On Destroying the Local Church

Paul has made clear the responsibility of the church elders (pastors). They are to build upon the foundation of Christ, not using any other material but the Gospel to build up the body of Christ. Each pastor is responsible to work hard at preaching and teaching in a way that is faithful to the explicit Gospel—the person and work of Christ alone. The congregation isn’t to worship any pastor because they are all doing the same work. They are all to give the work of preaching and teaching their best effort because God desires quality. Why is the pastor to work hard in order to rightly divide the word of God for the good of the local church? Why is the church not to idolize any pastor or personality?

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”

So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

The holiness of the church (v. 16-17)

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Paul, addressing the local church congregation (1:2), reminds the congregation that it is a temple of God. Why should the church body not by puffed up in its own knowledge? Why should the local church not idolize its pastor(s) but commission him to work hard at preaching and teaching faithfully? Do the local church members not know that they are, together, a single temple of God and the spirit dwells in them?

Paul will work out his reasoning as we move through the text. Here, he gets at the true identity of the local church—not as Paulites or Appolosites or Cephasites, but as a temple of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Consider Paul’s grammar:

• “You” is plural, indicating that Paul is addressing a group of individuals. Paul never forsakes the individual personhood or salvation of any believer.
• “Temple” is singular, indicating that the status belongs to the group and not individuals by themselves. No one is in Christ without being part of His body—the church. You cannot lay bricks in random places and recognize them as a house. A lone plant growing wildly in the woods is not a garden. If on is in Christ, he or she is part of the Christian body. If he or she is not part of the Christian body, the church, it is unlikely that he or she is in Christ or has eternal life. We don’t have to “go to church” to be saved, but if we are saved, we become part of the local church. The genuine local church is a temple, not every individual person who claims to be a Christian. In 6:19, Paul will refer to the individual’s body as a temple—not referring to a person’s place in the local church but to his or her moral responsibility under God. There, he will use the same sort of illustration to make a different point.
• “Spirit of God” is singular, indicating that there is only one Spirit who indwells all Christian individuals. There is not a Holy Spirit unique to every believer. One Holy Spirit indwells every genuine Christian individual. As such, He guides all genuine Christians the same way.

Once again, we are shown that lone-wolf Christianity is not Christianity at all and probably indicates false-conversion. One cannot be built up as Christ’s building if he or she is not in line with the other bricks. Understanding Paul’s illustration, the local church community is a temple of God, prepares us to consider Paul’s next, oft-misinterpreted statement.

If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

I have heard this verse misused in two ways. 1) Growing up, people used this verse in order to insist that we ought never get tattoos or smoke cigarettes—and so destroy the “temple.” This verse should never be so misapplied because the temple in view, here, is the local church body. No one can destroy the local church by getting a tattoo or having a cigarette. 2) A few years ago, a popular preacher used this verse to insist that Christians should never criticize church or national personalities, including himself—Don’t say anything bad about Rick Warren or Bill Johnson! This particular preacher probably would not like Paul because his interpretation was exactly opposite Paul’s explicit instruction.

If the temple of God is the local church, the any man is the one who presumes to preach and teach. The warning, here, is particularly for the one who preaches and teaches. It is not a warning for Joe Christian not to criticize his pastor or a church or national leader but for preachers and teachers not to destroy the local church with their teaching. If any preacher or teacher builds with any materials other than the gospel and so facilitates immaturity leading to division in the local church, God will destroy that preacher or teacher. We receive no details, here, as to the timing or method of that destruction. Rest assured, God judges preachers and teachers more harshly than the rest on this earth. That is why I work hard to present the Bible, not getting my theology from the newspaper or my own experiences. The position I find myself in is terrifying. I, along with all other preachers and teachers, should be terrified to get this wrong—lest the purifying fire burn away all our contributions to the kingdom and we be raptured naked into glory. Be careful not to take a sledgehammer to the local church by failing to present Scripture sincerely and faithfully. For, we are ambassadors for Christ, not the social or cultural movements of the world. I once heard it said that one must have a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other in order to prepare a good sermon. False. Sola Scriptura. We are charged by God not to preach worldly issues or, like David Platt recently did, apologize for being white. Our identity is in Christ. We have died to self. We teach according to His agenda, not the agenda pushed on us by the world or according to our feelings. God will destroy us if we are not about what He has revealed—if we are ambassadors of anyone or anything other than Him. Woe to preachers, then, who are double-agents.

