Church is Built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Christ as the Cornerstone

As believers in Christ and as members of the Body of Christ, we are being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus Himself is the cornerstone; Christ is the cornerstone of God’s building to join us together in oneness. Hallelujah!

The intrinsic significance of all the materials of God’s building is Christ Himself and the experience of Christ, in particular His death, His resurrection, and His being the Spirit, with all the processes of regeneration, renewing, transformation, conformation, and building up.

We need to be clear concerning God’s building: no natural man is allowed here. No work of the natural man, the flesh, or the self is welcome in God’s building, the church.

We cannot open the door to the natural man in the church, for anything the natural man does is marring, corrupting, and defiling God’s building.

Both in our personal life and in the church life we need to open to the Lord and experience Christ as the unique material for God’s building.

We need to be not men of knowledge, understanding, or human wisdom, but men of life, for God is life.

We need to learn to turn to our spirit, contact the Lord, and simply take Him as our life and our everything, taking His wisdom as our wisdom, and allowing Him to work Himself into us.

Christ is the Builder of God’s house, He is the material for God’s building, and He is every part of God’s building.

He is the builder, He is the material, and He alone is the building.

This building of God is not just Christ but Christ incarnated, the mingling of divinity and humanity, and Christ enlarged to include all the believers in Christ.

We as believers in Christ are members of the Body of Christ, the building of God.

Christ went to the cross and died, and in His resurrection, He bore much fruit to produce us as the many members of the Body of Christ (John 12:24).

On one hand, we are the many grains of wheat that are being grounded to powder and mingled with the Spirit as the oil to be the meal offering church life for God’s satisfaction.

On the other hand, we are becoming building materials for God’s house, the temple of God, to build up the church as the solid temple of God on the earth for His corporate expression.

Christ is the cornerstone of God’s building, the foundation is of the apostles and the prophets (the revelation of Christ and the church they received), and we are the building materials of God’s building.

May we all take heed of how we build so that we don’t damage the church as God’s building but build up the temple of God through our experience and enjoyment of Christ.

The Church is Built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the Revelation they Received of Christ and the Church

What is the foundation of the church?

1 Cor. 3:11 says that Christ is the unique foundation, and no other man may lay another foundation besides Christ.

However, Eph. 2:20 says that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

In Rev. 21 the foundations of the holy city, New Jerusalem, are the very persons of the apostles.

Here, in Eph. 2:20, however, the foundation is not the apostles and prophets themselves, but the revelation they received concerning the mystery of Christ.

The mystery of Christ has been revealed to the apostles (Eph. 3:4-5) in spirit; the revelation they received is the foundation upon which the church is built.

This corresponds to Matt. 16:18 where Christ said that He will build His church upon this rock; the rock doesn’t refer to Peter per se but to the revelation Peter has received of Christ and the church.

The foundation of the apostles and prophets is the revelation that they have received regarding Christ and the church for the building up of the church.

We should not try to lay any other foundation, nor should we try to build the church on any other foundation.

There are many so-called churches today, very big “churches” that are built not upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets but on something else.

Some “churches” are built on a particular racial or ethnic group, while others are built on the concept of presbytery (the Presbyterian denomination), the principles of a particular spiritual person (the Methodist church), or certain charismatic gifts and experiences (the charismatic churches).

What do we build the church on today in the Lord’s recovery? Are we another Christian group that takes someone’s teaching as our foundation?

No, we are being recovered to the proper ground of oneness and we have Christ as the foundation of the church, and we build the church on the revelation of Christ and the church revealed to the apostles and prophets.

We are not better or more spiritual than others; we simply want to return to what the Bible reveals concerning the church and we want to build the church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, taking the whole word of God as the unique word of God.

Even in the New Jerusalem, we find that the apostles and prophets are the foundation; there, they are layer upon layer of foundation for the holy city.

They saw and received the revelation of the mystery of God (Christ) and the mystery of Christ (the church), which they spoke and wrote, and passed it on to us. We call it the teaching, the teaching of the apostles.

This unique teaching of the apostles in the New Testament is very important, for it is based upon this teaching that we can see God’s mysteries, and we can build up the church on the proper foundation.

However, if we deviate from the apostles’ teaching, if we are drawn to some other kind of teachings, the building will not be there, for only the apostles’ teaching brings in the divine revelation and is the foundation for the church.

May we build up the church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets so that we may cooperate with God for the building up of His temple, the church as the Body of Christ!

Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us with Your life to make us sons of God and members of the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, we are now part of the church, the Body of Christ, and Christ is the unique foundation of the church. Amen, Lord, we want to exercise our spirit and our whole being to build up the church according to the revelation of Christ and the church in the Bible, building on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. May we remain in the apostles’ teaching and speak nothing but the New Testament economy of God for the building up of the church.

