1 Corinthians 3 16-23.
SERMON: St. Peter and St. Paul June 29, 2003
1 Corinthians 3:16–23
Other Lessons: Psalm 18:25–32; Ezekiel 34:11–16; Mark 8:27–35
Suggested Hymns: LW TLH LBW CW
The Head that Once Was Crowned with Thorns (271) 219 173 217
By All Your Saints in Warfare 193 (470) 177 552
Creator Spirit, by Whose Aid 167 236 164 188
Sing with All the Saints in Glory HS98 839
God’s Temple/Servants
Theme: You Are God’s Temple
Goal: That the hearers rejoice that God dwells in them, converting their thinking from worldly to godly.
Rev. E. Timothy Frick, associate pastor, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Cary, Illinois
Liturgical Setting
The festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, draws attention to these two pillars of the New Testament church in a way unlike the honors afforded perhaps any others among the saints: on this day the two are remembered together, but each has another day of his own (The Confession of St. Peter, January 18; The Conversion of St. Paul, one week later, January 25). This is, of course, in keeping with their most prominent positions in the growth of the early church. Nevertheless, this day is not really intended to focus on Paul and Peter the men, great though they were. The unifying theme of this festival is the suffering and service that these two, like so many other saints, endured and rendered to God’s kingdom.
The Psalm for the day, one of David’s, comes after he was delivered from the hands of Saul (persecution), underscoring the lesson that God’s perfect way gives courage in the face of evil. Ezekiel records what God said he would do for Israel’s scattered sheep after their suffering: he will bring them to their own land and shepherd them in a rich pasture. In the Gospel Peter confesses, “You are the Christ.” Jesus then spoke of his suffering, death, and resurrection, which Peter protested. Jesus rebuked him, and we read Jesus’ words of discipleship—crossbearing.
Relevant Context
Paul began 1 Corinthians 3 with a discussion of where the Corinthians are, nhvpioi, “babes,” then transitions to our text, where they, by faith, are strong. They are babes drinking the milk of the Gospel, not mature in faith as they might think (vv 1–2). They are worldly; there is jealousy and quarreling (v 3). Paul (like Peter) and Apollos are servants, only men, not gods. God’s people serve as he calls them, but—even for the apostles—it is always God working through them (and, as we shall see, in them) who brings the increase (vv 4–7). Each man’s labors are lasting only to the extent they are God’s labors (vv 8–15). Ch 4 continues this thought with the assertion that the apostles are servants of God charged with the secret things of God (1 Cor 4:1).
Textual Notes
V 16: “The temple of God are you” is the word order for nao;" qeou' ejste, emphasizing that the Corinthians to whom Paul wrote were the temple of God in Corinth. “Temple” might recall for the Corinthians the temple in Jerusalem, but the many pagan temples in Corinth would more readily come to mind. This becomes Paul’s focus in chs 8–10. There can be only one true temple, and that is the temple of God. No longer would believers seek God in man-made temples; they were themselves living temples (1 Pet 2:5).
V 17: This is a general warning, not specific to any known person in Corinth. As such, each of them is responsible for the other.
V 18: The Christians in Corinth were needlessly dividing themselves based on their human wisdom (cf 1:1–31). Confessing how foolish that was, repenting of their haughty ways, would begin a path of true wisdom. Out of repentance comes real spiritual understanding, the childlike attitude Jesus praised (Mk 10:14–15).
V 19: The world is tied up in a certain kind of wisdom, but that wisdom is futile. Paul here quotes Job’s friend Eliphaz (Job 5:13), not always a reliable source but in this case absolutely right: God does indeed trap the wise in their craftiness. (For example, Jesus foils the craftiness of the scribes and chief priests in Lk 20:23.) Thus Paul is turning earthly wisdom upside down. God offers a new approach, a new way of thinking about one another: the basis is not on earthly gifts, wisdom, or power; it is solely on the grace God gives in abundance to all.
V 20: Ps 94:11, which Paul cites next, is from one of the imprecatory psalms. It again demonstrates how God is ahead of people and their craftiness. These proud people think they can get away with their cunning plots. Instead, God will redress the wrongs committed against his people. mavtaioi, “futile,” has to do with the vain, worthless, and transitory things of this age in contrast to the enduring things of the age to come.
V 21: Paul speaks of natural, fallen a[nqrwpoi, “human beings,” in contrast to the nature of God. Paul’s point is that trust in men limits man’s possibilities, when, in fact, “all things are yours.” That phrase “all things are yours” may be Paul’s redeeming a popular cliché used by the Greek Stoics who
. . . prided themselves on being “a principal work, a fragment of God himself.” As rational creatures, with the divine spark dwelling in them, they claimed to have the ability to realize God’s providence and give him due thanks for all his gifts. (Gregory J. Lockwood, 1 Corinthians, Concordia Commentary [St. Louis: Concordia, 2000] 125)
Rather than boasting in their own claim to a divine spark, though, Paul directs the Corinthians to Christ: “It is true that all things are yours, but only because you belong to Christ (v 23). Your boast is now in God, not in men or their accomplishments. It’s foolish to restrict yourself!”
