Psalms 47-49, 84-85, 87
We have thought on Your steadfast love, O God,
Psalm 48:9
in the midst of Your temple.
I think it is safe to assume that the psalmist originally had the Temple building in mind. But Saint Ambrose takes things further. He recognizes that the Temple points beyond itself to Christ and that the ultimate Temple of God is Christ’s body:
God’s true temple is the body of Christ, and in that body lies the purification of all our sins. Truly, that flesh is God’s temple, and in it there is no contagion of sin. On the contrary, it was itself the sacrifice that takes away the sin of all the world. That flesh is indeed God’s temple, and it shone in God’s image. In it there dwelled the fullness of divinity in a bodily manner, for Christ is himself that fullness… In that temple the psalmist tells us, “We have received your mercy.”
Saint Ambrose on Psalm 48:9
The notion of Christ’s body’s being the true Temple does not originate with Ambrose. Jesus Himself says as much:
So the Jews said to Him, “What sign do You show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking about the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
John 2:18-22
That is good food for thought as we work through the Psalms…
See also: