Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? – 1 Corinthians 3:16
This may not sound revolutionary to us. As people of faith we have long heard about the indwelling of the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit. However, I want to take a moment for us realize how revolutionary this line of thinking really was for the early Christians.
God is often thought of us distant, as a powerful being beyond comprehension. Even the early Israelites believed that God’s presence was too powerful to behold. Even after building the temple in which to worship, there was a veil over the place where God’s presence was said to dwell. When we get to the accounts of the time of Jesus death, we learn that when Jesus gives up his spirit into the hands of God, that the veil in the temple is torn in two. Later, Jesus breathes the Spirit into his disciples (John 20:22).
This powerful act is a sign of the new covenant between God and people through Jesus. We now are the place where the presence of God is pleased to dwell. As we live into our faith, God is with us, as close as a heartbeat or word on our lips. God’s dwelling place is with us, and is revealed to us as our Emmanuel (literally, God with us). The enormity of our understanding of God that changes through the bible is what helps us understand the one God as a trinity, or One God in three persons. The Father is God, creating, sustaining, all powerful. The Son, came and walked among us, offered salvation through his death and resurrection, The Holy Spirit is God that dwells within, leading us ever deeper in relationship with God.
Yet, at the same time, all of these ‘persons’ are the same, One God. Thus, God dwells within, and we are a temple of God’s presence. The divine spark is in each of us through faith, and it pleases God that we act and speak in His divine love.
Grace & Peace,
Sam