Lesson for April 24, 2022
The Book of I Corinthians
Chapter 3:16-23
Verses 16-17
“Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”
All the factions and splits within the local church at Corinth caused certain believers to fall prey to false teachers who were attempting to understand God by human wisdom. Paul had given these believers a theological lesson in chapter two regarding how a believer learns doctrine, that it is all based on the work of the Holy Spirit. First, a person who is positive toward the message of the Gospel, decides (with the help of the Holy Spirit acting as their human spirit) to believe in Christ as Savior. Second, after salvation, a believer (who is now indwelt by the Holy Spirit and possesses a human spirit) is able to understand spiritual things.
Jesus Christ, the Shekinah Glory of God also indwells all believers, making the believer’s body “the temple of God.” Jesus Christ indwells believers in order to glorify Himself in their lives. As with the indwelling of the Father and the Holy Spirit, the only way Christ can be glorified in our lives is by us advancing in our spiritual lives.
If anyone destroys the temple of God refers to the defilement of a person’s thinking. We know this from the meaning of the Greek word for destroys which is “phtheiro,” meaning to corrupt the thinking. Corrupt thinking is Human Viewpoint Thinking. The word “if” is a first-class condition, which means this was actually going on. The way certain believers were corrupting their thinking was by the false doctrine they were believing. The Judaizers had infiltrated the church and were teaching keeping the Law of Moses for the spiritual life, which was false doctrine.
God will destroy that person. The word destroy is used in two ways: for discipline in time for believers and for judgment in eternity for unbelievers who lead people astray into false doctrine. Both concepts are in view here. An unbeliever who is a false teacher will be judged at the Great White Throne in eternity. (II Peter 2:3,9; Revelation 20:11-15) A believer who leads people astray will be disciplined by God and will answer to Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ. (II Corinthians 5:10)
For the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. Believers become holy, positionally, the moment they believe in Christ for eternal life. Holy means to be set apart to God and all believers, regardless of their spiritual status, are holy in the eyes of God. Experientially, we are holy when we are allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and empower our lives. God does not want any believer to corrupt their temple by believing false doctrine.
Verses 18-23
“Take care that no one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: ‘He is the one who catches the wise by their craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are useless.’ So then, no one is to be boasting in people. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”
Take care that no one deceives himself. In the previous verse, false teachers were deceiving believers, in these verses believers are deceiving themselves. If a believer has been storing accurate Bible doctrine, and they use it to evaluate everything in life, they cannot be deceived by false doctrine. This was not the case for some of these believers in Corinth. The Greek tenses of this phrase (present active imperative) make it clear that certain believers were already in the process of deceiving themselves. There is plenty of application for us in this phrase because there is a massive amount of false doctrine being taught by false teachers today. Only the accurate doctrine we learn, store, and use will prevent us from falling into the same trap as these believers in Corinth.
If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. These believers were being led astray from accurate doctrine by false teachers and by their own self-deception. The false teachers were claiming to have the “correct” doctrine, but it was based on human wisdom. If we remember Paul’s play on words earlier in this letter regarding how God uses the “foolish things” of this world to confound the wise, we will understand this statement.
Only by using the wisdom from God can a person understand God. Human wisdom can never understand God. Therefore, becoming “foolish” in this verse means understanding God and His plan by learning and believing accurate Bible doctrine. The word ‘fool’ simply means we recognize that we have no merit in ourselves. It means understanding that we do not deserve anything from the grace of God, but that everything depends on Who and what Christ is and our relationship with Him. (I Corinthians 2:6)
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. Paul spent a lot of time on the subject of God’s wisdom versus human wisdom. Therefore, it is obvious that these believers to whom he was writing had a problem in this area of their lives. The result was they were being duped into believing false doctrine. The Greek word for foolishness is “moria,” meaning ignorant or silly. God views human wisdom as ignorance by comparison to His wisdom.
For it is written: ‘He is the one who catches the wise by their craftiness.’ Paul quoted Job 5:13 to prove his point of what God thinks about human wisdom. This quote was the words of one of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, spoken to Job after God had allowed Satan to destroy Job’s life as a test of his faithfulness. Though Eliphaz misjudged the situation and did not understand the test that Job was enduring, he did speak some truth regarding God. Job 5:13, “He catches the [so-called] wise in their own shrewdness,and the advice of the devious is quickly thwarted.”
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are useless. Paul quoted Psalm 94:11 to give further proof regarding how God feels about mankind’s wisdom. David had been asking the Lord to avenge the nation of Israel by destroying those who opposed them. While asking this of the Lord, David made this statement to show the futility of human wisdom and the evil plans of mankind when they oppose God. Psalm 94:11, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are a mere breath (vain, empty, futile).”
So then, no one is to be boasting in people. It was the arrogance of boasting that caused these believers to get off track, to the point that Paul had to confront them in this letter. Saying “I am more spiritual than you because I follow the teaching of Paul,” etc. was arrogant and divided the church in Corinth.
The word boasting means to glory in something or someone. And glory means to honor. If a believer boasts, it must be about what Christ has done for us on the Cross and what results when we follow Him. And more to the point for these believers, they should not have been glorying in or honoring these false teachers.
For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. Believers are in union with Christ, and we share His inheritance of “all things.” Whether this truth came from the mouth of Paul, Apollos or Peter, should not have been an issue for the believers in Corinth – truth is truth. The world around them belonged to them, including their lives while on earth or their lives in Heaven after death. Things we see or things we cannot see belong to us because we belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, Paul was saying to stop being divided by your arrogance and pettiness. Believers are one in Christ!