Ephesians 2:14-16 says, “He Himself is our peace, He who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition...that He might create the two in Himself into one new man...and might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross.” Verse 18 says, “For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” Verses 20 through 22 say, “Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” According to grammar, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets and being built together denote a building work in progress, not one that has been completed.
In this chapter we will consider the building of the church. The first time the Bible speaks of the church, it also speaks of building. Matthew 16:18 says, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” This verse speaks not only of the church but also of building; while it takes the church as the subject, it also takes the building as the subject. The church is a great matter, and building is an even greater matter in the eyes of God. In other words, the church is God’s building project in the universe. In English, building can be both a verb and a noun; in Greek, the word building in both its verbal form and noun form have the same root. In its verbal form, it means “God is building”; in its noun form, it refers to the church as “the building of God.” First Timothy 3:15 says that the church is the house of God; house in Greek refers to building as a noun.
First Corinthians 3:9 says, “You are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” The Bible very clearly shows that the church is God’s building; the church is a matter of building. When we speak of the church, we cannot neglect the matter of building. Without the building work, there is no building, no church. At the end of the Bible there is a city that is built stone upon stone and stone joined to stone. There are also different kinds of material in the city. There are three major groups of material: gold, pearls, and precious stones. There are twelve kinds of precious stones, which are the twelve foundations, and the surrounding wall is jasper. Every detail of this description shows that the church is God’s building.
In the Epistles, the apostles repeatedly speak concerning building. In 1 Corinthians 3:11 Paul speaks of the foundation “which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Today all the Lord’s workers are building upon this foundation; all who serve the churches should do a building work upon this foundation. According to the Greek, the references to building in the New Testament are not references to edification as a matter of spiritual improvement but to edification as a matter of building. An apostle working for the Lord, a prophet exercising his gift, and a teacher carrying out his ministry are for the building up of the house of God. Ephesians 2 clearly shows that in Christ, the believers are being built together with the apostles and prophets (vv. 20-22); this building work is now in progress. Peter says that as living stones we are coming to the Lord and being built up as a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:4-5). When we come to the Lord, we are living stones; the Lord will build these living stones up little by little and piece by piece. The result of this building is that we become a dwelling place, a spiritual house, for the Lord. Hebrews 11:16 says that God has prepared a city for us. To this day, God is still working on and building this city.
God has only one building work. We should not think that the church, the house, that the apostles were building is not the holy city that God is building. The city that God is building is the house that the apostles were building. It is a house today, and it will be an enlarged city in the future. The house is the temple; when the city appears, the temple will no longer be seen. No temple will be seen in the New Jerusalem, because the New Jerusalem is the enlargement of the temple (Rev. 21:22). The temple today will be a city in the future. This is the issue of God’s work throughout the ages in the universe.
God has been carrying out this building work since the creation of the world. In eternity past God had the blueprint for His building, and God prepared the materials according to this plan, this blueprint, through creation. We should not consider God’s creation to be His building work; His creation prepared the materials for His building. The created man was the material that God prepared for His building. For example, with a physical city the materials for the building of the city must be prepared before it can be built. God made man from the dust of the earth in order to prepare the material for His building; the created Adam, the created human race, is the material that God uses for His building. Therefore, creation is a preparation for the building.
God’s building follows creation. While creation was accomplished through God’s power, building is accomplished through God’s life. In other words, whereas creation comes out of God’s handiwork, building comes out of God’s nature. After God’s creation was completed in Genesis, God began to enter into His building work, into His building. In the Old Testament, even though God did not begin the building, He used types and figures to describe the building He desired. For example, the tabernacle, the temple, the coordination and service of the children of Israel, their becoming a kingdom of priests, and the service recorded in Nehemiah and Ezra after their return from captivity are all shadows and figures of God’s building.