Ye Are the Temple of God - Lesson Outline

Lesson 33: “Ye Are the Temple of God”, New Testament Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2002)

1. Introduction

a) Paul’s Activities

i) Paul will serve long and hard for about 20 years

ii) Two sources of Biblical information about Paul

(1) Last half of Acts, written by Luke, missionary companion

(2) Collected letters of Paul

iii) Traveling Constantly

(1) Proselyting new branches of the Church

(2) Visiting and strengthening existing branches

(3) Suffered great physical hardships

(a) Imprisoned

(b) Beaten

(c) Shipwrecked

iv) Writing letters to distant branches

(1) Dealing with problems

(2) Answering questions

(3) Teaching doctrine

b) Corinth

i) Located in Southeastern Greece

ii) Population of 250,000 citizens and 400,000 slaves

iii) Greece is an irregularly-shaped peninsula with lots of islands

(1) On the west is the Ionian Sea

(2) On the east is the Agean Sea

(3) Corinth is located on the Greek equivalent of Panama

(a) Gulf of Corinth on the Ionian Sea

(b) Narrow peninsula – 4 miles - divides the Ionian Sea from the Aegean Sea

(i) Today, there is a canal

(ii) In ancient times, ships were portaged over a stone road

(4) Corinth had two ports, one on the Ionian Sea and the other on the Agean Sea

iv) In classical times, Corinth rivaled Athens and Thebes in wealth because of all the trade that passed through the city

(1) Main corridor for trade between Asia and Western Europe

v) Destroyed by the Romans after a siege in 146 BC, then rebuilt into a large city

vi) When Paul was there, Corinth had a mixed population of Greeks, Romans and Jews

vii) Famous temple of Aphrodite – goddess of love

viii) Corinth was the Las Vegas of the ancient world

c) Letters to the Corinthians

i) Constitute about 25% of the total content of Paul’s epistles

ii) Paul had spent about two years in Corinth

iii) Made a second visit of unknown duration before writing 1 Corinthians

iv) Had also been visited by Apollos and, possibly, Peter

v) Most of converts were Greeks

(1) Weaker converts brought Hellenistic influences into the Church that would cause many problems and were one of the factors in the great apostasy

2. Avoid contention and be unified

a) Reading 1 – 1 Corinthians 1:10-13

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

i) ASK: Who is Cephas? Cephas and Peter both mean a rock, the one being Aramaic and the other Greek.

ii) Greek philosophical tradition of debating – philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens

iii) Problems of contention

iv) Problems of pride – one convert setting himself above another

v) Problems of doctrine – did not understand the role and position of Christ

(1) As if the followers of Pres. Monson contended with the followers of Pres. Hinckley

vi) Not in the spirit of the Atonement because contenders are not one with Christ and one another

vii) Does this mean all followers of Christ will be the same?

b) Reading 2 – John 17:20-21 – Christ’s prayer

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

c) Consequences of Contention

i) Reading 3 - 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

(1) Doctrine withheld

(2) Commandments and accompanying blessings withheld

(3) More knowledge would only condemn the wrongdoers further

d) Whose work is this?

i) Reading 4 – 1 Corinthians 3:5-11

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

3. Rely on the Spirit rather than the wisdom of the world.

a) Reading 5 – 1 Corinthians 1:18-21

18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

i) Many of us have a hope that if we just explain ourselves carefully, the world in general will come to understand Mormons and their doctrine

ii) Paul says the world in general will always regard what we preach as foolishness

iii) Conversion is almost always individual or in small groups, where the Spirit can work in the hearts of those being taught

iv) That said, we must continually speak what we know to be true even as we understand that it will be foolishness to most who hear it.

b) READ 1 Corinthians 1:25-31

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

c) Reading 6 – 1 Corinthians 2:1-5,9

1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

SKIP

9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

d) Reading 7 - President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: “The Spirit of God speaking to the spirit of man has power to impart truth with greater effect and understanding than the truth can be imparted by personal contact even with heavenly beings. Through the Holy Ghost the truth is woven into the very fibre and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 1:47–48).

e) READ - Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: "Pure religion is a thing of the Spirit and not of the intellect alone, and its truths must be carried into the hearts of hearers by the power of the Spirit, otherwise the human soul is not changed...and the seeker after salvation does not become alive in Christ." (DNTC, 2:318)

f) Reading 8 – President Spencer W. Kimball taught: “There is opportunity to get both [secular and spiritual learning] simultaneously. … If we spend our mortal days in accumulating secular knowledge to the exclusion of the spiritual then we are in a dead-end street, for this is the time for man to prepare to meet God; this is the time for faith to be built, for baptism to be effected, for the Holy Ghost to be received, for the ordinances to be performed. Contemporary with this program can come the secular knowledge, for even in the spirit world after death our spirits can go on learning” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 390).

4. Be morally clean

a) Paul deals with a specific situation in which a man entered into a marriage that was forbidden by Mosaic law and which Paul also condemns

b) Reading 9 – 1 Corinthians 5:1-8,13

1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. - Excommunicated

3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5 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.

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

SKIP

13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

c) READ 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

d) Reading 10 – Elder Richard G. Scott said: “Satan tempts one to believe that there are allowable levels of physical contact between consenting individuals who seek the powerful stimulation of emotions they produce, and if kept within bounds, no harm will result. As a witness of Jesus Christ, I testify that is absolutely false. … Decide what you will and will not do. When temptation comes, do not change your standards” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 51; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 38).

Conclusion