If any man defile the temple - This clause is not consistently translated. Ει τις τον ναον του Θεου φθειρει, φθερει τουτον ὁ Θεος If any man destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy. The verb is the same in both clauses. If any man injure, corrupt, or destroy the Church of God by false doctrine, God will destroy him - will take away his part out of the book of life. This refers to him who wilfully opposes the truth; the erring, mistaken man shall barely escape; but the obstinate opposer shall be destroyed. The former shall be treated leniently; the latter shall have judgment without mercy.

any.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body; but he that commits fornication sins against his own body...

Leviticus 15:31 Thus shall you separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness...

Leviticus 20:3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he has given of his seed to Molech...

Numbers 19:20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation...

Psalm 74:3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Psalm 79:1 O God, the heathen are come into your inheritance; your holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

Ezekiel 5:11 Why, as I live, said the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things...

Ezekiel 7:22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

Ezekiel 23:38,39 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths...

Zephaniah 3:4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

defile. or. destroy. for.

Genesis 28:17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not near here: put off your shoes from off your feet, for the place where on you stand is holy ground.

1 Chronicles 29:3 Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of my own proper good, of gold and silver...

Psalm 93:5 Your testimonies are very sure: holiness becomes your house, O LORD, for ever.

Psalm 99:9 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.

Isaiah 64:11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.

Ezekiel 43:12 This is the law of the house; On the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold...

God's Fellow-Workers
'Labourers together with God.'--1 COR. iii. 9. The characteristic Greek tendency to factions was threatening to rend the Corinthian Church, and each faction was swearing by a favourite teacher. Paul and his companion, Apollos, had been taken as the figureheads of two of these parties, and so he sets himself in the context, first of all to show that neither of the two was of any real importance in regard to the Church's life. They were like a couple of gardeners, one of whom did the planting, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Christian Church
Scriptures references: 1 Corinthians 3:11; 3:6-9; Colossians 1:18; Acts 2:47; Ephesians 5:23-27; Matthew 16:16,18; 18:17; Acts 5:11,12; 13:1,2; 14:23; 16:5; 1 Corinthians 11:18-34; 12:28-31; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2:14; 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 12:22,23; Revelation 1:4,11,20; 2:7,11; 22:16; 22:12-15,17. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH What is the Christian Church?--One of the best definitions is as follows: "The church consists of all who acknowledge the Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, the blessed Saviour …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

Carnal Christians.
1 Corinthians 3:1.--And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. The apostle here speaks of two stages of the Christian life, two types of Christians: "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." They were Christians, in Christ, but instead of being spiritual Christians, they were carnal. "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet are ye able, for ye are …
Andrew Murray—The Master's Indwelling