1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (ESV Strong's)
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Persevere in Your Faith
The context of the above passage is found within an argument that Paul is making to the church at Corinth. He is concerned that their are divisions in the church ... divisions that are about loyalty to him vs loyalty to other leaders in the church. Paul is not concerned that members of the church are not loyal to him. He is concerned that loyalty to one leader of a church over another can cause division in the church. To prevent that from happening, Paul is arguing that it matters not WHO they follow, but how that person is building upon their faith. He wants them to know both the building up of their faith and how they build on their faith are vital to their growth. Paul then gives us the above warning: Don’t “destroy” your faith!! The word destroy is:
(Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary) 2. phtheiro (φθείρω, 5351) signifies “to destroy by means of corrupting,” and so “bringing into a worse state”
It means that someone is bringing their faith into bad state. Paul wants them to know that they are filled with the Holy Spirit. If they do something that hinders the growth of their faith, they are putting their faith at risk. The Scriptures teach that we are assured that our salvation is not going to waste. But, the truth is, we have to persevere in our faith. We can’t bring things into our faith that might interrupt the Spirit’s work in our lives. We can’t choke off the Spirit’s work. That is Paul’s warning.
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