In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Believers in Christ are joined together into one spiritual building that becomes God's holy dwelling place through the Spirit. That building rests on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone and builder, broad enough and strong enough to bear its whole weight. Those built into it are taken as rough stones from the world and are hewed, polished and fitted by God in this life until each living stone fits closely in its assigned place, with trials as His tools and refusal to be shaped leaving a stone unfit for the temple. Together-building requires unity of spirit, peace and love, with every appointed place and work essential and no one to act alone, exalt self or tear down what God builds. The same dwelling is realized in the cleansed heart and body where Christ lives by faith through the Spirit, and each stone so filled is to reflect light, bear fruit and draw others to God while remaining separate from the world.
Temple Built Together
In Christ believers are joined together as one spiritual building and become a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. They are built together in Christ as part of God's building into a holy temple fitted together as a shared habitation for God. This shared life with God is vital energy for the church, in which believers have union with Christ and with one another.
Those so built together are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Gentile believers with other believers are built into God's holy temple, with people brought from both Jewish and Gentile communities fitted into one spiritual temple as a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. They were dead in sins and far off without God, but are made nigh by the blood of Christ and reconciled in one body by the cross, saved by grace through faith as God's workmanship unto good works. Through Christ both Jews and Gentiles are made one and made near, having access by one Spirit unto the Father.
The building stands upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone and foundation stone. In him the whole building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Christ as foundation and chief cornerstone unites all parts, and no human is the head or foundation.
Each follower of Christ in that temple is a living stone joined to Christ the living foundation, whether large or small, fitted into an assigned place in the spiritual temple. Not all stones are the same dimension, shape, finish or worth, but every stone has its own place to fill with appropriate duties assigned by Heaven, and there is not to be one misshapen stone. Laid close together stone fitting to stone they make a solid building and a court of holy life, and in the diversity there is unity making a complete perfect whole. Every believer can have a place in this building, and appreciating that truth strengthens service to God and obedience to Christ.
Christ Foundation and Builder
He whose name is the Branch fulfills the prophecy that he shall build the temple of the Lord, for by his sacrifice and mediation as man's intercessor he is both the foundation and the builder of the church of God. In him as the chief cornerstone the whole building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, and in him believers are built together for a dwelling place and habitation of God through the Spirit.
God gave Paul the wisdom of a skillful architect to lay that foundation among the Gentiles, and his work was quarrying valuable stones from the Gentile world and laying them upon Christ. Gentile believers thus become no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints, built together into a holy temple for God to dwell in through the Spirit, with Jesus Christ himself as the foundation stone and chief cornerstone. By coming in contact with that living stone they also become living stones, and the figure of temple building illustrates the building up of the true Christian church.
Only connection with Christ the living foundation stone makes anyone a living stone, for hewing and polishing and beautifying by self-effort can never do it without being joined to him. Falling on this stone and being broken means giving up self-righteousness and coming to Christ with the humility of a child, repenting of transgressions and believing in his forgiving love. Those riveted to the eternal rock stand secure when rain falls and tempest rages and floods come, while those not connected to Christ fall in ruin. Joined to Christ in this way, Gentile believers together with other believers are being built into God's holy temple, fitted together as a dwelling place for God through the Spirit.
Christ is the only true foundation and chief cornerstone, broad enough for all and strong enough to bear the whole world, with the whole weight of the temple resting on him. No human is the head or foundation, for the power of the Christian church is individual dependence on Christ joined with unity between the members. Believers who were strangers and foreigners are made fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, built upon Jesus, pressing together shoulder to shoulder, of one mind, in love and entire dependence on him. Consecrated believers are thus built together in peace to compose a holy temple as a habitation of God through the Spirit, with Christ uniting all parts and with members depending on him and united with one another like a temple resting on its foundation.
Shaping Rough Stones
Believers come to God as rough stones taken from the quarry of the world, gathered not from the mountains of Judea but from every nation, kindred, tongue and people, of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. They are cut out and separated by the great cleaver of truth, with Bible truth as the mighty lever lifting them out of the world, and that removal is only the beginning of the work. When truth is received the rough character begins to change, for those brought into truth in ignorance are not to remain ignorant.
