Paul turns rather abruptly from drawing lessons from himself and other church leaders to addressing his readers. He applies to them a conclusion that is drawn partly from the previous verses, though using different language. This verse, like verse 8b, anticipates the following section, where the “if any one” language of verses 12, 14, and 15 is resumed in verse 17. However, in other respects verse 17 carries on the new thought of verse 16, so a new paragraph is not needed at that point.
Do you not know is a negative rhetorical question that is equal to the positive statement “You certainly know that you are God’s temple…,” “I am sure that you know that…,” or “I am sure that you are aware of the fact that….”
The main problem in understanding and translating verses 16-17 is to decide whether Paul is referring to the Christians at Corinth individually, or as a body of believers, or both. It seems more natural to apply the image of the temple to the church as a whole, though in 6.19 it probably refers to individual Christians. It is also possible that the words “if any one” in verse 17 refer to one or more individuals who are a threat to the church at Corinth. Moreover, Paul chooses a plural relative pronoun “which” in verse 17, meaning “you yourselves,” where a singular “which (temple)” would have been grammatically more correct. Paul’s general tendency in this passage is to make positive statements about unspecified individuals in Corinth. Some translators may prefer to use a simile instead of the metaphor God’s temple; for example, “you are like a temple that belongs to God.”
Temple in this context may be rendered as “God’s house,” or “God’s dwelling place.”
The most likely meaning of the end of the verse is in you (whether as a group or as individuals), though “among you” is possible, as in verse 18.
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .