TO DESECRATE THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The first time I heard the word desecrate, I had to look it up.
According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to desecrate is to “violate the sanctity of,” “to treat disrespectfully,” “to treat irreverently,” or “to treat outrageously.” So, understandably, desecrating the Temple of the Holy Spirit is the kind of thing that flips tables (@Jesus).
I’m not talking about what Jesus did in the first century, though (Matt 21; Mark 11)
I’m talking about what you and I do when we sin sexually (yikes). Recently, I believe the Lord gave me an amount of insight into 1 Corinthians 6 and Hebrews 9 on this topic.
To be honest, I feel I have no business writing an article on this. I am far from perfect, but I know none of us are, and I know that Jesus would want this article out there despite my own insufficiencies. We are each sufficient in Him, so I pray that these truths will help us both walk more deeply with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:18 says this:
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commmits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body (ESV, 2016).
Here, Paul draws a distinction that has always itched my curiosity. He says there are two types of sin:
Sins committed outside the body
Sins committed against one’s own body
In the next verses, Paul says
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? …glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20, ESV, 2016).
So, Paul could have said:
The sexually immoral person sins against the very temple of the Holy Spirit within Him.
Paul could have said in verse 20 to glorify God; instead, he specifies a location. He says to glorify God “in your body.” He is intentionally directing the reader’s focus here to the temple.
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“Body” is typically used in a Christian context to refer to either a particular person’s physical body (singular) or the entire summation of the individual members of a church congregation together i.e. the church “body” (plural).
Some theologians have suggested that Paul intended the plural usage here in verse 19. This argument is largely based on Paul’s usage of the second person plural when he says “you.”
I agree with this interpretation, but I also think a warning against allowing this interpretation to subtract from the individual responsibility Paul is drawing attention to in the passage at large is strongly warranted.
Paul wants to draw a connection between sexual immorality and the fact that each of our bodies is literally the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The larger point he is making is about personal purity in each individual believer’s life, not just corporate purity. I believe verse 18 makes this especially clear. If we dismiss his instruction here as simply a general warning to the church at large, it is easy to lose track of the individual ownership each specific church member must take in order to apply this teaching. Yes, purity is often a relational sin, but it starts on an individual level in the heart before it blossoms into a sin of a relational nature.
Paul is speaking to you and he is speaking to me. His tone is sober, and he intends to illicit contrite, personal ownership before anything else.
According to Oxford Reference, a temple (or tabernacle) is a dwelling place for diety.
Before getting into this, it is important to talk about how the tabernacle worked. Hebrews 9 explains this well.
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place…
It is said that if a priest entered the dwelling place of God without first being cleansed of his sin, he would drop dead, much like the man who accidentally touched the ark of the covenant dropped dead (2 Samuel 6:6-11).
Scripture outlines in numerous places that the holiness of God will not tolerate the presence of sin.
I’m not saying we will drop dead if we sin sexually.
I am saying that when we sin sexually, we desecrate God’s temple.
Not only do we resemble the priest who entered God’s inner dwelling place without being purged of his sin, but we actively commit sin in the dwelling place of God.
Conclusion:
Sins of a non-sexual nature are compared to sins committed outside the temple of God.
Sins of a sexual nature are compared to sins committed inside the temple of God.
If God killed priests who forgot to purge their sins before entering his presence, how much more seriously would he take sins those priests actively committed in His presence?
Of course, God is omnipresent. Additionally, the tabernacle system is gone. All sin today is committed in the presence of God, but Paul still draws a distinction in 1 Corinthians 6 about the significance of sins committed against one’s own body.
Let’s expand on what this means for us today.
Mathew 27:51 details that when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, the curtain separating the outer and inner rooms of God’s temple was torn in two. This separation was done away with.
God moved from dwelling in The Most Holy Place to dwelling in the hearts of believers.
1 John 4:12 says:
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us (NIV, 2011).
Hebrews 10:19-21 says:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…
So, now we have Jesus’ body, which is without sin.
Jesus has entered the dwelling place of God first, and his blood remains there for us. It has once and for all paid the price for our sins (Hebrews 10:12-14). At the same time, I believe Paul holds special regard for sins committed against one’s own body.
To put this in our language today, this is why sexual sin hits different.
Any time I sin sexually, I feel so much more of a disruption of peace and God’s blessing than when I sin by just not doing something random I feel Jesus tasked me with (James 4:17).
I don’t know exactly what this holds for us, and typically my articles end on a more positive note.
I personally don’t feel worthy to write about this on my own, but through the blood of Christ, I feel a deep responsibility to share these findings. Paul did too. Sins of a non-sexual nature do not assault God’s temple in the same way that sexual sins do. Therefore, I urge you as I urge myself: live in holiness. We are the bride of Christ. Do not desecrate God’s temple.
“You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Cor 6:19-20, NIV).
