I have heard of aleast two understandings of what the temple of God is today and I wanted to get an idea what all of you think where the temple of God is present..

1. I have understood and believe that the church corporate is the temple of God which offer up spiritual sacrifices to God as we ascend to the throne of grace and Dialog with our Creator. Based on I Peter 2:4-10.


2. Now I was having a discussion with one of my brother in laws on the matter of worship and of course he is very dispensational and he did not believe that the corporate Lord's Day worship of the church is the spiritual temple of God but that the temple of God is present within us as individuals at all time.. I think he might be mixing up the dwelling of the spirit with the temple of God but I am not sure... He really gave no passage for proof, just as matter of fact... He could be using "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).


So my question is, is it option 1 or option 2 or both which is option 3.

Any Thoughts?

__________________
Michael Daniels
Reformed, RPCNA
Denton, Maryland

[i][b]As For Me And My House, We Will Serve The Lord[/i][/b]

[SIZE="1"][I][FONT="Century Gothic"]Unum Deum in Trinitate: Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus [RIGHT]Sola scriptura - Sola gratia - Sola fide - Solus Christus - Soli Deo gloria - Solum psalterium - Lex talionis[/RIGHT][/FONT][/I][/SIZE]

The answer is both & more. Jesus Christ also called his body the temple.

The definitive study on this subject is G.K. Beale's The Temple and the Church's Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God. Excellent book!

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Wes Bredenhof
Co-pastor, Langley Canadian Reformed Church
Langley, British Columbia
www.bredenhof.ca

I may speak out of ignorance now but my understanding is the Tabernacle initially and the Temple subsequently was the place where God dwelled with His people according to His promise. (Ex. 29:45; 1 King 6:13; 2 Cor. 6:16)

At the incarnation of Christ, the Temple was no longer where God dwelled among His people, but it was in the body of Christ, who was called Immanuel (God is with us). It was for this reason Christ could prophesy that He would destroy the Temple and in 3 days raise it back up, for He was speaking about His body, His death, and Ressurection.

If the temple is where God lives with His people, then past that I don't know and I would be interested in the answer. I would wager to say the strongest verse is 2 Cor. 6:16.

Edit: Whoops took too long to post.

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Andrew DeShazo, Deacon, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"All of us stumble in many ways, but if anyone is never at fault in what he says, then he is mature, able to control his whole body."(James 3:2)

I have a "temple" aspect personally: 1 Cor. 6:19

We together as the body form a temple: Eph. 2:21

The Temple of God "appears" when we are gathered for corporate worship: Heb. 12:22ff, not confined to one geographic locale, John 4:21ff. It is an inbreaking of heaven and eternity into our moment, a cosmic intersection of heaven and earth, cf. Gen. 28:12,17 and John 1:51.

Which leads to Jesus, the Temple (Mark 14:58), entering the heavenly temple, Heb. 9:24 & Rev. 11:19.

Perhaps, instead of attending his own "all about ME church," he might like to come with you some Sunday, and worship with you as you go up to heaven each Lord's Day, to the Lord himself, where its "all about HIM." Can't hurt to invite the guy...

__________________
Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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