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| Chapter XVI.—The spiritual temple of God.
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Moreover, I will also tell you concerning the
temple, how the wretched [Jews], wandering in error, trusted not in God
Himself, but in the temple, as being the house of God. For almost after
the manner of the Gentiles they worshipped Him in the temple.1672
| 1672 That is, “they
worshipped the temple instead of Him.” | But learn how
the Lord speaks, when abolishing it: “Who hath meted out heaven
with a span, and the earth with his palm? Have not I?”1673
“Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is My
throne, and the earth My footstool: what kind of house will ye build to
Me, or what is the place of My rest?”1674
Ye perceive that their hope is vain. Moreover, He again says,
“Behold, they who have cast down this temple, even they shall build
it up again.”1675
It has so
happened.1676
| 1676 Cod. Sin.
omits this. | For through their going to war, it was destroyed
by their enemies; and now: they, as the servants of their enemies, shall
rebuild it. Again, it was revealed that the city and the temple and the
people of Israel were to be given up. For the Scripture saith,
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the Lord will
deliver up the sheep of His pasture, and their sheep-fold and tower, to
destruction.”1677
And it so happened as
the Lord had spoken. Let us
inquire, then, if there still is a temple of God. There is—where
He himself declared He would make and finish it. For it is written,
“And it shall come to pass, when the week is completed, the temple
of God shall be built in glory in the name of the Lord.”1678
I
find, therefore, that a temple does exist. Learn, then, how it shall be
built in the name of the Lord. Before we believed in God, the habitation
of our heart was corrupt and weak, as being indeed like a temple made
with hands. For it was full of idolatry, and was a habitation of demons,
through our doing such things as were opposed to [the will of] God. But
it shall be built, observe ye, in the name of the Lord, in order that the
temple of the Lord may be built in glory. How? Learn [as follows]. Having
received the forgiveness of sins, and placed our trust in the name of the
Lord, we have become new creatures, formed again from the beginning.
Wherefore in our habitation God truly dwells in us. How? His word of faith; His calling1679
| 1679 Cod. Sin. reads, “the
calling.” | of promise; the wisdom of the statutes; the
commands of the doctrine; He himself prophesying in us; He himself
dwelling in us; opening to us who were enslaved by death the doors of the
temple, that is, the mouth; and by giving us repentance introduced us
into the incorruptible temple.1680
| 1680 Cod. Sin. gives the clauses of this sentence separately,
each occupying a line. | He then, who wishes to be saved, looks
not to man,1681
but to Him who
dwelleth in him, and speaketh in him, amazed at never having either heard
him utter such words with his mouth, nor himself having ever desired to
hear them.1682
| 1682 Such is the
punctuation adopted by Hefele, Dressel, and Hilgenfeld. | This
is the spiritual temple built for the Lord.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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