2A As God, Christ in His incarnation put on man’s flesh; having become a man in the flesh, a man in the old creation, He needed to be transformed in His human part—Rom. 1:3-4.
3B Such a transformed Christ is now the living stone, the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone of God’s building—1 Pet. 2:4; Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6; Zech. 4:7; 3:9; Rev. 5:6; 4:3; 21:11.
4C The stones in the temple also signify the believers in Christ, who have been transformed by Christ as the stone—Matt. 16:18; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:4-7; Rev. 21:11, 14, 18-21; cf. Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45.
5D The New Testament speaks of living stones (1 Pet. 2:5), and the Old Testament speaks of cut stones (1 Kings 5:15, 17-18; 6:7); the stones used for the building up of the church must be living inwardly and cut (dealt with) outwardly (2 Cor. 4:16):
61 In the church some brothers and sisters can be compared to “wild” stones, freshly cut from the quarry and full of sharp edges; when they are contacted, they cause people to be hurt and to have an uncomfortable feeling.
72 他们不够牢固,在他们身上无法建造;他们无法与人一同配搭事奉,与人一同并肩作战,一同扛抬约柜。
72 They are not stable enough to be built upon, to coordinate and serve with others, to fight the battle with others, or to bear the Ark with others.
8Ⅶ The real Christian life for the building up of the church as the temple of God is a life of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit being built into our being so that we are being conformed to His death by the power of His resurrection to be renewed day by day and transformed from glory to glory for His glory in the church—Phil. 3:10; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16-18; Eph. 3:21.