We have seen that the spontaneous result of the experience of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity is the kingdom life and that the reality of the kingdom life is the content of the church life. By entering into the kingdom and living in the church, we corporately experience the dispensing of the processed Triune God. In this lesson we will consider some matters related to living in the church life.
The church is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15), and it is also the believers’ family and house. As members of the household of God, we are the family of God, the house of God. All believers are born of God into His house to enjoy His riches. The house and the household are one entity—the assembly of the believers (Eph. 2:19; Heb. 3:6). The reality of this house as the dwelling place of the living God is in our spirit (Eph. 2:22). God is our Father, and as the believers in Christ, we are His children. As children of God, we are the household of God. Hence, Ephesians 2:19 says that we are “members of the household of God.” Members of the household of God indicates that we are the house of God. The house here refers both to a house (a dwelling place) and to a household (a family). Ephesians 2 reveals that the house of God is the dwelling place of God. Verse 19 speaks of the house, and verse 22 says that we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. Hence, the house is a dwelling place.
Physically, household members cannot become their father’s dwelling place; however, spiritually, God’s children are both His family and His dwelling place. The dwelling place of God is built with His children. Hence, the family is the dwelling place. We are the family of God and the house of God. Corporately, we are God’s house and God’s household; we are His dwelling place and His family. Hence, living in the church is to live in God’s dwelling place and to be part of God’s family.
First Timothy 3:15 says, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” As God’s dwelling place, the church is both God’s house and His household, His family. In the Old Testament, the temple and God’s people, His family, were two separate things. However, in the fulfillment in the New Testament, the dwelling place and the family are one. According God’s New Testament economy, God’s family is His house.
In speaking of the church as the house of God, Paul specifically refers to God as the living God. The living God, who lives in the church, must be subjective to the church, not merely objective. An idol in a heathen temple is lifeless. However, the God who not only lives but also acts, moves, and works in His living temple, the church, is living. Because He is living, the church too is living in Him, by Him, and with Him. The living God and the living church live, move, and work together.
The house of God is a living composition of the many children of God who possess the Father’s life and reality. Where the house of God is, there is the family of God, and where the family of God is, there is God the Father with His life and reality. The relationship between God the Father and the family of God is similar to that of the church as the Body of Christ. Christ is not separate from all the members of the Body, because, as the Head of the Body, Christ indwells all the members. Because Christ is in all the members of the Body, He should not be counted as a separate member of the Body. Likewise, God’s house is God’s family. The Father is not a separate member of the household but is in all of His children.