The temple of God is holy, and so are you.

 The temple of God is holy, and so are you.

1 Corinthians 3:17: "If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. The temple of God is holy, and so are you."

Although the people of the Corinthian church claimed to be in Christ, they did not understand the Logos who dwells in the temple within the hearts of the saints. Furthermore, because they were diluting the Gospel with Gnosticism in addition to the Gospel of Christ, the temple of God is established as an abomination. The saint becomes holy only through the union of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, there is no salvation other than the Gospel of the death on the cross and the resurrection.

However, Gnostics claim that one must strive diligently for spirituality in addition to the Gospel. It appears that they have an idol of themselves sitting in the temple. Acts 20:31-32: “Therefore be watchful, remembering how for three years I did not cease night and day, but instructed each of you with tears. Now I entrust you to the Lord and to the word of His grace (to logo tes charitos), which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

Holiness is given by God. It is not something obtained through human effort; rather, one who obtains the life of resurrection becomes holy. Regarding holiness, many believers think of it as a character trait of God, but holiness is something that one becomes one with God in Christ.

Becoming one with God means that the Father and the saints become one in the Holy Spirit in Christ; thus, one who is united with Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection becomes one with the Father.

One who becomes one with the Father becomes one who keeps the commandments. John 14:15, “If you love Me, you shall keep My commandments” (Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσετε·). The base form of *teresete* (τηρήσετε), translated as “to keep,” is “tereo,” which means to guard a defensive line, protect, or maintain a state. In other words, it does not mean merely performing the regulations of the Bible, but rather imprinting the death and resurrection of the cross on the heart to protect them so they are not lost, and remembering God’s will. It means ensuring that they do not fall away from the heart.

The most critical problem today lies in interpreting and applying the meaning of “keeping the commandments” in a literal, legalistic manner. The commandments are to love God and neighbor, yet legalists focus on the letter. Mark 12:30-31: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”

The word “love” (agapao) signifies the act of reviving the spirit that had died through the death on the cross. Because the believer believes that they died united with Jesus’ cross and were resurrected together, and their spirit comes to life, the Kingdom of God is established within the believer’s heart. This is precisely what it means to love God and love one’s neighbor.

This is a message to reflect upon all the commandments held in one’s heart, grounded in the loving heart given by the Holy Spirit. Through this, one can understand how a believer must act in accordance with those commandments to truly love God and love one’s neighbor. It is not the abolition of the law, but the abolition of legalism bound by the letter; by acting with a heart of love guided by the Holy Spirit, one fulfills the law.

However, those bound by legalism misunderstand loving as keeping regulations and rules. Therefore, since it is impossible to keep everything, there may be believers today who think that the Ten Commandments have been abolished, while others interpret it as meaning that they must strictly observe the Ten Commandments; if they fail to keep them, they should repent of their sins, be forgiven by the blood of Jesus, and continue to strictly observe the commandments. How exhausting this is!

Jesus gave us freedom from sin and enabled us to be guided by the Holy Spirit, yet because they are bound by the letter of the commandments, they live lives of self-inflicted exhaustion. In other words, this means they are not those who are guided by the Holy Spirit.

The meaning of the commandments spoken by Jesus is love for God and neighbor, and this is fundamentally faith in Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection. Those who claim that this must be kept legalistically stem from a complete lack of understanding of the true meaning of keeping the commandments.

To "keep the commandments" means to cherish them in one's heart. Therefore, it means acting by reinterpreting them with the mind of the Holy Spirit. If the church today rejects heresy yet there are those who speak false doctrines themselves or misinterpret the Bible differently from the Greek text, what else could that be but heresy?

The regulations of the Ten Commandments are God’s way of helping people realize their spiritual state through earthly events and revealing what spiritual things need to be restored. If one thinks that the Ten Commandments must be strictly observed because they are God’s commands, then one is failing to understand God’s will.

Therefore, believers must grasp and realize what God desires of humanity through the Ten Commandments. They must contemplate how God, through these ten items (the Ten Commandments), enables humans to spiritually awaken and know His will with clear eyes.

When grounded in the heart given by the Holy Spirit, there is righteousness, peace, and joy. Romans 14:17: “For the kingdom of God (he basileia tou Theou) is not eating and drinking, but righteousness (tykaiosyne), peace (eirene), and joy (chara) in the Spirit (pneumati hagio).”

He basileia tou Theou (ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ) signifies a special kingdom ruled by God the Father. It means that the Kingdom of God is not merely about eating and drinking in the flesh. However, Paul points out that the Kingdom of God is often perceived as being bound by legal regulations regarding eating and drinking. The Kingdom of God lies spiritually in righteousness, peace, and joy within the Holy Spirit. These are virtues enjoyed in one’s relationship with God.

The reason God acknowledges those who enter into Jesus Christ as righteous is that resurrection life enters into them. The term "righteous" does not mean performing righteous acts or being fair and just, but rather being one who conforms to God's will. God's will lies in reviving the dead spirit. To the one who realizes God's will and pursues God's righteousness is one who possesses the resurrected life in which the Holy Spirit works.