Do You Consider Your Body as a Temple of the Holy Spirit?

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…” 1 Cor. 6:19

Are you  a believer in Christ?  Then your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit!

It’s really important for you to see your body as the Lord does and learn to  care for your body for His purpose.

Do you  consider your body to be troublesome–plagued by sickness, injuries, allergies and  more?

Regardless, the Bible calls it an “earthen vessel”  that contains a priceless treasure—the Christ of glory. It’s this precious treasure that makes an “earthen vessel” like you and me a “temple of the Holy Spirit.”

First Corinthians 6:19-20 says,

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.”

So in this post we’ll consider God’s plan for our body according to His Word. We’ll see how He preserves our body in His salvation and how we can care for our body, as His temple, by following His indwelling Spirit in our spirit.

God’s plan for our body as a temple of the Holy Spirit

First Corinthians 6:13, footnote 2 in the Recovery Version gives a bird’s-eye view of God’s plan for our body,

“Our body was created for the Lord, and the Lord within us is for our body. He feeds it with material food (Psa. 103:5) and gives it His resurrection life (Rom. 8:11), which swallows its death element along with its weakness and sickness. Eventually, He will transfigure it, conforming it to His glorious body. We should not abuse it by committing fornication.”

First, our body was “created  for the Lord”—He created us for His purpose

God has a purpose for your body. It’s an earthen vessel to contain Christ, the most valuable treasure.  To be a fitting container for Christ, God made you as His vessel with three parts—spirit, soul and body.

For more appreciation of this point, you may want to read, How God Created You with a Body, Soul and Spirit to Contain Him.

We’ve pointed out that our spirit is crucial because our spirit can contact and receive the Lord.

We’ve also pointed out in another post that our soul is important  because it’s the means for us to express the Lord. And that’s right.

But without your God-created body you’d have no way to contact all the things in this material universe. Without your body you’d have no container for your soul and spirit. So you shouldn’t despise your body or mistreat it.

Rather, we need to appreciate how God made us. As believers, we need to see that we are “awesomely and wonderfully made.”

 Psalm 139:14 says,

“I will praise You; for I am awesomely and wonderfully made: Your works are wonderful, And my soul knows it well.”

So take a moment to praise and thank the Lord for how He made you,

“Lord, I praise you for making me in such an awesome and wonderful way.  I thank you for making me with a body, soul and spirit to contain You. I respect Your creation of me. Show me how You want me to take care of my body so that in it, I might fulfill Your holy purpose.”

Second, our Lord “feeds our body with material food”—He cares for our existence

God cares for our body so that we can live for Him. The question is, “Do we care for our body as He does?”

He feeds it and clothes it. The Lord reminded us in Matthew 6:19-34 of our heavenly Father’s good care in providing for our food, drink and clothing. He really cares for our needs.

But we still need to cooperate with the Lord’s care for our body by:

• Eating proper amounts of healthy food  (1 Cor. 6:12-13).
• Exercising our body regularly (1 Tim. 4:8).
• Resting our body adequately (Psalm 127:2).
• Not damaging our body with fornication (1 Cor. 6:12-13).

We shouldn’t let our body control us. Rather, as Paul said, we need to buffet our body, and make it our slave. This isn’t to practice some kind of asceticism but to make our body our slave to fulfill our holy purpose.  Footnote 1 on 1 Corinthians 9:27  presents this point.

So we need to take care of our body, so that we can live a longer life to experience Christ and grow in Him, as I’ll mention in the next section.

Third, our Lord “gives our body His resurrection life”—He imparts His life into our body

From the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus, we’re regenerated, born of the Spirit in our spirit with the divine life. Our spirit is enlivened (Rom. 8:10).

Then, as we set our mind on the spirit, especially by means of prayer and the Word, our mind is renewed, and becomes a mind of life and peace (Rom. 8:6). In this way we’re being transformed in our soul.

But what about our body? As we cooperate with the Lord, He gives divine life to our mortal body. Christ’s resurrection life swallows the death element in our body along with its weakness and sickness.

Romans 8:11 says,

 “And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

Maybe this was your experience: You knew you should spend time with the Lord. But, you couldn’t  stay awake to pray or read God’s Word. However, when the Lord gives His life to your mortal body, you’re energized to pray, read His Word and live a life for His purpose.

Fourth, “He will transfigure our body”–He will conform our body to His glorious body

Philippians 3:21 says,

“Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory…”

Finally, at His second coming, Christ will transfigure our body, making it a glorified body, like the body of His glory.

In this way, God will complete the work of His salvation by making us the same as Christ in all three parts of our being–spirit, soul and body.

“Glorify God in your body”–today

But what should we do now? We should glorify God in our body.

As 1 Corinthians 6:20, note 2  points out, to glorify God in our body is to “allow God to occupy and saturate our body and express Himself through our body as His temple.”

Here are a couple of ways to glorify God in your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit:

1. Put to death the practices of your body by the Spirit (Rom. 8:13). To take care of your body so that it can serve God’s purpose, the Lord may touch you on certain practices of your body that are a hindrance to His purpose that need to be dealt with by His Spirit.

For example, He might touch you regarding how late you stay up at night. Hanging out on the computer too late may make it difficult for you to get up in the morning to begin your day with Him.

2. Present your body as a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1). Each morning, when you get up, present your body to the Lord. We may say that we love the Lord, but without presenting our body, with our time, we’re not being practical.

He may want us to read His Word, pray, preach the gospel to the unsaved, or participate in Christian gatherings for the building up of His Body. This kind of service requires the presenting of our body, with our time.

Even if you feel that you don’t have much to offer the Lord, presenting your body means a lot. It is the beginning of a Christian living that can fulfill His purpose.

Maybe you can add to this list of ways to glorify God in your body. Please share your appreciation in a comment.

References and Further reading:

• This post was inspired by the footnotes on 1 Corinthians 6:13-20 in the New Testament Recovery Version. You can order a free copy from Bibles for America or read it online.
• For more appreciation for the  points in this post you may want to read the companion exposition, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, by Witness Lee, especially messages 38-40.  You can freely read them online at ministrybooks.org.
• Here are some hymns to strengthen the point of this post:
  • “Christ is the hope of glory” and View Lyrics
  • “Man is a being of three parts” and View Lyrics, especially stanzas 1-2, 8
  • “Earthen vessel I was made” and View Lyrics