The Ekklesia of Christ
Chapter 4 - The Ekklesia - a Building
In the Scriptures, God has used several word-pictures to help us to understand the work that He is doing to bring together those who have been chosen in Christ to be His people. One of those metaphors is that of a building. In Ephesians 2 we read:
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).
This passage follows on the heels of Paul’s explanation that in Christ the separation of Jews and Gentiles has been removed – they are no more two, for He has made them one (v. 15). We read in the passage quoted that we are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” – not the men themselves but rather the message that they brought. Peter confessed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus confirmed that “upon this rock I will build my ekklesia …” (Matthew 16:16, 18). Our quoted passage then goes on to declare, regarding this foundation, that Jesus Christ is the “chief corner” (v.20). “The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire edifice.”1 The chief cornerstone was “laid so as to give strength to the two walls with which [it] was connected.”2 So we see here that Christ is the Chief Cornerstone, the first stone laid as a reference for all other stones used in constructing the building, and it is through Christ that the two walls (the Jews and Gentiles, Ephesians 2:11-13) are drawn together and strengthened into one (Ephesians 2:19). There are two things that we need to learn from the cornerstone metaphor: 1) Christ was first laid down as the pattern, and 2) there is only one building, Christ drawing all together. Let’s consider these more closely.
A. Christ, the Pattern
As the chief cornerstone, Christ was laid down in order to provide a point of reference for the construction of the rest of the building. We read in Ephesians 2 that He is the reference stone that holds the apostles and prophets together so as to make up the foundation upon which are laid all those who are found in Christ, to form a “habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22; cp. Revelation 21:1-3). Earlier we read that God has “chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4); through Christ we are to put on the “new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24) – we have been remade by God to conform to the pattern laid down by the Chief Cornerstone, Christ. Peter declares that we have not been redeemed by corruptible things, but “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world …” (1 Peter 1:19-20); Christ, the Lamb of God, Who was “slain from the foundation of the world” is our Redeemer (Revelation 13:8). Jesus Christ, the eternal Logos, is that Chief Cornerstone Who was laid down before the world was put into place. There is only one way to the Father, and that is through faith in the provision that He has made for our salvation (John 14:6); it was so for Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, David, Paul, Apollos, Timothy, and it is so for us today. The difference is one of perspective: prior to Christ’s advent to fulfill the requirements of the Law, believers looked forward to His coming according to the promises of God; after the redemption of mankind had been completed by Christ on the cross, we now look back to the provision that God made for us. The salvation that we enjoy is the same: it is by God’s rich grace through faith in Him. Christ came to fulfill the Law (both the Law of God, the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God upon the tables of stone, and the Law of Moses), to fill it up, to complete it;3 never, from the fall of Adam until Christ, had anyone kept the Law of God with perfection, yet Christ came to fulfill the Law so that He would qualify as the spotless Lamb of God order to to pay the price for our redemption (Matthew 5:17-20). For God “hath made him [i.e., Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin [He was the perfect, sinless Lamb of God]; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him [the new man of Ephesians 4:24]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). There is only one entrance into the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11), and it was determined before the foundation of the world – it is unchangeable! The Law of Moses did not bring salvation but rather a heightened awareness of sin in order to bring the individual to repentance and faith in God’s promised Redeemer (Romans 3:20-23; Galatians 2:15-16; 3:24). The Chief Cornerstone was established before the world was created; God, in His perfect holiness and justice, through His equally perfect mercy and grace, had the provision for our salvation in place before creation. The Pattern was established in eternity past; Peter declared of Jesus, “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12).
