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Charles Box Commentaries

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

The Temple is the church 1 Corinthians 3:16-23: As members of the church we should be spiritual people because the church of Christ is the Holy Temple of God. His Spirit dwells in this temple. God will destroy anyone that defiles His Temple or church by being carnal, causing division or by becoming unfaithful. Paul urged Christians to be more humble by saying, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." Pride is how Satan fell and it also causes many to fall today. We should stop bragging about what any person has done because Jesus is our rock and the very foundation upon which we must build.

Paul reminded these brethren that "All things are yours." (1) Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas are yours as servants that have taught you the gospel. (2) The world is yours to live in, to conquer and to enjoy. (3) Life is yours as a daily gift from God and as a proving ground for eternity. (4) Death is yours to terminate the sorrows of this life and to usher you into life's other side. (5) Things present are yours in that you can enjoy all the benefits of the gospel. (6) The "things to come" that are yours include judgment, eternity and heaven itself. True Christianity allows us to rise above denominationalism because there is only one Savior, One Father and One Holy Spirit.

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See also 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 1 Corinthians 3:16. _YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD_] The apostle resumes here what he had asserted in 1 Corinthians 3:9: _Ye are God's building_. As the whole congregation of Israel were formerly co...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    KNOW YE NOT ... - The apostle here carries forward and completes the figure which he had commenced in regard to Christians. His illustrations had been drawn from architecture; and he here proceeds to...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The Carnal state of the Corinthians. (1 Corinthians 3:1)._ 2. The Workmen and their Work. (1 Corinthians 3:10). 3. The Church the Temple of God. (1 Corinthians

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    RENEWED CONDEMNATION OF PARTY SPIRIT. Paul has now reached a point where he can effect an easy return to the divisions at Corinth. He has been speaking of the spiritual man who is capable of receiving...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God has his dwelling place in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy and you a...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE SUPREME IMPORTANCE OF GOD (1 Corinthians 3:1-9)...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    KNOW YE NOT. This expression occurs twelve times in Paul's epistles. Elsewhere, 1 Corinthians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 6:3;...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Christian Ministers only labourers of more or less efficiency, the substantial work being God's 6. _I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase_ The Apostle would lead his converts to r...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Know ye not that ye are the temple of God_ " Ναός, _sanctuary_, more sacred than ἱερόν; the Holy Place in which God dwells, ναίει." Wordsworth. Another view of the subject is now abruptly introduced....

