📖 Biblical Definition
The temple was the permanent dwelling place of God in Jerusalem, built by Solomon according to the pattern God gave to David. "The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever" (1 Kings 8:12-13). Three temples are prominent in Scripture: Solomon's temple (destroyed 586 BC), Zerubbabel's temple (rebuilt after exile, expanded by Herod), and the eschatological temple. Jesus identified His own body as the true temple: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). The church is now God's temple: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). In the New Jerusalem, there is no temple, "for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" (Revelation 21:22).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
A public edifice erected in honor of some deity.
expand to see more
TEM'PLE, n. [L. templum.] 1. A public edifice erected in honor of some deity. Among pagans, a building erected to some pretended deity. 2. The church; the collective body of Christians. 3. The edifice erected at Jerusalem for the worship of God. Webster recognized the specifically biblical meaning of the temple as the house of God, distinct from pagan temples, and also its figurative application to the church.
📖 Key Scripture
• 1 Kings 8:10-11 — "The cloud filled the house of the LORD... for the glory of the LORD had filled the house."
• John 2:19-21 — "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up... He spake of the temple of his body."
• 1 Corinthians 3:16 — "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
• Ezekiel 10:18 — "Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house."
• Revelation 21:22 — "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The temple is either reduced to archaeology or politicized through third-temple speculation.
expand to see more
Two modern errors dominate temple theology. First, dispensationalism fuels intense speculation about a rebuilt third temple in Jerusalem, often supporting political movements to that end. This misses the New Testament's clear teaching that Christ is the temple, believers are the temple, and the New Jerusalem needs no temple because God Himself is its temple. The entire trajectory of Scripture moves from physical temple to spiritual reality, not back to physical structure. Second, liberal scholarship reduces the temple to a political and economic institution of the ancient Israelite state, stripping it of its theological significance as God's dwelling place and the center of sacrificial atonement pointing to Christ.
Usage
• "Jesus declared His body to be the true temple -- when He said 'destroy this temple,' He was announcing that the entire sacrificial system would find its fulfillment in His death and resurrection."
• "The glory of the LORD that filled Solomon's temple was the same glory that departed in Ezekiel, that became flesh in Christ, and that now dwells in believers by the Spirit."
• "In the New Jerusalem there is no temple, because God Himself is the temple -- the shadow gives way to the reality it always pointed to."