Corpo é o templo de Deus: o que isso significa?
O que significa o corpo ser templo de Deus
Dizer que o corpo é templo de Deus significa que o Espírito Santo habita de fato naquele que crê em Cristo. Por ter sido resgatado por Deus, o corpo físico não pertence mais exclusivamente aos desejos do indivíduo, mas ao Senhor, devendo ser dedicado a honrá-lo.
Em Corinto, cidade grega onde a separação filosófica entre alma e matéria servia de pretexto para a imoralidade, o apóstolo Paulo combateu a ideia de que o comportamento físico não afeta a comunhão com o Criador. O resgate operado na cruz abrange a pessoa por inteiro:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body.(1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
O templo individual e a comunidade
O Novo Testamento emprega a figura do santuário em duas dimensões complementares: a pessoa de cada crente e a igreja reunida.
Enquanto em 1 Coríntios 6 Paulo trata da pureza pessoal, em 1 Coríntios 3 ele adverte contra as divisões que destroem a comunidade local. A igreja congregada também constitui o santuário do Deus vivo:
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.(1 Corinthians 3:16,17)
Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
"I will dwell among them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.(2 Corinthians 6:16)
Essa habitação divina coletiva cumpre a promessa do Antigo Testamento de que o Senhor habitaria no meio do Seu povo. Os crentes formam pedras vivas de um edifício sagrado cuja pedra angular é Cristo:
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.(Ephesians 2:19-22)
For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the boast of our hope.(Hebrews 3:4-6)
A presença interior de Cristo
No tabernáculo e no templo de Jerusalém, a presença de Deus ficava restrita ao Santo dos Santos, acessível apenas ao sumo sacerdote uma vez ao ano. Na Nova Aliança, o próprio Senhor faz morada no coração dos que o amam:
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.(John 14:23)
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.(Galatians 2:20)
Essa realidade concede livre acesso à presença divina e impõe ao crente a responsabilidade de viver de acordo com a dignidade dessa morada:
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let’s approach God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.(Hebrews 10:19-22)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people forGod’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;(1 Peter 2:9)
Para compreender o contexto histórico e as orientações práticas sobre o uso do corpo na vida cristã, leia 1 Coríntios 6 completo.
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