God as Master Builder and Lord of the temple brings them into His workshop, which is this world during the hours of probation, where He Himself works upon them under His own supervision. There He hews and squares, planes and polishes, refines and finishes them by hammer and chisel, axe and truth, until each piece is fitted closely to the other, joint to joint, in its exact prepared place. His work is loving and restorative, doing nothing needlessly, cutting away faults so each may fill its place.
The shaping removes all rough edges and crookedness, unsanctified ways and manners, close dealing and selfishness, pride and worldliness and defects of character. Character is thus built in obedience to God's pattern, as the sanctuary was made according to the pattern shown to Moses, with Christ's life as the example, allowing no worthless material or careless, negligent work. Self and selfish customs, habits and thoughts must be overcome so each part fills its place in symmetry as the Master Builder designs, by strong, balanced, symmetrical examples.
Trials are tools in God's skilled hands to perfect and polish, not to destroy, even while still being shaped each stone is precious to God. In the workshop they learn Jesus, His great love, meekness, lowliness and self-denial, having every phase of character under divine ministration day by day. The fitting must be received now by dying to defects of character, with sins going beforehand to judgment through confession and repentance and pardon written, and with Christ abiding in the heart by faith, for when Christ comes it is too late for wrongs to be righted and character to be changed. Any stone that will not receive that fitting work is discarded as unfit and removed, and those who resist being shaped and tested are taken away so the building is strengthened.
When completed the temple will be perfect and complete in all its parts, lacking nothing, fashioned after the similitude of a palace. It will be complete and perfect because God is its Builder and Maker, the admiration of angels and men.
Unity in the Building
In whom believers are built together, each person has an appointed place and work with appropriate duties assigned by heaven in the shared building. Larger and smaller parts are each essential to make the church a perfect, complete whole, like different materials and timbers in a building, and none is to be ignored. Some can fill certain positions more successfully than others, and no worker should blame another for not readily doing what he can do, since fellow workers can do other things far more successfully. Every believer, whether large or small as a living stone fitted into an assigned place, can have a place in this spiritual temple, and appreciating that truth strengthens service and obedience.
The work is to be done together, not separately, for believers are joined in Christ as one structure to become a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. Neglecting any person's assigned work leaves God's dwelling incomplete. The verse therefore calls for cooperation and united community rather than rivalry, self-seeking, or striving to be first.
Together-building requires harmony, unity of spirit, peace, love, communion, and sweet harmony, and it rebukes envy, strife, division, rivalry, and self-seeking. It means refusing independent judgment and self-sufficiency, staying subject to the body of the church and submitting to counsel rather than tearing down what God builds. Where this unity is refused, disaster and ruin follow under Satan as leader, and all work must still bear the test of judgment.
No one is to hold himself as an authority or be placed as supreme authority over church, school, or sanitarium. Physicians and ministers are to blend, consult together, and act from individual mind seeking divine wisdom, growing together as a holy temple in the Lord. Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone is the one chief in authority, and no human is the head or foundation.
Varied gifts, talents, dispositions, plans, ideas, and nationalities are combined as necessary for success, the different parts of the work being brought together piece by piece to make a complete whole. Just as the parts of a building are not all the same nor made by the same process, the lines of God's work are not all the same nor to be carried forward in exactly the same way. No person or nation is perfect in every habit and thought, so members must mingle together, learn from one another, and become one in judgment and purpose, with God the Master Builder shaping and preparing each person for a place. Each is to cultivate mind and talents to develop Godlike character, with self and selfish customs, habits, and thoughts overcome so each part fills its place in symmetry as the Master Builder designs.
When thus built together in unity, the Holy Spirit establishes peace instead of dissension, a work wrought by the Holy Spirit in unity and love. With selfish interests conquered and temptation overcome under God's supervision, believers grow in grace fit for the eternal world. This life with God brings peace, light, joy, happiness, and ultimately everlasting life as the fitted parts grow into a holy temple in the Lord. Love then covers them as a heaven below preparing for heaven above.