B. Christ, Drawing All Together
There is only one foundation, and Christ, as the Redeemer for all mankind and the Chief Cornerstone, holds together and establishes the pattern to which we must conform. “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). This is the One, of Whom it was foretold in Genesis 3:15, Who would come to crush the head of the serpent; this is the Prophet prophesied through Moses: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18). Jesus declared, “…as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28) – a clear fulfillment of the prophecy given through Moses. Ephesians 2:11-17 speaks of the Gentiles being aliens from Israel, but Christ came to bring the Gentiles near and to make both, i.e., the Jew and the Gentile, one, having broken down the wall that separated them (v. 14). Verse 15 identifies that wall of separation as “the law of commandments contained in ordinances”; these were the ordinances (Greek, dogma) or judgments that flowed from God’s Ten Laws written in stone, those things that separated the children of Israel from all nations, those unique celebrations and sacrifices that foreshadowed the coming Messiah, and ultimately found their completion in Christ (namely, the Law of Moses). Whereas God sought to make of Israel a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6) through these ordinances (there is no evidence they ever became that kingdom of priests), Christ came, fulfilled and did away with the Mosaic Law, and became the great High Priest for all mankind (Hebrews 4:14), a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 6:20, not after the order of Aaron). Paul admonished the Galatians against returning to the “weak and beggarly elements” of Jewish ceremonial practices, to the point that he feared he might have labored among them in vain (Galatians 4:9-11); it is a serious thing to try to return to what God has abolished (Ephesians 2:15)! To the Colossians, Paul explained that the ceremonial practices of the Jews were a “shadow of things to come,” and, therefore, they were no longer subject to such ordinances, inasmuch as Christ removed them at the cross (Colossians 2:14-17, 20-22). What is clear is that the Jewish ordinances have been done away with; for indeed, Christ made of “twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross …” (Ephesians 2:15-16). Hebrews 11 outlines for us some of those who have been approved by God through faith, men like Abel, Enoch, Noah – all who lived long before God spoke to Abraham, and began to more specifically make known His plan for the redemption of mankind. Then we come to Hebrews 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [all those named and unnamed in chapter 11], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith ….” Notice, it is Jesus Who is the Author and FINISHER of faith – from Adam, all the way through to today, Jesus is the Author of saving faith; He completed the hope of faith through the cross and is now sitting at the right hand of the throne of God preparing for our final redemption from the presence of sin (John 14:2), and, meanwhile, interceding for us (Romans 8:34).
When Jesus was met by the centurion who sought healing for his servant, He declared that this man exemplified a greater faith than He had seen among the Jews, yet the man was clearly a foreigner serving in the legions of the Roman army (Matthew 8:5-10). Then Jesus went on to say, “… many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). Jesus declares that the forefathers of the children of Israel will sit down with foreigners in the kingdom of heaven, whereas the children of the kingdom, namely their physical descendants, the Jews, will be “cast out into outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12). The kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom of Jews, nor is it a kingdom made up of only believers since Jesus’ resurrection – the Word of God makes no such distinctions. From before the foundation of the world, Christ was in place as the Chief Cornerstone; all who would come to God in faith had to conform to the Cornerstone Who was already in place. It is clear from the very beginning that this was understood; Cain and Abel exemplify the difference conformity and rebellion make (Genesis 4:1-5), and it is also clear that Cain understood his failure.
What we cannot miss from this metaphor is that there is only one Building. This understanding alone may well stand in contradiction to some of our well-honed theologies, yet we must not hesitate to question these theologies in the light of Scripture. If we permit the Scriptures to speak for themselves, then we will quickly recognize that many of the things that we have received from the teachings within the Evangelical movement (whether Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical Free, Alliance, or whatever stripe one bears) have been put through the filter of some form of systematic theology – an impressive way of saying that man has established a grid, or overlaying template, that determines how the Bible fits together. Unfortunately, what happens is that the view of the Bible becomes tainted by the systematic theologies, rather than the theologies being viewed and aligned with the standard of the Word of God. Where the two do not line up, the tendency is to side with the theology, and simply ignore the Scriptures. We often forget that God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). We would all do well to follow the example of the Berean believers, who were applauded for searching the Scriptures daily in order to determine if what they were hearing from the Apostle Paul was right according to God’s Word (Acts 17:11). We must not forget that our theologies are not infallible, but are simply a reflection of man’s attempt to understand God.
