Please explain 1 Corinthians 3.17: "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are".
This is a verse set in a solemn context concerning the church of God at Corinth. It shows that there is a serious side to assembly life. The assembly is so precious and important to God that the devil seeks ways to defile or destroy it. The emphasis in the verse and in the passage is on the fact that the assembly is a holy place where God dwells. In the light of this, reverence is at all times vital.
How we act in the assembly can either make or mar it. The strong language used here is governmental and retributive. There is an exact correspondence between the way in which an individual acts towards the assembly in its temple of God character and the way in which God acts towards the individual. The words "defile" and "destroy" are the same Greek word.
In Revelation 11.18 there is an example of the same word, though in a stronger and more intensive form. The Revelation passage reads: "…and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth". This reference helps in answering the question, "Who is it that destroys or defiles God's temple?". Those who will set themselves up to destroy the earth in a future day are the two beasts of Revelation 13 – the anti-Christ and the false prophet. In 1 Corinthians 2 and 3 Paul speaks of the spiritual man, the carnal man, and the natural man. I judge that it is the natural, or unsaved, man that God will deal with governmentally according to 1 Corinthians 3.17. The two beasts of Revelation 11 are solemn examples of the natural man. The one dealt with here is not a believer – he is a natural man. It is possible today to have such a man in the assembly: "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy". To defile the temple of God means to corrupt it, to destroy it by corrupting it, i.e. by those activities and influences which mar the separated character of the assembly rather than build it up. There are ways in which an assembly can be spoiled by believers, but the man Paul refers to here is an unbeliever. God will not have His assembly marred.
The lesson here is not to treat lightly God's dwelling place, but to live and act in accordance with God's holiness.
John J Stubbs
Why did the Lord Jesus in resurrection say to Thomas, "Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side" (Jn 20.27), whilst He said to Mary Magdalene, "Touch me not" (Jn 20.17)?
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus said to His own, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Lk 24.39). The Greek word here rendered "handle" means "to feel, to touch". This was the Lord's invitation to them to accept the clear evidence of His resurrection in His being bodily present in their midst.
John records the occasion when the Lord Jesus came "where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews...and stood in their midst", and we are told that "he shewed unto them his hands and his side" (Jn 20.19,20). Then we read, "Thomas…was not with them when Jesus came" (v.24). When, after being told by the other disciples, "We have seen the Lord", Thomas responded, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails...and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (v.25). We sometimes speak of him as "doubting Thomas"; we should rather call him "unbelieving Thomas", for his words were literally, "I will in no wise believe".
We know well the sequel to the story. After eight days the Lord again appeared to His disciples with Thomas being present. He at once revealed to Thomas that He was well acquainted with the test that Thomas required. With Thomas having acknowledged Him to be "My Lord and my God" (v.28), the following words of the Lord, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed" (v.29), seem to show that Thomas did not use the test which he had demanded.
However, when the Lord Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father"(Jn 20.17), the Greek word translated "Touch" means "to cling to, to lay hold of" and is used in the present, continuous tense, in the sense of "do not continue holding me". The Lord indicated to Mary that his ascension would take place shortly, but "not yet" and that this would change her relationship to Him. It would no longer be a tangible, physical nearness, but a spiritual presence.
David E West