Spirit's Indwelling Presence
God's purpose is that human beings joined together should be his dwelling place through the Spirit, and that each human heart should itself be a temple revealing his glory for the indwelling Creator. Sin defiled that heart so it no longer revealed God's glory, but through the incarnation of the Son of God and his saving grace it becomes God's temple again when Christ cleanses and sanctifies it. No person can drive the evil out of the heart alone, for only Christ can cleanse the soul temple. He does not force entrance, but comes in when heard and welcomed to remain, to live and walk within, continually subduing iniquities, casting away sins, and sanctifying the soul so it is holy unto the Lord.
When the heart is cleansed from all moral impurity the precious Saviour dwells there, ennobling and sanctifying the whole nature and making the person a temple of the Holy Spirit, built together with others on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith through the Spirit means keeping him in view, cherishing him as a close and honored friend, living so as not to grieve or offend him, abiding in him and receiving his words. Being rooted and grounded in love enables believers with all saints to grasp the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge. Faith in this truth does not rest on feeling and does not stagger when Satan casts his hellish shadow to block faith and hide the light coming from the presence of Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, but pushes through the shadow.
This habitation is God's provision for humanity, realized through cooperation of divine power and human effort, for human agency has an essential place and is not useless or presumptuous. By the creating power of the Holy Spirit clean hearts and a new heart are created, selfishness is cleansed away, and people look to Jesus for guidance as they are joined together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord. The building becomes fitly framed together only by the purity and righteousness of Christ, by faith which works by love and purifies the soul, changing families and churches. Unhappy families and polluted churches prove lack of that purity and stand in need of cleansing, for those who hold the truth only as theory without being sanctified soul and body through the truth remain destitute of heart purity, do not discern sin in its true character, have no correct views of righteousness and judgment to come, are controlled by the spirit of the world with hearts impure, earthly and sensual, and cannot commune with God nor know God and Jesus Christ.
The same habitation imagery applies to the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, Christ's purchased possession bought with the price of his precious life and blood, so Christians are not their own and must glorify God in body and spirit with the will in perfect harmony with his will. Conversion leads people to respect the laws of life as personal duty to God, seeking to avoid physical, mental, and moral weakness, while neglect, indulgence, and overwork damage the health needed for service to God. When Christ's grace is in the heart this life with God is vital energy bringing peace, light, joy, happiness, and ultimately everlasting life, as each person fitted with the others works together in growing into a holy temple. With clean hearts created by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit's presence in the church enables it to resist worldly influence and ungodly example.
Light and Mission Outward
In whom believers are built together, they are fitted as living stones into the Lord's temple as God's dwelling, separated from the world and shaped from rough stones until each has its assigned place in the growing structure. The church on earth thus formed is to reflect divine character and heaven and the Son of Righteousness, shining as light to the world like a city on a hill, with changed lives showing preparation for a home in God's kingdom and displaying God's sufficiency and the sanctifying power of truth. The stones are not all the same dimension, shape, size, finish or worth, some large and some small, yet there is to be not one misshapen stone, but each perfect in its place with appropriate duties assigned by Heaven, joined stone to stone into a solid building and court of holy life of divine proportions. Every stone is to be perfect and living, a stone that emits light, and its value is measured and determined by the light it reflects to the world, its obedience shining against darkness and reproving error. Now is the time for stones to be taken from the quarry of the world and brought into God's workshop to be hewed, squared and polished that they may shine, every phase of character under divine ministration, that day by day each may be prepared as Daniel to fill his place in the temple of God. The temple so built is filled with varied gifts and endowed with the Holy Spirit, with Christ in the midst where two or three are gathered in His name, and all find happiness in the happiness of those whom they help and bless, uplifting and ennobling fallen humanity without carnal weapons or coercion, while the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — is seen in every stone and in diversity there is unity making a complete whole.
Each stone receives light from Christ the chief Cornerstone and shines for the efficiency of the gospel and bears fruit to the glory of God, so that God can work with him. Those who profess Christianity but are not under God's control and Christ's rule are dead stones that only take up room in the building, emit no light, produce nothing and only consume, and God cannot co-operate with them. All are therefore either under Christ doing positive good as a savor of life unto life, or under the enemy doing incalculable harm as a savor of death unto death. Those joined together as living stones should serve and strengthen the local church where they are, for those who fail to take part in its work are not functioning as living stones and may hinder the church.