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    CHRISTIAN MINISTERS ONLY LABOURERS OF MORE OR LESS EFFICIENCY, THE SUBSTANTIAL WORK BEING GOD’S...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ΟΥ̓Κ ΟἼΔΑΤΕ ὍΤΙ ΝΑῸΣ ΘΕΟΥ͂ ἘΣΤΈ; ‘Ναός, _sanctuary_, more sacred than ἱερόν; the Holy Place in which God dwells, ναίει.’ Wordsworth. Another view of the subject is now abruptly introduced. The figure...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΟΪΔΑΤΕ _perf. ind. act. от_ ΟΙΔΑ (G1492) знать. Def. perf. со _знач. praes._ Отрицание вводит вопрос, на который ожидается утвердительный ответ, ΝΑΌΣ (G3485) храм, место обитания божества, внутреннее...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 1947 THE DANGER OF DEFILING GOD’S TEMPLE 1 Corinthians 3:16. _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, hi...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE, &C.— "I told you that _ye are God's building,_ 1 Corinthians 3:9. I now observe more than that;—_Ye are the temple of God,_ in which his Spirit dwells." Many of the...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    APPLEBURY'S COMMENTS _The Church is the Temple of God_ (10-17) _Text_ 1 Corinthians 3:10-17. According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and a...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    BUTLER'S COMMENTS SECTION 2 Consists In Spiritual Work For God (1 Corinthians 3:5-17) 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6I plant...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? KNOW YE NOT - It is no new thing I tell you, in calling you "God's building;" ye are the noblest of buildings...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    5 Apollos was a Jew of Alexandria, a scholarly man, and able in the Scriptures. He came to Ephesus, full of zeal, but versed only in the baptism of John. Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak boldly in...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    3:16 temple (c-9) _ Naos_ . the house itself -- the shrine....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FAULT OF PARTY SPIRIT The immaturity of the Corinthian converts and their unfitness for anything but elementary instruction in the faith is proved by their mutual jealousies and their disagreemen...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    SERVANTS OF CHRIST 1 CORINTHIANS _HILDA BRIGHT_ CHAPTER 3 GOD’S WORKERS 3:1-9 V1 *Brothers and *sisters, I could not speak to you as if the *Holy Spirit was guiding you. I had to speak to you as...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THE TEMPLE OF GOD. — From the thought of grand edifices in general the Apostle goes on to the particular case of a building which is not only splendid but “holy” — the temple of God — thus reminding t...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 6 GOD'S HUSBANDRY AND BUILDING PAUL having abundantly justified his method of preaching to the Corinthians, and having shown why he contented himself with the simple presentation of the Cross...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    However poor his work, the workman of 1 Corinthians 3:15 built upon Christ. There are cases worse than his, and to the εἴ τινος τὸ ἔργον alternatives of 1 Corinthians 3:14 f. the Ap. has a third to ad...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    § 10. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HUMAN BUILDERS. After the long digression on Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:17 to 1 Corinthians 3:2), occasioned by the Hellenic misconception of the Gospel underlying the Cor...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    BUILD ON THE SURE FOUNDATION 1 Corinthians 3:10 We are called upon to contribute our share to the building of saved souls which is rising through the ages, to be an habitation of God through the Spir...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The reason for the schisms was that these people were carnal. "Jealousy and strife" are evidences of carnality. Proceeding, Paul declared the true value of the Christian ministry. "For we are God's fe...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    Beware of Defiling God's Temple In 1 Corinthians 3:9, Paul described the church at Corinth as God's building (Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 2:5). The church is God's temple and the Spirit's dwelling place on e...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (9) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (9) Continuing still in the metaphor of building, he teaches us that this ambition is not only vain, but al...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Know you not. After the apostle had described the builders who are employed in the spiritual edifice, he proceeds to speak of the duties of those who are the living temples of Christ. As for you, may...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    “Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17. If any man destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    In order to show what, in a religious organization like that which the gospel creates, is the place of preachers, the apostle takes two examples: Apollos and himself; and he develops what he means to...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (16) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (17) If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    As usual, the introductory words (1 Corinthians 1:1-3) of the epistle give us no little intimation of that which is to follow. The apostle speaks of himself as such "called [to be] an apostle of Jesus...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _THE TEMPLE OF GOD_ ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and than the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?’ 1 Corinthians 3:16 Not only does the Holy Ghost come to convict of sin, not only does He...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    16._Know ye not_, _etc. _Having admonished the teachers as to their duty, he now addresses himself to the pupils — that they, too, may take heed to themselves. To the teachers he had said, “You are th...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    They were not natural men; but they were carnal (not spiritual) men, so that the apostle had to feed them with milk and not with meat which was only fit for those that were of full age. That with whic...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD,.... The apostle having spoken of the saints as God's building, of himself as a wise master builder, of Christ as the only foundation, and of various doctrine...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and _that_ the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Ver. 16. _Ye are the temple of God_] Not God's building only, as1 Corinthians 3:9, but his temple. A mud wall...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Know ye not_, &c. As if he had said, You should also lake heed what doctrine you deliver, lest by teaching what is false, unimportant, or improper to be taught, you should defile or destroy the templ...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD; elsewhere the apostle calls the bodies of individual believers the temples of the Holy Ghost, chap 1 Corinthians 6:19. Compare Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:1-2. But here, as in...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLETH IN YOU?...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Every Christian a temple of God:...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    But in practical experience the Corinthians were not properly regarding, nor depending on, the wisdom of the Spirit of God, who had been given to them. Paul could not write to them as spiritual, but a...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE. TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLETH IN YOU? 'Know ye not' -'a touch. amazement at their ignorance.' (McGarvey p. 65) 'An expression of surprise arising out of...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    16,17 From other parts of the epistle, it appears that the false teachers among the Corinthians taught unholy doctrines. Such teaching tended to corrupt, to pollute, and destroy the building, which s...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    The apostle, 1 CORINTHIANS 3:9, had called the church of Corinth, and the particular members of it, _God's building; _ after this he had enlarged in a discourse concerning the builders, and the founda...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    Know ye no t [a touch of amazement at their ignorance] _that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?_ [In verse 9 he had called them God's building; he now reminds them of...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians as the temples of God;[63] Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V Whence also he says, that this handiwork is "the temple of God," thus declaring: "Know ye not t...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    1 Corinthians 3:16 not G3756 know G1492 (G5758) that G3754 are G2075 (G5748) temple G3485 God...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE CHURCH IS GOD'S SACRED SANCTUARY FOR THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN THEM AND THEY ARE HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD. LET DIVISIVE TEACHERS THEREFORE BEWARE (3:16-23). Paul now applies his building analogy t...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and you are that...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    1 Corinthians 3:16. KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD? a sudden transition, apparently, from the _teachers_ to the _taught;_ yet this is more in appearance than reality. For the transition is...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    YE ARE A TEMPLE OF GOD (ναος θεου εστε). Literally, a sanctuary (ναος, not ιερον, the sacred enclosure, but the holy place and the most holy place) of God. The same picture of building as in verse...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    1 Corinthians 3:16 I. When the fall of man broke down the altar within him and scattered the fire, and his vision of God became dim, it did not follow that the Holy Spirit withdrew from the world beca...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    1 Corinthians 3:16 Consider the Offices of the Holy Ghost. I. It is the office of the Holy Ghost to effect such a change that the sinner may be described as born again and made a new man in Christ Je...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    1. _And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ._ Their spiritual part had not grown strong, their old carnal nature still had the pr...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    1. _And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ._ The church at Corinth consisted of persons of large education and great abilities....