The humility of the church (v. 18-20)

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”

Paul knows how difficult this teaching is to accept. So, he instructs his audience not to deceive itself. If you think you are wise according to the ways of the world, become foolish. Like Paul, determine to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. Why? God is revealing the wisdom of the world for what it is—foolishness. Why do you think it is always those who are caught up in their own knowledge and pride who cause trouble in the church? Why do you think these are the ones who ultimately leave a local church body and are unable to participate sincerely? God has made it plain. He is revealing the wisdom of the world as foolishness and people don’t like to be revealed as fools. Paul even shows that God has always been doing this work by quoting Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11. God is in the business of offending prideful people.

This biblical claim causes me to consider my own ministry. I am a little young to be an elder of God’s church. My background isn’t so spiritual. I’m not the type of person you’d expect to become a pastor. I was not always able to retain the knowledge I am now able to retain, and I certainly did not begin with the exegetical ability I have. To be honest, I sometimes marvel at the cognitive ability I have—wondering where the heck it came from. Then, I read that all of those things are spiritual gifts (cf. 12:8-11). I recognize that God has raised up me, the foolishness of the world in youth, to shame the wise of this world. That’s one way in which God shames those who are wise according to the ways of the world. Indeed, people complain about my youth and use that as an excuse to forsake God and His church. I have seen it throughout my ministry. God uses many foolish things according to the standards of the world to shame those who think they are wise. It is His work for His glory. He has prepared praise for Himself from the mouths of babes in order to shame the wise. In order to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must all become like children (cf. Matthew 11:25). As I age, I hope I become humbler rather than more prideful in my own knowledge—else younger men will shame me as well.

Paul calls the local church out to be a people of humility rather than pride. Worldly people criticize what God is doing based on the standards of the world. Godly people recognize that God is at work, humble themselves, and participate with God instead of getting puffed up. Such is the difference between those who have the Holy Spirit and those who do not. If we have died to self and are, consequently, humble, God is for us and not against us.

The position of the church (v. 21-23)

So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

Because it’s all about God, we do not boast in people. Paul has in view those who have the preaching and teaching responsibilities of the local church. We do not boast in them. My congregation cannot boast in me. I don’t want people telling others about this bright young preacher at The Church at Sunsites, and I don’t want people coming here because I fill the pulpit. I don’t want people leaving or staying based on anything about me. We do not boast in men. Why do we not boast in men?

We do not boast in men because all things belong to the local church. Well, here is a statement that’s going to really mess up someone’s doctrine. By Paul’s claim, he belongs to the local church. Apollos belongs the local church. Cephas belongs to the local church. The elders of the church are not to be idolized because they are slaves. The local church is the authoritative body, here—that’s congregationalism. The elders serve the church by faithfully expositing God’s word rather than their own. There is no room for celebrities or pastor-CEOs because the elders are slaves to the community of faith.

Paul continues. The world belongs to the local church. Life belongs to the local church. Death belongs to the local church. Present things belong to the local church. Future things belong to the local church. All things belong to the local church… The local church has already received its inheritance with Christ—who was given all authority in heaven and on earth at His death and resurrection (Matthew 28:18). Paul’s statement necessarily means that Christ is reigning in the church age through the local church. His kingdom is here. He was not lying when He claimed that the kingdom of heaven was at hand (c.f Matthew 4:17). Paul is using basically post- or amillennial language to describe the authority of the local church in the world in the present age.

These explicit biblical claims cause us to think about the way we live in the world as a local church. In light of biblical teaching, the whole congregation is directly involved and responsible to participate in Christ’s work. We are a kingdom of priests. We are currently to steward the world as representative rulers under Christ. As the church goes, so goes the world. There is a reason entire nations fall when church doctrine becomes corrupt or when the church retreats from its responsibility to lead the world. We have seen such a pattern in the United States. Doctrine was corrupted, the church retreated from its responsibility, and now we see the consequences—the denigration of morality, faith, unity, family and life. As goes the church, so goes the world. So, we take the Gospel to the world rather than retreating and handing the world over to Hell. Hell does not not win. The church in Christ does.

All things belong to the local church. The members of the local church belong to Christ. Christ is the one reigning. Christ belongs to God (the Father). The Father’s will is always the will being done. Christ is always the one revealing and doing the Father’s will. Such eternal generation (or eternal subordination, a term I don’t care much for) is one of the great mysteries of the innertrinitarian relationships that we will expound on more as we work through 1 Corinthians—when we get to a more explicit passage.

May we follow Christ as representative rulers on His earth, not shucking our responsibilities as His local temples.