The metaphor of Christian development appears many times in the New Testament as the process of erecting a building. In the Old Testament, such a special building was the temple, where all the most important elements of worship were performed. In the New Testament we learn that such a collective, spiritual temple is made up of believers, and its foundation corner stone is the Lord Jesus. The apostle Peter writes: "For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God; (5) you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6) Therefore also it is contained in the Scripture: "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner Stone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him shall never be ashamed" (1 Pet. 2:4-6). Similarly, the apostle Paul says of believers that they are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, (21) in whom every building having been fitly framed together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord; (22) in whom you also are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:20-22). The temple in Jerusalem was a physical place where priests performed sacred service. Taking together the statements by Peter and Paul, such a place under the New Covenant is in the minds of believers, in which God's spirit is at work by offering "spiritual sacrifices."
The meaning of sacrifices made by believers is explained by Paul in Rom. 12:1,2 - "I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God." Reasonable service is service to the truth. Doing it involves both the development of understanding - hence the need to 'renew the mind' - and the need to sacrifice the body by using it as a tool for studying God's Word, as well as evangelism and teaching. The concept of the body in this context stands next to the concept of the temple in which we are built. In the temple, the priest sacrificed the bodies of animals; in the spiritual temple of consciousness, the new creature (mind and will regenerated by the spirit to serve the Gospel) offers the sacrifice of his own body. The identification of the temple with the area of spirit/ consciousness/ mind also results from the definition of the foundation. If the foundation of God's edifice is the "apostles and prophets," it is evident that their teachings are the foundation of the Church's development. They themselves are the representatives of our Savior in this work of teaching, "For any other foundation can no one lay than the one being laid, who is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11; 2 Cor. 5:18-20).
The special position of the Lord Jesus in the spiritual temple is related to the nature of His ministry. He himself repeatedly declared that the purpose of his mission was to preach God's Word, to "bear witness to the truth" (Jn. 18:37; Lk. 4:43; Mk. 1:38). The answer to sin was a pattern of truth and obedience: righteousness for transgression, obedience for disobedience (Rom. 5:18,19). This redemption price, Paul writes, we appropriate "in all wisdom and understanding" (Eph. 1:7,8). Accordingly, in temple symbolism, the Savior is depicted as the foundation cornerstone (Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6). Such a stone was of particular importance in buildings because the plumb line was lowered into it. Therefore, the correct erection of the entire building depended on its location. Similarly the Church. The object of the calling is that we should be "conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be the First-born among many brothers" (Rom. 8:29,30). Christ is therefore for us the model and measure of perfection. It is in his image that we are to be transformed. Every teaching from the Word of God through its apostles and prophets must be in harmony with the teachings of the Gospel, just as every stone of a building must be in harmony with its plumb line and foundation. Building on Christ means building upon the teachings, first, Himself as a cornerstone, and second, "upon the foundation [teachings] of the apostles and prophets" (Eph. 2:20).
This theme of building on Christ also appears clearly in the parable of the two houses (Mt. 7:24-27). The key to interpreting the parable is the Lord's words: "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken... And everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them shall be compared to..." (Mt. 7:24,26). Listening to the Lord's words also here determines the location of the proper foundation of the building. However, the parable introduces an additional thread related to the ground. Not only the foundation and superstructure of the spiritual temple depends on the knowledge of the truth, but also the type of ground on which we build - first the foundation, and then the rest of the structure. According to the Lord's words, depending on our attitude toward following his teachings, we build our spiritual home on rock or sand. What distinguishes rock from sand is not the type of material, but the structure - sand is also a mineral, but in a loose state. Also, the spiritual composition of man is not only the mind/ spirit/ consciousness, but also what 'hides' underneath, and therefore is the sub-consciousness/ body/ character. In my lecture on the New creation and transformation of the inward man, I wrote that the concept of the body in the Bible describes character precisely because literally in our body (nervous system) are written scripts of behavior that we execute in every moment of our lives.
From the standpoint of the realization of God's principles of righteousness, the character may also be in a loose state, i.e. unformed, or permanent. All these qualities which the Scriptures call the fruit of the Spirit, mentioned in Gal. 5:22,23, and contrasted with the works of the flesh, describe traits of character. Qualities that should not only have structure, but should also be developed and crystallized like rock, i.e. they should be properly grounded in character. The condition for achieving this effect is, according to the Lord's words, to do his word (and not just to hear). The body is an automatic system. We do not explain to our own subconscious that it should act in this or that way because it does not have the apparatus to receive such a message. From the point of view of the realization of God's principles of justice, the basis of its operation are stimuli. When a stimulus comes, the corresponding response comes automatically. When someone smiles at me, I respond in the same way, without analyzing the situation. On the other hand, the formation of new reactions also requires the action of a stimulus, and a repetitive action at that. Habits (automatic reactions) are developed by repeating a specific action under certain circumstances. Hence the importance of the performance that our Lord speaks of in the context of the house on the rock.
