6.12 In Christ, you are the holy temple of God
Christ has made us holy in Him. This holiness is manifested from within us fruit of holiness or fruit of the Spirit. We bear fruit when we abide in Christ. We abide in Christ by KNOWING and BELIEVING who we are in Him.
How holy are in Christ? We are so holy that God Himself could indwell us. We are the temple of God. There is no “IF”. It is a reality. We “ARE”. The following verse tells us that the temple of God is Holy.
(1 Cor 3:16-17)
Do you not know that YOU ARE the TEMPLE OF GOD and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is HOLY, which temple you are.
But the problem arises when people do not KNOW they are holy. Or people do not BELIEVE they are holy. They continue living in their old identity. Or they continue living in their own efforts to keep the law. They would fail just as Israel failed for 1,500 years. The Corinthian church was a carnal church that was living in sin. How did Paul help them overcome this problem?
Paul did not say, “Thou shall not sin in order to be holy, else you will come under the curse” That was the Old Covenant approach. Paul used the New Covenant approach. He pointed them back to who they were in Christ. Paul says. “Do not sin because you are already holy in Christ. You do not sin because you are the temple of God.” Paul reinforced their new identity in Christ.
(1 Cor 6:18-19)
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
That is why Paul says in both verses above, “DO YOU NOT KNOW that you are the temple of God…?” Again he says, “DO YOU NOT KNOW that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…?” It is a problem of “not knowing” or “not believing”. It is the same problem in the Church today. People do not walk as a new creation because they do not know they are a new creation.
The solution is to tell people who they really are in Christ. In Paul’s epistles, he keeps telling them who they were in Christ. The word “in Christ” or “in Him” appears some 109 times. When they see themselves in Christ, they will experience the reality of Christ in them. Today, you are the holy temple of God. What a privilege!
How holy are in Christ? We are so holy that God Himself could indwell us. We are the temple of God. There is no “IF”. It is a reality. We “ARE”. The following verse tells us that the temple of God is Holy.
(1 Cor 3:16-17)
Do you not know that YOU ARE the TEMPLE OF GOD and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is HOLY, which temple you are.
But the problem arises when people do not KNOW they are holy. Or people do not BELIEVE they are holy. They continue living in their old identity. Or they continue living in their own efforts to keep the law. They would fail just as Israel failed for 1,500 years. The Corinthian church was a carnal church that was living in sin. How did Paul help them overcome this problem?
Paul did not say, “Thou shall not sin in order to be holy, else you will come under the curse” That was the Old Covenant approach. Paul used the New Covenant approach. He pointed them back to who they were in Christ. Paul says. “Do not sin because you are already holy in Christ. You do not sin because you are the temple of God.” Paul reinforced their new identity in Christ.
(1 Cor 6:18-19)
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
That is why Paul says in both verses above, “DO YOU NOT KNOW that you are the temple of God…?” Again he says, “DO YOU NOT KNOW that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…?” It is a problem of “not knowing” or “not believing”. It is the same problem in the Church today. People do not walk as a new creation because they do not know they are a new creation.
The solution is to tell people who they really are in Christ. In Paul’s epistles, he keeps telling them who they were in Christ. The word “in Christ” or “in Him” appears some 109 times. When they see themselves in Christ, they will experience the reality of Christ in them. Today, you are the holy temple of God. What a privilege!
posted by Joshua Lye @ 6:12 PM
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