Our bodies are God’s temple
If temples too must be set beside temples, so that we may show those who accept Celsus’s views that we do not shun setting up temples fit for the statues and altars we have described, but that we turn away from building lifeless and dead temples to the Giver of all life, let anyone who wishes hear how we are taught that our bodies are “a temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19), and that “if anyone,” through licentiousness or sin, “destroys the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:17), he, as one truly impious toward the true temple, will be destroyed.
But the temple better and more excellent than all those so named was the holy and pure body of our Saviour Jesus. He knew that the temple of the God within him could be plotted against by the impious, yet not in such a way that the purpose of the plotters would be stronger than the Godhead that built the temple. So he says to them: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). And this “he was saying about the temple of his body” (John 2:21).
In another way, too, the divine Scriptures teach in a hidden sense what concerns the resurrection to those who can hear the words of God with a more divine hearing. They say that the temple will be built again with living and most precious stones, hinting that each of those who are of one spirit, through the same Word, in the piety that accords with him is a precious stone of the whole temple of God. So Peter says: “You are being built up, living stones and a spiritual house, for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5); and Paul: “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus our Lord himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20).
The passage in Isaiah, too, has some such hidden meaning. It reads as follows, addressed to Jerusalem: “Behold, I am preparing for you carbuncle as your stone, and sapphire as your foundations; and I will make your battlements of jasper, and your gates of crystal stones, and your outer wall of choice stones; and all your sons taught by God, and your children in great peace; and in righteousness you shall be built” (Isaiah 54:11–14).
Greek
Εἰ δὲ καὶ ναοὺς ναοῖς δεῖ παραβαλεῖν, ἵνα παραστήσωμεν τοῖς ἀποδεχομένοις τὰ Κέλσου ὅτι νεὼς μὲν ἱδρύεσθαι τοὺς πρέποντας τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀγάλμασι καὶ βωμοῖς οὐ φεύγομεν, ἐκτρεπόμεθα δὲ τῷ πάσης ζωῆς χορηγῷ ἀψύχους καὶ νεκροὺς οἰκοδομεῖν νεώς· ἀκουέτω ὁ βουλόμενος, τίνα τρόπον διδασκόμεθα ὅτι τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν „ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ“ ἐστι, καὶ „εἴ τις“ διὰ τῆς ἀκολασίας ἢ τῆς ἁμαρτίας „φθείρει“ „τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ,“ οὗτος ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀσεβὴς εἰς τὸν ἀληθῆ ναὸν φθαρήσεται. πάντων δὲ τῶν οὕτως ὀνομαζομένων ναῶν κρείττων ἦν καὶ διαφέρων νεὼς τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ καθαρὸν σῶμα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ, ὅστις ἐπιστάμενος ἐπιβουλεύεσθαι μὲν δύνασθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀσεβῶν τὸν ναὸν τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ θεοῦ, οὐ μὴν ὥστε ἰσχυροτέραν εἶναι τὴν τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων προαίρεσιν τῆς τὸν νεὼν οἰκοδομούσης θειότητος, φησὶ πρὸς ἐκείνους· „λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, κἀγὼ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν.“ τοῦτο δὲ „ἔλεγε περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ.“ καὶ ἄλλως δὲ οἱ θεῖοι λόγοι τὰ περὶ ἀναστάσεως μυστικῶς διδάσκοντες τοὺς δυναμένους ἀκούειν θειοτέρᾳ ἀκοῇ λόγων θεοῦ, ἀνοικοδομηθήσεσθαί (φασι) λίθοις ζῶσι καὶ τιμιωτάτοις· αἰνιττόμενοι ὅτι ἕκαστος τῶν συμπνεόντων διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου εἰς τὴν κατ᾿ αὐτὸν εὐσέβειαν λίθος ἐστὶ τίμιος τοῦ παντὸς ναοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. καθὸ ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ Πέτρου λέγεται· „ὑμεῖς δὲ οἰκοδομεῖσθε λίθοι ζῶντες καὶ οἶκος πνευματικὸς εἰς ἱεράτευμα ἅγιον, ἀνενέγκαι πνευματικὰς θυσίας εὐπροσδέκτους θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,“ ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ Παύλου τό· „οἰκοδομηθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν. ὄντος ἀκρογωνιαίου λίθου αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν.“ τοιοῦτον δέ τινα μυστικὸν ἔχει νοῦν καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ λέξις. οὕτως ἔχουσα καὶ λεγομένη ὡς πρὸς τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· „ἰδοὺ ἑτοιμάζω σοι ἄνθρακα τὸν λίθον σου καὶ τὰ θεμέλιά σου σάπφειρον, καὶ θήσω τὰς ἐπάλξεις σου ἴασπιν καὶ τὰς πύλας σου λίθους κρυστάλλου καὶ τὸν περίβολόν σου λίθους ἐκλεκτοὺς, καὶ πάντας τοὺς υἱούς σου διδακτοὺς θεοῦ· καὶ ἐν πολλῇ εἰρήνῃ τὰ τέκνα σου, καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ οἰκοδομηθήσῃ.“