Christ should also be our cornerstone. As the cornerstone, He joins the two walls, the one of the Jewish believers and the other of the Gentile believers. In Ephesians 2 Christ is referred to specifically as the cornerstone (v. 20). When the Jewish builders rejected Christ, they rejected Him as the cornerstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7), which would join the Gentiles to them for the building of God’s house.
If we hold only to the all-inclusive Christ, not to any ordinances, He will be the cornerstone to join us together for the building of God’s dwelling place.
In verse 21 Paul goes on to say, “In Whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” In Christ who is the cornerstone, all the building, including both Jewish and Gentile believers, is fitted together and is growing into a holy temple. This temple is the universal church. As we shall see, verse 22 refers to the local church.
The local churches should not have an independent attitude, and they should not be isolated from one another. If we have an independent attitude, we may become a local sect instead of a local church. Christ has just one Body in the universe. If each local church were an independent body for Christ, this would mean that Christ has a great many bodies. No matter how many local churches there may be, Christ still has just one Body. For this reason, the local churches need to be fitted together and to grow into the one universal temple. In Christ as the foundation and the cornerstone, all the building, the universal church, is fitted together and is growing in the Lord.
Some of those who have an attitude of independence concerning the church in their locality may point to the differences between the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 as a justification for their attitude. However, the seven churches as the seven golden lampstands are the same in nature, substance, and pattern. Furthermore, the New Jerusalem in eternity will have the same appearance and the same material on each of its four sides. The local churches should not be organized. But if all the churches hold only Christ, they will be fitted together as God’s universal building.
Suppose the churches in a certain place hold the attitude that, as independent local churches, they want to go on by themselves and have nothing to do with other churches. In the eyes of the Lord, they may become local sects. All the churches should hold to Christ, be fitted together, and grow together into a holy temple in the Lord. When the churches are fitted together, whatever riches are experienced by one church will be spontaneously transfused into all the other churches. For example, a doctor may inject something into a person’s arm, but the injected element is soon transfused throughout the person’s body. In this way the whole body receives the benefit of the injection. How foolish it would be for certain members of the body to regard the injection as only for themselves! Whatever one church receives is for the whole Body. Therefore, we should not try to confine any experience of Christ to our locality. We should realize that whatever we receive of Christ is to be transfused into the rest of the Body.
In verse 22 Paul says, “In Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” The word “also” here indicates that the building in verse 21 is universal and that the building in this verse is local. According to the context, the holy temple in verse 21 is universal, whereas the dwelling place of God in verse 22 is local.
After all we have said about not holding to the ordinances but holding to Christ, some may still have questions about things such as the method of baptism. These questions may indicate that those who ask them still have ordinances. Nevertheless, some may persist with their questions by saying that we need to be practical and must know how to baptize new converts. Whenever we face practical problems such as this, we should remember Paul’s word in verse 18: “For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” Instead of arguing, we should turn to our spirit, pray, and have fellowship. The Lord is near, present, and available. If we seriously seek His leading, He will certainly guide us, and we shall know how to take care of the various practical matters. I can testify that throughout the years the Lord Jesus has been very real, precious, present, and available to us. We simply need to open ourselves to Him regarding everything that concerns us. As we do so, we should be willing to set aside any concept that occupies us. Then the Lord will lead us in a living way.
In our concern for the church, we should remember that Christ nourishes and cherishes the church. He is much more concerned about the church than we are. Therefore, we should place our trust in Him. As long as we do not have anything related to idolatry, immorality, divisiveness, or the denial of the deity of Christ, none of the mistakes that may be made will be serious. Do not try to avoid mistakes by holding to ordinances. Our confidence should be in the all-inclusive Christ and in Him alone. If our trust is in anything other than Christ, that thing will become an ordinance which will damage the church life. But if we take Christ as our everything, all the local churches throughout the world will grow and go on in a healthy way.