3:16 {9} Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
(9) Continuing still in the metaphor of building, he teaches us that this ambition is not only vain, but also sacrilegious: for he says that the Church is as it were the Temple of God, which God has as it were consecrated to himself by his Spirit. Then turning himself to these ambitious men, he shows that they profane the Temple of God, because those vain arts in which they please themselves so much are, as he teaches, many pollutions of the holy doctrine of God, and the purity of the Church. This wickedness will not go unpunished.
3:16 Ye are the temple of God. In 1Co 3:9 the apostle had said, Ye are God's building. Now he returns to that figure, and denounces the judgment of God upon all who would defile his house by their carnal divisions.
3:16 Ye - All Christians. Are the temple of God - The most noble kind of building, 1Cor 3:9.
3:16,17 From other parts of the epistle, it appears that the false teachers among the Corinthians taught unholy doctrines. Such teaching tended to corrupt, to pollute, and destroy the building, which should be kept pure and holy for God. Those who spread loose principles, which render the church of God unholy, bring destruction upon themselves. Christ by his Spirit dwells in all true believers. Christians are holy by profession, and should be pure and clean, both in heart and conversation. He is deceived who deems himself the temple of the Holy Ghost, yet is unconcerned about personal holiness, or the peace and purity of the church.