___________________
1 Wikipedia, “cornerstone.”
2 Vine’s, “cornerstone.”
3 Strong’s Online.
In the Scriptures, God has used several word-pictures to help us to understand the work that He is doing to bring together those who have been chosen in Christ to be His people. One of those metaphors is that of a building. In Ephesians 2 we read:
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).
This passage follows on the heels of Paul’s explanation that in Christ the separation of Jews and Gentiles has been removed – they are no more two, for He has made them one (v. 15). We read in the passage quoted that we are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” – not the men themselves but rather the message that they brought. Peter confessed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus confirmed that “upon this rock I will build my ekklesia …” (Matthew 16:16, 18). Our quoted passage then goes on to declare, regarding this foundation, that Jesus Christ is the “chief corner” (v.20). “The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire edifice.”1 The chief cornerstone was “laid so as to give strength to the two walls with which [it] was connected.”2 So we see here that Christ is the Chief Cornerstone, the first stone laid as a reference for all other stones used in constructing the building, and it is through Christ that the two walls (the Jews and Gentiles, Ephesians 2:11-13) are drawn together and strengthened into one (Ephesians 2:19). There are two things that we need to learn from the cornerstone metaphor: 1) Christ was first laid down as the pattern, and 2) there is only one building, Christ drawing all together. Let’s consider these more closely.
A. Christ, the Pattern
As the chief cornerstone, Christ was laid down in order to provide a point of reference for the construction of the rest of the building. We read in Ephesians 2 that He is the reference stone that holds the apostles and prophets together so as to make up the foundation upon which are laid all those who are found in Christ, to form a “habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22; cp. Revelation 21:1-3). Earlier we read that God has “chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4); through Christ we are to put on the “new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24) – we have been remade by God to conform to the pattern laid down by the Chief Cornerstone, Christ. Peter declares that we have not been redeemed by corruptible things, but “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world …” (1 Peter 1:19-20); Christ, the Lamb of God, Who was “slain from the foundation of the world” is our Redeemer (Revelation 13:8). Jesus Christ, the eternal Logos, is that Chief Cornerstone Who was laid down before the world was put into place. There is only one way to the Father, and that is through faith in the provision that He has made for our salvation (John 14:6); it was so for Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, David, Paul, Apollos, Timothy, and it is so for us today. The difference is one of perspective: prior to Christ’s advent to fulfill the requirements of the Law, believers looked forward to His coming according to the promises of God; after the redemption of mankind had been completed by Christ on the cross, we now look back to the provision that God made for us. The salvation that we enjoy is the same: it is by God’s rich grace through faith in Him. Christ came to fulfill the Law (both the Law of God, the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God upon the tables of stone, and the Law of Moses), to fill it up, to complete it;3 never, from the fall of Adam until Christ, had anyone kept the Law of God with perfection, yet Christ came to fulfill the Law so that He would qualify as the spotless Lamb of God order to to pay the price for our redemption (Matthew 5:17-20). For God “hath made him [i.e., Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin [He was the perfect, sinless Lamb of God]; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him [the new man of Ephesians 4:24]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). There is only one entrance into the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11), and it was determined before the foundation of the world – it is unchangeable! The Law of Moses did not bring salvation but rather a heightened awareness of sin in order to bring the individual to repentance and faith in God’s promised Redeemer (Romans 3:20-23; Galatians 2:15-16; 3:24). The Chief Cornerstone was established before the world was created; God, in His perfect holiness and justice, through His equally perfect mercy and grace, had the provision for our salvation in place before creation. The Pattern was established in eternity past; Peter declared of Jesus, “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12).
