02.04. B. The House of God

B. The House of God In the Old Testament God dwelt in the blood-sprinkled holy of holies of the tabernacle among the children of Israel and later on in the temple. But now since the death and resurrection of Christ, God "dwelleth not in temples made with hands," as Paul declared to the Athenians (Acts 17:24). His house and dwelling place on earth now is the Church (1 Timothy 3:15) and this brings us to the consideration of the second figure of the Church -the house of God. In Ephesians 2:19-22 we read: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens 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." From these verses we learn that the believers in Christ are builded together by the Spirit upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the chief corner stone, for an habitation or dwelling place of God. Whenever anyone is saved, he is added as a stone to this spiritual building, and fitly framed together it groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In this sense the Church is an unfinished building which will be completed when the last soul is saved in this present church or grace period and then the Lord will come for His people.

Peter also tells us in his first Epistle a little about God’s house. He says, "Ye also, as lively (living) stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). The believers are here spoken of as living stones built upon Christ, the living Stone, and forming a spiritual house for the purpose of offering up spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to God.

We have previously noticed that the Lord said in Matthew 16:18, "upon this rock (Himself) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Accordingly, we see how Christ has been building His house, the Church, from the day of Pentecost on to this present day and that it still stands in spite of all the onslaughts of hell itself against it throughout the centuries of Satan’s persecutions and cunning attempts to destroy it. In this living, spiritual building of true believers, God has been dwelling through the Spirit. It has been His house and temple, His habitation since its formation upon the descent of the Spirit from heaven in Acts 2:1-47. Writing to the Corinthian believers, Paul says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) . Collectively, the believers at Corinth were God’s temple and house in that local place, as, is also true of believers today in every place. This is what the house of God is. It is not a church building of material stones, etc., as is often thought and spoken of, but a spiritual building of living stones believers in Christ.

Order and Responsibility

These are the principal thoughts connected with the Church as the house of God. For God is a God of order and if He dwells in a house, it must be according to His mind and in order. There is responsibility to keep that dwelling place pure and holy, for "holiness becometh thine house, O Lord" (Psalms 93:5). Hence there must be discipline and order in the Church, since it is the dwelling place of the holy God. The reason for Paul’s writing his first Epistle to Timothy was that he and we might "know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God" (1 Timothy 3:15). Thus we see that there must be a becoming behavior in the house of God, and that order, holiness, and discipline are connected with our being God’s house and household. These subjects we purpose to consider in detail when we take up the local aspect of the Church, the visible Church, as it is sometimes called.

We would just say in passing that it is thus apparent that discipline is connected with the Church as the house of God and not as the body of Christ. The principal thought in connection with the Body of Christ is grace, position, and vital union with Christ, the glorified Head. From this body no human power can cut off a member. neither can a member be added by human power, while in the house of God, one may be cut off from fellowship by an act of discipline, or exclusion. The holiness of God’s house necessitates such action being taken if serious evil is allowed in the life of one in fellowship. See 1 Corinthians 5:13.

Two Aspects of the House In the Scriptures which we have been considering (Ephesians 2:1-22 and 1 Peter 2:1-25) we have one aspect of the house of God as the building which Christ is building and into which only true believers enter as living stones. Christ is the builder and it is perfect. In this aspect the house of God and the body of Christ are co-extensive, both comprising only genuine believers in Christ. But in 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 we have another aspect of the house of God, where man is the builder and responsibility and resulting failure is connected therewith. Here we read: "we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every men take heed how he buildeth thereupon" (1 Corinthians 3:9-10). Then the apostle goes on to speak of building upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble and says that the fire will try every man’s work of what sort it is in the judgment day when rewards will be given for work which abides the fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

Wood, hay, and stubble, it is apparent, will not stand the test of the fire, therefore they are spurious materials and not true believers which have been brought into God’s building by man’s work. Thus in this aspect of the house of God on earth, where man is entrusted with the work of building, there is failure and unsaved professors are often mixed with true believers. At first, in the apostle’s day, the house built by man was co-extensive with the Body of Christ and the house built by Christ. The Lord added to the Church those who were saved and all who were brought into the house of God on earth were genuine believers. But soon one, Simon Magus, professed to be saved and was baptized and received into the privileges of the house of God, the Christian company. This man later proved to be unconverted and not right with God (Acts 8:1-40).

Here was perhaps the first failure and the first spurious material of wood, hay and stubble which was built into God’s building by man. He was not a living stone, and therefore not a member of the Body of Christ. There was now that in the house which was not in the body and they ceased to be co-extensive and one and the same thing; the house became larger than the body. This building of mixed materials into God’s house has continued ever since, so that it is now very important to distinguish between these two aspects of God’s house that being built by Christ in perfection and that being built by man in imperfection and failure with mixed materials.

Already, at the close of the apostle Paul’s life, the house of God had become a "great house" of vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor, vessels of gold and silver and vessels of wood and earth, so that in order to be "a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use," it was necessary to separate oneself from the vessels to dishonor in the great house (2 Timothy 2:20-21). Such is the house as built by man.

It might be stated in closing our remarks on this subject, that it is the baptism of water, the outward mark of Christian profession, which places one in the house of God which man has a part in building, while the baptism of the Holy Spirit, alone, can bring one into the Body of Christ, as we have previously seen.