The Wonder of the Gathering (Part 3)

(This article is part three of a three-part series)

There are few things in the world that can prepare us for the shocking, awe-filling, wondrous words of a passage like 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17).

I know that I, for one, have often read those verses with no semblance of wonder or worship at all. Perhaps it’s owing in some fashion to the fact that we who grew up in the church have heard so much about the personal, relational nature of God that we take it for granted that his very Spirit would dwell in our midst. We think to ourselves, of course he does! Why wouldn’t he? Thus, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 - and passages like it - read more like statements of painfully obvious fact, rather than explosive propositions of galactic significance; they read more like someone telling us that there is air all around us which we are breathing in, rather than someone telling us that we can now travel into the far reaches of deep space and breathe without the aid of spacesuits.

Of course, the truly breathtaking thing about 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 is that it is more explosive, more galactic, and more wondrous than even the sudden ability to breathe freely in deep space. These verses have universe-changing implications for our lives - and for the way that we think about gathering together with a local church. To fully behold the wonder, we must closely and intently inspect Paul’s words, and we must look back once again into Israel’s history in order to better grasp the seismic truth that Paul is trying to communicate.

God's Temple, God's Presence

As alluded to in a previous article, the people of God worshipped in one central, localized place in Israel for centuries: first, in the tabernacle in the wandering wilderness years, and then in the temple during the reign of the kings (Exodus 25:8-9, 1 Kings 6:11-13). These buildings housed the manifest glory of God. The temple, especially, became a grounding reality for God’s chosen people - a permanent fixture in the land, a visible reminder of God’s presence and blessing, a place where heaven and earth met as God’s people worshipped him; that is, until God’s glory left the temple due to the hard-heartedness and unrepentance of the Israelites (Ezekiel 10). It was eventually destroyed by Babylon, and a second temple was built to replace it, but not to the same dramatic and powerful effect as the first (compare 1 Kings 8:1-11 and Ezra 6). All the same, the temple was still at the heart of Israelite worship, and accusations of desecration against it were not taken lightly (see Matthew 26:59-61 and Acts 21:27-28, for instance).

This is a concise description of the temple, but it gives us enough clarity to see something incredible: when Paul says that we ourselves are God’s temple, and that his very Spirit dwells in our midst, he is telling us that the same God who once filled the temple with such glory that the priests were overwhelmed and could not stand within its walls, has now filled the walls of our bodies with himself; Paul is telling us that the very person of God who gives the life of God (John 6:63), who empowered Jesus himself for his life and ministry (Luke 4:18-19), who intercedes for us with groans too deep for words (Romans 8:26), who carried along the authors of Scripture to give us the precious promises and word of God (2 Peter 1:21), and who indeed was present at the creation of the universe (Genesis 1:2, Psalm 104:30) is now recreating us (2 Corinthians 3:18) and now dwells not primarily in one fixed location (as the temple of old), but in the midst of his people wherever they are and wherever they are gathered together - particularly as a local church. We together are a new temple.

So sacred and real is the Spirit’s presence within the church and the people that compose it, that Paul issues a grave warning: anyone who would destroy God’s temple without turning to Christ for forgiveness - whether done from within the church through false teaching or from outside of the church by the sword of evil men (2 Peter 2:1-3, Romans 12:19) - will be destroyed by God. This is no light or whimsical thing.

God’s Spirit is truly present with us when we gather together as believers in Christ. Our cute phrases and sayings cannot do this truth justice. If this was kept eternally fresh in our hearts, I doubt that any of us would quickly forsake gathering together with our churches.

His Spirit, His People

All that being said, I know that it is still tempting to read accounts like 1 Kings 8:1-11 and think to ourselves, “If only we could see something like that! A true testament to the power of God’s Spirit!” We still want the visible demonstration, the darkness and clouds, the power and thunder; we want faith that becomes sight.

But consider this: Moses, the great prophet and leader of Israel, witnessed the wonders of the exodus and saw profound miracles in the wilderness wanderings; he saw the glory of God on vibrant and marvelous display throughout his life, as did the Israelites whom he led out of Egypt. And somehow, in spite of this, over and over again the Israelites turned from God. The signs and wonders alone were not enough to keep them devoted to their Deliverer.

Keeping this in mind, there came a moment in Numbers 11:26-29 where two men began prophesying through God’s Spirit. This was normally a phenomenon unique to Moses, so his young assistant Joshua implored him to silence the two men. Moses responded, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

Isn’t it remarkable that, rather than lamenting that future generations would not see the great signs and marvels of the exodus, Moses laments that God’s Spirit is not on all of his people? We might quietly ask ourselves, “If the Israelites didn’t remain faithful to God after experiencing the exodus, what difference could an invisible Spirit make?”

Evidently, the Spirit makes all the difference - and Moses knew that. The Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts in such a real and inexplicable way, that it is incalculably better for us even than witnessing the great signs and marvels of the exodus with our own eyes (Romans 5:5, 8:12-17). Indeed, the very same Spirit who gave such gifts to Moses is the very same Spirit who dwells within us, the very same Spirit who gives us gifts, that we might serve one another and encourage one another as we walk along the narrow way of faith (1 Corinthians 14:1-25). And all the more, he displays his power and comforts us with his presence when we are gathered together as a local church. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” Wonder of wonders.