. . . scholars have
acknowledged the centrality of the temple motif in relationship to the
cleansing and holiness language of 2 Cor 7:1. Paul’s use of καθαριζω, μολυσμος, and αγιωσυνη, terms which are
typically related to the purification of the temple, point back to Paul’s
announcement in 6:16b of his shared identity with the Corinthians as “the
temple of the living God.” This is the decisive point at which Paul reminds the
community not only of their fundamental identity, but also of their vocation to
manifest God’s holiness and truthfulness in the world (cf. 6:14-16a), which is
further presented in the exhortation of 7:1.
Though Paul had
already introduced the motif of the church as God’s temple in 1 Corinthians and
warned them of the eschatological implications of profaning it (cf. 1 Cor 3:9-17;
5:6-8; 6:18-20), it is significant that in our passage Paul explicitly connects
his exhortations regarding the “temple” with “the fear of God” (cf. 6;16ab with
7:1). Moreover, although scholars have frequently focused on the temple motif
in 2 Cor 6:14-7:1, few have provided an explanation of why and how Paul
connects the motif of the fear of God with the motif of temple purity.
Though the temple
motif is combined with the fear of God only in 2 Cor 7:1, in 1 Cor 3:9-17;
5:6-8; 6:18-20 Paul associated the temple motif with their holiness in the
context of final judgment. There Paul makes it clear that divine condemnation
will be the consequence of believers that each of their works will become
visible on the “judgment day” through the test of fire (1 Cor 3:13) and that
the test will determine their reward or penalty (1 Cor 3:14-15). As such, the
judgement theme with regard to the temple in 1 Corinthians has a similar function
to the fear of God in 2 Cor 7:1 which is also related to the acknowledgement of
the Corinthians as God’s temple. It is noteworthy that Paul’s concern regarding
the eschatological judgement is not for those outside the congregation (cf. 1
Cor 5:12-13), but for the salvation of believers within. Again, the fear of
God, for Paul, as in the biblical and Jewish tradition, is a characteristic of
the righteous, not the unbeliever. Similarly, in 1 Cor 5:3-4 Paul pronounces “judgment”
in the name of the Lord Jesus” on the man who commits immorality. As scholars
have pointed out, the theme of 5:1-13 is sexual immorality within the
Corinthian congregation, which has been described as God’s holy temple.
Likewise, in 1 Cor 6:12-20 Paul’s exhortation, “Shun fornication! (v. 18),” is
linked to the identity as God’s temple, “your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit within you” (v. 19),” and appears in the context of the final judgment:
if the admonition is not heeded, “God will destroy both one and the other (v.
13).”
In 1 Corinthians Paul
consequently uses the cultic imagery of the temple as part of a coherent moral
perspective in his theology, and he exhorts the Corinthians to keep themselves
pure and holy, just as God commanded the priests in the OT temple to be holy.
In other words, Paul’s temple imagery serves a pedagogical purpose, namely, “to
teach the Corinthians to live a holy communal way of life, as opposed to their
division and quarrels, through his figurative equation of the Corinthians with
God’s field and God’s building.” Moreover, Paul’s exhortations regarding the
church as God’s temple appear in the context of a warning that derives from the
expectation of divine judgment, which in turn is to motivate believers to
pursue a life of moral purity.
The recurring
connection in 1 Corinthians between the exhortation to temple purity (based on
the church’s communal identity as the temple) and the final judgement thus
anticipates Paul’s exhortation in 2 Cor 7:1, based on the implied admonition in
6:16a for the temple to be free of all associations with idolatry, to purify
the temple in the fear of God. And here too Paul’s command, motivated by the
fear of God, is inextricably linked to the theme of final judgement through the
contexts of the catena of Scripture in 6:16c-18. Paul’s use of the temple motif
and its related motif of the fear of God is therefore based on his underlying conviction
that the Corinthians, through the atonement of Jesus, are now the new covenant
community, which is the spiritually transformed dwelling of the living God
(6:16b), whose holiness they are to manifest through the life they lead.
Moreover, the fear of
God and the context of the eschatological judgement that lie in the background
of Paul’s identification of believers as God’s temple and his corresponding
exhortations to them indicate that the process of sanctification has not yet
reached the terminal point and will not be fully achieved until a consummative
point in the future. Paul therefore combines the temple motif with the themes
of eschatological judgment and its consequent “fear of God” in order to stress
that believers must continue to pursue holiness as God’s people until the eschatological
day of judgment. (Euichang Kim, The Fear of God in 2 Corinthians 7:1: Its
Meaning, Function, and Eschatological Context [Library of New Testament Studies
605; London: T&T Clark, 2019], 154-57)