That is to say, Heaven ratifies what the kingdom of God or the true spiritual church in her instincts and judgments, as cleared and approved by the Holy Spirit, binds and looses, remits and retains; and this for the sufficient reason that she is Christ's own body, and as such the temple of the Holy Spirit.1 1 The only other occasion on which our King used this word "ékkλŋola” (church) was when he laid down his principles for the treatment of an erring brother: : But if thy brother sin, go show him his fault between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he hear not, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuse to hear them, tell it to the ecclesia [church]; and if he neglect to hear the ecclesia [church] also, let him be to thee as the Gentile and the publican. Verily I say to you, whatever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. - Matthew 18: 15-18. In what sense did our King use this word "ecclesia" (church) on this occasion? It could not have been in the later ecclesiastical sense; for churches as ecclesiastical institutions were not organized till some considerable time after Pentecost. It could not have been in any current Jewish sense; for, even assuming that the Jewish synagogue answered to the Mosaic ecclesia (church), the decisions of the then Jewish synagogue were more likely to secure the ratifications of Gehenna than of Paradise. It must have been in the ideal sense of the divine ecclesia or spiritual church; somewhat as the King had just used it in his declaration to Peter at Cæsarea Philippi - the ecclesia (church) of that early pre-apostolic period being the little unorganized company of Christ's own personal followers. The word "ecclesia" itself was doubtless suggested by the Sinaitic "ecclesia in the wilderness," "the assembly of Israel," ""the congregation of Jehovah," etc. CHAPTER IV THE CHURCH OF GOD'S TEMPLE HAVING been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom every building, fitly framed together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are being builded together into a habitation of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:20-22. Perhaps this magnificent architectural figure was suggested to St. Paul by his remembrance of the majestic Temple of Diana which towered in sight of his Ephesian readers. But whether this were so or not, it is certain that "edifying," or society-building, was one of his favorite ideas; for his genius was peculiarly constructive. He was in an eminent degree the Architectural Apostle.1 And well may the apostle Paul conceive the spiritual ecclesia or church as a sacred edifice. For the ideal mankind-what is it but God's own thronged sanctuary, his own personal shrine? Alas, God's shrine has been profaned; and so his sanctuary is more or less in ruins. And Christianity — what is it, practically speaking, but the moral reconstruction of mankind? To whom coming, a living stone, ye yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house. -1 Peter 2:4, 5. 1 Note some examples; see Acts 20:32; Rom. 14:19; 15: 2, 20; 1 Cor. 3:10, 17; 8:1; 10:23; 14:3-5, 12, 17, 27; 2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10; Eph. 4: 12, 16, 29; 1 Thess. 5:11, etc. And so the paragraph with which we begin this chapter. And now to the paragraph at the head of our chapter. It is so weighty that we must study it clause by clause. - The Sacred Foundation. And, first, the sacred Foundation, "Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets." That is to say, the apostles and prophets themselves are the foundation stones of Christ's spiritual church. The temple of the living God is being erected on the basis of their testimony, their teaching, their rule, their activities, their character; in a word, their personality. Let us not be afraid of this statement, as though it ascribed too great an honor to mere men. Recall the scene at Cæsarea Philippi, when our King declared to Peter: Thou art Petros, and on this petra I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. - Matthew 16: 18. But I hear an objection: "Is not Jesus Christ himself the one sole foundation on which his church can be built?" Most certainly. In the deepest sense of this great word 66 Rock," "Other foundation can no one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." But while this is gloriously true, there is a secondary sense in which it is also true that even fallible men are foundation stones in Immanuel's church. As a matter of fact, no abstract truth, however divine, can become practically vitalizing and propagative until it is incarnated or concretely impersoned. Truth is alive only as it is lived. Living temples can be built only of living stones on living foundations. Peter, in virtue of his having been the first conspicuously distinct confessor of the divine Christhood of the Nazarene, is the first of these foundations. This, as we have seen, is the sense in which he was the rock on which the Lord of the Kingdom would build his impregnable church; Peter was And the initial human stone. But Peter was only technically the first; he had his moral equals. Accordingly, the exile of Patmos declares of his Apocalyptic City that its wall had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. "Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets"; that is, Christian prophets of apostolic times, trained under apostolic auspices. Nor need we additional foundations of post-apostolic traditions; sufficient for us are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The Sacred Corner-stone.-Secondly, the sacred Centrepiece; "Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner-stone." To ancient architects the corner-stone was a massive block of special importance, laid in the foundation at the corner of the building, and binding together the two walls. To this day there lies at the southwest angle of the old temple area on Mount Moriah a vast corner-stone thirty-two feet long, three wide, two thick. Even in our own prosaic age and land the laying of a corner-stone is often the occasion of a great demonstration. Now, when our apostle tells us that Jesus Christ himself is the chief corner-stone of the Christian temple, I think we may infer at least three things. First, Jesus Christ himself is really a part of this great structure of the ideal church, church and Christ being in the vision of him who sees in secret, as it were, but one personality. Corner-stone, foundation stones, superstructure, are one building; even as root and branches are one vine, head and members one body, husband and wife one flesh or personality. Both the sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: I will declare thy name to my brethren; In the midst of the congregation [ecclesia] will I sing thy praise. - Psalm 22:22; Hebrews 2: 12. Again, Jesus Christ is the principal member of his church - he is the chief corner-stone. Already had the Evangelical Prophet foretold: Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, A tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: And the apostle Peter, even that rock on which the King declared that he would build his church as its first human foundation stone, has himself written of his Master: To whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but with God elect, precious, ye yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Because it is contained in Scripture (Isaiah 28: 16): Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious; And he that believes on him shall not be put to shame. — 1 Peter 2 : 4-6. Once more, Jesus Christ himself, in virtue of his being the chief corner-stone, is the common and dominating point for his whole church; binding foundations and walls, dictating the form and character of the entire structure; the architectural lines of the edifice as a whole being but the extension of the lines suggested by the corner-stone; and so, Jesus Christ being the corner-stone, Jesus Christ is also, practically speaking, the keystone. Accordingly, when the temple shall be finished, the Master Builder himself will bring forth the headstone with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it! Thus significant is our apostle's expression, "Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner-stone." |