“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” ( 1 Cor. 3:17 KJV)
I have heard this one line verse so misused out of context. Some even to say, from pulpits, it is about loss of salvation if committing suicide. Leaving families in fear that their saved loved ones, who got saved, and ended up in hell. Horribly wrong!
Context matters right?
Paul just finished explaining what will happen at the Bema Judgment of believers after the Rapture. Works from living carnally will be burnt up. They will not gain eternal rewards. How we live after salvation matters; Or we lose salvation ? NO.
The Bema Seat Judgment by Christ for born again believers will happen after our bodily resurrection. It will occur in heaven; the New Heavenly Jerusalem. The place Jesus is preparing for us from John 14. Only the Bride of Christ can enter. So these are all in heaven, already in their eternal Holy state and in glorified bodies as Christ now has, after having been harpazo raptured.
“If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: BUT HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED yet so as by fire.” ( 1 Cor. 3:17 KJV)
Apostle Paul is telling these babes in Christ, who are carnal in their living (saved eternally by belief on Christ but living worldly outwardly), that they need to start living in the Spirit that God made them (same as Paul told the Galatian believers in Gal. 5:16).
Why are they living carnally?
Paul wrote the context from verse 1…
“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
They should have progressed into the Spiritual truths but are saved people still acting as born again babes in the faith. Living as worldly unsaved people, even though they are saved people.
Paul is teaching to them to understand that they should live morally right, even under persecution. How we live outwardly as believers is directly related to how much we are walking in the Spirit, which is already perfected (Hebrews 10:14, Colossians 2, 2 Cor. 5:17-21 etc). Do not get saved, born again in the Spirit, and live carnally. Renew our mind by the truth; God’s Word (Romans 12, John 17:17). As we do, we are less deceived and start living right because we know the truth more and more. We live right as we believe right in the mind. This is the way to true repentance after salvation (change your mind), growing in the knowledge of the truth as born again believers. Growing in good works that are not worldly but are because of walking by the Spirit God has made us at our core being. Works starting inwardly and Spiritual moving outward to good works in love for others. Paul explained it this way in Ephesians,
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 KJV)
Suicide Is Not God’s Plan For You
It is the devil and his fallen angels putting pressure on a person, pressures hard to bare, and whispering in their ears to end there own life. Look at what happened to Job when the devil pressed his life from all directions. He lost everything. His wealth and even all 7 of his kids. All gone in a flash. Did God do this? Did Job blame God or did he act righteously?
“And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” (Job 1:22 KJV)
Job did not blame God for this. Satan got angered because Job kept his trust in God, and to make matters worse Job got these horrible painful boils all over his body. Who was it that caused this?
“So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.” (Job 2:7 KJV)
Things were so bad for Job in his life that even his own wife told Job,
“Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” (Job 2:9 KJV)
Look how Satan was doing everything possible to get Job to curse God. The point I am making is to realize WHO is causing strife, pain and problems to bring a person to the point where they consider taking their own life. Job was in great grief, in a very dark place in life indeed. His friends came and they “…sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.” (Job 2:13 KJV)
Reading on into Job 3, we see just how deep his despair was. He cursed the day he was born. If we get to a place of great despair and a very dark time in our life, consider how Job responded. He grieved like anyone would! It was so much to bare!
“What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?” (Job 6:11 KJV)
In the end Job, though struggled with all this, trusted God instead of taking his wife’s advice.
“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10 KJV)
Job’s attitude even living through these very horrible life events was , if God brought me to it, he will see me through it. No matter what happens in life, we must keep God’s perfect character in view. It helped Job sustain through the crisis’ of his life, even when his own friends were telling him that God must be cursing Job for wrongdoing. This was not the case.
“I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.” (Job 16:2 KJV)
He could not even get any comfort from his friends on what was happening in his life. What God allowed to happen for His purposes. God was not the one doing this to Job, it was satan. That said, God allowed it for His own purposes. Later God restored more back to Job than he had before the dark times hit his life.
LATER ON…
That is the words we need to keep in mind when dark times hit. God will be with us through all of life’s dark times. The devil wants to destroy us who trust in God. Suicide is not the way in such dark times. It robs the person of what God may have planned for allowing the dark time to happen. It robs family and friends to be left dealing with overwhelming grief.
Some just live in darkness quietly, telling no one. (if this is you, talk to someone. Even if it is a suicide hot line counsellor. Seek help!) And they are so overwhelmed by their experience in life that they give up and commit suicide. Some who are terminally ill are in so much pain without hope of survival that they decide to end their own life. Dark times are not the same for everyone.
And then some fellow believers tell those left living to deal with grief over their loved ones suicide, that such who commit the act are going to hell, and even as believers have lost their salvation. Not only is that a horrible thing to say, it is also not Biblically sound. A person who believed on Christ for righteousness and His death and rising again are eternally saved from the very moment they believed (Eph .1:13-14). Any sin committed after that moment of salvation was already paid for on the cross (Colossians 2). A believer who commits suicide may lose eternal rewards, but they are still heaven bound (1 Corinthians 3:15).
That is not to condone the sin of suicide, but it is Scriptural sound. Any sin after salvation will not mean loss of salvation. Any sin. All a believer’s sins were already judged and paid in full by Christ on that cross 2000 years ago as they died WITH CHRIST and ROSE AGAIN with Christ (Colossians 2).
Any person left living after a close friend or relative has committed suicide can take some comfort in this, if the person was a born again believer on Christ for salvation.
