2 Corinthians 6:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He wished to show that these words are not mere flattery. For if someone praises without giving reasons, he may be thought to flatter.

What testimony does he bring? "I will dwell in them and walk among them." That is, "I will dwell in these temples and walk in them." By this He shows His great good will toward them. "And I will be your God, and you shall be My people" (Lev 26:12).

"Why then," he says, "when you bear God within yourself, do you run to idols? You bear the God who has nothing in common with them. Is such an action worthy of any excuse? Consider who lives in you and dwells with you."

Lest he seem to flatter, he confirms by Scripture that they are God's temple. God's dwelling in us is conditioned by purity of life, and His walking in us is acquired by diligence. For God lives in a man when he is pure. When He moves him toward some other work, it is said that He walks in him. This means that when God becomes his God, he enters the rank of the patriarchs.

Therefore, instead of "among you," he wrote "in them." Instead of "I will set My covenant," he used its interpretive expression: "I will dwell." As for the words, "My soul shall not abhor you," he passed them over for brevity.

The composition of the discourse is also worthy of note. First he lays down, as it were, its first part: "You are temples of the living God." You Christians, he says, are the dwelling of God. This is not of a corruptible and mortal god, such as the gods of the idolaters were, namely earthen images and mortal men. It is of the incorruptible and immortal God, who is the living God and abides unto endless ages.

Then he immediately brings forward the proof. God established this and said: "I will dwell and walk in them," that is, in those who believe in Me, "and I will be their God," and they will be My beloved and chosen people.

Our Lord Jesus Christ promised the same thing to those who love Him. "If anyone loves Me," He said, "he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him" (Jn 14:23).

In the Old Testament God said, "I will set My covenant and walk," in order to show the change of the law that was to come. For a shadow, or a tent, and one who walks, both change place. In the New Testament He said, "We will come and make Our dwelling," in order thereby to show the immutability and firmness of the evangelical teaching and gifts.

How, then, does God dwell in us and walk? He dwells by enlightening, strengthening, and empowering us through the grace of His All-Holy Spirit. He walks in us by accompanying, guiding, and cooperating with us in every good work.

After this proof the Apostle draws the following conclusion from those prophetic words: "Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and touch no uncleanness. And I will receive you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor 6:17-18).

This is what is called προτασις, or proposition. The covenant means My shadow or tent.

When the mind and spirit are healed, then they will also be united in the Lord. In due time there is formed, in the region of the heart where the power of speech or spirit is located, a wondrous, spiritual temple of God not made by hands, the Holy of Holies.

There the mind descends, ordained by the Holy Spirit as priest and high priest for the worship of God in Spirit and Truth. Then the Christian knows by blessed experience what is said in Sacred Scripture: "You are temples of the living God, as God said: I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (2 Cor 6:16).

If the Lord lives and, as it were, moves about in the whole Christian community or people, why may one not consider as a place of His special presence the place where believers form one whole? There they enter into mutual communion. There they appear not as a scattered multitude, but precisely as a community united through common prayers and sacred rites.

Such is our Orthodox church temple. We consider it the house of God, among other reasons, because we who gather in it for prayerful and grace-filled mutual communion constitute, according to apostolic teaching and Old Testament prophecies, the dwelling of God, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, in the midst of which God dwells.

What was accomplished outwardly in ancient Israel is accomplished inwardly in the new Israel, in souls and hearts. For the Lord says: 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him' (Jn 14:23).

Ancient Israel was fenced off from the pagans and everything pagan by its outward manner of life and legal ordinances. In the new Israel this must be accomplished inwardly, by moral changes and resolutions. What idolatry was there, self-pleasing with all the passions is here.

What coming out from among the pagans was there, leaving all works done to please oneself and the passions is here. What touching no uncleanness was there, the rejection and refusal of passionate thoughts is here.

See what broad use is given to free will. The promise has been given and proclaimed. But to obtain it, one must make the required movement by free will. God's receiving will not be delayed" (Bishop Theophan).

As that latter act is altogether unfitting, for “what agreement has the temple of God with idols,” so it is altogether unfitting when any one of you, through participation in paganism, brings something pagan into his soul.

For God graciously wills to dwell in that soul.

Chrysostom says: “Why do you, who bear God within yourself, run to idols, with which God has nothing in common?

“Is such an act worthy of excuse? Consider who lives in you and dwells with you.”

Having set forth such a series of opposites, the Apostle, as though taking believers by the hand, leads them away from everything pagan.

Since the summit of all distinctions between the believer and the unbeliever is true communion, living communion with the living God, the Apostle fixes special attention on this advantage.

He proves it by prophecies and through them depicts it from various sides.

The testimonies cited from the Old Testament are not read word for word in Scripture as Saint Paul cites them.

Rather, he gathered them from different places and joined them into one harmonious speech.

You, he says, are temples of the living God. And that this is so, hear what God promised Israel.

“I will dwell in them and walk among them,” “that is, I will dwell in these temples and walk in them, thereby showing His great good pleasure toward them” (Chrysostom).

“And I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Lev 26:12). I am their God; they are My people.

In this, communion is expressed from God’s side. But when God proclaimed this to that people, and that people received it into their heart, they too came to have God as their God.

They came to have themselves as God’s people. In this is communion from the side of men.

So it was in Israel, the type of believers, and that communion was typological. It all took place outwardly.

True communion with God was accomplished by the Lord and Savior, first hypostatically in His own Person, and then graciously and morally in all believers.

All believers, becoming one with the Lord, become one with God truly and essentially.

The Lord Himself prayed thus: “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us” (Jn 17:21).

And the Lord’s prayer becomes reality in every believer. This is accomplished not nominally, but in actual deed.

Believers are regenerated by the grace of the Holy Spirit. They become pure through the rejection of the passions of self-pleasing and through the reception of all virtues.

They are a ready and God-befitting temple for God. He also dwells in them.

Dwelling in them, He leads them along the paths of life, or walks in them, as of old the pillar of cloud walked among Israel.

What took place outwardly in ancient Israel takes place inwardly in the new Israel, in souls and hearts.

For the Lord says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (Jn 14:23).