THE CHURCH IN GOD’S PROGRAM

Lesson 5 - The Nature of the Church: Metaphors

THE TEMPLE OF GOD

The study of the New Testament teaching of the Metaphor: “The Temple of God” is the fifth study in our series on the Nature of the Church.

In the most general since “The Temple of God” is a place where God resides. The Jews never perceived the Temple made with hands as the actual physical residence of God. Heaven and earth were not large enough to contain Him, how could a house built by men? However, the temple was perceived as a place where men could have communication with God, He took up residence, or visited the Temple for the purpose of fellowship with His covenant community.

With the coming of the New Testament dispensation the concept of God’s residency transitions from the physical Temple in Jerusalem to three new Metaphorical temples: the physical body of Christ, the physical body of each believer, and in a broader since the universal community of believers (Universal Church).

CHRIST IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD

Judaism, as a nationalistic religion, centralized it’s spirituality within the physical temple in Jerusalem. Jesus never denied the significance of the physical temple, but began changing the emphasis of God’s residency away from a location.

John 4:20-24 Our fathers (Samaritans) worshiped on this mountain, and you people (Jews) say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." (21)  Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  (22)  You people (Samaritans) worship what you do not know. We (Jews) worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.  (23)  But a time is coming — and now is here — when the true worshipers (not only Samaritans or Jews)  will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. (24) God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Jesus states that the nature of worship was shifting away from a specific physical location and national identity to a spiritual and universal dimension.

God’s residency shifted from the temple in Jerusalem to the physical body of Christ.

John 2:19-21 Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again."  (20)  Then the Jewish leaders said to him, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?"  (21)  But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.

The Jews understood Jesus’ comments regarding the resurrection of the temple in regards to the physical temple in Jerusalem. John fills us in on Jesus’ real meaning. He was prophesying his own death, burial and resurrection. The implication however, is that the true residency of God was not the physical temple of Jerusalem, but rather the physical body of Christ.[1] The focal point for Christians would not be on a location, but on a person, Jesus Christ, the embodiment of God in human flesh.

Questions:

Read John 4:20-24 above. The Samaritan woman places significance on the location of worship (this mountain vs. Jerusalem) and the nationality of the worshiper (Samaritan vs. Jew). How does Jesus change her perception of worship? Is the modern worshiper often guilty of the same incorrect perception as this woman? How? 

The Jews also placed a great deal of emphasis on the location and facilities of worship. In John 2:19-21 Jesus speaks of his body as the place of God’s residency? Are we often guilty of putting too much emphasis on the facilities of worship?  What is to be the difference between the worship of worshippers in this dispensation and the worshipers of the Samaritans and the Jews?

EACH BELIEVER IS A TEMPLE OF GOD

After the resurrection of Christ each Individual Believer is referred to as a Temple of God.

When one believes that Jesus Christ died for his sins the Spirit of God takes residency within him, thus making his body a temple of God. As Christ is the true residence of God, the believer in Christ is also a temple in which God resides.

1Co 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?  (17)  If someone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, which is what you are.

1Co 6:19  Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.

This should be understood as an objective reality and not simply a subjective feeling. It is not dependent on whether we feel God’s presence. Notice the context in which Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. He was warning the believers about uniting their bodies with a harlot. Paul tells them they “are the temple of God”, yet it was possible for them to abuse this temple. If they felt God’s presence, would they have still been tempted to have such a relationship with a harlot? Knowing we are a temple of God is a greater guard against worldly temptation than feeling we are a Temple of God.[2]

Questions:

The New Testament teaches that believers are “sealed by the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:30), are “indwelt with the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 3:16) and to be “filled by the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). How is this related to the believer being a Temple of God?

Do you think that having the Spirit within the believer that the believer automatically lives in a manner consistent with the Spirit’s leading? How does this thing work for the believer?

THE UNIVERSAL COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD

As stated above, Jesus’ body is a temple of God and each individual is a temple of God. But, there is a broader picture of the Temple of God. Christ and all believers together form the third “Temple of God”. God resides within His universal corporate body of believers.

2Co 6:16  And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, "I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Similarities between the “Temple of God” and “The Body of Christ” (lesson four).

Paul uses the corporate metaphor of “the temple of God” in a manner similar to his metaphor of the “body of Christ”.

The spiritual gifts are given to edify (build up) the “body of Christ” and the “Temple of God”. Just as the parts of the body are significant to the growth and well-being of the whole body, so are the individual temples (parts) important to the construction of the corporate Temple.

Eph 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ,

Eph 4:16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

Eph 2:21 In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

Paul uses the body imagery in regards to a temple. The temporal human body is the “earthly house”, “tabernacle” or “temple” and is referred to as the resurrection body “a building of God, a house not made with hands”

The Composition of the Temple (church universal)

Christ is the foundation. When the Apostles are referred to as the foundation, Christ is the cornerstone to the foundation. Each believer is metaphorically viewed as a stone in the building of the universal temple.

The foundation and cornerstone

The building of the church is founded upon the historical person and work of Jesus Christ.

1Co 3:10-11 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.  (11)  For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Each apostle, minister, builder of the temple must be careful that the as he participates in the building of the Temple, Christ is and remains the foundation of the building.

While Christ is the foundation, the apostles and prophets are called the foundation with Christ being the cornerstone of the foundation.

Eph 2:20-21 because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (21)  In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

At first glance Ephesians 2:20 may appear to be a contradiction with 1 Corinthians 3:10-11. In the first passage however, Paul is not talking about the components of the foundation, but about the workers as they build upon it. Paul is declaring his role in laying the foundation as a master-builder. Others must come after him and build upon the foundation which he has laid. Christ is viewed as the foundation by which they must build. In Ephesians 2:20 Paul is referring to the components of the foundation. Each of the apostles is viewed as stones in the foundation, with Christ being the cornerstone which all the rest depend. The cornerstone is the foundational stone of the entire building.  The cornerstone was visible and controlled the design of the building.  It was the stone that brought unity, harmony and symmetry to the edifice

The Stones

The stones of the building are described by Peter as “living stones” and are the people that believe the gospel. Each of the individual temples are also stones in the corporate or universal temple.

1Pe 2:5-7  you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6) For it says in scripture, "Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame." (7)  So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

COMMENTARY

As the Old Testament dispensation closed there was a transition away from the physical, national temple toward Christ being the foundation of the spiritual, universal temple (the church). Before this transformation was complete the physical temple and the institution surrounding the worship of the physical temple would be set aside. This was completed with the destruction of the Temple in 70 A. D.  The temple was the residence of God and a place of prayer and worship. It was to be replaced because it had lost perspective of its purpose. Jesus rebuked the institution sharply before his crucifixion:

Mat 21:12-13  Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.  (13)  And he said to them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are turning it into a den of robbers!"

In the last days a God will allow a physical, national Temple to be built in Jerusalem:

2Th 2:3-5  Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. (4)  He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God's temple, displaying himself as God. (5)  Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you.

If God removed the physical, national Temple to bring into being the spiritual Temple, doesn’t it seem likely, that before He brings back the physical, national Temple He will remove the Spiritual Temple? Compare this with Romans 11.

Questions:

What was the condition of Religious Institution surrounding the Temple at the time of Christ’s visitation?

Are there comparisons with the present condition of the modern Religious Institution of the Church (The Spiritual Temple)? Explain