S: 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
O: This verse has been quoted in modern English many times to mean that our personal bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. That's not what the Greek says, apparently. "Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ναὸς Θεοῦ ἐστε, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν" I don't know Greek, but I'm told by people who know Greek that the "you" here is plural Even the King James Version, which was translated from the Greek back before English lost the ability to distinguish between the singular and plural second pronoun, says "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" -- Note that it says "ye are the temple of God" and "dwelleth in you" (plural) not "thou art the temple of God" and "dwelleth in thee" (singular). This is also clear in the Chinese translation " 难道你们不知道自己是上帝的殿宇吗？不知道上帝的灵生活在你们心中吗？" "你们" is plural you. German "Denkt also daran, dass ihr Gottes Tempel seid und dass Gottes Geist in euch wohnt!" "Ihr" is plural.
That means that I am not the temple of the Holy Spirit. We in community are the temple of the Holy Spirit (and the Father, and the Son.)
There is a stream within modern Christian thought that "Me, the Bible and Jesus" is all that is necessary. I have heard it said so many times by sincere Christians "You are the temple of the Holy Spirit!" meaning you, singular.
But even aside from this verse, Hebrews 10:24-25 points out "And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near."
The word "church" itself is a translation of εκκλησία, which I am told, meant "gathering" or "assembly" in Koine Greek. (That's the dialect of Greek that the New Testament was written in.)
A: We are not meant to be lone ranger Christians. We need each other. We need the positive peer pressure, and when two or three are gathered in Jesus' name, then He is with us (Matthew 18:20) Let us not neglect meeting together regularly, encouraging one another to love and good deeds! (Hebrews 10:24-25)
P: Father, when we feel like our church is not "feeding" us, when we feel "tired of going to church" remind us to look for ways to improve it rather than to run away and be lone ranger Christians. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
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