How do we understand the church building?

The church building indeed is an open Bible, written in a visible, tangible language that a simple child can understand, a theologian can contemplate deeply, a clergyman loaded with many congregational responsibilities can enjoy, and in which the spiritual hermit can find comfort. It is a simple, but at the same time very deep, theological message that is delivered by the Spirit to everyone. The topic of this message is “our life in Christ Jesus,” manifested in our relationship with God, the Church, society, and heaven. Indeed, it even touches our inner mystic life. We can grasp this topic by carefully studying the concept of the “house of

1178 Pastor of Hermas (or Shepherd of Hermas) 1.3.4 (ANF 2:14).

1179 St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 3.24.1 (ANF 1:458).

1180 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Thesaurus de Sancta et Consubstantiali Trinitate 34 (PG 75:609).

God” and its development since the first creation of the human race, as it passed through the following six phases:

First: The First Paradise. Adam lived in Paradise as a priest in the house of God. Every inch in Paradise declared God's love and care for him. Every now and then, he would hear the sound of the Lord walking in the garden (Gen. 3:8) attracting Adam to Him and encouraging him to meet with Him. With every breath, Adam offered love to his Creator, everywhere and without mediators. The first Paradise with all its space was the holy “house of God,” in which God planned to meet man without the need for a sanctuary, altar, offering, or incense. Before long however, our first parents were exiled from Paradise, loaded with their burden of disobedience and inability to see God and were separated from Him. At this point, it was inevitable that a divine intervention became necessary to abolish the middle wall that was set up between God and humanity, so he gave us the rituals of sacrifice and the altar as a cornerstone of God’s house.

Second: The Altar. The introduction of the altar as God’s house, even in its early and primitive stages, revealed the two fundamental facts which are necessary for establishing the house of God.

The word “altar” ַ מִ זבֵּח in Hebrew and in Arabic “ mazbeh ,” refers to the place upon which sacrifices are slaughtered, and so it is truly an introduction to the “sacrifice of the cross.” Through this sacrifice, we are reconciled with the Father through His beloved Son, who through His blood clears our sight that we may see God as our Father and sanctifies our inner depths, tearing down the handwriting of our sins.

The second fact: Elijah the Prophet built an altar for the Lord, made of twelve stones (1 Kings 18:30). Each stone represented a tribe, as if to say that God’s altar derives its existence from the communal effort of the entire people as a whole through the sacrifice of reconciliation.

Third: Bethel. In the story of Jacob when he ran away from his brother Esau, he laid his head on a stone and saw a ladder set on earth and reaching to the top of heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it, and the Lord stood above it and said, “I am with you” (Gen. 28:11–15). Jacob rose and took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it and called the place Bethel, which means “house of God.” He became aware of the presence of God with him and the opening of heaven to those on earth.

Fourth: The Tabernacle. The design of that tent was directly dictated to Moses by God, after he had strictly fasted forty days and forty nights with no food nor drink. He was told, “See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain” (Heb. 8:5; Ex. 25:9). The tent was made according to that which Moses saw in some detail.

Fifth: The Temple. When the people settled in Jerusalem, the temple was constructed by Solomon according to the pattern demonstrated to David the prophet by God. The church ought to be a “temple” that manifests God’s kingdom in peoples’ lives and is capable of preparing inner hearts to be thrones of God. Now we can understand Christ’s tremendous love for the temple, considering it “My Father’s house” (John 2:16).

Sixth: The Church of the New Testament. The divine incarnation took the mystery to a new level of perfection for “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14) so we no longer evaluate the church based on its size, whether it is a large cathedral or a simple small church, but instead by the transfiguration of the incarnate Lord in front us and so we see the church as the body of Christ.¹¹⁸¹ St. Irenaeus¹¹⁸² at the end of the second century saw the Church as the “Body of the Great and Glorified Christ” who ascended to heaven. After God used to dwell among His people, the Word of God took flesh and offered us His body and blood that we may eat them and so that we may abide in Him and unite with Him as branches in the One Vine. We become members of His Body, a temple of God, as the Apostle says, “Whereas the man who unites Himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him … Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have form God?” (1 Cor. 6:17–19).