Concerning the church as the temple of God, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 17, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God shall destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which you are.” In verse 16 “a temple of God” refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, whereas “the temple of God” in verse 17 refers to all the believers universally. The unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expressions in many localities on earth. Each expression is a temple of God in that locality.
God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9) is the sanctuary of the holy God, the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells. We, the builders of such a holy temple, should realize this so that we may be careful to build not with the worthless materials of wood, grass, and stubble but with the precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones (vv. 10-12), which correspond to God’s nature and economy.
A verse that clearly speaks of the house of God is 1 Timothy 3:15. Here Paul says, “If I delay, that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” As God’s dwelling place, the church is both God’s house and His household, His family. In the Old Testament the temple and God’s people were two separate things, but in the fulfillment in the New Testament the dwelling place and the family are one.
First Timothy 3:15 and 16 reveal that the church as the house of God is also the manifestation of God in the flesh-the mystery of godliness. God is manifested in the church, the Body of Christ and the house of the living God, as the enlarged, corporate expression in the flesh. This means that the church becomes the continuation of Christ’s manifestation of God in the flesh. This is the great mystery of godliness: Christ lived out of the church, the house of the living God, as the manifestation of God in the flesh. Therefore, the church as the house of God is the continuation, the enlargement, the increase, and the expansion of God manifested in the flesh. In the church God is manifested in the flesh in a wider way according to the New Testament principle of incarnation.
Finally, the recovery of the church involves the establishing of the kingdom life. This is indicated by Paul’s word in Romans 14:17. “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This verse reveals that the kingdom of God is the living of the church. According to the context of Romans 14, the kingdom is today’s church life. The reality of the church life is the kingdom. Romans 12 speaks of the Body life and Romans 14, of the kingdom life. This indicates that, according to Romans, the kingdom life is the reality of the Body life.
The kingdom of God as the living of the church is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. When the authority of God’s kingdom operates in us, righteousness, peace, and joy will characterize our daily life. To have such a living is to establish the kingdom life as typified in the book of Nehemiah by the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, in the recovery of the church, we are building up the church as God’s house and city.
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