ARE YOU BUILDING OR DESTROYING?

In yesterday's post, I wrote about the five temples which will have existed one this earth, before the Lord replaces this corrupt universe with the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1).  Today, I want to focus upon the "temple" which now exists:  the Church.  During this, the Church Age, Jesus is building a "temple" in which the Holy Spirit now dwells (2 Cor. 6:16). 

You might say that this "temple" in still under construction.  Jesus, Himself, laid the "foundation," or should I say, Jesus Christ IS the "foundation":  Isa. 28:16; Mt. 16:18; Lk. 6:48; 1 Cor. 3:11.  This fact is also clear by comparing the following passages:  "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel" (Ex. 17:6); with "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4)!
 
The Apostle Paul wrote:  "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone; in Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:  in Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22).

So, what part do you and I play in this "building project?"  The answer is, we are to build up each other in love!  In the King James Version, the words "edify," "edifieth," and "edified," are all translated from the Greek οἰκοδομέω (oikodomeō), which means "to build."  "Edifying" and "edification" are translated from the Greek οἰκοδομή (oikodomē), which means "building."  Both Greek words are formed from two root words, οἶκος (oikos), which means "house," and δῶμα (dōma), which means "the top."

With the exception of Luke's use of οἰκοδομέω (oikodomeō) in Acts 9:31, it and οἰκοδομή (oikodomē) were exclusively used by the Apostle Paul in eighteen verses of his epistles.  Oἰκοδομέω also appears in six verses:  Rom. 14:19; 1 Cor. 8:1; 10:23; 14:4, 17; and 1 Thes. 5:11.  Oἰκοδομή appears in twelve verses:  Rom. 15:2; 1 Cor. 14:3, 5, 12, 26; 2 Cor. 10:8; 12:19; 13:10; Eph. 4:12, 16, 29; and 1 Tim. 1:4.

 

Do your words "build up," or do they "demolish" the brethren?