6:16 And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are23 the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them24and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”25
tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (𝔓46א2 C D2 F G Ψ 0209 𝔐 lat sy Tert), read ὑμεῖς … ἐστε (humeis … este, “you are”) instead of ἡμεῖς … ἐσμεν (hēmeis … esmen, “we are”) here, but several other early and important mss (א* B D* L P 0243 6 33 81 326 365 1175 1739 1881 2464 co Cl Or) have ἡμεῖς … ἐσμεν. The external evidence is somewhat in favor of the first person pronoun and verb; the internal evidence weighs in even stronger. In light of the parallel in 1 Cor 3:16, where Paul uses ἐστε (“you are the temple of God”), as well as the surrounding context here in which the second person verb or pronoun is used in vv. 14, 17, and 18, the second person reading seems obviously motivated. The first person reading can explain the rise of the other reading, but the reverse is not as easily done. Consequently, the first person reading of ἡμεῖς … ἐσμεν has all the credentials of authenticity.
snI will live in them. The OT text that lies behind this passage (Lev 26:11–12) speaks of God dwelling in the midst of his people. The Greek preposition en in the phrase en autois (“in them”) can also have that meaning (“among” or “with”). However, Paul appears to be extending the imagery here to involve God (as the Spirit) dwelling in his people, since he calls believers “the temple of the living God” in the previous clause, imagery he uses elsewhere in his writings (1 Cor 3:16; Eph 2:21–22).