The church is therefore not to be treated as something people can set aside and remain complete on their own, but students are to respect the church and be trained to work in connection with it. The church is a building growing into a holy temple for the Lord, with Christ as its Master-worker, and those who serve are to work under His direction. God's people are formed together as the place where God lives by the Spirit through solid mission work laid on a firm foundation of gospel plans, with city centers made as examples and training schools for workers. The laborers are to be united, not making an idol of self but clothed with Christ, sowing the seed and then gathering the harvest, with chosen helpers who labor thoroughly for the conversion of the whole person, body, soul and spirit, and who educate those who have embraced truth for the full reception of Bible truth.
Converted souls share this work with Christ as laborers together with God, since those once dead in trespasses and sins and strangers and foreigners are made fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, with access by one Spirit to the Father. Christ is peace, breaking down the middle wall of partition and making both one, preaching peace to those afar off and to those nigh, and all the building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Those so converted bear the burden for souls still dead in sin, making personal effort in the name of Jesus to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. Being thus built together makes them subjects of the kingdom of heaven and enrolled citizens of the heavenly country, with rights and privileges to claim, and their behavior must be such as the gospel of Christ can approve, separate from the world, with cheerful service to God and no strife, selfishness, impurity or dishonesty. Jesus lives in them and they live in Him, and this shared life as members of one body with Jesus abiding in them leaves no place for idols or friendship with the world. Because God dwells in them there is no room for idols, no concord with Belial, and no friendship with the world, for belonging to this spiritual building as a living stone takes more than a form of godliness; it takes being renewed in knowledge and true holiness, being crucified to the world and made alive in Christ, walking in love and following Christ as dear children, trusting alone in God and aided by the Spirit of truth without seeking the friendship of the world or cooperating with wicked men.
The building of people together into a beautiful temple for the Lord to dwell in is done by training children for God from babyhood, laying the foundations of a righteous character in the earlier years so that their lives develop as they grow into manhood and womanhood into that temple. Fathers who are carpenters should bring this Scripture truth into lessons in house building for their boys, and making the work interesting will make the children apt pupils in the use of tools. The lesson for all to study about God's work and the work of His people points to reliance on God and the Holy Spirit rather than human power, and to building up rather than tearing down.
Believers in Christ are joined together into one spiritual building that becomes God's holy dwelling place through the Spirit. That building rests on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone and builder, broad enough and strong enough to bear its whole weight. Those built into it are taken as rough stones from the world and are hewed, polished and fitted by God in this life until each living stone fits closely in its assigned place, with trials as His tools and refusal to be shaped leaving a stone unfit for the temple. Together-building requires unity of spirit, peace and love, with every appointed place and work essential and no one to act alone, exalt self or tear down what God builds. The same dwelling is realized in the cleansed heart and body where Christ lives by faith through the Spirit, and each stone so filled is to reflect light, bear fruit and draw others to God while remaining separate from the world.
Temple Built Together
In Christ believers are joined together as one spiritual building and become a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. They are built together in Christ as part of God's building into a holy temple fitted together as a shared habitation for God. This shared life with God is vital energy for the church, in which believers have union with Christ and with one another.
Those so built together are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Gentile believers with other believers are built into God's holy temple, with people brought from both Jewish and Gentile communities fitted into one spiritual temple as a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. They were dead in sins and far off without God, but are made nigh by the blood of Christ and reconciled in one body by the cross, saved by grace through faith as God's workmanship unto good works. Through Christ both Jews and Gentiles are made one and made near, having access by one Spirit unto the Father.
The building stands upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone and foundation stone. In him the whole building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Christ as foundation and chief cornerstone unites all parts, and no human is the head or foundation.
Each follower of Christ in that temple is a living stone joined to Christ the living foundation, whether large or small, fitted into an assigned place in the spiritual temple. Not all stones are the same dimension, shape, finish or worth, but every stone has its own place to fill with appropriate duties assigned by Heaven, and there is not to be one misshapen stone. Laid close together stone fitting to stone they make a solid building and a court of holy life, and in the diversity there is unity making a complete perfect whole. Every believer can have a place in this building, and appreciating that truth strengthens service to God and obedience to Christ.
Christ Foundation and Builder
He whose name is the Branch fulfills the prophecy that he shall build the temple of the Lord, for by his sacrifice and mediation as man's intercessor he is both the foundation and the builder of the church of God. In him as the chief cornerstone the whole building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, and in him believers are built together for a dwelling place and habitation of God through the Spirit.
