The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Brenda Rivera of Orlando, Florida from the tape, GC 1301-S, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 21."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1982. All Rights Reserved.

Question

I’d like to ask a question from 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” I want to know in what way could we defile the temple of God to the point of God’s destroying that temple or that body?

That’s a good question. Now as we look at this you might take your Bible and look at it, I want you to notice something of importance, in terms of the text itself. It says in verse 16 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” Now the pronoun there is very important, “ye” he’s talking about believers. Many commentators feel that there is a change or a shift in verse 17 from “ye” to what? “If any man” and many commentators feel that, and I tend to agree with this, it is possible that this could mean that a Christian could so defile his body that the Lord could just remove him, right?

1 Corinthians 11 talks about that. A Christian desecrating the Lord’s table by coming there with sin in his life is weak and sick and some of them were dead. 1 John 5 talks about that, where it says there is a sin that you don’t need to pray about because it’s a sin unto death, in other words, there is a sin in a Christian’s life which is the straw that breaks the camel's back and God just takes them home out of the way. But destroy seems a rather strong word for that. 

And if you notice the shift from “ye” to “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy for the temple of God is holy” which temple “ye” are.” It seems to be that “ye” are the temple of God but the defiler is somebody outside the temple, you see? So that the real thrust of the text is saying that the temple of God which temple “ye” are, right? Are we not a habitation of the Spirit, Ephesians 2? If someone comes in to desecrate or defile that temple he is putting himself in a position to be destroyed by God. 

So I tend to feel that the text is not particularly talking about the destruction of a Christian, because of the distinction he makes between “if any man” rather than saying “If one of you.” Now at the same time I say that in that text I would affirm that there are times in the life of a believer where he could enter into some defilement and forfeit his life. Now as to what sin that is, the Bible does not specify a single sin, but if you follow 1 Corinthians 11 which seems to be the definitive text on that where some came to the Lord’s table and ate unworthily. That’s general enough to assume that it would be any sin which was continued in and unrepented of. So it doesn’t necessarily nail down any one sin. 

Question (continued)

You mean God would take that particular person home early, I mean just take the person’s life away? If they didn’t repent of a sin? 

Answer (continued)

Right, you could die before your time in terms of the fact that if you entered into sin as a Christian and continued in that sin, the Lord might remove you. 

Question (continued)

For what purpose?

Answer (continued)

Because you’re more trouble than you’re worth, because you’re polluting the assembly. In other words, in the Corinthian Church it was better to get rid of some of those people. Now in some cases in 1 Corinthians 5, they were put out of the church, right? Remember it says, take that person because a little leaven leavens the whole lump, chapter 5, and put them out. Turn them over to Satan that they’ll learn not to blaspheme, because the church can not really survive with the pollution of that kind of thing. That’s why we do church discipline. But there are times when, and by God’s discretion this would occur, when God Himself will remove a person in a disciplinary act. 

Question (continued)

Well then where does that leave that person, are his works just burned? 

Answer (continued)

It takes him to Heaven, for him it’s a promotion, for him it’s a tremendous act of grace. And even though, 1 Corinthians 5 says, even though his flesh will be destroyed the spirit will be saved. 

You get into another little debate, you see some people in 1 Corinthians 5 don’t think that’s a believer either. They think that could be a unbeliever polluting the assembly, but I think here in this text, 1 Corinthians 3, it’s talking about an individual who is defiling or polluting the sacred temple, somebody who is outside, it may well be the same kind of person in 1 Corinthians 5 who is having sex with his father’s wife, but it may not even be a Christian at all we really don’t know. But anybody who pollutes the assembly, be he a believer or an unbeliever, is very open to the discipline of God and the ultimate discipline of God could be to take one home. 

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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