1 Corinthians 3:16

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
ye	εἴδω eídō	G1492	used only in certain past tenses
not	Οὐκ Ouk	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
that	ὅτι hoti	G3754	demonstrative · conjunction
are	ἐστέ esté	G2075	ye are
temple	ναὸς naos	G3485	a fane · noun — nominative singular masculine
God	θεοῦ theou	G2316	figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
Spirit	πνεῦμα pneuma	G4151	a current of air · noun — nominative singular neuter
God	θεοῦ theou	G2316	figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
dwelleth	οἰκεῖ oikei	G3611	to occupy a house · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
in	ἐν en	G1722	"in · preposition
you	ὑμῖν hymîn	G5213	to (with or by) you

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and w…
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mor…
Ephesians 2:21-22 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,…
John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth wit…
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Here the apostle resumes his argument and exhortation, founding it on his former allusion, You are God's building, Co1 3:9, and here, Know you not that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile (corrupt and destroy) the temple of God, him shall God destroy (the same word is in the original in both clauses); for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. It looks from other parts of the epistle, where the apostle argues to the very same purport (see Co1 6:13-20), as if the false teachers among the Corinthians were not only loose livers, but taught licentious doctrines, and what was particularly fitted to the taste of this lewd city, on the head…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 3:16

Know ye not--It is no new thing I tell you, in calling you "God's building"; ye know and ought to remember, ye are the noblest kind of building, "the temple of God." ye--all Christians form together one vast temple. The expression is not, "ye are temples," but "ye are the temple" collectively, and "lively stones" (Pe1 2:5) individually. God . . . Spirit--God's indwelling, and that of the Holy Spirit, are one; therefore the Holy Spirit is God. No literal "temple" is recognized by the New Testament in the Christian Church. The only one is the spiritual temple, the whole body of believing worshippers in which the Holy Spirit dwells (Co1 6:19; Joh 4:23-24). The synagogue, not the temple, was…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 3:16

Ye are the temple of God - The apostle resumes here what he had asserted in Co1 3:9 : Ye are God's building. As the whole congregation of Israel were formerly considered as the temple and habitation of God, because God dwelt among them, so here the whole Church of Corinth is called the temple of God, because all genuine believers have the Spirit of God to dwell in them; and Christ has promised to be always in the midst even of two or three who are gathered together in his name. Therefore where God is, there is his temple.

The Church Fathers

In Platonic phrase, indeed, the body is a prison, but in the apostle's it is "the temple of God," because it is in Christ.
— Tertullian, A Treatise on the Soul

If you defile your flesh, you will also defile the Holy Spirit; and if you defile your flesh and spirit, you will not live.
— Shepherd of Hermas, Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5

It is necessarily the case that God lives in his own temple. Note that because he says that the Spirit of God lives in us, the word God must be taken to refer to the Holy Spirit [in this verse].
— Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Dwell — Tents were in primitive times the common dwellings of men. Houses were afterwards built, the walls of which were frequently of mud (Job 24:16; Matt. 6:19, 20) or of sun-dried bricks. God “dwells in…
Temple — First used of the tabernacle, which is called “the temple of the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:9). In the New Testament the word is used figuratively of Christ’s human body (John 2:19, 21). Believers are called…
Body · THE TEMPLE OF GOD — THE TEMPLE OF GOD
Chastity · Breach of, punished — Breach of, punished
Defilement · Illustrative: Of unholy doctrines — Illustrative: Of unholy doctrines
Excellency And Glory Of The Church, The · Consist in its: Being the temple of God — Consist in its: Being the temple of God
Fellowship · OF THE HOLY SPIRIT — OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Holiness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Holy Spirit · 1:9,32,33;3:5,6,34;4:14;6:45,63;7:38,39;14:16,17,26;15:26;16:7-14;20:22; — 1:9,32,33;3:5,6,34;4:14;6:45,63;7:38,39;14:16,17,26;15:26;16:7-14;20:22;
Holy Spirit, The, Is God · As dwelling in saints — As dwelling in saints
Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit, The · In his Church, as his temple — In his Church, as his temple
Temple, The First

1 Corinthians 3:16

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 3:16

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 3:16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Corinthians 3:16

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 3:16

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 3:16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on 1 Corinthians 3:16

John Calvin on 1 Corinthians 3:16–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17