Verses 19, 20

It is necessary to observe that the prophets here spoken of are not the prophets of the Old but those of the New Testament. Paul speaks of the apostles and prophets as forming the foundation. The question here is as to building upon it, not as to laying the foundation. The church is not built upon the prophets of the Old Testament; it is built since the death of the Lord Jesus, and the foundation on which it is built, is Christ who was crucified. All the Jewish ordinances barred the way against those who were not of Israel; the Jews had cast themselves away by putting Christ to death; the veil was rent: till then God's foundation had not been laid, the first stone of the church was not placed; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saw that afar off; they had believed and embraced the promises, and they will be in the heavenly glory; but the church had not then begun upon earth. it is upon earth that all has taken place; sin entered there, temptation also; the law was also given upon earth; Christ came into this world, the Holy Spirit also. By the Holy Spirit we can enter in within the veil; now that the foundation is laid, that is to say, since the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit, who makes us able to do so, has been given to us. If we leave that, all is confusion, the church has no distinctive feature, nothing which distinguishes it.
The word prophet of the twentieth verse has led many into a mistake. Here it is quite a new revelation that is spoken of, and which could not be spoken of before. It was a hidden mystery; God could not reveal the church during the Jewish dispensation; the existence of the church then would have denied the special position of this people Israel, God could reveal that the Jews would be rejected and punished, and from the moment He brings out that, He turns back to the mercy which will cause the Jewish nation to return into blessing. This is what will take place when the. Jewish people will be the royal people upon earth, when Israel will be restored by a new covenant. But this new man, this new revelation, is that those who believe and belong to Christ become members of His body, and they are in the blessedness which belongs to it. Verse 19 expresses that we are in the house of God; and from verse 20 it is evident that in order to begin to build, the corner stone must be laid. This is what we have seen before, and now we come to the result of it.