Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians shows that the Christians in Corinth were in danger in regard to their Christian walk of life. Corinth was an important harbor city, a busy center of trade and commerce. As is often the case with harbor cities, Corinth was also a den of iniquity. It had degenerated, especially in the area of the seventh commandment. All kinds of immorality, prostitution and debauchery were commonplace. From the apostle’s letter it is clear that the Corinthians did not sharply see the antithesis between the world and the church and were influenced by the licentious life in Corinth. In chapter 5 Paul has to oppose a case of incest, immorality of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: a brother in the congregation, very brazenly, had a relationship with his father’s wife.

Under the banner “all things are lawful for me,” members of the congregation visited the many prostitutes that could be found in a harbor city like Corinth. They saw nothing wrong with this. Was a Christian not free from the yoke of the law? Were followers of Christ not allowed to live in Christian freedom? The body with its demands and sexual desires had to be satisfied. What you did with your body had little or nothing to do with the service of God.

In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul summons these Christians to come to their senses. For he fears the prospect that God’s redeemed children will be enslaved again, to the slavery of sin and the power of evil.

Anyone who as a Christian visits a prostitute should not make light of that.  His body, that belongs to the Lord Jesus and is destined to be glorified, becomes one with that of a prostitute and so belongs to a stranger. Whoever does that not only sins against Christ who owns his body, but also against his very own body (v. 18). For he withdraws his body from the dominion of Christ and is the cause that it cannot reach its glorious destination.  There are many sins, but no sin affects so clearly the ultimate destination of the body as fornication does.

In our text Paul uses his strongest argument to warn the Corinthians against this evil of fornication: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you...?”  A believer cannot just do with his body whatever he wants. It is a temple, a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit implies that the body cannot live its own life any longer but has to be kept holy and pure.

Anyone who studies Paul’s letters discovers that the apostle speaks in two ways about the temple of the Holy Spirit. On the one hand he calls the congregation a temple (cf. 1 Co 3:16). On the other hand, he views the body of the believer as a temple.

Paul’s speaking about the congregation and the body of the believer as a temple of the Holy Spirit undeniably has its background in the Old Testament (cf. 2 Co 6:16, 17). The apostle must have had in view God’s dwelling in the tabernacle and temple in the old covenant.

The Lord had a glorious plan when he had the tabernacle erected: the Lord wanted to live among his children and walk in their midst. Central to all the laws and statutes which Moses received at Mount Sinai, was the word, “I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” (Lev 26:11, 12) When the tabernacle was erected, it was as if something of the glory of Paradise returned to earth: the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day (cf. Gen 3:8).

It was not just a matter of course that the Lord put his dwelling in the midst of Israel. It was a wonder of his forgiving love. That the tabernacle could be in the midst of a sinful people was only because of Aaron and his sons’ permanent ministry of atonement. The tribe of Levi had to encamp, in the sight of all, around the tabernacle in order that the holy God would not break out in wrath against a sinful people. Israel was never allowed to forget: we dwell with a God who is a consuming fire (cf. Nu 1:53).

God dwelling and walking among men ... that became an even greater reality in the coming of Jesus Christ.  He could rightly say, “I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.” (Mt 12:6.) For Jesus was the eternal Word that became flesh who dwelt, “tabernacled” among men (cf. Jn 1:14). Jesus made God visible on earth, and could say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9.)

When the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, God’s beautiful plan was fulfilled even further. From now on God no longer lived in a tent or a temple building among the people, but by his Spirit he now came to dwell in the people themselves. Since Pentecost the congregation is his temple, a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (cf. Eph 2:22). What applies to the congregation also applies to every believer: his body has become a sanctuary, a temple of the Spirit of God. Every believer has had the Holy Spirit him self come to him so that the Spirit now makes his dwelling in him!

This indwelling has its consequences however. It is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. And as the LORD called Israel to a holy life because of his tabernacle, so we too are called to be pure and holy. For the Spirit can also break out against us. He too is a consuming fire.

What a great wonder this indwelling of the Spirit is! It is possible only through the atoning blood that Christ shed for us. A Holy Spirit can live in sinful people only because Jesus is the atonement for all sins.

This miracle is possible because Jesus continually covers our sins. Our body is not something to be despised, to do with what we want. It is nothing less than a temple in which the holy God dwells. That means that we have to keep our body pure and holy. Impurity and fornication are not compatible with the great honor God has granted to our body: to be a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit!

Paul’s conclusion at the end of 1 Corinthians 6 speaks for itself. Now that our body has been granted such great honor, we have to glorify God in our body. Believers who are, after all, a temple of the Holy Spirit, cannot but purify themselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God (cf. 2 Cor 7:1).