The Holy Sanctuary

The New Testament applies Tabernacle language and imagery from the Hebrew Bible to the Body of Christ, the Habitation of God’s Holy Spirit.

Terms from the Tabernacle and the worship rituals of Leviticus are applied in the New Testament to the New Covenant community inaugurated by Jesus Christ. What the Tabernacle prefigured has become reality in the Church, which is “the habitation of God in Spirit.”

The Apostle Paul applies the Greek phrase translated as “the sanctuary of God” to the congregation of Corinth, and he uses related terms when describing other churches, citing passages from the Hebrew Bible to strengthen his arguments – (‘naos theou’, ναος θεου - “We are the sanctuary of the Living God, even as God said, I will dwell in them…” - 2 Corinthians 6:16, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

[Stone Column - Photo by Peggy Sue Zinn (Michigan) on Unsplash]

Similar terms from the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, are applied to the Church of Jesus Christ. This illustrates the identity of God’s people under the New Covenant. The congregation of believers is the House of God inhabited by the Holy Spirit.

In Paul’s epistles, the English phrase “sanctuary of God” translates the Greek clause ‘ton naon tou theou’, and the Greek noun ‘naos’ means “sanctuary,” the inner sanctum or “the Holy of Holies.”

Paul applies this term to the local congregation four times in his letters to the Corinthians. Once he uses ‘naos’ by itself in his Letter to the Ephesians to describe the Church, composed of believing Jews and Gentiles. The old ethnic distinctions no longer apply - (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:16):

• (Ephesians 2:19-22) - “No longer are you strangers and sojourners but fellow citizens of the saints, and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, there being for chief cornerstone Jesus Christ himself in whom an entire building is in the process of being fitly joined together and growing into a holy sanctuary (‘naos’) in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit.”

The Church does not consist of men and women made of stones or goatskins. Tents and stone structures do not “grow.” The congregation is not a building but the assembly of the Spirit-filled saints of God wherever they come together for prayer and worship.

Moreover, the local assembly is not simply the entire Temple complex, but more especially, God’s “sanctuary,” His “Holy of Holies.” Like the Ancient Tabernacle, His presence and Spirit dwell in the Church (“the habitation of God in the Spirit”), and it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes the congregation “holy” - that sets the believer apart for divine service.

For this reason, the Church must not be sullied by the stain of sin. Both individually and collectively, believers must strive for holiness in all things. Obedience and separation from that which is unholy and contrary to the Spirit of God are not optional:

• “If anyone defiles the sanctuary of God, God will defile him, for the sanctuary of God is holy, and such are you” - (1 Corinthians 3:17).

• “Having, therefore, these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” - (2 Corinthians 7:1).

THE SPIRIT MEANS HOLINESS

Language about preserving the Sanctuary’s holiness and the punishment that awaits those who “defile” the Sanctuary reflects the purity regulations of the Tabernacle that are recorded in the Law of Moses. In the Apostolic Tradition, faith and obedience are both mandatory:

• “But the man that will be unclean and will not purify himself, that soul will be cut off from the midst of the congregation, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahweh” – (Numbers 19:20).

• “Pursue peace with all men, and the holiness without which no man will see the Lord” – (Hebrews 12:14).

• “And what concord has Christ with Belial, or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the sanctuary of God with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living God, even as God said, I will dwell in them… – (2 Corinthians 6:15-17).

The Apostle to the Gentiles summoned Jewish and Gentile believers to live holy lives by remaining “separate” from sin and idolatry. He identified the local congregation as “the sanctuary” inhabited by the Holy Spirit. To strengthen his point, he cited two passages from the Hebrew Bible:

• (Leviticus 26:11-12) - “And I will set my habitation in your midst, and my soul will not abhor you, but I will walk to and fro in your midst, and I will be to you a God, and you will be to me a people.”

• (Jeremiah 31:33) - “For this is the covenant which I will solemnize with the house of Israel after those days, declares Yahweh. I will put my law within them, Yea, on their heart will I write it. Thus, I will become their God, and they will become my people.”

Paul links “the Spirit” to the presence of God that now dwells in His People. The Gift of the Spirit possessed by believers demonstrates that God lives among His people. Collectively, they constitute “the sanctuary of God” wherever the Church resides.

The identification of the local assembly as God’s sanctuary is based on promises of the New Covenant from the Hebrew Bible, including the promised Spirit:

• “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit <…> And I will put my Spirit within you” - (Ezekiel 36:26).

As the New Testament teaches, the institutions of the old covenant were “types,” shadows that prefigured the realities that Jesus is actualizing in his New Covenant community - (Hebrews 8:5, Colossians 2:16-17).

The God of Israel has spoken His supreme Word in His Son, Jesus Christ, the one who has “achieved the purification of sin” for us. To defile this through disobedience and sin is a serious offense that may result in severe punishment. Holiness in the Body of Christ is necessary for its survival – (Hebrews 1:1-3).

God Himself has confirmed the validity of this word of salvation, “both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Simply ignoring, or even worse, disobeying this word will result in catastrophe. “How will we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation?” – (Hebrews 2:1-4).

• “A man that has set at nought Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment do you suppose he will be judged worthy who has trampled the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” - (Hebrews 10:28-29).

The Ancient Tabernacle was a “shadow” and foretaste of the greater reality of God indwelling His people through His Spirit. Wherever Christ’s followers are gathered for worship, the Holy Spirit is present and working among his people, “the habitation of God in the Spirit.”

This new reality requires an even greater level of holiness of God’s people than the Levitical system ever did.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Habitation of God - (Jesus is the real sanctuary foreshadowed by the tabernacle, and he is the High Priest “forever” who serves in it on our behalf)

• The Tabernacle of God - (Ever since the Word became flesh, God’s Glory has been manifested in Jesus of Nazareth, and all who believe in him behold God’s splendor)

• The Tent Pitched by God - (Jesus intercedes without ceasing for his people in the true heavenly Tabernacle, one not made with human hands)

• Le Sanctuaire Sacré - (Le Nouveau Testament applique le langage et l'imagerie du Tabernacle de la Bible hébraïque au Corps du Christ, l'Habitation du Saint-Esprit de Dieu)