Temple Purity in Second Temple Judaism

Paul’s view of the church as the temple and his concern about its purity in 1-2 Corinthians has traditionally been interpreted from the perspective of a Jewish background. However, Yulin Liu reveals that the pagans were very aware of temple purity when visiting some temples in the Greco-Roman world, and the purification concerns of three pagan temples in Corinth are documented in his work. The author affirms that the Gentile believers among the Corinthian community were able to grasp Paul’s message because of it. Also, Liu investigates Paul’s use of temple purity to address the necessity of unity, holiness and faithfulness of the Corinthian Christians in an eschatological sense. Moral and faithful purity needed to be practiced and maintained by the community so that the community could be sanctified as the dwelling place of God. The separation of God’s people from profane matters actually points to a new exodus and a progressive consummation of the construction of the eschatological temple-community.