Christ our Cornerstone

Christ our Cornerstone

Ephesians 2v19-22 (BSB)
“Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.  In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.”

2:20 “Foundation” in this passage unquestionably means doctrine.  No mention is made of patriarchs or pious kings, but only of those who held the office of teachers and whom God had appointed to superintend the edification of His church.  It is laid down by Paul that the faith of the church ought to be founded on this doctrine.

John Calvin, Commentary on Ephesians (ESV Church History Study Notes)

1 Peter 2v4-5 (BSB)
“As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

2:4 There is a wonderful beauty and energy in these expressions, which describe Christ as a spiritual foundation, solid, firm, durable, and believers as a building erected upon it, in preference to that temple which the Jews accounted their highest glory.  And Peter, speaking of Him thus, shows he did not judge himself but Christ to be the rock on which the church was built.

John Wesley, Wesley’s Explanatory Notes (ESV Church History Study Notes)

Isaiah 28v16 (BSB)
“So this is what the Lord GOD says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
the one who believes will never be shaken.””

28:16 Because the foundation is sure, the believer can lay aside all disquietude and impatience in regard to the working out of the divine purpose.  He need not make haste.  It is of the essence of faith to crave assurance; hence it cannot come to rest until it has cast its anchor into the eternal.

Geerhardus Vos, Grace and Glory (ESV Church History Study Notes)

BSB – Berean Study Bible