Christ is the Cornerstone of God’s Building Saving us, Joining us, Transforming us, and Building us together in Oneness

Eph. 2:20 speaks of Christ as the cornerstone.

In the old days, the cornerstone used to be the most important part of the building; the buildings were of stone and wood, solid materials, and the foundation was important and also the cornerstone was very important.

The builders in the old days used to spend much time preparing and setting the cornerstone, which was the best stone, even calling it the setting stone and the foundation stone, and this stone was set for the entire construction of the building.

The cornerstone held the building together and joined it to stand as one. Without this particular stone, the building would collapse.

Christ is the cornerstone of the church as God’s building. He is the most important and crucial to God in the church.

Nowadays people use lasers and level tools to set the level of the building, the cornerstone used to support the building and give it the level and everything.

Christ is the cornerstone; He is the cornerstone laid in Zion for a foundation; He is both the foundation and the cornerstone, one and the same thing.

Christ as the cornerstone joins us together in God’s building; Christ as the cornerstone joins together the Jewish believers and Gentile believers into a holy temple in the Lord (Psa. 118:22-26; Eph. 2:20-22).

There’s a great enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles, for they have different ordinances, ways of life, ways of worship and customs and diet.

The Gentiles have nothing to do with the Jews, they have no part in the blessing, and they were apart from Christ, without God in the world.

But through Christ’s death on the cross, He abolished all the ordinances and crucified them on the cross, and all the ceremonial laws have been nailed to the cross.

Now we both have access unto the Father in Christ through the Spirit, and Christ is the cornerstone joining us together.

We are made one in Christ, the cornerstone, and we become one temple in the Lord in Him.

For the building up of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as the cornerstone (vv. 6-7).

In Christ as the cornerstone, all the building is growing into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:20-22).

May we be those who experience Christ as the cornerstone for God’s building.

In God’s New Testament economy Christ as the cornerstone, in His saving us (Acts 4:10-12), first makes us living stones for the building up of God’s spiritual house (Matt. 16:18; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:4-7).

Then, in the process of His transforming us (Rom. 12:2a; 2 Cor. 3:18), He builds us up into a dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:19-22) so that He may carry out God’s eternal economy for God’s good pleasure (1:9; 3:9-11).

He saved us as the cornerstone.

When Peter preached the gospel, he spoke of Christ as the cornerstone rejected by the builders but with God chosen and precious, so that God made it the head of the corner.

Our Savior is the cornerstone-Savior. There’s no other name in heaven or on earth in which we can be saved except cornerstone-Jesus.

We come to Him as the living stone and we are made living stones suitable for God’s building.

As we contact the Lord and enjoy Him, He is adding His stone-element into our being and removing anything that is not of His element so that we may be made living stones and precious stones for God’s building.

We are in the process of being transformed from clay into a living stone, even a precious stone.

The transforming Christ is the stone, and He is also the building Christ, the stone-Christ, the cornerstone of God’s building.

What a Christ we have! He is the Stone-Redeemer, the Stone-life-giver, the Stone-transformer, and the Stone-Builder – He is the cornerstone of God’s building!

As the cornerstone, Christ is carrying out God’s eternal economy for God’s good pleasure today!

Lord Jesus, we come to You as the living stone; infuse us with Yourself today to make us living stones, even precious stones for God’s building. Hallelujah, Christ is the cornerstone joining together the Jewish believers and Gentile believers into a holy temple in the Lord! We open to You, Lord, and we allow You to work Yourself with Your stone element into our being for the church as the temple of God. Grant us to experience Christ as the cornerstone for the building of the church as the temple of God. We praise You, Lord, for saving us, making us living stones, transforming us, and building us up into the temple of God, the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 233-236, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 8, entitled, Growing into a Holy Temple in the Lord.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Christ is her one foundation, / None other man may lay; / All that she has, as Christ, is / Divine in every way; / Her members through the Spirit / Their death on Calv’ry own; / They’re built in resurrection- / Gold, silver, precious stone. (Hymns #824, stanza 3)
  – Jews and Gentiles are one body- / God His myst’ry has made known- / On apostles, prophets founded, / Jesus Christ the cornerstone; / We in Him are built together / For God’s dwelling manifest, / Fitly framed by God the Spirit / For His pleasure and His rest. (Hymns #823, stanza 4)
  – The chief Cornerstone Thou art, Lord, / Jewish builders did despise; / God by resurrection placed Thee, / Thou art precious in His eyes. / Through Thee we receive salvation, / And, together built by Thee, / Jews and Gentiles are Thy dwelling, / One new man, in harmony. (Hymns #834, stanza 1)