God gave Paul the wisdom of a skillful architect to lay that foundation among the Gentiles, and his work was quarrying valuable stones from the Gentile world and laying them upon Christ. Gentile believers thus become no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints, built together into a holy temple for God to dwell in through the Spirit, with Jesus Christ himself as the foundation stone and chief cornerstone. By coming in contact with that living stone they also become living stones, and the figure of temple building illustrates the building up of the true Christian church.
Only connection with Christ the living foundation stone makes anyone a living stone, for hewing and polishing and beautifying by self-effort can never do it without being joined to him. Falling on this stone and being broken means giving up self-righteousness and coming to Christ with the humility of a child, repenting of transgressions and believing in his forgiving love. Those riveted to the eternal rock stand secure when rain falls and tempest rages and floods come, while those not connected to Christ fall in ruin. Joined to Christ in this way, Gentile believers together with other believers are being built into God's holy temple, fitted together as a dwelling place for God through the Spirit.
Christ is the only true foundation and chief cornerstone, broad enough for all and strong enough to bear the whole world, with the whole weight of the temple resting on him. No human is the head or foundation, for the power of the Christian church is individual dependence on Christ joined with unity between the members. Believers who were strangers and foreigners are made fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, built upon Jesus, pressing together shoulder to shoulder, of one mind, in love and entire dependence on him. Consecrated believers are thus built together in peace to compose a holy temple as a habitation of God through the Spirit, with Christ uniting all parts and with members depending on him and united with one another like a temple resting on its foundation.
Shaping Rough Stones
Believers come to God as rough stones taken from the quarry of the world, gathered not from the mountains of Judea but from every nation, kindred, tongue and people, of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. They are cut out and separated by the great cleaver of truth, with Bible truth as the mighty lever lifting them out of the world, and that removal is only the beginning of the work. When truth is received the rough character begins to change, for those brought into truth in ignorance are not to remain ignorant.
God as Master Builder and Lord of the temple brings them into His workshop, which is this world during the hours of probation, where He Himself works upon them under His own supervision. There He hews and squares, planes and polishes, refines and finishes them by hammer and chisel, axe and truth, until each piece is fitted closely to the other, joint to joint, in its exact prepared place. His work is loving and restorative, doing nothing needlessly, cutting away faults so each may fill its place.
The shaping removes all rough edges and crookedness, unsanctified ways and manners, close dealing and selfishness, pride and worldliness and defects of character. Character is thus built in obedience to God's pattern, as the sanctuary was made according to the pattern shown to Moses, with Christ's life as the example, allowing no worthless material or careless, negligent work. Self and selfish customs, habits and thoughts must be overcome so each part fills its place in symmetry as the Master Builder designs, by strong, balanced, symmetrical examples.
Trials are tools in God's skilled hands to perfect and polish, not to destroy, even while still being shaped each stone is precious to God. In the workshop they learn Jesus, His great love, meekness, lowliness and self-denial, having every phase of character under divine ministration day by day. The fitting must be received now by dying to defects of character, with sins going beforehand to judgment through confession and repentance and pardon written, and with Christ abiding in the heart by faith, for when Christ comes it is too late for wrongs to be righted and character to be changed. Any stone that will not receive that fitting work is discarded as unfit and removed, and those who resist being shaped and tested are taken away so the building is strengthened.
When completed the temple will be perfect and complete in all its parts, lacking nothing, fashioned after the similitude of a palace. It will be complete and perfect because God is its Builder and Maker, the admiration of angels and men.
Unity in the Building
In whom believers are built together, each person has an appointed place and work with appropriate duties assigned by heaven in the shared building. Larger and smaller parts are each essential to make the church a perfect, complete whole, like different materials and timbers in a building, and none is to be ignored. Some can fill certain positions more successfully than others, and no worker should blame another for not readily doing what he can do, since fellow workers can do other things far more successfully. Every believer, whether large or small as a living stone fitted into an assigned place, can have a place in this spiritual temple, and appreciating that truth strengthens service and obedience.
