Article January 8, 1927 Issue

God's building"

LOIS FORSYTH LOVEJOY

In writing to the early Christians at Corinth, Paul makes the statement, "Ye are God's building." The apostle uses this simile of a building or temple many times in his letters to the churches, as when he says in the same epistle, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?"

Let us consider for a moment what it means to be "God's building," and what the relation is between an architect and his work. A building is always an expression of the knowledge and ability of the architect, showing forth to the world how much of beauty and strength he has been able to grasp and realize. It cannot go beyond or fall below the level of his knowledge. The work of a great architect is never weak in construction or faulty in line. A ramshackle structure which begins to deteriorate almost as soon as it is completed, can be the work only of one who is incompetent in his profession; while the lofty cathedral, which through the ages soars in majestic beauty against the sky, proclaims the hand of the master builder.

Now God is universally acknowledged to be the perfect One, perfect in understanding, in power, in execution. If, then, God builds, as Paul infers. His work must be as perfect as Himself. There is no possibility of fault, or weakness, or eventual decay in His work. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever," we read in Ecclesiastes. According to the word of the Bible quoted above, man is the building of God. This being so, there is no escape from the logical deduction that man—the real man—must be perfect and eternal, and can have no fault or blemish of any kind whatsoever.

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