It is usual to regard these verses as referring to the individual Christian, but the Epistle is addressed "unto the Church of God which is at Corinth," and we may profitably dwell on some thoughts suggested by the comparison; premising that the peculiarities of ancient temples are well understood. The central building of a structure called a temple was not a place of meeting or of worship, it was the sacred shrine or dwelling place of the deity. Round this central building were grouped the courts in which worship was conducted. Eastern people are extremely jealous about the sanctity of their temples. The Christian system transfers the sanctity from the buildings to the body of believers, and even to the individual believer. All the sacredness which Jews felt to surround their temple at Jerusalem Christians ought to feel surrounds them and the Church; consequently each Christian should anxiously guard the Church, lest it should be injured by false teachings or defiled by the evil living of any of its members, No doubt St. Paul had chiefly in mind to warn all those teachers who were likely so to teach as to split the Church into divisions; for, in his thought, the Church is one great whole, and strife and party feeling are the very things that most seriously defile it.
I. THE CHURCH A TEMPLE, WITH AN INDWELLING DEITY. Compare the descent of God, in his symbol of fiery cloud, to take up his abode in Solomon's temple, with the descent of God the Holy Ghost—manifest through symbols of wind, fire, and tongues—to take up his abode in his Church, on the day of Pentecost. Observe how clearly St. Paul apprehended the truth of God's real and permanent presence with his Church, and how strongly he urges the consequent sanctity of the Church. It may be true that God is not seen, but he was not seen in the earlier shrines of tabernacle and temple. He is not therefore unknown or unfelt. Spiritual worshippers realized his presence in the older days; and spiritually quickened men and women feel his nearness now. How should we think of ourselves; how of each other; and how of the Church, if it be true that "God dwelleth with us, and is in us"?
II. THE INDWELLING DEITY UNIFIES AND SANCTIFIES THE WHOLE TEMPLE PRECINCTS. If he makes that innermost chamber the "holy of holies," because his cloud symbol, his Shechinah glory, rests there; his presence makes the outer chamber holy, and the courts all holy, and the altar and layers and utensils all holy. And if Christ "dwells in our hearts," and makes them like the holy of holies, we must realize that he sanctifies all our being and all our relations; sanctifies mind, affection, will, body, so that the prophetic figure should be fulfilled, and in the Christian life and Christian Church holiness should be inscribed on the very "bells of the horses.". The one anxious endeavour of a Christian life is to get all the "courts" of our body temple wholly sanctified.
III. THE OLD LAWS OF JUDGMENT ON THE DEFILEMENT OF GOD'S TEMPLE APPLY TO THE CHRISTIAN TEMPLE. Compare Exodus 28:43; Leviticus 16:2. The word used here, "defile the temple of God," is better read "destroy," as the opposite of "building up," which is the Christian teacher's duty. Ways in which a man may defile, or destroy, the temple of God, which he is himself, or which the Church is, may be detailed and illustrated. We may be sure that God will punish does punish—all dishonour done to his spiritual temples.
Impress how the cherished thought of our temple like sanctity would influence our daily life and conversation. As ever present with us, God seems to say to us continually, "Be ye holy; for I am holy."—R.T.
1 Corinthians 3:13-23
The cure for the party spirit.
Having still in mind the difficulty occasioned by those who claimed to be superior teachers; and gathered parties round them, the apostle proceeds to show that merely human wisdom is in itself worthless for spiritual purposes, and, therefore, that the possession of it alone is no reason for the exaltation of the teacher who is endowed with it." A man over confident in his superior knowledge is always a dangerous man. The most learned are always the most humble. "A child like willingness to learn is the first step towards the true wisdom." To find the cure for the party spirit, we must search for the real root of its evil; just as the physician who would remove disease and restore health must discover precisely where the disease is seated and what are its essential features.
I. THE ROOT OF THE PARTY SPIRIT. It is precisely self satisfaction, but it may take form as
A man wants to be separate from his brethren and to be counted superior to them. The party spirit is not, however, only shown in the leaders; there are persons who are weakly willing to take sides and follow leaders, and he who follows may be quite as wrong and as mischievous as he who leads. The root of the evil, the self seeking spirit, may be equally found in them both. Illustrate the evil of the party spirit by the silent, spreading, fatal influences of a cancer; and give cases of sectarian evil from Church history. In every age the Church has suffered from those who broke away from her unity, following this leader and that.
II. THE CURE OF THE PARTY SPIRIT. It is found in a full and worthy estimate of our rights, privileges, and possessions in Christ. If we enter into and maintain right relations with Christ, we shall certainly be delivered from any undue allegiance to men. Christ is Lord, and he is supreme; all teachers are but ministers, Divine agents, by whom we believe, and who are graciously used to help our spiritual joy. Christ alone is ours to follow and obey, ministers and teachers are ours to use and to honour for their works' sake. All are God's; all are in commission to Christ; all are in use, by him, for the instruction and edification of his Church; and therefore we ought to follow after no one of them, but only after Christ. "Let party spirit cease. Do not degrade yourselves by calling yourselves after the names of any man, foreverything is yours—these teachers only exist for you. The enthusiasm of the apostle, as he speaks of the privileges of Christians, leads him on beyond the bare assertion necessary to the logical conclusion of his argument, and, enlarging the idea, he dwells, in a few brief and impressive utterances, on the limitless possessions—in life and in death, in the present life and that which is future—which belong to those who are united with Christ." F. W. Robertson finely dwells on the freedom from party following which those have who are supremely loyal to Christ: "Then it is that he is emancipated from circumstances then, all things are his—this marvellous life, so full of endless meanings, so pregnant with infinite opportunities. Still more death, which seems to come to him like a tyrant commanding him when it will—death is his in Christ, his minister to lead him to higher life. Paul is his, to teach him freedom. Apollos his, to animate him with his eloquence. Cephas his, to fire him with his courage. Every author his, to impart to him his treasures. But remark, that St. Paul refers all this to the universal law of sacrifice: all things are ours on this condition—that we are Christ's. The law which made Christ God's has made us Christ's. All things are yours, that is, serve you; but they only discharge the mission and obey the law involuntarily that yon are called on to discharge and obey voluntarily—the law to which Christ was subject, for Christ 'was God's.' So that, when the law of the cross is the law of our being—when we have learnt to surrender ourselves—then, and then only, we are free from all things: they are ours, not we theirs; we use them, instead of being crushed by them."
Conclude by showing the peril of nourishing the party spirit in these days, when particular aspects of doctrine are so hotly contested. There may be party feeling doing copious mischief within Christian communities, though it may not reach the length of separation or schism. We need anxiously to watch against the beginnings of this evil in ourselves and in others.—R.T.
1 Corinthians
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