you?
When that unsaved man came along to defile the temple of God, you saw it coming.
Or did you let him rob you of your reward?
Verse 16, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
For the temple of God is holy.
Which temple ye are.
Again, it's noteworthy to point out the word, ye, here, ye.
Which temple ye are.
This is not about a person, an individual temple, no.
When our contextual parameters are correctly laid out, things begin to fall in place correctly.
Ye is plural.
The church as a whole is the temple being spoken of here.
The passages have nothing to do with a believer going to hell.
The church has many members in particular and are collectively known as the Body of
Christ.
There were some at Corinth that were out to destroy the church, the temple, not using
the proper building materials such as gold, silver, and precious stones, the rightly divided word of truth.
Instead, they chose wood, hay, and stubble.
So, as members of the church, we've got to beware of false teachers.
What do false teachers do?
Defile the temple with misinformation, false doctrine.
These are unsaved teachers, those who teach you've got to do something to get your sins forgiven, that it's merited, merited by something you do, teaching that you play a part in it.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, and to what?
Shun profane and vain babblings.
That's what they are.
They're profane babblers.
Why do we shun them?
Because they'll only increase, run you down more rabbit trails, unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker.
The defilers are those who would corrupt other Pauline believers from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Hey, we just recently taught about this.
We taught about this very thing.
Those who build all sorts, all sorts of sidetracks, and they're very crafty at wooing others, pied pipering them, into following them down all sorts of bunny trails and rabbit holes.
So, this here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 is referring to the corruptors out there, corrupting the simplicity that is found in Christ.
They change God's word by adding to or taking away, and they do this for their own self-centered purposes.
They're bullies.
They're narcissists.
Hey, all liars are not bullies and narcissists, but all bullies and narcissists lie.
Verse 16 is not about a person, a single individual.
It's about members of the body of Christ, and it's why Paul wrote, Ye.
The body of Christ is the temple.
We are the preserved temple of God.
We can't be destroyed.
Verse 17 is talking about an unsaved false teacher whose end is destruction, but that's not us.
What does Paul tell us?
2 Corinthians 4:9.
Be sure to go and read it.
It's good stuff.
We may be persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.
Praise God.
There's your answer, Scott, and Dillon.
Hope that helps.
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