This verse develops the thought of verse 17, especially the reference to “spirit,” though at this point Paul is concerned, not with the human spirit, but with the Holy Spirit. Do you not know suggests that Paul is reminding his readers of previous teaching, though in this verse he is more concerned with individual members than with the church as a whole. For this reason the translation within you (Good News Bible‘s “in you”) is more probable than “among you.” For other ways to translate Do you not know, see the comments on verses 2, 3, 9, 16.
In some languages it will be necessary to render the clause your body is a temple as “your body is like a temple where the Holy Spirit lives.”
Which you have from God may be expressed as “which God has given to you.” These words refer to the Holy Spirit, as Good News Bible shows.
The structure of the Greek sentence suggests that the clause You are not your own is connected with the first part of verse 19 rather than with verse 20a, as in Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, and other translations. Several translations connect this clause with the beginning of verse 19 and agree with the UBS Greek text in making the whole verse a question; for example, “Do you not know … and that you are not your own?” (Translator’s New Testament). But other translations, including New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and Revised English Bible, agree with Good News Bible in thinking that the last part of verse 19 introduces a new thought that is explained in verse 20a. The Greek “and” before You are not your own may be understood in this way. An American Translation restructures it in the following way: “Besides, you are not your own; you have been bought and paid for.”
Taking into consideration the two ways that the phrase You are not your own fits into the structure of this verse, alternative translation models are the following:
• I am certain that you are aware of the fact that your body is like a temple in which the Holy Spirit whom God has given to you lives; and that you do not belong to yourselves, but that God has bought and paid for you.
Or:
• I am sure that you know that your body is like… You do not belong to yourselves, but God has bought and paid for you.
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 .