The Nature of the Church, Part 3: The Building of God

I'm back! With school out, I shall hopefully be blogging again, with new content, but first I want to finish up this series on the nature and importance of the church, especially the local church. May God be glorified and the Church edified! Here it is:

The third important New Testament metaphor for the church is the building of God. Jesus uses this metaphor in Matthew 16:18, where He promises to “build [His] church.” The second place where it is mentioned is by Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:9-17, where he talks to the leaders in the church in Corinth about building using the proper foundation, which is Jesus Christ. There are three key concepts that undergird the building metaphor: foundation, cornerstone, and edification. The first is the idea of a foundation. In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Paul says that “no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” In other words, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the basis for the existence of the church, and if a church is not founded on the biblical gospel, it cannot be a true church. The second concept is related, that is, the idea of a cornerstone. The cornerstone is the “stone laid at the corner to bind two walls together and to strengthen them” (Logan 349). In the Bible, it is “used symbolically as a symbol of strength and prominence” (Ibid.).  All of the synoptic gospels quote Psalm 118:22, which says “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and interpret it as pointing to Christ, who the leaders of Israel, the “builders” responsible for God’s people, rejected. Peter takes this concept and calls Christ a “living stone” which is “in the sight of God chosen and precious.” He also calls believers “living stones” which are being “built up as a spiritual house.” This leads into the last key concept present in this metaphor, that is, edification. To edify simply means to build up, and it is used to describe the growth of believers. Believers are commanded all over the New Testament to pursue the edification of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Romans 15:2 says “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up,” a very straightforward command to encourage and exhort other believers for their joy and for the glory of God. Edification must be the primary goal of Christian fellowship and communication in the church. Ephesians 4:29 makes this clear in saying that we must consider whether a word is going to edify the other person before we speak. This edification, this building up, is essential if the building of God is going to stand strong on the foundation of Christ and His gospel. The building metaphor in Scripture is important because it points to Christ as the foundation on which every minister builds.