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?
• New International Version (NIV)Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
• English Standard Version (ESV)Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit 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 anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 18Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he 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 glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
• 1 Corinthians 6:2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
• 1 Corinthians 9:13Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?
• Romans 6:3Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
• James 4:4Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• 2 Corinthians 6:16And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”
• Ephesians 2:21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
• Hebrews 3:6but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
• 1 Peter 2:5you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• Ezekiel 36:27I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
• John 14:17the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
• Romans 8:11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
• 2 Timothy 1:14That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
• 1 John 4:12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected 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
• Corinthians, First Epistle to the
• Dwell
• Foundation
• Plant
• Temple
• Builder
• Ephesians, Epistle to the
• Exodus, the Book of
• Leviticus

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