And are built upon the foundation of the apostles
and
prophets
The prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New,
who agree in laying ministerially the one and only foundation,
Jesus Christ; for not the persons of the apostles and prophets,
nor their doctrines merely, are here meant; but Christ who is
contained in them, and who is the foundation on which the church,
and all true believers are built: he is the foundation of the
covenant of grace, of all the blessings and promises of it, of
faith and hope, of peace, joy, and comfort, of salvation and
eternal happiness; on this foundation the saints are built by
Father, Son, and Spirit, as the efficient causes, and by the
ministers of the Gospel as instruments: these lie in the same
common quarry with the rest of mankind, and are singled out from
thence by efficacious grace; they are broken and hewn by the word
and ministers of it, as means; and are ministerially laid on
Christ the foundation, and are built up thereon in faith and
holiness; yea, private Christians are useful this way to build up
one another:
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner
stone;
which cements and knits together angels and men, Jews and
Gentiles, Old and New Testament saints, saints above, and saints
below, saints on earth, in all ages and places, and of every
denomination; and which is the beauty and glory, as well as the
strength of the building, which keeps all together; and Christ is
the chief, the headstone of the corner, and who is superior to
angels and men. This phrase is used by the Jews to denote
excellency in a person; so a wise scholar is called (hnyp Nba) , "a cornerstone";
F9 see ( Psalms
118:22 ) ( Isaiah 28:16
) ( Zechariah 10:4 ) . It
may be rendered, "the chief cornering-stone"; it being such an
one that is a foundation stone, as well as a cornerstone; and
reached unto, and lay at the bottom of, and supported the four
corners of the building; for the foundation and corner stone in
this spiritual building, is one and the same stone, Christ: it is
said of the temple of Latona, at Buto, in Egypt, that it was
made, (ex enov)
(liyou) , "of one stone",
as Herodotus F11 an eyewitness of it, attests.