The Temple of God Today
Next week in our Discovering Life Bible study, we’ll be talking about the days of the temple. So I was wondering – what is the temple today? Is there one?
There are three things that I could find in the New Testament that could be considered the Temple today.
- The Body of Christ in the whole world, made up of every true believer. The Worldwide Church. (see Ephesians 2:21 and 2Corinthians 6:16
- The body of the individual believer, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. (see 1Corinthians 3:16, 6:19)
- Jesus Himself – His physical body. (see John 2:18-22)
You could, of course, argue that all three are "the Body of Christ". So the Body of Christ is the temple today. And if you’re a believer, you’re a part of it.
As you may know, nowhere is the place where believers meet called a "temple" (except, of course, for when they met in the physical temple in Jerusalem). So I think we need to be very careful not to equate the Old Testament Temple with a church meeting place. Today, the place we meet is not important (though meeting together is (Hebrews 10:24-25)) – we worship God "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:21-24). In fact, we worship God in Christ.
Did I miss anything? Is there anything else in the New Testament that could be considered a temple today?
Solomon Dedicates the Temple
Painting attributed to James Jacques Joseph Tissot