1 Corinthians 3:16

1 Corinthians 3:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
• English Standard Version (ESV)Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
• New King James Version (NKJV)Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
• New Living Translation (NLT)Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

Context of 1 Corinthians 3:16

14If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. 18Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.

1 Corinthians 3:16 word by word

Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ναὸς θεοῦ ἐστε, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ οἰκεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν;Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Know yeεἴδωeidō · to perceive: understandG1492
• notοὐou · noG3756
• thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
• ye areεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• the templeναόςnaos · templeG3485
• of Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• the Spiritὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the Spiritπνεῦμαpneuma · spirit/breath: spiritG4151
• dwellethοἰκέωoikeō · to dwellG3611
• inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• youσύsu · youG4771

Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 3:16

• 1 Corinthians 5:6Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?
• 1 Corinthians 6:2Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
• 1 Corinthians 9:13Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
• Romans 6:3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
• James 4:4You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
• 2 Corinthians 6:16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
• Ephesians 2:21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
• Hebrews 3:6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
• 1 Peter 2:5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• Ezekiel 36:27And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
• John 14:17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
• Romans 8:11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
• 2 Timothy 1:14Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
• 1 John 4:12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 3:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Ye are the temple of God - The apostle resumes here what he had asserted in 1 Corinthians 3:9; : Ye are God's building. As the whole congregation of Israel were formerly considered as the temple and habitation of God, because God dwelt among them, so here the whole Church of Corinth is called the temple of God, because all genuine believers have the Spirit of God to dwell in them; and Christ has promised to be always in the midst even of two or three who…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Know ye not … - The apostle here carries forward and completes the figure which he had commenced in regard to Christians. His illustrations had been drawn from architecture; and he here proceeds to say that Christians are that building (see 1 Corinthians 3:9): that they were the sacred temple which God had reared; and that, therefore, they should be pure and holy. This is a practical application of what he had been before saying. Ye are the temple of God…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 16-17Verses 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…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16-17Christians should be careful about what they teach and how they interact with each other. The community of believers is God's temple, where God's Spirit lives (see Ephesians 2:21–22). God's temple is holy (see 1 Corinthians 1:2). There are serious consequences for anyone who harms God's temple through jealousy, arguments, or division (see 3:3–4).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. Know ye not--It is no new thing I tell you, in calling you "God's building"; ye know and ought to remember, ye are the noblest kind of building, "the temple of God." ye--all Christians form together one vast temple. The expression is not, "ye are temples," but "ye are the temple" collectively, and "lively stones" (1Pe 2:5) individually. God ... Spirit--God's indwelling, and that of the Holy Spirit, are one; therefore the Holy Spirit is God. No literal…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Corinthians 3:16

• Body
• Church
• Fellowship
• Holiness
• Holy Spirit
• Minister, Christian
• Temple

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Corinthians, First Epistle to the
• Dwell
• Foundation
• Plant
• Temple
• Builder
• Corinthians, First Epistle to the
• Ephesians, Epistle to the

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings