I Corinthians 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

The context of verse 16 is to the local church. In chapter 6 we will see a similar verse and it is directed to the individual saint. In this verse God directed Paul to address the entire body of believers. True saints are the temple of God. Unbelievers are not part of that temple. Whether it be a spiritual saint or a carnal saint, they are all part of the temple of God. Again this is not talking of some universal church concept. This is talking of those who are saved and part of a true local church. In heaven all saints will be together. On earth we are separated by distance and we do not hover is an imaginary place.
The saints in Corinth lost sight of who they were. They were not behaving like the temple of God. We see as well that the temple of God in this context is people, not a building. King Solomon built the first material temple. It was built according to God’s design. It was the place where the people were to bring their sacrifices. It was the place where the atonement for sin was made. It was also the place where the law was kept and taught. It was a type of Jesus Christ, made with stones and wood and precious metals.
Since the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no further need of a physical, material temple. There will be that need again in the Millennium. It will have a specific purpose at that time. Since the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, He made a way for us to go directly to God the Father through Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Jesus Christ made the way for us, New Testament saints, to have direct access to God the Father through God the Son. The repentant sinner comes to God through the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. The saved person comes to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ to confess sin and to pray for various things.
The Old Testament temple was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament saint has the Holy Spirit indwelling him and he should seek to live a holy life. We read that in verse 16.
In verse 17 we are warned of the danger of defiling the temple of God. We see the difference here from the wise and foolish building in the previous verses. In this context, the person who defiles the temple, is destroyed. The person who wants to come into the local church and defile it is under the judgment of God. We see many religious groups that call themselves churches today that seem to be doing quite well. They are not honouring God. Their music and their doctrines are contrary to the Word of God. Yet they are not destroyed. Why not? The answer should be quite obvious. In fact it is so obvious that most people reject the truth and invent their own philosophy on what is going on. Many wrongly assume that even though they are not following the Word of God, they are still being blessed of God because they assume that God’s Word is not absolute. That is the disastrous result of accepting the perversions as the Word of God.
The fact is that God’s Word is absolute and the reason they continue to function in defiance of God’s Word is because they are not true churches. They are pseudo Christians and thus God leaves them to their devices. He does expose them as frauds and those who are truly born again will see that. They may need further prodding as the saints in Corinth did, and they can be moved along because they are true saints. However, when a person steps into a true church with the intent of defiling it, God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, works to correct the sin. That is what God directed Paul to do in Corinth.
The apostle Paul was directed to remind the saints in Corinth, and us by extension, that the true local church is the temple of God and therefore it is to be holy. Paul stated that the church in Corinth was still a temple of God even though there were problems that needed to be addressed.
In verse 18 we are reminded of the danger of self-deception. There is no place for worldly wise people in a true church. We do not need someone coming in and introducing a new style of music or bringing in a perversion or dropping the standards of modesty. God has already declared that the local church must be holy. The person that seems to be wise in this world needs to become a fool as far as the world is concerned. That is the only way he can be declared wise by God. The world uses deception. The world twists words and redefines terms. Things that are declared sin in the Bible become gray areas and then become good in the eyes of the world. God’s standard of righteousness never changes.
I listened to a staunch, die-hard evolutionist who is heading up a major rally in Washington this weekend. He was talking to a staunch psychologist who is lost and they were discussing whether there is a God. They were musing about whether there needs to be a God in order for prayer to work. The evolutionist stated that if you prayed about something that you believed needed some divine intervention, and during the night some new thought came to you regarding that need, that thought came to you because you went to bed thinking about that need. He completely ignored the fact that God directs the thoughts both of the saved and the unsaved. God also allows Satan to direct the thoughts of those who are blinded by him against the Gospel of Christ. The evolutionist is far too “wise” for his own good. He will be shocked in the end.
In verse 19 we see that the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God. The wisdom of this world sets itself up as being wiser than God. Paul was directed to quote from Job in this verse:

Job 5:13  He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

The wise assume they are so far advanced. God exposes them for their foolishness. He shows that the world’s systems do not work. They create more chaos and destruction. Rather than preaching and teaching against sin, the world encourages people to indulge in sin.
In verse 20 Paul quoted from the Psalms:

Psalm 94:11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

We see again the importance of the Old Testament. God stated things there that are also applicable to our time. God stated things there that help us to understand what He has given us in the New Testament.
In verse 21 we are reminded that true saints do not glory in men. This is again in reference to the vain divisions in Corinth in choosing one man over another. It is foolish to look for a human hero. We do not need any heroes. We, who are saved, exalt God and the Lord Jesus Christ. God is not our hero. He is our God. We do not exalt man. We see the danger when a man assumes he is more than he actually is.
There is another well known preacher who was recently fired from his church because of an inappropriate relationship with a woman who was not his wife. The man is a Calvinist and most likely lost. The fact is that the devil is working hard to discredit God any way he can.
Paul went on to remind the saints that all things are theirs. All the men they were fighting over were theirs. They were all sent to them by God. They were all there to help build up the saints in Corinth. None had a superior place with God. The world was there for the saints to use as a place to live and work. They were given life as a gift from God. Death was not a tragedy for the saints. The present and the future were there for the saints to benefit from. We live in the present, but those who are saved have our eyes on the future. We know there is something much better awaiting us. We look forward to being there, but we also seek to serve God faithfully while here.
In verse 23 we see that the bottom line and the most important fact was that they were Christ’s. They were saved and thus needed to be under the authority of Jesus Christ as their Head. Paul also reminded them that Jesus Christ is God’s. Jesus Christ is God, but He also subjected Himself to His Father. Oftentimes we as people refuse to accept the intricacies of that fact and we distort this unique situation known as part of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead. In our text, Paul spoke of the significance of being Christ’s and how that fits into being adopted into God’s family.
The Corinthians had some important facts to learn and settle on. If they would accept that, it would settle the carnality they were currently involved in. That would be replaced by a right walk with God.
Today is the Lord’s Day. Once again, God has given us another day to come together in a true local church where we can fellowship with Him and with the Lord Jesus Christ and with fellow saints. We need to avail ourselves of this opportunity. The government wants to interfere and stop this blessed opportunity that God provides for His children. Those who are saved need to grow in their faith in God and submit to His will for us in this time. Let us, those who are saved, ask God to give us a greater appreciation for Who He is and what He has provided for us. If we do that we will see the importance of being in His house today.
Pastor Bartel