On this subject, James writes: "But become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (23) For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror. (24) For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like. (25) But whoever looks into the perfect Law of liberty and continues in it, he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one shall be blessed in his doing" (Jas. 1:22-25). Observing is an act of the mind. As we listen to the Word of the Lord, we look at ourselves in the light of its teachings. But if it is not accompanied by action – if the new creation does not force a change of behavior – then when we go away from the mirror of God's Word, we forget because there is no trace left in character. There was no action that would consolidate the new pattern. However, the element of looking at yourself is very important. In the above-quoted Rom. 12:2, Paul writes, "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." We renew our minds by contact with the teachings of the Bible. If this renewal is accompanied by performance, an inner transformation occurs. We also read this clearly in Eph. 4:20-24, where the "old man" (a character developed without faith) must be cast off (deactivated), and at the same time the "new man" must be developed by being "renewed in the spirit of your mind."
Similarly, Col. 3:8-11 – "But now also put off all these things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, shameful speech out of your mouth. (9) Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds (10) and having put on the new, having been renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, (11) where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave or freeman, but Christ is all things in all." The practices mentioned in the first part of the fragment result from a 'loose' character, not formed in the principles of truth. But Paul writes that it is possible to be changed — to "put on the new" — in knowledge. On the one hand, there is a need for a change - a transition from the old to the new - and at the same time the apostle emphasizes the need to be 'renewed in knowledge', i.e. it is not possible to reverse the principle shown in the parable of the two houses; it is not possible to perform without listening. So we're talking about a spiral process in which listening drives action, action drives character transformation, character transformation drives listening... The result of this operation is "Christ in all," which brings us to the concept of the Body of Christ as the universal pattern to be fixed in the body of character.
Earlier I wrote that the concept of the body refers to character in the Bible because it is in the body that the scripts of behavior are written. Similarly, the Body of Christ is the character of the believer formed in the image of the Lord's character. If we are the Body of Christ, it means that both hearing the Lord's teachings and doing them have a sealing effect upon us, by imitating the pattern of truth in our characters. In this sense, Christ is in us. In another perspective, we are in Christ if certain qualities identify us with the Lord. It is no coincidence, then, that the apostle Paul continues the theme in Romans chapter 12, referring to the participation of those called in the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:4,5). Our participation in Christ, however, is more of a process than a state. The biological body is first started from the father's semen, develops in the mother's womb for nine months, is born and matures over the following years. Together with the body, the mind also matures, which with time and as it develops has more and more possibilities to understand the world. The same is true of spiritual development. In the context of Col. 3:8-11 I have spoken of the spiral character of our development, in which the development of understanding conditions the development of the body of character, but is itself conditioned by the success of the task with the body.
The New Testament describes this process in the context of personality development, using terms taken from the natural world. Thus the seed from which the new creation is begotten is the Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23). However, it takes some time to listen to the Lord's teachings and to follow them, so that all the organs of the body (graces of character) necessary for independent functioning (one's own spiritual work) are formed. When this plane is reached, the Scriptures speak of a spirit-born personality fully formed in the foundations of truth. Only in this state can a man of God begin the process of immersing himself more deeply in the content of the Biblical teachings and building the spiritual maturity of which the apostle Paul speaks in Eph. 4:11-16 (baptism in the spirit). The development of the body is therefore also a condition for the development of the spirit. These two processes must run side by side. Otherwise, it will be only an illusion of development, which will be exposed by the first whirlwind of adversity. That the development of the body of character is a condition for the experience of baptism in the Spirit (immersion to the depth of the meaning of God's Word) one can read in Eph. 3:14-21. Paul is praying here for believers, "to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man ... that you, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height."
This thought is confirmed by our Lord's observation of Israel in the days of his ministry: "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not; nor do they understand. (14) And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which said, 'By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive; (15) for this people's heart has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them'" (Mt. 13:13-15). Understanding brings responsibility. The apostle Paul leaves no doubt that sin committed in consciousness produces death (Heb. 10:26-31). Meanwhile, current research shows that human behavior is controlled by the subconscious by up to 95 percent – for 95 percent of our lives we are "driven by the autopilot" with small flashes of consciousness along the way. This amazing fact shows that a full, one-time enlightenment of the mind without a concomitant change of the character component would make us members of the second (eternal) death in a very short time (Rev. 20:14,15). Therefore, at the beginning of our journey in God's calling, we do not immediately receive the fullness, but the earnest of the spirit, which we are to develop to the maturity of Christ, "to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13).
When Peter confesses, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," our Lord tells him that "on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mt. 16:15-18). Christ is the rock on which his Church and each of its members individually stands. The spiritual edifice erected upon this rock - upon the true teachings of our Master, imprinted by the seal of the Spirit in character - the gates of hell shall not prevail. "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... But in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us" (Rom. 8:31,35,37). However, the condition for building on the rock is both listening to and doing the words of the Lord. Then we will be sure that our character has received the structure and firmness necessary to overcome all adversities and to keep ourselves in faith and a good conscience. Hence the Lord's warning that comes immediately before the parable of the two houses: "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven" (Mt. 7:21). Again, however, in order to fulfill this condition, one must know God's will (listening) and one must actually do it. Then our building will stand in adversity and will be able to be accepted by God.