These old-fashioned words have disappeared from the English we speak today, so why shouldn’t they disappear from the Bible? Evidently modern translators of the Bible agree that they should go. Have we lost anything by that?

I believe we have. But first we lost the ability to understand thee and thou, so we’re not aware that something has changed when we drop those pronouns. They had a double use, most importantly they were used when speaking to one person, whereas you and ye were used when addressing a group of people.

The other use was that sometimes you or ye were used when addressing individuals deemed to be of a higher status. Thee and thou were used for family and close friends. Many people today have the impression that it is more respectful to address God as thou. That is backwards. When Jesus, in the Lord’s prayer, said “hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, they will be done,” He was teaching us that we can address God in a close and personal manner.

More importantly, we tend to misconstrue what Paul says in chapter 3 of I Corinthians. Verse 9 says “Ye are God’s building.” Ye is plural, building is singular, thus all of us together are one building, or church. The misunderstanding gets worse when we come to verses 16 and 17: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Notice that the apostle twice uses the plural pronoun ye, coupled with a singular object, temple. He is saying that all of us together are one temple. Many readers miss the meaning that is there in the AV/KJV. Modern translations obliterate the meaning altogether by changing the pronouns.

The notable exception is the NIV. Verses 16 and 17 in this version say: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person, for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” In this particular passage, the translators of the NIV understood a message that appears to have completely escaped the translators of the NKJV, CSB and ESV.

Those who believe that individuals are temples of God, consider the defilement of the temple to be personal sins that affect no one else. In the Old Testament, Achan’s sin, though unknown to everyone else, defiled the whole company of the Israelites. In the same way, the things we do when no one sees us can be a defilement for the whole church.

One NT passage, I Corinthians 6:19, refers to the believer’s body as the temple of the Holy Ghost. This is said in the context of teaching on moral purity and is perhaps best understood in comparing it to I Peter 2:5-7 which speaks of living stones that are built together to make the temple. The temple of God cannot be built of impure material.

2 Corinthians 6:16 again says “Ye are the temple of the living God.” The subject is plural, temple is singular. Again, the NIV says it better than other recent versions: “For we are the temple of the living God.” We should not use 1 Corinthians 6:19 to interpret (misinterpret, really) those verses that clearly say something else. All Christians have the Holy Spirit, but it is not God’s will for us to be stand-alone temples. Wouldn’t it be good if preachers and Sunday School teachers understood those old pronouns and made a point of teaching them? They’re really not all that complicated.