1 Corinthians 3:17
Memory Verse
If someone corrupts the Holy of Holies of God, God will corrupt that one. For the Holy of Holies of God is holy, which you all are (1 Corinthians 3:17).
Since our bodies are the Holy of Holies, we are obligated to treat them with honor. If someone degrades this holy body, that person will face consequences. This degradation, which can manifest in character, institutions, or environment, is the process of self-destruction or contamination (1 Corinthians 3:16).
This corruption stems from being in bad company. This type of a relationship degrades useful habits (1 Corinthians 15:33). False teachers cause this type of corruption in the minds of believers, turning them away from the simplicity that is in the Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). The Christ refers to the new creation God made when He raised Christ from the death (2 Corinthians 5:17), in which Christ is the head and the Church is the body (Ephesians1:22–23). In the body, we are all equal. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans separates the clergy from the people, degrading the mind concerning the proper relationship the Church has with its Pastor. False teachers also corrupt themselves, speaking blasphemy of things they do not understand and going after the way of Cain and the error of Balaam for profit (Jude 10–11).
Since we are the Holy of Holies, we are to put off the conduct of our former man—who we were in Adam—which is degraded or ruined by its strong desires (Ephesians 4:22). In contrast, the grace believer is to be renewed in the spirit of the mind, putting on the new man, who was created according to God in righteousness and piety of the truth (Ephesians 4:23).
We, of the Church, are to know how to properly possess our own vessel in honor, not in the passion of strong desires like the Gentiles (1 Thessalonians 4:4–5). When a Christian uses his body in a manner that degrades it, God will permit the ruining of the flesh to stop them from the degradation of His temple. This type of ruin comes from marking the body, using the body in fornication, the bad company we associate with, and anything else we permit our bodies to be used for that relates to the unsaved and their strong desires.
Let us put off the practices of the old man, recognizing that we belong to God and treat our bodies with honor and respect for who we are in Christ. With this mindset, we will stop ruining the body, which is the Holy of Holies of God.