# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S11
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1914. 11

the temple of the living God." (2 Cor. 6:16.) Jesus promises his disciples: "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him; and we will come to him and make our home with him." (John 14:23.) In the Old Testament God had a temple for his people. In the New Testament the Christians themselves are built up as living stones into a spiritual house, to be a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:21.) "Christ lives in me," the Apostle Paul exults (Gal. 2:20) and prays for his congregations that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. (Eph. 3:17.) "And I in them" — that is the last word of the high-priestly prayer of Jesus. (John 17:26.)

What a glorious temple of God Christians are, both as individuals and as a congregation! This temple rests on the firm foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the cornerstone. (Eph. 2:20.) Christ, the living stone, has indeed been rejected by men, but with God he is chosen and precious, a tried and well-founded cornerstone. Whoever believes in him will not flee. (1 Pet. 2:4; Isa. 28:16.) And no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 3:11.)

It is a wise master builder who erects this temple, namely God himself. And the servants of the Word are in this God's helpers and laborers. A building cannot erect itself, it needs a master builder; so also a person cannot build himself up into a temple of God. "You are God's building." (1 Cor. 3:9.) God is the wise master builder, to whom everything he makes turns out well. — God builds his temple through his Gospel. By nature people are a temple of idols; their hearts harbor false gods and worship them. God first shatters these temples of idols through his Law; but over the heap of ruins he erects, through his Spirit with the Gospel, his glorious temple.

God is the builder of the temple; he is also the Lord. "You are not your own; for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:19, 20.) The temple serves God's purposes, and glorious purposes they are. Christians, who are the temple of God, are at the same time priests, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 2:5.) They present their bodies, their whole personality, by God's grace to God as an acceptable sacrifice. (Rom. 12:1.) They also render other services of sacrifice. "To do good and to share, do not forget, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." (Heb. 13:16.) — Christ preached in the temple at Jerusalem. Much more does he want, in the temple of his Christians and through this temple, to bring his Gospel, that the excellencies of him may be proclaimed who has called Christians out of darkness into his