Quote:
Originally Posted by Nigel Tomes
Who builds the Church—Christ, the Ministers or the Believers?
W. Lee asserts that the church is built, not by Christ Himself directly, or by the Apostles. He states repeatedly that the Church is built by all the believers. W. Lee’s exposition proceeds as follows:6 “In Matt. 16:18 the Lord said that He would build His church; yet here [in 1 Cor. 3] the apostle said that he was a builder, even a wise master builder. This indicates that the Lord builds the church not directly but through His ministers, even through every member of His Body, as revealed in Eph. 4:16…” Elsewhere he says,7 “We may think that Christ was the Builder, that the apostle Paul was a builder, and that today the leading brothers are builders, but that we ourselves are not builders. However, every member of the church should be a builder. Eventually, the church will be built not directly by Christ or the apostles but by every small member. According to Eph. 4:16, the building of the church as the Body of Christ is accomplished by every part of the Body.”
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How quickly we move away from Matthew chapter 16! It is only given a passing reference, is then equated to Paul's word in Ephesians, and then it is promptly forgotten. The words spoken by Jesus are almost instantly forgotten in the rush to examine in minute detail the words written by Paul.
Let me ask a question: does Jesus build with wood, hay, and stubble? Is Jesus in danger of the fire of God's disapproval? No? Then why do we spend so much time and effort on the words of Paul, and pass so quickly by Jesus' statement that "I will build My church"?
Please understand I do not counsel that we should ignore Paul. Surely God used him and built through him. But I fear that we pay nominal attention to Jesus, and fixate on the non-essentials. We have the proper emphasis reversed, which is why we spend so much effort and have so little to show for it. If we could see Jesus building His church we would have a better platform in which to address the points of Ephesians and 1 Corinthians. Not vice versa.