Body as Temple of the Holy Spirit: what does that mean?

Body as Temple – Anti-Vaccination?

One of the questions I was asked after the post on masking in the Bible was whether 1 Corinthians 6:19 (our "bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit") had implications in forbidding vaccination. Once again: I will not be addressing the medical questions regarding these vaccines, the mRNA and inactivated virus variants, etc. I will not get into discussions on whether COVID vaccine is different from the polio and other vaccines I received as a child, and the vaccines we received before coming to Indonesia as adults. I'm not qualified to judge all these questions. Yes, I do my own research and have my own opinion, but I will keep that to myself.

 

** I will only approve comments which address the biblical question: Does the fact that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit mean that Christians should not be vaccinated with any of the COVID vaccines? **

 

Executive summary: in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Paul addresses ONLY the issue of sexual immorality as pollution of one's body and therefore also pollution of the Holy Spirit's temple. Paul does not address eating, vaccines, smoking, healthy exercise, or other issues in this passage.

 

The longer discussion:

I have heard many references to the fact that our "bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you" in connection with practices like smoking, inactivity, eating disorders and the like. However, Paul does not make any such connection here. He explicitly limits the scope of "temple violation" to sexual immorality in v. 18: "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body." This is followed with the often-quoted passage regarding the body as temple.

 

We need to understand that Paul is answering an argument from some in Corinth which said that since our body will ultimately be destroyed, what we do with it is irrelevant. Paul quotes these people in vv. 12-13, but then disagrees with them, and immediately states that we are not to engage in sexual immorality. We discover why he is doing this in vv. 15-16. It is apparent that some Corinthians believed that making use of prostitutes was okay, because our body would be destroyed anyway. Paul disagree: this is NOT okay, as it unites members of Christ with a prostitute. The statement in v. 18 which draws a line between "all other sins" and sexual sins is then followed by the "temple" statement.

 

"All other sins" (or expressions of lack of care for our physical bodies) are not Paul's sermon topic in this passage. Yes, there are other places where Paul favors care for one's physical body. He uses many athletic metaphors (Phil 2:16; Gal 2:2, 5:7; 2 Tim 4:7; and in this same letter, 1 Cor 9:24-26). When facing shipwreck, Paul urges food on his shipmates to help them stay alive (Acts 27:33ff). Paul speaks favorably regarding exercise in 1 Tim 4:8. 

 

I'm probably missing some other passages which could be used to preach a sermon on proper care of the body. But 1 Cor 6:19 is not that passage, except in relationship to sexual morality. I therefore conclude that whatever your perspective is on vaccines in general, and any of the current COVID vaccines in particular, your acceptance or rejection of these should not be based on 1 Cor 6:19.