THE "BODY" IN I CORINTHIANS 3:16-17; 6:19; AND 11:27-29

            1. The body as God’s temple (3:16-23)

2. The Corinthians judge the Apostles (4:1-21)

3. Judging immorality in the church (5:1-5)

4. Corinthians’ boasting (5:6-8)

3'. Judging immorality in the church (5:9-13)

2'. The Corinthians go to pagan judges (6:1-8)

1'. The body as God’s temple (6:9-20)

There are two parallel passages found in I Corinthians stating that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Both of these passages are popularly considered as admonitions to Christians to take good physical care of themselves: avoid excess drinking, smoking, and pill-popping. There is nothing wrong with these teachings, but that isn't really what these two passages are all about.

Let's look at what scholars have to say about I Corinthians 3:16-17: Because the plural form of “you” and “your” appears in these verses, it is almost universally felt by Bible commentators that their intended audience is actually the church, the assembly of believers, rather than each individual believer.

        “...since there is only one God, he can have only one temple in Corinth, and they are it. They became that new temple by the fact that 'God's Spirit lives in you.' Most likely Paul meant by this not that the Spirit dwelt in each of them, true as that would be for him, but that the Spirit of God 'lives in your midst.' That is, Paul is here reflecting on the church as the corporate place of God's dwelling...” (Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians)

Concerning I Corinthians 6:19, there is slightly more disagreement, but the corporate meaning of body is still stressed by some commentators.

        “...the Christian society is the particular sphere in which the Holy Spirit operates...At this point he is trying to impress his readers that they collectively are Christ's body, his physical presence in the world..” (Orr and Walther, I Corinthians)

        “Your body: Paul's words regard the body of every believer, but also the bodies of all the believers together...'your body' implies that the whole of the bodies is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” (F. W. Grosheide, The First Epistle to the Corinthians)

One very important implication of this proper understanding of “body” in these passages involves the teaching that some people derive from I Corinthians 3:17. Since it contains a threat against anyone who destroys God's temple, it has been said that those who commit suicide obviously fall into that category. But in reality, the curse is directed toward those who through their actions harm the corporate body of Christ, the church and its individual congregations.

Here is another passage, also from I Corinthians (11:27-29) and involving the communion service, in which the meaning of the word “body” is often misunderstood. The main problem in interpretation concerns the ending phrase in which there is a warning against those who do not judge, recognize or discern the body rightly. In the church I grew up in, we applied this to the question of whether children should take communion. If they were too young to really discern that the communion bread stood for Christ's body, then we were afraid that God might condemn them for partaking. Some denominations deal with that concern by limiting communion only to those who have undergone proper training through a catechism course in their particular denomination.

Then there are most Christians who would agree with the interpretation that focuses on the proper decorum and seriousness which we should observe while taking communion. Other groups zero in on the self-examination aspect to say that one can't partake of communion unless there has first been a prior confession of the sins in one's life. All of these practices may be important, but are they really the main emphasis of the passage?

What happens when you look at the larger context of these verses? The limits of the whole passage in question are clearly marked by a literary device called an inclusio: the use of similar phrases to start and end a section dealing with one basic issue.

        “I hear that there are divisions among you...When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord's supper. For when you eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk...you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing...” vv. 18-22

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        “So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, you will not be condemned.” vv. 33-34a

The particular passage in question is sandwiched between these two similar statements that set the tone for the whole section. Paul is telling the Corinthians that if they don't properly consider the whole body of Christ to include the poorer ones in their congregation, but instead treat them as second-class citizens while continuing to partake of the Lord's Supper, then they are eating and drinking judgment on themselves.

Why do we misinterpret these various passages in I Corinthians by applying them almost exclusively to our individual selves instead of their proper emphasis, which is on the Christian community as a whole? The book entitled Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes hits the nail on the head when it explains that we live in an individualistic society where the most important thing in our lives is reaching our own personal potentials and goals instead of finding our role in building up the corporate temple of God, the body of Christ, the Church.