Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (17) If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. (18) Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise (19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”, (20) and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (21) Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours:(22) whether Paul or Apollo’s, or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come – all are yours. (23) And you are Christs’s and Christ’s is God’s.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. Our verses today concern the temple of God in the faithful where God and the Spirit of God dwell within us. Anything profane in the believer, every separate church and the church collectively is a direct offense to God. False doctrine is therefore sacrilege. The temple of God is Holy and cannot be violated with impunity. In this sense everything consecrated to God is Holy, especially any place or person in which He dwells.

Paul warns that no man deceive himself and mistakenly substitute the wisdom of God for the worthlessness of human wisdom. Human knowledge is inadequate to save man. To glory in any person or thing is to trust him/her – to regard ourselves as blessed because of our relationship to them. Ministers are mere servants, nothing in themselves – they are not the ground of the believer’s confidence, especially in Corinth with their cult of personalities. There they aligned themselves with charismatic men; of Apollos, of Paul, of Cephas. The ministry belongs to the church and is designed for it’s edification – the church does not being to the ministry. The church is subject to and belongs only to Christ.

These verses are a strong warning against taking the church lightly and destroying it with the world’s wisdom and division. Paul continues the subject of spiritual rather than natural wisdom – if his readers insist on taking a natural view of their teachers (worldly wisdom) to form cults of followers they limit God’s blessings in themselves. All things belong to the Christians because the Christian belongs to Christ and all things are His. In Him the faithful possess all things, BUT it is only in Him that we do. You are the temple of God. Take care that you are not in any way defiled. You are set apart because God dwells in you by His Spirit. No unclean place can be the home of God.