B. Christ, Drawing All Together
There is only one foundation, and Christ, as the Redeemer for all mankind and the Chief Cornerstone, holds together and establishes the pattern to which we must conform. “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). This is the One, of Whom it was foretold in Genesis 3:15, Who would come to crush the head of the serpent; this is the Prophet prophesied through Moses: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18). Jesus declared, “…as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28) – a clear fulfillment of the prophecy given through Moses. Ephesians 2:11-17 speaks of the Gentiles being aliens from Israel, but Christ came to bring the Gentiles near and to make both, i.e., the Jew and the Gentile, one, having broken down the wall that separated them (v. 14). Verse 15 identifies that wall of separation as “the law of commandments contained in ordinances”; these were the ordinances (Greek, dogma) or judgments that flowed from God’s Ten Laws written in stone, those things that separated the children of Israel from all nations, those unique celebrations and sacrifices that foreshadowed the coming Messiah, and ultimately found their completion in Christ (namely, the Law of Moses). Whereas God sought to make of Israel a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6) through these ordinances (there is no evidence they ever became that kingdom of priests), Christ came, fulfilled and did away with the Mosaic Law, and became the great High Priest for all mankind (Hebrews 4:14), a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 6:20, not after the order of Aaron). Paul admonished the Galatians against returning to the “weak and beggarly elements” of Jewish ceremonial practices, to the point that he feared he might have labored among them in vain (Galatians 4:9-11); it is a serious thing to try to return to what God has abolished (Ephesians 2:15)! To the Colossians, Paul explained that the ceremonial practices of the Jews were a “shadow of things to come,” and, therefore, they were no longer subject to such ordinances, inasmuch as Christ removed them at the cross (Colossians 2:14-17, 20-22). What is clear is that the Jewish ordinances have been done away with; for indeed, Christ made of “twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross …” (Ephesians 2:15-16). Hebrews 11 outlines for us some of those who have been approved by God through faith, men like Abel, Enoch, Noah – all who lived long before God spoke to Abraham, and began to more specifically make known His plan for the redemption of mankind. Then we come to Hebrews 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [all those named and unnamed in chapter 11], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith ….” Notice, it is Jesus Who is the Author and FINISHER of faith – from Adam, all the way through to today, Jesus is the Author of saving faith; He completed the hope of faith through the cross and is now sitting at the right hand of the throne of God preparing for our final redemption from the presence of sin (John 14:2), and, meanwhile, interceding for us (Romans 8:34).
When Jesus was met by the centurion who sought healing for his servant, He declared that this man exemplified a greater faith than He had seen among the Jews, yet the man was clearly a foreigner serving in the legions of the Roman army (Matthew 8:5-10). Then Jesus went on to say, “… many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). Jesus declares that the forefathers of the children of Israel will sit down with foreigners in the kingdom of heaven, whereas the children of the kingdom, namely their physical descendants, the Jews, will be “cast out into outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12). The kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom of Jews, nor is it a kingdom made up of only believers since Jesus’ resurrection – the Word of God makes no such distinctions. From before the foundation of the world, Christ was in place as the Chief Cornerstone; all who would come to God in faith had to conform to the Cornerstone Who was already in place. It is clear from the very beginning that this was understood; Cain and Abel exemplify the difference conformity and rebellion make (Genesis 4:1-5), and it is also clear that Cain understood his failure.
What we cannot miss from this metaphor is that there is only one Building. This understanding alone may well stand in contradiction to some of our well-honed theologies, yet we must not hesitate to question these theologies in the light of Scripture. If we permit the Scriptures to speak for themselves, then we will quickly recognize that many of the things that we have received from the teachings within the Evangelical movement (whether Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical Free, Alliance, or whatever stripe one bears) have been put through the filter of some form of systematic theology – an impressive way of saying that man has established a grid, or overlaying template, that determines how the Bible fits together. Unfortunately, what happens is that the view of the Bible becomes tainted by the systematic theologies, rather than the theologies being viewed and aligned with the standard of the Word of God. Where the two do not line up, the tendency is to side with the theology, and simply ignore the Scriptures. We often forget that God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). We would all do well to follow the example of the Berean believers, who were applauded for searching the Scriptures daily in order to determine if what they were hearing from the Apostle Paul was right according to God’s Word (Acts 17:11). We must not forget that our theologies are not infallible, but are simply a reflection of man’s attempt to understand God.
___________________
1 Wikipedia, “cornerstone.”
2 Vine’s, “cornerstone.”
3 Strong’s Online.
