What is in your Temple

Ancient Greek Root: Derived from kharassein, meaning “to sharpen, cut in furrows, or engrave”. It originally referred to an instrument used for marking or branding
Literal to Metaphorical Shift: In Hellenistic times, the meaning shifted from a physical engraved mark on an object or coin to a metaphorical “imprint on the soul” or defining quality.

I Am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.

Stories within stories, songs within songs, words within Word.

From In Genesis 17, God commands Abraham to perform this ritual as the permanent, physical sign of their agreement. I see connection between the physical act of engraving and the spiritual concept of a “circumcised heart” the veil is lifted the heart is new, it is no longer attached to the sinful hardened heart. The new heart now enslaved to righteousness from Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:3
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

The internal circumcision—the cutting away of the hardened, stubborn layer of the human heart. Aligns with the double-edged sword mentioned in…

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Another Word of God truth: true transformation changes ownership entirely. I enjoy knowing that God is timeless and this fits perfectly; I was to buy a shirt just a couple days ago that says “I Belong to Jesus“. When you are sealed by God, your heart, master, and temple all shift from the external, worldly realm to the internal, spiritual realm. I am now the Temple of God. When Jesus made this statement, the religious leaders thought He was speaking about Herod’s physical temple of stone, which had taken decades to build. However, the scriptures explicitly clarify that Jesus was referring to the temple of His own body and His upcoming resurrection.

John 2:18-22
The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

I love how this is interwoven into today as well. When the leaders questioned how He could rebuild a structure that took 46 years to build in just three days, the text clarifies that the temple he had spoken of was his body, and His disciples only understood the scripture after His resurrection.

In John 6:63, Jesus addresses His disciples after giving a difficult, deeply symbolic teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Recognizing that they were struggling because they were interpreting His words literally and physically, He states:

John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

I changed it from Character to Temple is much easier when you understand that it is all from specifics. What is in the Temple is also to tell us much more. You are Temple of God then you are with love is Agape. What many do not understand is that it is like a list of all the things that are to root from Love. So I can ask one question and get many answers.

Love does not lie.
Love does not cheat.
Love does not steal.
Love does not harm.
Love does not do bad.
It is the very foundation of all good.

I will not get into the polar opposite, all the darknesses, death, and it is all bad character: it lies, it kills, it cheats, it steals, it hurts, it harms.

Everything here is refined to what I have said, because this is the essence of the article.

There is more to this. The Word was with God in the beginning. The Word is God. And the Word was born into flesh, and this is Jesus.

John 1 gives a lot more information. The Light is life and everything of the world and all things created. The truth only has the answer that is true. Love only has the answer of love. The reason God is unchanging is that everything of Him is true and loving and forever. He is beyond time. All time resides in God.

John 1
The Word Became Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

The Word is God & The Word is Forever

Matthew 21:43 Jesus is warning the religious leaders of Israel People that God’s spiritual rule and blessings will be removed from them and given to those who faithfully obey and serve God. To produce or be bearing fruit means showing true faith through righteous living, obedience to God, and accepting His message. The privilege of leading God’s people moves from the disobedient religious leaders to a new group (the church made of believers from all nations (“church” is never a physical building or an institution, but rather the community of believers themselves.)) that responds to God with real faith.

Matthew 21:43
Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

The Greek Origin: Ekklesia

The Definition: The New Testament uses the Greek word ekklesia, which literally translates to “a called-out assembly” or a gathering of people.

The Context: In ancient Greece, an ekklesia was a public meeting of citizens called together for a specific purpose. Jesus and the apostles adopted this word to describe the community of people called by God out of the world and into fellowship with Him.

The Spiritual Gathering
No Buildings Required: For the first 300 years of the Christian movement, believers did not have dedicated church buildings. They met in living rooms, courtyards, and public spaces.The Minimum

Requirement: Jesus explicitly defines the baseline for this gathering in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Beyond Time: The Eternal Pre-Existence
John 1:1 & Genesis 1:1
God is entirely unchanging because He exists outside of the constraints of time. John purposefully echoes the very first words of the Bible—”In the beginning”—but he does something revolutionary with them.

While Genesis 1:1 looks forward to the start of creation, John 1:1 looks backward into what already existed before creation. Jesus did not begin to exist when He was born in Bethlehem, nor did He spark into being at the dawn of time. He eternally was. Before there was space, matter, or time, Jesus was already there—basking in perfect, unbroken fellowship with the Father.

The Anchors of Character: Chesed and Emet
Exodus 34:6
Because God is eternal, His character is completely immutable. Everything He does is anchored in two absolute pillars: perfect Love and absolute Truth.

In the ancient Hebrew mind, these two concepts were the bedrock of God’s covenant with humanity. They correspond to two untranslatable Hebrew words:

Chesed: God’s unfailing, fierce, covenantal, and steadfast love.

Emet: His absolute faithfulness, reliability, and unchanging truth.

When God revealed His innermost character to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34:6, He described Himself as “abounding in Chesed and Emet.” For centuries, these remained beautiful, abstract concepts hidden behind the veil of the Temple.

The Ultimate Reveal: Grace and Truth
John 1:14-17
The climax of John’s introduction is that the transcendent, eternal God did not want to remain abstract. In John 1:14 and 17, when the Greek text says Jesus arrived full of “grace and truth” (charis and aletheia), John is directly translating Chesed and Emet for a new audience.

John is connecting the dots that most people miss: the two absolute pillars of God’s eternal character became fully visible, tangible, and human in the person of Jesus.

Jesus is the ultimate bridge. The God who existed before time, and the covenant love that sustained Israel for generations, walked into human history. In Jesus, we do not just read about God’s love and truth—we can look Him in the eyes.

Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”

1 Peter 1:25
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.

Psalm 119:89
ל Lamedh
Your word, Lord, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.

John 14:11
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

John 17:21-23
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

This passage perfectly bridges everything here in article and more: the Logos (The Word), the Charaktēr (the exact imprint), and Perichoresis (the mutual indwelling). What makes this scripture so staggering is that Jesus takes the infinite, eternal relationship of the Trinity and extends the boundary to include humanity.

The Extension of Perichoresis (Mutual Indwelling) When Jesus prays, “just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us,” He is not asking for believers to simply get along or be agreeable. He is asking for us to be drawn into the eternal, perfect flow of Love and Truth that exists between the Father and the Word.

Jesus states, “I have given them the glory that you gave me.” In Hebrew thought, glory (Kavod) implies weight, heavy presence, and the manifest character of God. By giving this glory to humanity, Jesus implants the very essence of the Holy Word within the believer. This glory acts as the divine “glue” that allows human beings to achieve “complete unity.”

“Love only has the answer of love, the reason God is unchanging is it everything is true and loving.” The ultimate proof to the world that Jesus is real—and that God’s character is true—is not found in human arguments. It is found when the world witnesses this supernatural, trinitarian love active inside human beings: “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” The circle is complete: The Word that was beyond time, who became flesh, now invites us to live inside that very same eternal reality.

Love Wins & Word is Love