Cracks in God's temple?

I've been doing some studying at All Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire, and my latest essay has been on why the Church is called the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16). The Bible uses the Old Testament temple as a metaphor for the Church and each Christian is a living stone (1 Peter 2:5), being built together into God's house.

When you think about the temple, you think of the beautiful and magnificent dwelling place of God. And that is just what the Church is - a group of people in which God has chosen to live. Is the Church beautiful and magnificent? Yes, in God's opinion, but only because God himself has made it so:

"Your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendour that I had bestowed on you", declares the Lord God." Ezekiel 16:14

One of the things that Paul emphasizes when he says the Church is the temple of God, is that it must not be divided (1 Cor 1:10). There mustn't be any cracks in the temple walls. In the context, the Corinthian Christians were arguing over which preacher they liked best: Paul, Apollos, Christ. They were boasting in men, rather than God and this was causing disunity.

The temple of God is a communal metaphor, each Christian being part of the bigger communal picture. Being one in Spirit with God, implies one in spirit with each other. The Church is a house taken over by God, his Spirit has ‘taken possession of it, has overwhelmed and penetrated it in its entire existence’.[1] As the same Spirit is in all believers, the local Church should experience a tangible closeness with one another and a delight in one another’s company. The temple metaphor implies the joyful gathering of Christians (Ps 122:1); sweet fellowship (55:14 NIV); and corporate prayer (Acts 3:1) and praise (Luke 24:53).

As a church we should make every effort to keep the unity (Eph 4:1) by building one another up. Here's a list Paul gives of the things which divide Churches: quarrelling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder (12:19-20). He even warns Christians not to bite and devour one another, or they might end up consuming one another! (5:15;). The single cure to these dividing factors is love (Gal 5:14). Apply love, and disunity will disappear. Love is the cement which holds the building together (cf. Col 2:2).

I have been challenged to see the Church as a unit and myself as a single stone in God's glorious dwelling place. I have been encouraged to enjoy talking to others about the Lord; to delight in building others up; to see negativity towards other Christians as destroying God's temple and to see myself as a privileged builder of the living temple being built for the King of Kings.

[1] Küng 1968:170