If there is one thing that is foreign to the Pauline epistles, it is the false notion that God's people should waste fortunes on building crystal cathedrals and other uneconomical edifices and temples. However, the idea of having glamorous buildings is not entirely alien to scripture. There was a time when, under the law, God placed great emphasis on special buildings. Israel's worship, priesthood and very life centered on the Temple because the Lord had placed His name there. Notice what God said to Solomon: "And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually," (I Kings 9:3). Israel was even instructed to pray toward the Temple (I Kings 8:29, Ps. 5:7).

In contrast Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, stated, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands," (Acts 17:24). In fact, in this dispensation of Grace we, the body of Christ, are the temple of God. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (I Cor. 6:19). Paul is not referring to a physical building when he writes in I Tim. 3:15, "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

In light of these distinctions we see that the importance of buildings has been drastically reduced because they no longer have any spiritual significance whatsoever. Most of the churches in which Paul ministered were located within houses. This is not to condemn church buildings or meeting halls, which are very convenient, but to show that we operate in a dispensation which lacks holy buildings, utensils and ceremonies. Our greatest and present concern is to clearly preach the "Gospel of the Grace of God," (Acts 20:20).

One couple in scripture, Aquila and Priscilla, provided a meeting place for a local church in their home. They had been taught the truth by Paul as they labored with him in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3, 11). We find that Paul mentions them twice in his epistles (Rom. 16:3-5, I Cor. 16:19), along with the fact that there was a church in their home. In Paul's closing salutation in Romans, we read of their dedication: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Jesus Christ: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house..." (Rom. 16:3-5a).

Often times, churches meeting within homes are looked upon as less authentic for lack of a building or funds. We should be encouraged by the fact that the majority of the churches which Paul established were small, seemingly insignificant works, within homes, that took the message and turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Yet, at the same time, we can give God thanks when believers increase to the point that buildings overflow.

There were many people Paul greeted throughout his epistles, but we'll always remember people like Nymphas (Col. 4:15), Justus (Acts 18:7), and Priscilla and Aquila because there were ministries in their homes.

In regard to giving and submission, Paul tells the Corinthians that God accepts our service on the basis of what we have, not what we lack. "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not," (II Cor. 8:12).

Paul states in Acts 20:20 that he taught "publickly, and from house to house." If Paul's ministry is our pattern for service (I Tim. 1:15-16), then we must put the emphasis on the message and not in the architecture. So let us go from house to house, "...to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ," (Eph. 3:9).

- by Lester J. Carpenter