The work is to be done together, not separately, for believers are joined in Christ as one structure to become a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. Neglecting any person's assigned work leaves God's dwelling incomplete. The verse therefore calls for cooperation and united community rather than rivalry, self-seeking, or striving to be first.
Together-building requires harmony, unity of spirit, peace, love, communion, and sweet harmony, and it rebukes envy, strife, division, rivalry, and self-seeking. It means refusing independent judgment and self-sufficiency, staying subject to the body of the church and submitting to counsel rather than tearing down what God builds. Where this unity is refused, disaster and ruin follow under Satan as leader, and all work must still bear the test of judgment.
No one is to hold himself as an authority or be placed as supreme authority over church, school, or sanitarium. Physicians and ministers are to blend, consult together, and act from individual mind seeking divine wisdom, growing together as a holy temple in the Lord. Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone is the one chief in authority, and no human is the head or foundation.
Varied gifts, talents, dispositions, plans, ideas, and nationalities are combined as necessary for success, the different parts of the work being brought together piece by piece to make a complete whole. Just as the parts of a building are not all the same nor made by the same process, the lines of God's work are not all the same nor to be carried forward in exactly the same way. No person or nation is perfect in every habit and thought, so members must mingle together, learn from one another, and become one in judgment and purpose, with God the Master Builder shaping and preparing each person for a place. Each is to cultivate mind and talents to develop Godlike character, with self and selfish customs, habits, and thoughts overcome so each part fills its place in symmetry as the Master Builder designs.
When thus built together in unity, the Holy Spirit establishes peace instead of dissension, a work wrought by the Holy Spirit in unity and love. With selfish interests conquered and temptation overcome under God's supervision, believers grow in grace fit for the eternal world. This life with God brings peace, light, joy, happiness, and ultimately everlasting life as the fitted parts grow into a holy temple in the Lord. Love then covers them as a heaven below preparing for heaven above.
Spirit's Indwelling Presence
God's purpose is that human beings joined together should be his dwelling place through the Spirit, and that each human heart should itself be a temple revealing his glory for the indwelling Creator. Sin defiled that heart so it no longer revealed God's glory, but through the incarnation of the Son of God and his saving grace it becomes God's temple again when Christ cleanses and sanctifies it. No person can drive the evil out of the heart alone, for only Christ can cleanse the soul temple. He does not force entrance, but comes in when heard and welcomed to remain, to live and walk within, continually subduing iniquities, casting away sins, and sanctifying the soul so it is holy unto the Lord.
When the heart is cleansed from all moral impurity the precious Saviour dwells there, ennobling and sanctifying the whole nature and making the person a temple of the Holy Spirit, built together with others on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith through the Spirit means keeping him in view, cherishing him as a close and honored friend, living so as not to grieve or offend him, abiding in him and receiving his words. Being rooted and grounded in love enables believers with all saints to grasp the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge. Faith in this truth does not rest on feeling and does not stagger when Satan casts his hellish shadow to block faith and hide the light coming from the presence of Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, but pushes through the shadow.
This habitation is God's provision for humanity, realized through cooperation of divine power and human effort, for human agency has an essential place and is not useless or presumptuous. By the creating power of the Holy Spirit clean hearts and a new heart are created, selfishness is cleansed away, and people look to Jesus for guidance as they are joined together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord. The building becomes fitly framed together only by the purity and righteousness of Christ, by faith which works by love and purifies the soul, changing families and churches. Unhappy families and polluted churches prove lack of that purity and stand in need of cleansing, for those who hold the truth only as theory without being sanctified soul and body through the truth remain destitute of heart purity, do not discern sin in its true character, have no correct views of righteousness and judgment to come, are controlled by the spirit of the world with hearts impure, earthly and sensual, and cannot commune with God nor know God and Jesus Christ.
The same habitation imagery applies to the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, Christ's purchased possession bought with the price of his precious life and blood, so Christians are not their own and must glorify God in body and spirit with the will in perfect harmony with his will. Conversion leads people to respect the laws of life as personal duty to God, seeking to avoid physical, mental, and moral weakness, while neglect, indulgence, and overwork damage the health needed for service to God. When Christ's grace is in the heart this life with God is vital energy bringing peace, light, joy, happiness, and ultimately everlasting life, as each person fitted with the others works together in growing into a holy temple. With clean hearts created by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit's presence in the church enables it to resist worldly influence and ungodly example.
