James Bannerman on not defiling God’s temple

[Reformed Covenanter]

... “Know ye not,” says the Apostle, addressing his Corinthian converts, “know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” It is no doubt a solemn thing to think that the eye of that God who dwelleth in heaven is constantly open upon us, and that, go where we may, we cannot for a single instant escape from his sight; but it is unspeakably more solemn to believe, as the Christian is taught to do, not so much that God is looking upon him from the distant heaven, as that God has come to him, and has made his abode within him—that the everlasting Spirit of all truth is present to every movement of his inmost soul, and immediately in contact with his spirit; and that, think what he may, whether it be for good or for evil, the thought is formed and entertained, not only under the eye, but within the very secret residence of the Deity. ...

For more, see James Bannerman on not defiling God’s temple.

 

[JH]

‘The Indwelling of the Holy Ghost more Precious to Believers than the Visible Presence of Christ' – What a magnetic title that is. I will be reading that sermon on Archive


Edit: Just finished it, great sermon

 

[NaphtaliPress]

"Peter Martyr, loc. com. p. 155, speaking of images of Christ, says, 'If the bodily presence of Christ was a hindrance to the apostles, and the sight of His human nature an impediment, unfitting them from receiving the Spirit, till once He went away in that respect from them (John 16:7), how much more will images of Christ prove impediments.'" Ralph Erskine, Faith no Fancy (1805), pp. 64-65. "...as Vermigli indicated, the depiction of his human nature is an attempt to tear Christ from heaven and replace the Spirit in our hearts with a painting on our walls." Harrison Perkins, Images of Christ and the Vitals of the Reformed System," The Confessional Presbyterian 14 (2018): 212.