Bible Contradiction? Does God dwell in temples?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Does God dwell in temples?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

God dwells in temples.

“I have truly built You a lofty house, A place for Your dwelling forever.”” (1 Kings 8:13)

“Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.” (2 Chronicles 7:12)

“For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there always.” (2 Chronicles 7:16)

God does not dwell in temples.

“However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:” (Acts 7:48)

“The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands;” (Acts 17:24)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic tries to pit three passages (1 Kings 8:13, 2 Chronicles 7:12, 16) as affirming the claim “God dwell in Temples” against two passages (Acts 7:48, Acts 17:24) as affirming “God does not dwell in human temples.”
4. In answering the skeptic it is important to remember the attribute of God.  God is all-present and He does not need His creation and creatures to be God.
5. Per point 4 there can be passages that (a) emphasize God’s asiety and also (b) passages that stresses God’s omnipresence.  God’s omnipresence furthermore can be asserted by (b1) passages where God is present at (b2) as well as passages denying God is only present at X.  Passages with claims of a, b, b1 and b2 are not mutually exclusive nor contradictory.  Keep this in mind for what follows below.
6. I believe the two passages (Acts 7:48, Acts 17:24) cited as affirming “God does not dwell in human temples” is affirming claim a, that God is independent of depending upon His creatures.  Notice how in both Acts 7:48, and Acts 17:24 there’s a denial of God having to live in temples “made by hands.” Instead everything depend upon on God, since He is the Creator.  This is affirmed within Acts 17:24 which states “God who made the world and everything that is in it” and also the next verse in Acts 17:25 continue this theme of God’s aseity.  Also in the context of Acts 7:48 the next two verse (Acts 7:49-50) quotes from the Old Testament to make the point by stating “‘Heaven is My throne, And the earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord, ‘Or what place is there for My rest? 50 Was it not My hand that made all these things?’”  In verse 50 the concluding thought is God raising the rhetorical question “Was it not My hand that made all these things?” which is making the point about God’s aseity.  Note the four instance of the possessive pronoun “My” that show He’s the Creator.  To summarize one has to be careful to note these two verses are not denying God cannot be present in human temple but affirming God’s aseity (Claim a).
7. The three passages (1 Kings 8:13, 2 Chronicles 7:12, 16) the skeptic cited as affirming the claim “God dwell in Temples” is technically  giving a b1 type of claim: passages that mention a locale where presence of God is present.  Of course God’s presence is everywhere but God’s presence in a certain location can be manifested for different functions such as judgment, comfort, a place to connect with His people, etc.  2 Corinthians 7:12 mentioned specifically why the Temple is built and what the Presence of God is doing there when God in the first Person stated that He “have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.””  Notice this purpose is not incompatible with claim A type of passages such as the ones given in point 6.
8. The skeptic might be confusing the different sense of “dwell” that is employed here.  God does not “dwell’ in any place like the creatures need to dwell somewhere to survive.  Both Acts 7:48 and Acts 17:24 deny this sense of dwelling.  Yet God can dwell in a locale in the sense of being present at somewhere.
9. The different sense of “dwell” being used is clear from the context as demonstrated above in point 6 and 7.  It is not a cop out.  Ordinary language too often have different sense of meaning of the same word; see our examples here:
   1. Apologetics Sermon Illustration:Idioms of Love and Bible Contradictions
   2. Apologetics Sermon Illustration: Whoppers and Bible Contradictions
   3. Apologetics Sermon Illustration: Bible Contradiction and the Word “Left
   4. Bible Contradiction and Contronyms
   5. Bible Contradiction and Mistaking ‘poppers’ for Candy
   6. Bible Contradiction and the Word with the Most Definitions
   7. Old Meaning of Art, Science and Philosophy and the mistake made by those who thinks Christianity is contradictory
10. Furthermore 1 Kings 8:13, 2 Chronicles 7:12, 16 should not be mistaken for them teaching that it is a denial of God’s omnipresence (what we would call in logic a “~B claim”).  Passages saying where God is present (b claim) is not the same thing as denying God can’t be present everywhere (~B).  The context of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles makes it clear that God’s omnipresence is affirmed.  In the same chapter as 1 Kings 8:13, we see 1 Kings 8:27 states “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”  Note the immensity of God but also His omnipresence being affirmed by the very Solomon who utter 1 KIngs 8:13.  Likewise when we turn to 2 Chronicles, before 2 Chronicles 7:12, 16 in 2 Chronicles 2:6 it also affirm God’s immensity and Omnipresence when the same Solomon before He built the Temple rhetorically asked ““But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him?””
11. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
12. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

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