ACC ~ John 2 v16

OUR SOULS ARE THE TEMPLE OF CHRIST

ORIGEN: Now Christ is especially jealous for the house of God in each of us, not wishing it to be a house of merchandise or that the house of prayer become a den of thieves, since he is the son of a jealous God…. [These words] set forth the fact that God wishes nothing alien to his will to be mingled with the soul of anyone, but especially with the soul of those who wish to receive [the teachings of the] most divine faith. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.221. [1]

[1] FC 80:303-4; SC 157:514.

OUR BODIES ARE TEMPLES IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHRIST’S BODY

IRENAEUS: He says that this handiwork is “the temple of God,” thus declaring, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” [1] Here he manifestly declares the body to be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in reference to himself, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” He was speaking, however, it is said, of the temple of his body. And not only does he [the apostle] acknowledge our bodies to be a temple, but even to be the temple of Christ. AGAINST HERESIES 5.6.2. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 3:16-17.

[2] SC 153:80-82; ANF 1:532*.

BUYERS AND SELLERS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

AUGUSTINE: Our Lord’s driving out of the temple people who were seeking their own ends, who came to the temple to buy and sell, is symbolic. For if that temple was a symbol it obviously follows that the body of Christ, the true temple of which the other was an image, has within it some who are buyers and sellers, or in other words, people who are seeking their own interests and not those of Jesus Christ.

But the temple was not destroyed by the people who wanted to turn the house of God into a den of thieves, and neither will those who live evil lives in the Catholic church and do all they can to convert God’s house into a robber’s den succeed in destroying the temple. The time will come when they will be driven out by a whip made of their own sins.

This temple of God, this body of Christ, this assembly of believers, has but one voice and sings the psalms as though it were but one person. If we wish, it is our voice; if we wish, we may listen to the singer with our ears and ourselves sing in our hearts. But if we choose not to do so it will mean that we are like buyers and sellers, preoccupied with our own interests. EXPLANATION OF PSALM 130.2-3. [1]

[1] CCL 40:1899-1900. See also Clement of Alexandria Christ the Educator 3.11.