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| Chapter XIX
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Chapter XIX.
And if, further, temples are to be compared with
temples, that we may prove to those who accept the opinions of Celsus
that we do not object to the erection of temples suited to the images
and altars of which we have spoken, but that we do refuse to build
lifeless temples to the Giver of all life, let any one who chooses
learn how we are taught, that our bodies are the temple of God, and
that if any one by lust or sin defiles the temple of God, he will
himself be destroyed, as acting impiously towards the true
temple. Of all the temples spoken of in this sense, the best and
most excellent was the pure and holy body of our Saviour Jesus
Christ. When He knew that wicked men might aim at the destruction
of the temple of God in Him, but that their purposes of destruction
would not prevail against the divine power which had built that temple,
He says to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it again.…This He said of the temple of His
body.”4878
And in other
parts of holy Scripture where it speaks of the mystery of the
resurrection to those whose ears are divinely opened, it says that the
temple which has been destroyed shall be built up again of living and
most precious stones, thereby giving us to understand that each of
those who are led by the word of God to strive together in the duties
of piety, will be a precious stone in the one great temple of
God. Accordingly, Peter says, “Ye also, as lively stones,
are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ;”4879
and Paul also says,
“Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ our Lord being the chief cornerstone.”4880
And there is a similar hidden allusion
in this passage in Isaiah, which is addressed to Jerusalem:
“Behold, I will lay thy stones with carbuncles, and lay thy
foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy battlements of
jasper, and thy gates of crystal, and all thy borders of pleasant
stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and
great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt
thou be established.”4881
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