Catholic Biblical Typology
The Church the new temple
2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God
Ephesians 2:19-22  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The Temple | The Church | |
Built by the son of God | adopted son Solomon (2 Sam 7:12-14) built the first temple in Jerusalem (1 Kg 6:1) | beloved Son Jesus, the new Solomon (Mt 17:5) founded the Church (Mt 16:18) |
Includes Gentiles | King of Tyre provided cedars and cypress from Lebanon (1 Kg 5:1-12) Â Solomon's prayer of dedication included the temple as a house of prayer for Gentiles (1 Kg 8:41-43) | commissioned by Jesus to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:18-20) e.g. the first Gentiles were the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household (Acts 10) |
the Glory Cloud filled the Most Holy Place of the temple (1 Kg 8:10-11) | the Holy Spirit in the baptised (Acts 2:4,38), who are the temple of God (2 Cor 6:16) | |
Where worship (sacrifice) occurs | only in the temple (Lev 17:8-9; Dt 12:5-6; Jn 4:20-22) | the apostles (and their successors) offer Jesus's body and blood, the Eucharist (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 10:16) during mass  for individual believers to present their bodies to God as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1; 1 Cor 6:19-20) |