1 Corinthians 3:16-18 - Do not deceive yourselves

3:16

The “you” here is plural, so Paul is addressing the church as a whole. The words could be taken as applying to each individual member, or to the church as a whole, or to both. Given v17, it is clear that here Paul is thinking primarily of the church. Later on he will be concerned with us individually being temples. It is vital that we have a proper view of ourselves and of the church. We are not a human organisation, we do not live our lives purely out of our own resources. We are God’s temple. Individually we are temples of the Holy Spirit, together we are God’s church. We belong to Him, and we are here so that His life can flow through us, not so that we go along with the world and its futile thinking.

3:17

There were those who were working for their own ends, seeking to sow disunity in order to further themselves or their own cause. Such a person needs to be aware that in attacking the church, they are attacking God’s temple, they are attacking God Himself. Such a person can expect nothing but judgement from God. We need to have a very sober view. God’s temple is sacred, and we are God’s temple, so we are sacred. A person messes with God’s church at their peril.

3:18

There is a great temptation to want to be wise in the world’s eyes. We all like it when people agree with us or think well of us. So we quite like it when the world says how wise we are. So there is a temptation to try to do things that we think the world will recognise as wise. This was a danger for some in Corinth, they wanted to appear wise in the world’s eyes. Today we see exactly the same thing happening with LGBT issues, especially gay “marriage”. If a church decides to accept and bless gay “marriage” it is seen as being progressive, as wisely accepting the way the world is going. However, the Corinthians were deceiving themselves, and the churches which are collapsing on same-sex marriage are deceived. Why choose the world’s “wisdom” when it goes directly against God’s wisdom? “You should become fools so that we you may become wise”. Paul is not advising them to become idiots, but to choose God’s wisdom over man’s wisdom. God has a far better idea of how things should be than the world has!