"Your Body Is a Temple" Doesn't Mean What You Think
Deep Made Simple
1,522 views
"Your body is a temple." You have probably seen that line on gym walls, water bottles and diet plans, used to mean take care of yourself, eat well, work out. There is some truth in that. But the sentence comes from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth, and when you hear it where Paul put it, the point runs almost the opposite direction from the slogan. The slogan says my body is a temple, so I will take care of it for me. Paul adds the sentence the slogan always drops: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price."
On Deep Made Simple we put 1 Corinthians 6:19 back where Paul wrote it. We start with Roman Corinth on its narrow isthmus, rebuilt by Rome in 44 BC, with the Acrocorinth rising above it and temples everywhere. Paul stayed a year and a half, making tents with Aquila and Priscilla, and a church grew, including Erastus, the city's director of public works.
But the church was struggling: quarrels, lawsuits, and sexual sin that shocked even the pagans. In chapter six Paul keeps asking "do you not know?" and quotes their own slogans back to them: "I have the right to do anything," and "food for the stomach and the stomach for food." Many in the Greek world thought the body was a temporary shell and the real self lived somewhere else. That thinking is still around today: it's my body, it's just physical.
The Bible starts somewhere else. In Genesis God formed the body and breathed life into it, made us in His image, and called it very good. Paul answers with a wordplay: exestin, it is permitted, against exousiazo, to have authority over. Freedom that leads to slavery is not freedom. The body is for the Lord, and God, who raised Jesus, will raise us also.
Then Paul says our bodies are members of Christ, and gives a direct command: flee sexual immorality. The Greek verb is pheugo, to seek safety by flight, the word Joseph lived out when he left his cloak and ran. And right there comes the famous line about the temple.
To a Corinthian, a temple was where a god lived. Paul chose the word naos, the inner sanctuary, rather than hieron, the whole temple area. To a Jewish reader it recalled the tabernacle and Solomon's temple, filled with the glory of the Lord. Now God's Spirit lives in people. "Bought at a price" uses agorazo, to buy in the agora, the marketplace, and Peter names the price: the precious blood of Christ. So Paul concludes: honor God with your bodies, using doxazo, to show glory, linked to the Hebrew kavod.
So why do people quote this verse backwards? The slogan starts with the self; Paul starts with God. The slogan can add shame about appearance, but God told Samuel that people look at the outward appearance, while the Lord looks at the heart. The temple image gives every body dignity, whatever its size, shape or condition.
There is an honest application in the right order: caring for the body as stewardship, eating and drinking for the glory of God, physical training that has some value, and first of all honoring God in sexual conduct, through the fruit of the Spirit, which includes self control. We also look at a normal week, how we treat other people's bodies, and the grace for anyone carrying regret: you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.
Finally, Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days," and John explains He meant His body. His resurrection is the firstfruits and the guarantee of ours.
KEY VERSE
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." (1 Corinthians 6.19 to 20, NIV)
IN THIS VIDEO
▸ The slogan and the missing half
▸ Corinth
▸ A struggling church
▸ Their slogans
▸ The body in Genesis
▸ The body is for the Lord
▸ Members of Christ
▸ Flee
▸ What a temple meant
▸ Bought at a price
▸ Why we quote it backwards
▸ The honest application
▸ Washed and forgiven
▸ Jesus, the true temple
In the comments, type the Greek word Paul uses for "flee."
If this changed how you hear "your body is a temple," LIKE it, SUBSCRIBE to Deep Made Simple, and SHARE it with someone who has carried shame about their body! Hit the bell for more deep Bible studies.
RELATED SEARCHES
If you are searching for 1 Corinthians 6:19 meaning, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit explained, you are not your own bought at a price, what the Bible says about the body, or flee sexual immorality meaning, this study walks through it carefully. For more free Bible study, search Deep Made Simple.
