What is the context?
God’s building is now called His temple. Paul is addressing the gathered community: they themselves are God’s temple because His Spirit dwells among them. The warning belongs to his concern about what teachers and members are doing to that community.
The Greek word for temple is naos (nah-OSS), ναός, used for a sanctuary. Thayer’s entry identifies its use here for a community in which God’s Spirit dwells. Paul gives ordinary believers the dignity and responsibility of belonging to God’s holy dwelling.
The warning about destroying the temple is stronger than the earlier picture of work burning up. God takes the harm done to His people seriously. Divisions and teaching that corrupt the community cannot be treated as harmless competition among personalities.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly read this as identifying the community as God’s holy dwelling and warning against corrupting it. Calvin’s comment on verse 16 explicitly treats the believers collectively as one temple; Wesley’s note on verse 17 reads destruction as a warning of judgment, distinct from the builder who is saved in verse 15.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Ephesians 2:19–22 describes people brought together in Christ as a holy temple and a dwelling for God by the Spirit. The picture belongs to God making one household from those once separated.
Revelation 21:22–27 carries the theme of God’s presence to its final setting: the city has no temple because God and the Lamb are its temple, and the nations walk by its light. Caring for God’s people now belongs within His larger purpose to dwell with them in holiness.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.