One of the hardest sentences Paul wrote appears to say a man's bad works can get him destroyed by God. Read whole, it says very nearly the opposite, and the clause most often left off the end is the one that answers it. Here is what defiling means in Paul's own vocabulary, and why the temple was never the thing in danger.

Salvation and reward are not two names for one thing. One is a free gift that cannot be earned or lost; the other is a wage for service that can be gained or forfeited, yet never touches the gift. Rightly divide the two and the trembling conscience and the careless heart are answered at once.

Daniel's fast, the clean and unclean of Leviticus, the back-to-Eden vegan plan — every so-called biblical diet borrows food rules God gave to other people under other programs. Rightly divided, none of them binds the Body of Christ, to whom God gave liberty at the table with thanksgiving.

The Bible speaks about marriage to mankind before the law, to Israel under the law and the kingdom, and to the Body of Christ under grace. Read as one rule to one people, it binds commandments God never gave us. Rightly divided, the Lord's strict word to Israel and Paul's word of grace each fall into place — and grace gives far more than the law.

Paul's command to judge nothing before the time does not mean abandoning discernment. It means not judging hidden motives or ultimate faithfulness before the Lord's final evaluation. This article shows the balance Paul maintains between judging visible doctrine and conduct versus premature condemnation of the heart.