I Cor. 619-20
There is little that can be said of a truly born again believer that is more awe-inspiring than this: "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." Nothing should lift us to higher heights, or clothe us with greater humility. Our bodies are temples inhabited by the Living God in the person of the Holy Spirit. It is, in fact, what makes a Christian: the presence of God within!
That stunning truth is the more enhanced when it is considered in the light of the context in v. 9-11. There the apostle catalogues some of the grosser forms of sin which exclude men from the kingdom of God, but goes on to say, "And such were some of you…" Christians are formed out of the rough clay of fallen, sinful humanity. When the Savior died upon the cross, he died for the worst as well as the "best" of sinners. The church at Corinth included some from the dregs of that decadent society, washed, sanctified and justified "in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." It is no less the case today. The only sinner who cannot be saved is the sinner who will not be saved.
The text before us reminds us that so great a privilege, lifting us from the depths of ruin and spiritual vacuum to the position of God-inhabited men and women, did not come cheap. "Ye are bought with a price." The apostle Peter affirmed the same thing when he remarked, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (I Pet. 1:18-19)."
You and I will never be able to comprehend the price of our redemption, for its value is infinite. Could we but understand it, it would be realized from the Savior's cry from the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The Son of God was forsaken that we might not have to be, but it is that rupture of the very fabric of deity that is the ultimate measure of the cost of our salvation.
That price, securing our deliverance and transforming us into temples of the living God, is the ground for the declaration, "Ye are not your own." And it is the ground of the "therefore" of v.20. "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Privilege inevitably brings responsibility. It is our privilege to be now temples of the Holy Ghost. It is therefore our responsibility to glorify God. And it is important to note the Holy Spirit's conjunction, "…in your body and in your spirit…" The whole man is redeemed, and the whole man is responsible to the One who paid the price of his redemption.
Some years ago there was a movement somewhere in our country teaching that our salvation was essentially spiritual, so it did not matter what we did in the body. The flesh was one thing, and the spirit another. This, of course, was only a modern revival of the old Gnostic heresy confronted most visibly in the first epistle of John. The gnostics taught that matter was inherently, incurably evil, so there was no use trying to tame it. Scripture will have none of this. The body is the vessel, the Spirit is the glorious Occupant, and the Christian is by grace equipped to glorify God in the whole man. If we are inwardly sanctified, we will be morally upright; the inward condition will effect our outward conduct, and that in terms of the character of God as revealed in His word.
The "temple of the Holy Ghost" should be transparent, deriving "the beauty of holiness" from its divine inhabitant, and revealing His presence in our walk before "the watching world." There used to be a rather popular gospel tract developing the theme, "My heart,Christ's home." While we can recognize the point, our text for today would suggest a different title: "My body, Christ's home." Thus the apostle declares, " But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness…for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness (Rom. 6:17-19)." It is with the members of our body that expression is to be given to the indwelling Holy Spirit, thus glorifying God.
Living for Jesus a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free, This is the pathway of blessing for me.
Living for Jesus who died in my place, Bearing on Calvary my sin and disgrace;
Such love constrains me to answer His call, Follow His leading and give Him my all.
CHO: Oh Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, Didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, My heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.
With HIS purpose in mind,
"Pastor" Frasier
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