Ornamenting the Body and Defiling the Temple
Answer: By Deborah Mullins
The following is an answer to a recent question regarding scriptures related to "defiling the temple" and ornamenting the body. This question relates to the Bible's reference to our bodies as a "temple" and there are several guidelines laid down in the scriptures on how we are to care for our own temple. The main reference to the body as a temple is in 1 Corinthians 6. In this chapter, Paul is addressing the Christians in Corinth who were having some trouble following the letter and the spirit of Christ's teaching. He lists several different areas where Christians were having trouble with living in the world. Beginning in verse 13 and continuing through verse 20, Paul gives several guidelines on how we are to revere our bodies as the Jews had formerly held their temple--a sacred place where God would communicate with the high priest and sins were confessed and forgiven. Using the analogy of the temple for our bodies, the former Jews could easily identify with the amount of reverence we should have for our "temple" since it was purchased by Christ for the purpose of serving God while we are still here on this earth.
As an instrument to be used for the continuation of Christ's work, it therefore has the same sacred purpose that the Jewish temple once served. 1 Corinthians 19-20 sums it up (KJV): "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
The ornamentation of the body is described in 1Timothy 2:9-10: "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. But (which becometh women professing godliness with good works." This is a specific description for the instruction of women's dress. A general guideline goes for both men and women and is related to the fact that our bodies are temples and should be adorned modestly with the ornamentation coming in the form of our good works. In 1 Peter 3:3-5, the instruction is given to wives: