“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”— 1 Cor. 3:16.
INDIVIDUALLY each believer’s body is spoken of as a temple of the Holy Spirit, as in 1 Cor. 6:19. Collectively, the entire Church is called “the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16). This is the building of living stones (1 Peter 2:5), the house of God (Heb. 3:6; 1 Tim. 3:15), the habitation in which He dwells and through which He reveals Himself to the world (Eph. 2:20-22). We read in Psalms 93:5, “Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, forever.” So, whether as individuals or in our collective capacity, we are responsible to walk before God in holiness and righteousness, as controlled by His Spirit who dwells within us.
The Holy Spirit in the believer is grieved by any careless behavior or intemperate indulgences which war against the soul; and so long as He is thus grieved He is not free to carry on His special ministry of taking the things of Christ and making them real to us.
“Created by Omnipotence,
And fashioned by the Only Wise,
Who bade us from the dust arise,
I bow before unerring love,
And humbly say before His throne,
‘Thine am I, Lord, and not my own.’
Created now anew in Christ,
By faith in His atoning death,
And quickened by the Spirit’s breath,
I own God’s two-fold inwrought claim.
And gladly say without reserve,
‘Thine am I, Lord, and Thee I serve’.”
—W. R. Moore.