Are church buildings the house of God?
11 min read
Many of us were taught by religion that the church building is God's house. We were told that we should be reverent and on our best behaviour when inside it. We grow up treating the church building as something sacred and special. It's as if God's presence is somehow more intense in the church building than it is in other places.
God is not in temples built by hands
In this verse, Apostle Paul preaches to the people of Athens, telling them that God doesn't live in a building. This is similar to the following Old Testament verses in Isaiah.
What house would you build for me?
The prophet Isaiah reveals to us that God already inhabits all of heaven and earth. Therefore, He is not seeking a building for a house. God is more interested in making His home within the heart of the one who is humble and who takes the God's word seriously.
Buildings are not a bad thing
It's not that having church buildings is a bad thing. It's good to have dedicated meeting spaces, especially for larger groups of people. The church building today isn't a temple. It's just a building we meet in and it is no more holy than anywhere else we meet. God's presence is no more there than it is anywhere else.
If believers decide to meet in their homes, as the early Christians did, God will be there just as much as if they meet in a church building. If you can't attend a church service and watch it online instead, God will be with you there just as much as if you went to the church service.
I will build my church
Jesus said that upon Peter's proclamation of faith, He would build his church. However, as a carpenter by trade, Jesus never actually built a church building. Therefore, the church that Jesus is building is more than an actual building. The church that Jesus is building is made up of people who make the same proclamation of faith that Peter did.
This proclamation of faith is the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. This belief is the rock and foundation upon which Jesus is building his church. The gates of hell will come against such a people, but will not be able to prevail against them.
More than a building
Throughout the New Testament Gospels, Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of God rather than a building of God. The Gospels are filled with parables about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was Jesus' central teaching. The Kingdom of God is not about a physical location or a place. God's Kingdom is not currently being inaugurated physically. It's a spiritual Kingdom that is established in every heart that heralds Jesus as King.
In the Gospels, we find Jesus teaching about the characteristics of His Kingdom people who are called to reflect the character of God in the world. The Church was never about a physical location. It was always greater than that. It was about a way of being in the world.
The coming of Jesus heralded a new dynamic in God's relations with His people. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, God began to indwell His people and build His temple within their hearts.
As God made flesh, Jesus became the temple of God in living, breathing form. The Old Testament idea of the temple found its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. Jesus replaced the Old Testament temple.
Jesus and the temple
In these verses, we see that Jesus was not speaking of the Jewish temple, which was a building, but of his own body. Jesus declared his body the temple of God.
Jesus also declared himself to be greater than the Jewish temple.
Jesus also dismissed the earthly Jewish temple as being ultimately obsolete.
Jesus taught the Samaritan woman that the hour has now come where the location of worship no longer mattered. It didn't matter whether you worshipped on a specific mountain or in a Jewish temple anymore. God is spirit and what only matters now is to be a true worshipper – to worship God with a sincere and honest heart.
We are the temple of God
By spiritual union to the body of Christ, we too become the temple of God.
God wants to make his home within us.
As we keep God's word, The Father and Son make their home within us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Peter teaches that all believers in Christ are spiritual stones that are being built up into one big spiritual house of God. The stones are spiritual and the house of God is spiritual. The house of God is beyond physical buildings.
We see this same concept in Ephesians chapter 2.
Paul, writing to the Ephesian church, teaches the same thing Peter taught, that we are all members of the spiritual household of God. Paul makes no mention of buildings. The household of God is this entire spiritual structure that is growing and being built up with each individual member. God inhabits his people, making us a dwelling place for God by His spirit, both individually and collectively.
The early Christians
Early Christians did not build physical church buildings until over two centuries after Christ. They didn't need sacred space because wherever they gathered, usually in each other's homes, that place became sacred space. They made the place holy. The place did not make them holy.
As the numbers grew, meeting in houses became impractical for early Christians and so meeting halls were constructed, usually over the houses they would typically meet in. However, it was not until Constantine that churches began to be treated as holy and sacred temples.
Ekklesia
Jesus' goal wasn't for us to build temples or special shrines where he would manifest his presence. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said that he would build his church. What is this church that Jesus spoke of? The Greek word for “church” is ekklēsia.
Ekklēsia comes from ek, which means “out” and kaléō, which means to “to call”. Putting these two words together, we find that ekklēsia means “to call out”.
Ekklēsia is actually not a religious term. During Jesus' time, the term Ekklēsia carried strong political meaning. Ekklēsia was used to refer to a political assembly of individuals that came together to make decisions (Acts 19:39). The ekklēsia was an assembly of citizens where important political and judicial decisions were made. The ekklēsia took the final decisions on legislations, war, military strategies, finances, etc. The ekklēsia was authorized to make decisions and to pass judgments. The ekklēsia came together to address city-wide issues and to resolve them.
This is the ekklēsia that Jesus is building. An ekklēsia that assembles in the power and authority given to it from God in order to strive toward the resolution of city-wide issues.
While the term ekklēsia is used to describe the church in a particular place, it does not ever mean church as a particular place.
Ekklēsia is the universal assembly of believers in all locations – the worldwide church.
The tendency of church leaders
Many church leaders want you to believe that their church building is the house of God. That's because if you do believe it, you will attend their building more frequently. If you attend their building more frequently, it will be easier for them to convince you to donate more frequently too.
Any church leader who calls their church building the house of God is spreading a false teaching that is manipulative and deceptive. The truth is that the building doesn't bring the blessing. God does, and he does not dwell in buildings. Despite what they tell us, we are not more blessed for attending a specific building. God hears prayer from any location.
Conclusion
Church buildings are not a bad thing. Church is just more than a building. Church was never intended to be a physical place. Instead, church is fundamentally about the people who unite to serve Jesus Christ.
Next time we are about to say things like, “see you in the house of God on Sunday”, let us remember that we, as believers, are the house of God. Let us not do a disservice to the redeeming work of Jesus by referring to a building as the house of God.
Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice to redeem us and make our entire being God's intimate temple. Let's not obscure this truth.
God desires to dwell inside each of us and thus, to dwell amongst us collectively as well. We don't have to flock to a building to have God's presence. God has already set His presence inside of us when He saved us and gave us His Holy Spirit.
Wherever we may find ourselves, God is there with us just as much as if we were in a church building. Our location does not affect God's presence because He is now inside of us. We have access to God through our spirit and we worship him in spirit and truth.
Our calling is about more than erecting church buildings, it's about letting God establish His home in our hearts.