The Temple of the Holy Ghost

In First Corinthians 6:19, Paul makes an interesting statement: He tells us that our bodies are each, individually, temples of the Holy Ghost. When I was young in the faith, I had someone try to misread this scripture to me. He was trying to make the point that our souls are spiritual bodies. Not bodies in the sense of flesh and blood, but bodies in the sense that they are self-contained, distinct entities. I couldn't grasp that concept at the time, and some of the things that people said to try to explain it to me really didn't help. Anyway, he said that Paul wasn't talking about our physical bodies, he was talking about our spiritual bodies; he said you could tell, because it says, "...your body, which is in you..." except it doesn't. It says, "..the Holy Ghost, which is in you..." So, even though his point was correct, and my thinking was wrong, the fact that he misused that scripture just further convinced me that I was right, and deepened my confusion.

There are other, similar references: First Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16... Peter refers to the body as a tabernacle in First Peter chapter 1. Personally, I find it interesting that in First Corinthians, Paul tells us in chapter 3 that our bodies are the temples of God, but in chapter 6, the temples of the Holy Ghost. Jesus also prophesied His resurrection, referring to His own body as a temple in John 2:21. I think that it's important to note that we, as fleshly beings, have a hard time (at best) discerning spiritual things. So the people that walked with Jesus saw His physical body (His temple), but couldn't perceive His Spirit. In John 10:38, Jesus said that the Father was in Him. In Colossians 2:9, we are told that in Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily. Jesus knew our limitations, and understood, that we, as humans, saw Him as human, with a flesh and blood body much as our own, but we should not worship that flesh, in any form (not the babe in the manger at Christmas, or the thirty-three year old man on the cross at Easter...); we should worship the Spirit of God.

By the way, a little side note, here, I know that a lot of people have taken John 2:21 as a prophesy that must be fulfilled before the Lord returns. Books have been written about how Solomon's temple must be rebuilt before the rapture of the church. Read John chapter 2. It specifically says that it isn't talking about Solomon's temple, it's talking about Jesus' resurrection. "Oh, but I think there are some Old Testament prophesies about the temple being rebuilt, too." Yes, there are, but where was Jesus when He was talking about His temple being rebuilt? Look back up to verse 14: He was in the temple. Actually, the temple has been rebuilt, more than once. Look, I'm not saying that the temple won't be rebuilt (again) before Jesus comes again; what I'm saying is that if you get caught up looking for signs, you may find out that the things that you were looking for have already happened and you haven't noticed them (possibly before you were born, and the people that should have noticed them then, were asleep at the switch). Even if they haven't happened yet, who's to say that you will live until Jesus comes again, anyway? You have no promise of tomorrow, so do your best to be ready today.