1 Corinthians 3:16–17

Context

This passage comes from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians). At the time, the Corinthian church was split into factions aligned with particular leaders, with some saying "I am of Paul" and others "I of Apollos" (1 Corinthians 1:12). In chapter 3, Paul compares the church to God's field and God's building. The only foundation of that building is Jesus Christ (3:11), and the work of each builder who builds upon it will be tested by fire (3:12–15). Verses 16–17 carry this building metaphor forward and bring it to a close by speaking of "the temple of God."

Interpretation

• Communal reading: In the original Greek, "ye" is plural while "temple" is singular. For this reason, many commentators hold that the passage refers not so much to individual believers as to the whole church community as the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. On this reading, defiling the temple means tearing down the church through factionalism and strife.
• Individual reading: Some take the passage to mean that each believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit and must therefore keep body and life holy. However, the verse that explicitly calls the individual body a temple of the Holy Spirit is 1 Corinthians 6:19, and many explain this reading as an application of the two passages together.
• Reading as a warning to builders: Connecting the passage with the immediately preceding section on builders, this reading takes it as a warning to teachers and leaders who build the church wrongly or cause division within it.

Debates and Issues

The Greek text uses the same verb (phtheirō, "to ruin" or "to corrupt") for both "defile" and "destroy." The result is a play on words: whoever ruins the temple, God will ruin. For this reason, some modern translations render the first occurrence as "destroy" or "ruin."

Interpreters also differ on whether "destroy" refers to eternal destruction. Verse 15 states that even the builder whose work is burned up "himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire," whereas verse 17 speaks of a more severe judgment. Within the Reformed tradition, which holds to the perseverance of the saints (the teaching that true believers remain in salvation to the end), those who receive this judgment are often regarded as not being true believers, or the warning is understood as one of the means by which God preserves believers. In the Wesleyan and Arminian traditions, the passage is sometimes read as a genuine warning showing that believers can fall away.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, this passage has frequently been cited together with 1 Corinthians 6:19 as a basis for urging abstinence from alcohol and tobacco (alcohol and tobacco). It is also invoked in criticism of the practice of calling church buildings "temples" (seongjeon), on the grounds that what the New Testament calls a temple is not a building but the community of believers (church building).

Related Passages

• 1 Corinthians 6:19–20: calls the individual body a temple of the Holy Spirit
• 2 Corinthians 6:16: describes believers as "the temple of the living God"
• Ephesians 2:21–22: the temple being built together in the Spirit
• 1 Peter 2:5: compares believers to lively stones built up into a spiritual house
• 1 Corinthians 3:11: the foundation is Jesus Christ