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Hindrance of a carnal state to spiritual growth. Christian service and its reward. CHARACTERS: God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Paul, Apollos, Cephas. CONCLUSION: Our salvation rests solely upon t...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    1 Corinthians 3:1. _Babes in Christ,_ like children at the breast, requiring to be _fed with milk, and not with meat._ Our great tutor here addresses the Corinthians in a superior style of eloquence,...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    YOU ARE GOD'S TEMPLE. You = the church of God in Corinth. GOD'S SPIRIT LIVES IN YOU. See Ephesians 2:22....

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?_ THE TWO TEMPLES Two points comprehend the apostle’s teaching in this chapter. 1. The foundation of Christian...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 On the TEMPLE and God’s dwelling, see 1 Kings 6:1....

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    CHAPTER III. SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER He endeavours to put an end to the divisions among the Corinthians, by reminding them of their mutual subjection and union in Christ and God. I. He points out t...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    _Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?_ This is a return to the image of ver. 9: "Ye are God's building," and therefore not a heathen temple, but the temple of God, in which by faith, grace, char...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL NOTES_ 1 Corinthians 3:16.—A TEMPLE (R.V.) misses, or denies, the typology binding Old Testament and New Testament together here. A case where, as often (_e.g_. 1 Corinthians 11:20), one of...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1 _The carnal conceit of the spiritually immature._ 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1 I… COULD NOT SPEAK UNTO YOU AS UNTO SPIRITUAL. Though softened by the word brethren, there was a cr...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Let's turn now to I Corinthians, chapter 3. Beginning with the fourteenth verse of chapter 2, Paul here separates men into three classifications. Starting in chapter 2 with the natural man, the unrege...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Corinthians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Corinthians 6:2;...

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    Temple [ν α ο ς]. Or sanctuary. See on Matthew 4:5. Compare Ephesians 2:21; 2 Corinthians 6:16....

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CARNAL AND SPIRITUAL CHRISTIAN 1 Corinthians 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS In our last study, we were discussing two kinds of people. One, the unregenerate who had not the Spirit, and the other, the r...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Ye — All Christians. Are the temple of God — The most noble kind of building, 1 Corinthians 3:9....

  • William Burkitt's Expository Notes

    Our apostle here, in the judgment of some interpreters, makes use of. farther argument to convince the Corinthians of the evil of their divisions. They are the church and temple of God, therefore not...

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