#BibleStudy #1Corinthians #HolySpirit
6 Comments
"Your Body Is a Temple" Doesn't Mean What You Think
Deep Made Simple
1,522 views
"Your body is a temple." You have probably seen that line on gym walls, water bottles and diet plans, used to mean take care of yourself, eat well, work out. There is some truth in that. But the sentence comes from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth, and when you hear it where Paul put it, the point runs almost the opposite direction from the slogan. The slogan says my body is a temple, so I will take care of it for me. Paul adds the sentence the slogan always drops: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price."
On Deep Made Simple we put 1 Corinthians 6:19 back where Paul wrote it. We start with Roman Corinth on its narrow isthmus, rebuilt by Rome in 44 BC, with the Acrocorinth rising above it and temples everywhere. Paul stayed a year and a half, making tents with Aquila and Priscilla, and a church grew, including Erastus, the city's director of public works.
But the church was struggling: quarrels, lawsuits, and sexual sin that shocked even the pagans. In chapter six Paul keeps asking "do you not know?" and quotes their own slogans back to them: "I have the right to do anything," and "food for the stomach and the stomach for food." Many in the Greek world thought the body was a temporary shell and the real self lived somewhere else. That thinking is still around today: it's my body, it's just physical.
The Bible starts somewhere else. In Genesis God formed the body and breathed life into it, made us in His image, and called it very good. Paul answers with a wordplay: exestin, it is permitted, against exousiazo, to have authority over. Freedom that leads to slavery is not freedom. The body is for the Lord, and God, who raised Jesus, will raise us also.
Then Paul says our bodies are members of Christ, and gives a direct command: flee sexual immorality. The Greek verb is pheugo, to seek safety by flight, the word Joseph lived out when he left his cloak and ran. And right there comes the famous line about the temple.
To a Corinthian, a temple was where a god lived. Paul chose the word naos, the inner sanctuary, rather than hieron, the whole temple area. To a Jewish reader it recalled the tabernacle and Solomon's temple, filled with the glory of the Lord. Now God's Spirit lives in people. "Bought at a price" uses agorazo, to buy in the agora, the marketplace, and Peter names the price: the precious blood of Christ. So Paul concludes: honor God with your bodies, using doxazo, to show glory, linked to the Hebrew kavod.
So why do people quote this verse backwards? The slogan starts with the self; Paul starts with God. The slogan can add shame about appearance, but God told Samuel that people look at the outward appearance, while the Lord looks at the heart. The temple image gives every body dignity, whatever its size, shape or condition.
There is an honest application in the right order: caring for the body as stewardship, eating and drinking for the glory of God, physical training that has some value, and first of all honoring God in sexual conduct, through the fruit of the Spirit, which includes self control. We also look at a normal week, how we treat other people's bodies, and the grace for anyone carrying regret: you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.
Finally, Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days," and John explains He meant His body. His resurrection is the firstfruits and the guarantee of ours.
KEY VERSE
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." (1 Corinthians 6.19 to 20, NIV)
IN THIS VIDEO
▸ The slogan and the missing half
▸ Corinth
▸ A struggling church
▸ Their slogans
▸ The body in Genesis
▸ The body is for the Lord
▸ Members of Christ
▸ Flee
▸ What a temple meant
▸ Bought at a price
▸ Why we quote it backwards
▸ The honest application
▸ Washed and forgiven
▸ Jesus, the true temple
In the comments, type the Greek word Paul uses for "flee."
If this changed how you hear "your body is a temple," LIKE it, SUBSCRIBE to Deep Made Simple, and SHARE it with someone who has carried shame about their body! Hit the bell for more deep Bible studies.
RELATED SEARCHES
If you are searching for 1 Corinthians 6:19 meaning, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit explained, you are not your own bought at a price, what the Bible says about the body, or flee sexual immorality meaning, this study walks through it carefully. For more free Bible study, search Deep Made Simple.
#BibleStudy #1Corinthians #HolySpirit