Vv 22–23: Thus one’s “claim to fame” has nothing to do with the particular apostle to whom one might claim allegiance, and what one has is not limited even by death or time. All things belong to you because you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. The progression of the whole pericope, then, is this: First, the Christian’s faith in Jesus means the Holy Spirit is living in him. This makes him a temple of God. Second, as a temple of God, the Christian belongs to Christ and thus also to the Father. Finally, one who is of God truly possesses all the inheritance of God. All things, therefore, belong to the Christian, and settling for the lesser enticements of the world is the ultimate foolishness; it can only destroy both the Christian and his inheritance.
Sermon Outline
Introduction: I’d like to be like Peter—bold, always close to the action, the kind of guy your buddies look to in the crunch. He’d have made a great quarterback in the NFL.
I’d like to be like Paul—brilliant thinker, sharp as a tack, a real way with words, and no shrinking violet himself when it came to mixing it up. He’d have been calling the plays.
Either way, Paul or Peter, you’ve got men who cast huge shadows over the early Christian church and who continue to guide the church even in our own day by their words and actions. The church could use more Peters and more Pauls. On this festival honoring these two pillars of the church, we remember how God used both apostles. But more than remembering them, we’re called to be like them, perhaps just not in the ways we might think. In our text this morning, God, through St. Paul, declares to you how you are indeed like the apostles. He says to each one of you:
You Are God’s Temple/Servants—with Peter and Paul.
I. You are a temple of God—with both Peter and Paul (v 16).
A. Peter and Paul are revered as true pillars of the church, and deservedly so.
1. Not only was Peter “chief” among the Twelve (various examples), but his confession of Jesus as the Christ marked the turning point in the Lord’s ministry (Mk 8:27–31).
2. Paul, after his dramatic conversion, became the greatest missionary the world has ever known and the inspired writer of 13 New Testament books (any number of incidents from Acts; 1 Cor 1:1–3; Rom 1:16–17; Eph 2:8–9).
B. Why, I’d like to be like Peter and Paul!
1. Bold, courageous, a natural leader, wise—and famous!
2. Brilliant, thoughtful, adventuresome, wise—and famous!
C. And, look, Paul himself tells us that we’re temples of God—like he and Peter are!
1. What an honor! As I am a believer in Christ, God himself dwells in me!
2. That makes me wise—and famous!
II. But being God’s temple means you are his humble servant—like Peter and Paul.
A. Yeah, I’d like to be like Peter and Paul, except . . .
1. Peter was shamed, beaten, went to jail, and probably died being God’s temple (for example, Acts 4:17–42, especially
vv 40–41).
2. Paul was humiliated and risked his life through many trials so that the Gospel could be preached (2 Cor 11:25–33).
B. There’s something about being a temple of God that must not be everything I thought it was cracked up to be (vv 18–20). C. Being a temple of God means using our bodies and our lives for humble service, taking up our crosses and following Jesus (Mk 8:31–35):
1. Denying our desire to be wise and famous in the eyes of the world—the way Peter and Paul did.
2. Being willing to suffer shame and even death to be a witness (a martyr) for Christ—the way Peter and Paul did.
III. Yet being God’s temple/servants means all things are yours—not just what you could have being Peter or Paul (vv 21–23).
A. Truth is, one of the biggest problems in the Corinthian church was people wanting to be like Paul or Peter or Apollos, without realizing what Paul and Peter and Apollos were themselves really all about.
1. The Corinthians were taking pride in the human namesakes of their factions.
2. But Paul, Peter, and Apollos each were devoted only to proclaiming Christ.
B. We are temples of God not because of Paul or Peter or anyone else, but because of Jesus Christ.
1. Neither Paul nor Peter was crucified for us, but Jesus’ death has earned for us eternal salvation.
2. We were not baptized in Paul’s or Peter’s name, but by our Baptism into Christ Jesus we became children of God.
3. Faith in Jesus, not in anyone else, brings the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, making us temples of God.
C. And because we are temples of God (which means we are also servants of God) we truly possess all things.
1. We have a relationship with God restored by the forgiveness of sins.
2. We are the people for whom God rules and controls all things on earth.
3. We have the full inheritance of sons and daughters of God, including life everlasting in the joys of heaven and a name that God will never forget.
D. All this, quite obviously, is infinitely and eternally better than the honor—the fame—that we might have simply by human characteristics such as courage and adventure and intellectual brilliance that we might associate with St. Peter and St. Paul. We would be foolish to settle for anything less.
Conclusion: I’d like to be like Peter and Paul. I know, I’ll never match their fame or their exploits, or even, I’m sure, their contributions to God’s church. But you and I do indeed stand with the apostles, not just as pillars holding up God’s church, but as the very temples of God, for Christ Jesus has made us that. As he suffered, as he gave his life in service, so we will—and we won’t settle for anything less.