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Does the Bible treat the body as a temple, and what follows from that?

Direct

A clear verse states this directly, and no higher-or-equal-authority text overturns it.

Yes, the Bible directly and repeatedly calls the body a temple (naos, the inner sanctuary), and draws from this at least three explicit consequences: flee sexual immorality, avoid idolatrous entanglements, and glorify God in the body.

Multiple apostolic texts state the proposition outright in their own words, "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19), "you are God's temple and God's Spirit lives in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16), "you are a temple of the living God" (2 Corinthians 6:16), and each passage explicitly states what follows from it, grounded in Tier 1 divine-speech promises that God would dwell among his people.

Key texts:
1 Corinthians 3:16Tier 4 · Apostle
“Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”
1 Corinthians 3:17Tier 4 · Apostle
“If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.”
1 Corinthians 6:15Tier 4 · Apostle
“Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!”

…and 22 more verses weighed in the full analysis.

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Original-language words behind this answer:
oikodomḗ (Greek G3619)pneumatikós (Greek G4152)timḗ (Greek G5092)oikodoméō (Greek G3618)naós (Greek G3485)nâbaṭ (Hebrew H5027)shâkan (Hebrew H7931)kiççêʼ (Hebrew H3678)shâlôwm (Hebrew H7965)regel (Hebrew H7272)

SAM answers from primary-source texts only, weighing each verse by its authority tier. Every quotation is verified word-for-word. How the method works →

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