Last week our attention was on 1 Corinthians 3:9 where we read that as God’s people, we are His field. With hardly a breath between the next phrase Scripture adds that we are God’s building. This image of the Church occurs or is hinted at in several places in the New Testament. One of the better-known passages is Ephesians 2:19–22. While these verses do not make it as explicit as the Corinthian reference, the image of a building is clearly in view.
Our concept of a physical building matches with the Ephesian verses. When we think of a building we include its foundation and its superstructure built upon the foundation. We also think of a completed building of some significance as having a cornerstone, maybe even placed with some fanfare or public ceremony. Guided by the Bible verses we can think about God’s building, the Church, as having a foundation and a Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), as well as the “whole structure” that is built together and resting upon the foundation.
Apostles and prophets
Jesus declared in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My Church.” As He began His building project, Jesus chose 12 disciples, whom He later named apostles. Before He came, God had sent the Old Testament prophets who predicted Jesus’ coming and something of His ministry. The predictive truth through the prophets and the realized truth through Jesus and the disciples combine to give the Church its foundation. The Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20).
While the Church is revealed in the New Testament, we cannot ignore the preparatory revelation God sent through the Old Testament prophets. For example the prophet Isaiah declared, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am the One who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation’” (Isa. 28:16). The Church must be a “whole-Bible” church. Jesus began to teach His followers during His earthly ministry (Acts 1:1). To the words of Jesus in the Gospels (the red ink passages), we must add all He continued to teach through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the apostles’ writings found in the Epistles. God’s old covenant revelation and His new covenant revelation combined to lay the foundation for His Church.
Foundation stone
Modern building methods usually consider the cornerstone ceremonial, placing it at the conclusion of construction. In former times the foundation stone was set first. It set the angle for the corner and established the line for the other foundation blocks. The image of the Church as a building leads us to understand that Jesus, as the Cornerstone, was the first and only totally perfect stone in the Church’s founding. God’s truth — as it is revealed in His Son and illuminated by His Spirit for the disciples — furnished the essential guidelines for the foundation-laying work of His disciples. We do well to count the living Cornerstone the basic and most important stone in God’s building and always honor Him as such.
Since the foundation was set in place centuries ago the superstructure has been going up. Believers are said in 1 Peter 2:5 to be “living stones.” Christ is continuing to build God’s Church using people who have been made alive through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. When we look at our church’s weekly gathering for worship, we are looking at the very building material out of which God’s building is composed.
But more about this next week.
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