Light and Mission Outward
In whom believers are built together, they are fitted as living stones into the Lord's temple as God's dwelling, separated from the world and shaped from rough stones until each has its assigned place in the growing structure. The church on earth thus formed is to reflect divine character and heaven and the Son of Righteousness, shining as light to the world like a city on a hill, with changed lives showing preparation for a home in God's kingdom and displaying God's sufficiency and the sanctifying power of truth. The stones are not all the same dimension, shape, size, finish or worth, some large and some small, yet there is to be not one misshapen stone, but each perfect in its place with appropriate duties assigned by Heaven, joined stone to stone into a solid building and court of holy life of divine proportions. Every stone is to be perfect and living, a stone that emits light, and its value is measured and determined by the light it reflects to the world, its obedience shining against darkness and reproving error. Now is the time for stones to be taken from the quarry of the world and brought into God's workshop to be hewed, squared and polished that they may shine, every phase of character under divine ministration, that day by day each may be prepared as Daniel to fill his place in the temple of God. The temple so built is filled with varied gifts and endowed with the Holy Spirit, with Christ in the midst where two or three are gathered in His name, and all find happiness in the happiness of those whom they help and bless, uplifting and ennobling fallen humanity without carnal weapons or coercion, while the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — is seen in every stone and in diversity there is unity making a complete whole.
Each stone receives light from Christ the chief Cornerstone and shines for the efficiency of the gospel and bears fruit to the glory of God, so that God can work with him. Those who profess Christianity but are not under God's control and Christ's rule are dead stones that only take up room in the building, emit no light, produce nothing and only consume, and God cannot co-operate with them. All are therefore either under Christ doing positive good as a savor of life unto life, or under the enemy doing incalculable harm as a savor of death unto death. Those joined together as living stones should serve and strengthen the local church where they are, for those who fail to take part in its work are not functioning as living stones and may hinder the church.
The church is therefore not to be treated as something people can set aside and remain complete on their own, but students are to respect the church and be trained to work in connection with it. The church is a building growing into a holy temple for the Lord, with Christ as its Master-worker, and those who serve are to work under His direction. God's people are formed together as the place where God lives by the Spirit through solid mission work laid on a firm foundation of gospel plans, with city centers made as examples and training schools for workers. The laborers are to be united, not making an idol of self but clothed with Christ, sowing the seed and then gathering the harvest, with chosen helpers who labor thoroughly for the conversion of the whole person, body, soul and spirit, and who educate those who have embraced truth for the full reception of Bible truth.
Converted souls share this work with Christ as laborers together with God, since those once dead in trespasses and sins and strangers and foreigners are made fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, with access by one Spirit to the Father. Christ is peace, breaking down the middle wall of partition and making both one, preaching peace to those afar off and to those nigh, and all the building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Those so converted bear the burden for souls still dead in sin, making personal effort in the name of Jesus to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. Being thus built together makes them subjects of the kingdom of heaven and enrolled citizens of the heavenly country, with rights and privileges to claim, and their behavior must be such as the gospel of Christ can approve, separate from the world, with cheerful service to God and no strife, selfishness, impurity or dishonesty. Jesus lives in them and they live in Him, and this shared life as members of one body with Jesus abiding in them leaves no place for idols or friendship with the world. Because God dwells in them there is no room for idols, no concord with Belial, and no friendship with the world, for belonging to this spiritual building as a living stone takes more than a form of godliness; it takes being renewed in knowledge and true holiness, being crucified to the world and made alive in Christ, walking in love and following Christ as dear children, trusting alone in God and aided by the Spirit of truth without seeking the friendship of the world or cooperating with wicked men.
The building of people together into a beautiful temple for the Lord to dwell in is done by training children for God from babyhood, laying the foundations of a righteous character in the earlier years so that their lives develop as they grow into manhood and womanhood into that temple. Fathers who are carpenters should bring this Scripture truth into lessons in house building for their boys, and making the work interesting will make the children apt pupils in the use of tools. The lesson for all to study about God's work and the work of His people points to reliance on God and the Holy Spirit rather than human power, and to building up rather than tearing down.