We have been looking at the New Testament Church and asking the question—to whom does the church belong? Last week, we discussed the phrase, “we are going to church.” Today, this phrase is erroneously used as a combination of two biblical terms: church, which is translated from the Greek word ekklesia and worship, which is translated from proskyneo. This makes the incorrect modern definition of the word “church” as used in this phrase—the place where the people meet to worship or the building. Some people would argue that this is not what they mean: “It is implied that we are meeting with the people, who make up the church, for the purpose of worshiping God,” which, if true, would make the usage of the word “church” correct; for most, however, this is not the case.

Let me demonstrate how the building has become “the church” in modern thinking. The church building has an auditorium where everyone meets; so, if the building is not special, then why is the auditorium referred to as a sanctuary and set apart? It is correct that the church is the house of God and that it should be sanctified/ set apart (John 17:17). However, the auditorium is not the sanctuary; the sanctuary is the body/ temple of the Holy Spirit. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. 6:19a). “The body” in this context is not referring to our individual bodies; it is the body of Christ, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, according to First Timothy 3:15b, “I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” In this verse, the Greek word translated “church” is ekklesia, “the called out,” which is the people assembling as the house of God/the temple, not individual people.

The concept of Christ’s body being the church is also found in Romans 12:5, “so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” Colossians 1:18 and Ephesians 1:22-23 explain that the body is the church. Therefore, if the body of Christ is the church and the church is the temple/house of God, then the house/temple of the Holy Spirit is Christ’s body, not our individual bodies.

If Christ’s body is the church and Paul addressed the Corinthian letter to the church, then he was addressing the body of Christ. “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2a). The context of First Corinthians 6:19 is fleeing sexual immorality, because they were having a problem with this sin. They had not mourned the sin of a man who had his stepmother so that it “might be taken away from among you” (1 Cor. 5:1-2). The “you” in this verse refers to the church at Corinth; because Paul’s audience is the church (1 Cor. 1:2a). One of the reasons for removing this individual from “you” is found in First Corinthians 5:9-13—they were not to keep company with the sexually immoral. First Corinthians 6:18, which is in the context of the body being the temple, also commands “Flee sexual immorality.”

First Corinthians 5:10-12 explains whom they needed to fl ee from—not the sexually immoral of the world but of the church. “For what have Ito do with judging those also who are outside (being outside the body)? Do you not judge those who are inside (the church/body)?” First Corinthians 6:18 gives the same argument—“Every sin...is outside the body but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” Again, “the body” refers to the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is the whole congregation (the church), not individuals. Each individual Christian is a stone; when all the stones are put together, they make a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4-5), and the spiritual house is the church, House of God or temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are the dwelling places/temples of our spirits (Eccl. 3:21; 2 Cor. 5:1).

The Holy Spirit is Christ’s spirit, and His temple/dwelling place is Christ’s body (the church-1 Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19; 1 Tim. 3:14-15). When we understand that the Holy Spirit dwells in Christ’s body (not ours), it is easier to understand to whom the church belongs.

Just something to consider!