God
Destroys Those Who Destroy His Temple
Troy
J. Edwards
If
any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1 Corinthians 3:17)
Recently
I was asked by someone to explain this passage in the light of the Biblical
truth advocated by our ministry that God, due to His divine nature of harmless
love (1 John 4:16; Rom. 13:8-10; Heb. 7:26; John 10:10; 1 Pet. 5:7-10), does
not literally or directly (by the use of His omnipotent power) bring destruction
upon anyone.
We
are to always keep in mind that the Bible is the inspired and infallible
written Word of God. Nevertheless, because it comes to us from a time and
culture far removed from our own then much of it requires explanation and
interpretation (Prov. 1:6; Luke 24:25-27; Acts 8:27-34; 2 Pet. 1:20).
God
chose to have His Word communicated via men who were part of an ancient Hebrew
culture. All cultures, both past and present, have idioms. Idioms words
that are unique to a particular language, culture and group of people. The
ancient Hebrew people were no exception. Therefore, it is important to understand
the unique idioms that were present among the culture and expressed through the
writings of God’s servants. One of the numerous idioms among the Hebrews was
the permissive idiom. The late Hebrew scholar, Robert Young, described
this particular idiom while Commenting on 2 Chron. 25:16. He explained that the
passage is, “.... agreeably to the well-known scripture idiom whereby what God
allows he is said to do.”
Though
God spoke through the language and idioms of an ancient culture He also took
into consideration the fact that His message would someday be studied by
numerous languages and cultures in different ages that might not be familiar
with ancient Hebraism. Therefore He always ensured that His meanings were
explained in other portions of Scripture.
For
example, God complains to Satan concerning Job, “….thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause”
(Job 2:3b). However, the careful reader understands that it was Satan who
actually brought the destruction upon Job (Job 1:10-12). While the divinely
inspired writer of Job rendered God’s statement to Satan in the permissive
idiom of the Hebrews, the context of Job makes understanding the truth that His
statement was permissive rather than causative. He is merely said
to do that which He permitted Satan
to do.
A
study of the Bible shows us that God is only said to destroy when He removes
His protective presence from the recipient of destruction (Psalm 145:20; Isa.
64:6-7; 43:25-28; 2 Kings 13:22-23; Prov. 1:24-28; Hosea 5:6). He is said to
destroy when He “gives people up” and allows their enemies to destroy them (Isa.
34:2; 2 Chron. 12:5-7; Hosea 11:8-9; Eze. 21:31). Therefore, when reading any
Bible passage, especially in the Old Testament, that appears to teach that God
personally engaged in destructive behavior, it is best to interpret it in the permissive
rather than in the causative.
Thankfully
some Bible translators recognize this truth and render certain passages to
reflect it. For example, in Isaiah 64:7 we read, “…. for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.” Isaiah complains
that God has consumed them. However, Isaiah also complain that God “hid
His face.” The “hiding” of God’s face is defined in Scripture as the removal of His divine protection,
thus allowing whatever forces of evil already poised to destroy to have their
way (Num. 6:24-27; Deut. 31:16-18; Isa. 59:1-2). Therefore, the New Century
Version is correct in rendering Isa. 64:7 as, “…. That is because you have turned away from us and have let our sins destroy us.”
The Hebrew Idioms Carry Over into the
New Testament
Many
Bible students believe that gaining knowledge of the original Greek language is
sufficient for interpreting and understanding the New Testament. Yet, though
the New Testament is written in the Greek rather than the Hebrew, it was still
written from a Hebraic perspective. Thus all of the cultural idioms
found in the Old Testament carry over into the New.
Ignorance
of this truth has led to grave misunderstandings of God’s character and actions.
One of several scholars have noted that,
“.... the idiom of the
New Testament not unfrequently departs from classical Greek, and follows the
Hebrew. An interpreter who neglects this will fall into great difficulties, and
commit many surprising and almost ridiculous mistakes.”
I
would add to the above statement that such surprising and difficult mistakes
often lead one to mischaracterize God and paint a false picture of Him. In
order to avoid misrepresenting God as a harsh destroyer, one needs to recognize
that the permissive idiom (or “idiom of permission” as others refer to it) is
just as frequent in the New Testament as well as in the Old.
For
example, our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). But
does God actually lead people into temptation? James tells us, “…. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man” (James 1:13b). God’s Word never contradicts itself.
Therefore, the only explanation is that our Lord taught using the idiomatic
expressions of the Jews. As one scholar stated, “Lead us not, in the Hebrew
idiom, signifies ‘Suffer or abandon us not.’” Another commentator
writes, “A Hebraism, according to which God is said to do that which he permits
to be done. The meaning is, preserve us from temptation; permit us not to fall
into temptation.”
Hence, this is ample proof that the Greek New Testament requires knowledge of
Hebrew idioms in order to fully comprehend it.
“Him God Shall Destroy”
Since
the Hebrew idioms, including the permissive idiom, carries over into the New
Testament, then when we read in 1 Corinthians 3:17, “If any man defile the
temple of God, him shall God destroy,” we can understand this as permissive
rather than causative.
In
the Old Testament God said concerning His house, or temple, “…. and this house, which I have sanctified
for my name, will I cast out of my sight” (2 Chron. 7:20b). The Contemporary
English Version renders it, “I will
desert this temple where I said I would be worshiped” and the Good News
Translation reads, “I will abandon
this Temple that I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped.”
When
God forsakes or abandons His temple then that is the removal of His protection,
to which He permits those enemies already poised to destroy to have their way:
I have forsaken mine
house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my
soul into the hand of her enemies. (Jeremiah 12:7)
The
Unlocked Dynamic Bible translates the latter part of Jer. 12:7, “I have allowed
their enemies to conquer the people whom I love.” It is in this manner
that God is said to destroy in relation to His temple:
The
Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given
up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a
noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast. The LORD
hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath
stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore
he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. (Lamentations
2:7-8)
Again
other translations make the permissive sense of these passages clearer: “The Lord rejected his altar and deserted
his holy Temple; He allowed the enemy to tear down its walls” (Good
News Translation); “The Lord abandoned
his altar and his temple; he let Zion's enemies capture her fortresses”
(Contemporary English Version); “He has allowed
our enemies to tear down the walls of our temple and our palaces” (Unlocked
Dynamic Version).
This
same pattern by which God is said to destroy, which is by the loss of His
protection over the sinning one rather than to directly inflict, continues into
the New Testament. While the Old Testament Jews built an external temple, the
New Testament reveals that God’s temple are the physical bodies of those who
follow and serve Christ (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 2 Cor. 6:14-16; Eph. 2:21-22; John
2:19-22). In the same epistle in which we are warned that God would destroy
those who destroy His temple we learn how church rebels are disciplined:
To
deliver such an one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus. (1 Cor. 5:5)
Just
as we see in the Old Testament that God does not destroy directly but by no
longer protecting the offender and allowing their enemies to kill them, the
same principle applies to the New Testament temple defilers. God will no
longer protect them from the consequences of their own destructive behavior
(see Rom. 1:24-28). The “Unlocked Dynamic Bible” interpretation of 1 Cor. 3:17
brings this out:
Yahweh
promises that he will destroy anyone who attempts to destroy his temple. This
is because his temple belongs to him alone. And HE PROTECTS YOU by the same promise because you are now his temple
and you belong to him alone!
Therefore,
with all such passages, always keep in mind that God’s primary method of
destruction is “permissive” and not “causative” in the sense that He will no
longer protect a person and will allow them to suffer the inevitable
consequences of their sin.
For
a greater understanding of this subject we highly recommend the following
books:
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